h/o (1) Elizabeth (Bird); h/o (2) Ann (Maxwell); cemetery book reads 'Jacob might be buried here

Jacob Ellis was the older brother of Levi Dwire Ellis, but in a reverse of what usually happens, in this case it was younger brother Levi Dwire who led the way as the two headed west over the decades. Levi's and Jacob's stories are noted in the "Early Settlers of Sangamon County, Illinois – Centennial Record" by John Carroll Power, 1876 on pages 286 and 287 and shown at Levi Dwire Ellis's Memorial #133548100. Additional information is included on Levi's wife's Memorial #133540948. Many sources show their father as Simeon Ellis and mother as Thankful Dyckman, but other research points to a wife in South Carolina named Elizabeth Coates, possibly Elizabeth Coates Mendenhall, b. 1752, and married to Simeon about 1770, making her the mother of Jacob and Levi Dwire.

Levi Dwire Ellis accompanied neighbors in South Carolina when he was 13 to their new home near Nashville, Tennessee. A few years later he sent for his mother and the rest of the family who must have arrived before 1806 since that is the year Jacob married Elizabeth Bird in Tennessee. One of their neighbors was future U.S. President Andrew Jackson. In 1818 Jacob sold two parcels of land in Wilson County, TN and headed to what would become Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois. He and Levi Dwire were two of the nine original families there and credited as being the founders of the city. [See Memorial #133540948.] Jacob lived half a mile west of Levi on the north half Sec. 15, Township 13 N, R 6W, built a horse mill and a cotton gin, and was the area's first blacksmith. In 1821, the first courthouse of Sangamon County was a log cabin standing one story high and 20 feet long which Jacob helped build and was paid $4.50 for a Judge's seat and bar. The first marriage in Fulton County was between Rebecca Ellis, Jacob's oldest daughter, and Asel Ball. 

Jacob and Levi are mentioned several times in the "History of Fulton County" by Chas. C. Chapman & Co., published 1879. Levi moved to Fulton County in 1823 and Jacob followed. The Methodists of Lewistown were among the first religious denominations to be established and worshiped in the first log court house. "The first pastor was Rev. Jacob Ellis, who built the first water-mill in the county, and also the first cotton-gin." [Page 776] The obituary for Jacob's son Thomas [Memorial #69897915] states, "The father, a sturdy pioneer, was of the Methodist faith, preaching the gospel on the Sabbath, plying the trade of blacksmith on week days and during the dull seasons teaching school in his shop." The 1825 Fulton County Census shows Jacob on Section 8, 5N3E (Lewistown) and Levi D. Ellis 7N3E (Joshua). 

Jacob was involved in an incident called the "Westerfield Defeat." The History of Fulton County notes, "Perhaps never in the history of frontier life has there occurred so broad a farce with so many of the elements of tragedy and melodrama combined." This was subsequently called "the most exciting day in Canton's pioneer history." [Pages 294 to 305] Jacob is also mentioned on page 491 - The fort was the brick dwelling of Jacob Ellis on Sec. 9, Buckheart tp., and was such at the time of Westerfield's defeat.

Jacob's first wife Elizabeth Bird, mother of fourteen children, died in 1834. He married Ann Maxwell in 1836 but she died in 1838 with no mention of any children. In 1839 he married Maria Ropes and had his final child, Isaac. Jacob died at age 72 on June 13, 1854 in Canton, Illinois. Levi died just nine months later on March 18, 1855 in Ellisville, Illinois at the age of 65.