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ELLIS, WILLIAM, shipbuilder, b. 1774 in England, son of Robert Ellis and Mary Handford; m. 1796 Hannah Penrose Tawton (or Totton). They had at least nine children, six sons and three daughters: the eldest son Robert either went back to England or remained there when the rest of the family emigrated to Prince Edward Island; James, John, William, Harry and George emigrated with their parents and stayed on the Island, where they worked with their father, set up their own shipyards, or farmed. Mary Ann married William Rendle or Reynolds; Agness married Edward Williams; and Sarah (Sally) married John England. Edward Williams and John England were William Ellis's apprentices .

Name: William Ellis
Spouse's Name: Hannah Tawton
Event Date: 28 Mar 1796
Event Place: Northam,Devon,England
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: M05190-1
System Origin: England-ODM
GS Film number: 917204
Reference ID:
Citing this Record "England Marriages, 1538–1973 ," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N2H6-BPB : accessed 11 May 2013), William Ellis and Hannah Tawton, 28 Mar 1796.

William Ellis—"Grandfather Ellis," as his descendants call him—was a draftsman and ship builder in Bedeford of Devon. He learned his business in the shipyards of that town where large vessels were built for the West Indian tea trade (Past and Present of PEI)

William Ellis died 25 Dec. 1855 in Port Hill, P.E.I. Hannah died January 18,1831. The gravestone in St. James Anglican Cemetery was erected later by the descendants of William and Hannah.

The Islander – Jan 4, 1856
On the 25th ultimo, at Lot 13, near Port Hill, Mr. William Ellis, sen., an old and respected inhabitant of that place, aged about 80 years.

Name William Ellis
Age 80
Residence Lot 13, Port Hill
Date of Death 1856
Source pre-1906 Death Index. Unidentified newspaper
Notes Insufficient information to trace to source; copy cannot be provided.

Preston Ellis, in his History of the Ellis Family, stated that William Ellis was the son of James Ellis and Mary Totten, and that his wife was Hanna, daughter of George Henry Penrose of London. However, the marriage record says Hannah Tawton. It seems more likely that she would have been from Devon.

Some sources:
See http://www.islandregister.com/ellis2.html for more information on the Ellis family in PEI. For William Ellis, see also his entry in the online Canadian Dictionary of Biography; Westcountrymen of Prince Edward's Isle;
Past and Present of PEI, and the History of the Ellis Family by Preston Ellis.
Roots and Branches by Pauline Millar