The present Ellyson family of Virginia is without dispute descended at least in part from Doctor Robert of Maryland and Virginia. There are numerous theories on Robert himself. One is a connection to Cuthbert Ellyson of Hakwell in Northumberland, one of Newcastle-upon-Tyne's merchant families, which sprang apparently out of the bog in the 1400s. One is a descent from a Scottish John Ellison who married Ellin Hamilton. One involves a Robert Ellyson of Newcastle born in 1589 who married Elizabeth Grey. Connecting these various dots, however, has proved a bit dicey, hence utterly dubious. In America there are three early Ellysons —spelled inconsistently, foreboding nothing— John, William and Robert. The first two were in Virginia in 1624. The third first seen in Maryland in 1642. After that, all is bedlam. The wives Sarah and Elizabeth do not smooth the waters. This chart therefore begins with Onan in 1800. Until the rest is sorted out, it shall remain embraced in questionmarks and copious footnotes.
John Ellyson, born circa 1585 in Windyedge, Avondale, Lanark, Scotland. Emigrated on the Prosperous and was living at Archer's Hope, James City County, Virginia by 1625. Married circa 1585 to Ellin Hamilton, daughter of Minister Sir Robert Hamilton Sr. Died circa 1649/69 in New Kent County, Virginia.
[The Complete Book of Emigrants, 1607 - 1660, Peter Wilson Coldham 1987. At Archer's Hope, living on 16 February 1624: John Elison; Elison's wife; ... Dead at Archer's Hope 1624. George Ellison, a child. Archer's Hope, James City (20 January - 7 February. Muster of the inhabitants of Virginia. (Ages are shown after the name followed by ship and date of arrival where these are given.) John Ellison by Prosperous; Ellin his wife b Charity; servant John Badeley 24 by Hopewell 1623.]
William Ellyson, born 1581 in England, arrived in Virginia 1624 on Swan.
[The Complete Book of Emigrants, 1607-1660, Peter Wilson Coldham 1987. Muster of the inhabitants of Virginia. (Ages are shown after the name followed by ship and date of arrival, where these are given.) John Ellison by Prosperous; Ellin his wife b Charity; servant John Badeley 24 by Hopewell 1623. Elizabeth City - 7 February 1625. William Ellison 44 by Swan 1624 is a servant of Mary Salford 24 by Bono Nova 1620.]
Robert Ellyson, born September 7, 1589 in Newton Reigny, Cumberland, England. Died 1656. Married (1) Elizabeth Grey of Howick, Northumberland, born circa 1591. Married (2) Sarah Spence, born 1621 in Virginia, daughter of William.
Robert Ellyson, born circa 1615, appeared as an adult in St. Mary's County, Maryland in 1642, shortly thereafter moved to Virginia, and died before September 28, 1671. He married Elizabeth. Big dispute on this subject, not a daughter of Dr. Thomas Gerrard of Westmoreland County, Virginia. Elizabeth Gerrard married John Blackistone on May 6, 1659 (when she is said to have been married to RE), then Ralph Rymer on ??, and lastly Joshua Guibert on ??.
[October 2, 1672: "Mr. Thomas Viccars bee Guardian to Gerrart Robt Ellison, Sonn & Orphan of Major Ellison" Minutes of the Council and General Court of Colonial Virginia 1622-1632, 1670-1676, page 276; Will of Thos Gerrard 1672; indenture of Robt Slye 1654; will of Robt Slye 1670; will of Daniel Hutt 1673; MHM, XLVI (1951), 189-206; Will of Elizabeth Gerard 1715; St Mary's County MD, Proceedings of the Court Leet and Court Baron, 1659-1672; Archives MD, Proceedings of the Provincial Court 1679-1680/1, Volume 69]
Gerrard Robert Ellyson, born circa 1657 in New Kent County. Cited as "son and heir" in 1688 who "patented lands in New Kent County, Virginia, granted to his father Robert Ellyson in 1656." Married ???Sarah Versile/Crew or ???Ann Myhill—born 1647/1652 and died January 7, 1727, the daughter of John Myhill and Mary Lockey, in Henrico, Charles City.
Anne Myhill definitely married an Ellyson—very possibly/probably almost absolutely a son of Doctor Robert or a relation, perhaps nephew depending on whether he had brothers also in Virginia, which being neither proven nor disproven. Her will names her three sons as John, Gerrard and Thomas. Presumably she outlives her husband because she does not mention him in the will.
Another theory has Anne Myhill married to a brother of GR, though there is only indirect evidence of Doctor Robert having a second son.
On the number of Gerrard Roberts, proposed by some and debunked by others, attributing the children born from 1690 through 1710 to a sole GR entails their being born when he was 40 through 50, not altogether the probable odds. Furthermore, this theory —put out in Virginia Genealogies and Biographies, Maryland and Virginia Colonials, Volume 1, Ellyson, pp 235-256— that the first and only GR was married to Sarah who survived him and married the Carter in 1771 at age 85 is absurd, because, among other things, it would have had her bearing either three children before her birth or the Gerrard-through-Ursulla brood promptly after her own birth in 1693.
