Richard Ellis - b. 1829 Ireland, d. Jun 1896, Peru, Illinois
Hello,
I'll try to be clear as this is a confusing story. My wife's gr-gr grandfather, Richard Ellis, came to the US sometime in the 1850s, most likely from Ireland. According to his wife Mary (nee Bell)'s obituary (attached), they were married in Philadelphia, PA, likely in the 1850s. Richard and family are next found in the 1860 US Federal Census living in Peru, LaSalle County, Illinois, where they remained until Richard's death in 1896.
I have no information on Richard's parents, siblings and, to complicate things further, there's family folklore that Richard's last name is not Ellis, but O'Lett. Ellis was his mother's maiden name, according to the story. He may have changed his name due to trouble with Great Britain.
How do I go about establishing Richard's background when he may have deliberately changed his identity?
thanks for any help,
Bill
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Lett (the base) is an uncommon name, based primarily in and around County Wexford. https://www.johngrenham.com/findasurname.php?surname=Lett O' is a generational identifier.
If they were Roman Catholic, Philadelphia RC marriages are available on FindMyPast.com, but I don't see anything with variations of those names about that time.
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Thank you for your response, I appreciate it!
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A check if the Griffiths valuation for LETT shows some 211 hits. Many in Wexford but also in the north County Antrim area. So pretty diverse- thats from one end of the country to the other albeit that Wexford has the most hits. Askaboutireland.ie/griffiths . If you do go into the Valuation it can be a bit of a struggle to work with but I feel in the absence of the 1861 census that its vastly under-rated albeit it has its drawbacks. Use one of the many YouTube videos to learn how to use it. Regarding your initial question , establishing his background - it will be hard work without a place to pin him to. But keep at it - I have had brick walls for 30 or more years only to see them tumble when an obscure piece of information arises. Keep looking, and go back and do it again, and again, and again.
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Thank you for the information on the Griffiths valuation. I'll have to check into it.
I did come across an interesting piece of information recently. In Mary Ellis (nee Bell)'s obituary in 1921, it mentions that she and Richard were married in Philadelphia in the 1850s. The attached fits that timeframe and location, shows a Richard Ellis but lists a "Mary Pell", not Mary Bell. I can't say for certain if it's them or not. It may just be a coincidence.
One other source that someone recommended to me was to check related to Mary Ellis (Bell)'s family is Mary's brother Robert H. Bell's Civil War pension file. He served in Company K, 104 Illinois Volunteers.
Bill
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