JASPER NEWTON ELLIS, the subject of this sketch, an old-time citizen of Haskell, Texas, who has been an active business man for a number of years, is a native of Mississippi, born in Chickasaw county, October 29, 1852. The Ellis family is of English origin. The grand of Jasper N. came to this country from England and settled in North Carolina, where he reared his family of five sons and one daughter. His son Edwin, when a young man, went from North Carolina to Mississippi and settled in Chickasaw county, where he lived the quiet life of a farmer for many years, being there at the time of the Civil war but on account of his advanced age not taking an active part in the war. He was twice married. By his first wife he had seven children, four sons and three daughters, of whom four are still living. For his second wife he wedded Mrs. Margaret Means Smith, daughter of William and Nancy Archibald, the former of Irish and the latter of Scotch descent. By this marriage Mr. Ellis had fours sons, of whom two are living: Jasper N., whose name introduces this sketch, and Wylie R. Ellis, a resident of the Indian Territory. In the year 1870 Edwin Ellis came with his family to Texas and settled in Fannin county, where he spent the closing years of his life, an died July 28, 1875. His widow survived him until July 2, 1892, when her death occurred in Haskell.
Jasper N. Ellis was reared on his father’s farm in Mississippi up to the age of seventeen years. His education was limited, owing to the fact that his father was a poor man and somewhat afflicted physically. As soon as Jasper was able to be of help on the farm he remained at home from school and worked, and afterward the duties of managing the place devolved upon him. He did this up to the time of his father’s death. After coming to Texas, his father bought land, which they improved and placed under cultivation, the management and care of the same falling largely to the lot of the son. Soon after his father’s death he married and bought and opened up a farm in Hunt county, where he lived till 1889. Then he moved to Haskell, having previously sold his farm. Here he has been variously occupied. He was in the grocery business four years, up to 1895, after which he clerked two years for the hardware firm of Sherrill Brothers & Company. In the fall of 1897 he opened a meat market, which he has since conducted, with his usual enterprise and success.
Mr. Ellis married, September 26, 1876, Miss Margaret Ann Pennington of Fannin county, daughter of John and Jane Pennington. Mrs. Ellis’s father died before she was born and she was rearer [reared] in Fannin county by her widowed mother. Five children, one son and four daughters, have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Ellis, namely: Edna Pearl, wife of A. E. Brockman, of northern Idaho; Ira Newton, Jestany Means, Anna Powell and Emma Hucie. Fraternally, Mr. Ellis is an Odd Fellow. And for more than thirty years he has been a consistent member of the Presbyterian church.
Source: B. B. Paddock, History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1906), Vol. II, pp. 534-535.