[Sources: will of Ann Myhill Ellyson; Record of Patents, Book 7, page 22; William Wade Hinshaw, The Encyclopedia of Quaker Genealogy, 1750-1930, Vol VI, Henrico Monthly Meeting; bible record of Elizabeth Allison Ervin; "Tidewater Virginia Families" by Virginia Lee Hutchenson Davis, Genealogical Publishing ]
John Ellyson, born 1668, married Elizabeth Matthews in 1691. Removed to South Carolina.
[Sources: Winston County and Its People, Louis Taunton and Nancy R. Parkes, pp 76-77; A South Carolina Family: Mills-Smith and Related Lines, Lilla Mills Hawes and Sarah Mills Norton, 1960, p 64]
Gerrard [Robert] Ellyson, born about 1672 and died December 16, 1749. Married Sarah ?Versile/Crew?. Married by February 28, 1700, when as a couple they witnessed the marriage of Thomas Loukford and Martha West. Owned the slave woman Tamar and her daughter Lucy that he gave to his daughter Ursula. The theory put out in Virginia Genealogies and Biographies, Maryland and Virginia Colonials, Volume 1, Ellyson, pp 235-256, that the first and only GR was married to Sarah who survived him and married the Carter in 1771 at age 85 is absurd, because, among other things, it would have had her bearing children promptly after her own birth in 1693.
[Dr. Robert and Elizabeth Ellyson, their ancestors and descendents, compiled by L. Frank Bedell for Fiduciary Trustees of Friends Boarding School, based on 19th century research in Quaker records by Clara Crew Jones (1874-1964). Higginson Book Company: Salem. 1969.; Society of Friends records, Henrico Monthly Records, 1st month 8th 1700, 2nd 7th 1726, 3rd 6th 1738; Purdie & Dixon's Gazette, March 14, 1771: "Yesterday was married in Henrico Mr. William Carter, son of Mr. John Carter Aged 23 to Mrs. Sarah Ellyson relict of Gerrard Ellyson, decd., aged 85 a sprightly old tit with three thousand pounds.]
Thomas Ellyson, born 1674 and died circa 1761, married Elizabeth Crew circa 1703. Died in Chesterfield County VA.
Gerrard Robert Ellyson, born circa 1690 and died before July 23, 1772 in New Kent County, Virginia. Married Sarah Crew—daughter of John Crew and Sarah Gatley—on January 8, 1714/5. This couple was Quaker.
[Purdie & Dixon's Gazette, March 14, 1771: "Robert Ellyson, son of Gerard Robert Ellyson was a resident of St. Peter's Parish, New Kent County, when in 1751 he was processioner and later. His wife, Sarah, was a sister of the Hon. John Clopton"; The Edward Pleasants Valentine Papers, Vol. 1-4; Maryland and Virginia Colonials [Quaker monthly records], Vol. I, Ellyson, Page 251]
Children?:
Robert or Gerard Ellyson of Chesterfield County, married ?, left will naming Frances Moody and her four children, presumably his, naming three nephews Thomas, Gerrard and William, son of his brother.
Children?:
William Ellyson of Chesterfield and Powhatan County, Virginia. Born circa 1774. Married Susannah Elam 14 February 1799.
[Chesterfield County Will Book 29, indenture, p. 122; Powhatan County VA tax lists 1833-1835-1836; marriage witness Haley Cole; Chesterfield County Marriage Records 1770-1800, p 107, Reel 215, Frame 0122, Frames 01]
Children?:
Onan Ellyson, born circa 1797/1801 in Henrico County (CLDS), a wheelwright, married Jane Huot in 1822. [One record shows 3 January 1822 in Howardsville, Albemarle County.] Lived in Richmond. Was expelled from the Second Baptist Church for drinking, but eventually returned.
[Sources: Ellyson family papers; Virginia vital records; Virginia newspaper records; Richmond 1863 city directory]
Henry Keeling Ellyson, born July 31, 1823 and died November 27, 1890, married Elizabeth Pinkney Barnes (born Philadelphia in 1813) in 1843. In 1841 he started a small job printing office, which led him—and James A. Cowardin as equal partner—to revive the Richmond Daily Dispatch just after the Richmond fire in 1865, which under their management became the Richmond Times Dispatch, still in circulation. Buried in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia.
Henry Theodore Ellyson, born November 25, 1844 and died February 25, 1919, married Elizabeth "Lizzie" Walker of Richmond. A quiet newspaperman and Mason. Buried in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia.
Theodore Gordon Ellyson, born February 27, 1885, died February 27, 1928, married Helen Mildred Lewis Glenn of Atlanta, six days after meeting her at a wedding at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Richmond. Gordon ("Spuds"), a 1905 Annapolis graduate, was Naval Aviator Number One, commanded a destroyer in European waters during World War I, and pioneered antisubmarine warfare.
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