Another Elliott Family

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Charles Doty (C. D.) Elliott was the son of George Washington Elliott and the grandson of Chester Elliott.  C. D. Elliott's obituary (d. July 19, 1899) claimed that his ancestor was Andrew Elliott, one of the 12 jury men for the witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts.  If this is accurate, then our family's Elliott line did not begin with Jacob coming to America in 1631 because that Andrew is not part of Jacob's line.

Charles D. Elliott's information should be credible.  He was a newspaper publisher and editor most of his life--a man who would be aware how to dig into a story and gather facts.  Furthermore, his wife, Ella Zerbey Elliott, was an author, assistant to the editor of a newspaper, and proprietor of a newspaper for many years in addition to writing short stories and researching for articles.  In 1916, Ella Zerbey Elliott published the Blue Book of Schuylkill County.  In it, she outlined "The Elliott Line of Descent".  ( pages 246-249)

Based on Ella's outline of descent, the father of Chester Elliott was John Elliott.  This John Elliott married Rebecca Parker it reads and had children:  Chester, David, George Washington, Zylphia and perhaps others.  He came from Easthampton, Mass., moved to Bowman's Creek, N.Y., and ultimately to Cayuga County, Ohio.  This John Elliott served in the Revolutionary War from Massachusetts.

This John Elliott did exist.  According to his Revolutionary War Pension File, he married Rebecca Gardner, not Rebecca Parker.  John's pension file mentions only one child, a son named Lewis. The Elliott Line as described by Ella Zerbey Elliott resembles other published lines of descent for this family (see page 436, The Elliott Line, IV Nathaniel, 3 John).  But, more than ten people registered on Ancestry.com claim Chester Elliott, the son of John and Rebecca Elliott, was married to Abigail Ellis in 1812 in Ohio and that this Chester Elliott had two daughters, Independence and Abigail, and that he died in Ohio. 

That doesn't fit our family bio for our Chester Elliott who married Betsey Benjamin on July 6, 1797 and died at his son Joseph's home in Canada around 1832.   

Now stay with me people.  More clues next time....