The life of Levi D. Ellis, the founder of the village of Ellisville, is so completely interwoven with the history of this township that we deem a short personal sketch of him important in this connection. He was born in South Carolina in the year 1789, and a half-orphan, his father having died before his birth. At the age of thirteen he went to Tennessee, leaving his friends behind, who however joined him two years thereafter. From there he moved to Illinois, stopping near Belleville; from there to where Springfield now stands, which was at that time a wilderness. Mr. Ellis here cut the first tree for the first cabin ever erected in the capital city. He came to Fulton County in 1838, and located in Joshua township, his being the second family in the township. Here he built a mill. In 1828 he moved to this township and erected the first house of the township on the side of the present town of Ellisville. In 1829 he erected the first mill on Spoon River.
Mr. Ellis had a family of eight sons and one daughter. During the Winnebago Indian War he built a fort near Canton, where he kept his family and neighbors in garrison for six weeks. He died after a useful career in March, 1855.
The village of Ellisville was founded in 1830. It was at one time a great center for business. The people for forty miles around came here to have their grain ground and do their trading. But this prosperity was banished upon the construction of the C. B. and Q. railroad.
The remains of an Indian village, just across Spoon River from Ellisville and upon Section 32, was to be seen for several years after the first settlers came in.
There have been two churches organized in the township, -- the Methodist Episcopal and United Presbyterian. The dates of the organization are not positively known, as the records could not be obtained, and both organizations are almost extinct. There is a union Sunday-school, and services every Sunday; but neither congregation employs a minister. The church edifice was erected in 1850, by the United Presbyterians, and was subsequently sold to the Methodists by James Shear, who had a mechanic's lien upon it. The Pleasant Hill United Brethren Church, more commonly known as the Vinegar Hill Church, was organized in Feb., 1875, by T. T. Parvin, with 14 members. Services are held here every two weeks in "Vinegar Hill School-house". The present membership number 40.
The Ellisville mill, which was known far and wide, was re-built on 1869 by Sheckler Bros. & Co., who have also added a saw-mill to it. The capacity of the mill at present is 75 barrels in 24 hours. The first school-house in the township was built in 1840, and Chas. O. Nickerson was the first teacher. There are now three school buildings in the township.
The Ellisville iron bridge, erected by the King Bridge Company, of Cleveland, O., over Spoon river in 1876, consists of one span 240 feet long. It is the longest single-span wagon-bridge in the State, and is said to be the best.
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