Eleazor married three times and had a total of nine children. In 1850, Ellis married Harriet Sovina Gilbert. They had two children before she died in 1854. Ellis then married Eliza D. Chappel in 1858. They had seven children before her death in 1878. In 1881, he married Ruth K. Gillette.[1]
Ellis studied law under Henry S. Baird, who had been Attorney General of the Wisconsin Territory.[3] He was admitted to practice law in the Wisconsin Territory at age 21, in 1847, and opened an office in Manitowoc. In 1851, he returned to Green Bay. Over the next twenty years he was a successful lawyer in the city forming a series of partnerships—with William H. Norris, George G. Greene, Samuel D. Hastings, W. J. Green, and H. J. Fenbee.[1]
Ellis was elected Wisconsin circuit court judge in 1871, without opposition,[4] and served seven years, resigning in 1879 due to poor health and low wages. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 1868 and 1891. Ellis served as Mayor of Green Bay in 1860. Later, he was Postmaster of Green Bay from 1896 to 1900 and Register of Deeds of Brown County, Wisconsin.[5]
^Berryman, John R. (1898). "The Tenth Circuit, Its Judges and Lawyers". History of the Bench and Bar of Wisconsin. Vol. 2. H. C. Cooper, Jr. pp. 433–434. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
^Cunningham, Thomas J., ed. (1893). "Part III. Election statistics". The Blue Book of the state of Wisconsin (Report). State of Wisconsin. p. 308. Retrieved January 15, 2020.
