Jesse Bailey Ellis was born around 1842 in Ohio to John Ellis and Hannah Barnes. His father was a carpenter. The family lived in New Athens, Ohio, until the 1850s, when they moved to Barnesville, Ohio. By 1860, Ellis was working as a tobacco tier. He enlisted in the Union army on July 15, 1863, and mustered in as a private in Eaton’s Ohio Volunteer Company on August 18. He was promoted to corporal on October 10, 1863, and in February 1864, he transferred to Company D of the 60^th Ohio Infantry.

 

He took part in the Battle of the Wilderness, the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, the Battle of Cold Harbor, and the siege of Petersburg. He mustered out on January 25, 1865. He applied for a federal pension in February 1865 and secured one soon afterwards. Ellis returned to Barnesville after the war, and by 1870, he was working as a carpenter. He married Harriet Stotler in Belmont County, Ohio, on November 30, 1879, and they had at least six children: John, born around 1880; Homer, born around 1882; Clyde, born around 1884; Mary, born around 1886; Frank, born around 1890; and Walter, born around 1896. By 1900, he was working as a blacksmith. He died in Barnesville in 1901.

SOURCES