Cyrus Ellison

Source: Biographical Cyclopedia and Portrait Gallery

Cyrus Ellison, iron master, Ironton, Ohio, was born in Adams county, Ohio, on August 23, 1816.  His grandfather, John Ellison, with his sons and others, emigrated as a colony from Belfast, Ireland, to America, in 1786.  From Pittsburgh, they proceeded down the Ohio river by flatboat and made the third settlement in the State of Ohio at Manchester, Adams county.

In 1787, they built a block-house on the island, but the rising river drove them off, and they then erected a block-house where Manchester now stands and becomes the town’s founder in 1790.  In 1810, Andrew Ellison, an uncle of our subject, in company with others, erected what was known as the “Brush Creek Furnace” in Adams county, which was the first furnace built in Ohio.  In 1816, Andrew Ellison and James Rogers of the Pittsburg Steam Engine Company erected in that vicinity the first steam furnace built in the United States.

The father of our subject, Robert Ellison, was also largely connected with the first settlements in Ohio.  He served in the war of 1812.  He married Rebecca Lockhart of Pennsylvania and had a family of ten children, four only now living.

Cyrus Ellison is the fourth son in the family.  He was reared amid the scenes of a primitive wilderness and enjoyed only pioneer life’s social and educational advantages.  Two or three months’ annual attendance upon the early day common school constituted all his privileges in this line.

He began life for himself at seventeen as a clerk in West Union, Adams county, Ohio, where he remained for seven years, working during all this time on the scanty wages of $5 per month and board.  As often as he could save $5, he invested it in what was known as Indiana scrip, which depreciated to fifty cents on the dollar by the banks’ failing.  Some still remember this script of our old citizens as “wild cat money.”  He had at this time of the bank failure $113 thus invested.  This was a heavy stroke upon a poor boy.

At this juncture, his brother, John Ellison, came to his rescue and loaned him $1,100, with which he embarked on the mercantile business. He conducted it with very gratifying success for eleven years.  In 1853, he removed to Ironton, Lawrence county, Ohio. He became connected with the firm of Dempsey, Rodgers, & Ellison (the last-named gentleman being his brother John) as general agent for the Etna and Vesuvius furnaces.  In 1857, he became a partner in the concern under the firm name of Ellison, Dempsey & Ellison and remained until 1873.  The Lawrence Iron Works was organized in 1852.

Mr. Ellison has been connected with them since 1853, first as general agent of the business and as a partner since 1857.  The company was incorporated in 1862, and he has been its president and is now the owner of the larger part of its stock.  In 1857, it also connected with the Ohio Iron and Coal Company, by whom the town of Ironton was laid out, and is now one of the largest stockholders in the concern. 

In 1872, he was one of the organizers of the Etna Iron Works and had since been a director in the same.  This company was started with a capital stock of $1,000,000, over three-fourths of which was paid in.  They purchased Messrs. Ellison, Dempsey & Ellison, the Etna and Vesuvius furnaces, and also some seventeen thousand acres of valuable mineral land situated in Lawrence county, and proceeded to erect on the river bank, just above the city of Ironton, two more furnaces, named respectively, the Alice and the Blanche.

The Etna and Vesuvius furnaces turn out charcoal iron, and the Alice and Blanche, coke iron.  In the last two named furnaces, the iron is manufactured after the “Ferric process,” by which the coal is coked at the top of the furnace stack, and the ores calcined before being placed in the furnace.  These works are among the largest and finest in the United States, and their capacity is one hundred and fifty tons a day when employed on the native ores, but if fed with Lake Superior and Iron Mountain ores, their yield would be two hundred tons per day. 

Mr. Ellison is now the president of this company.  He was also one of the originators of the Ironton Gas Works and is the president of the same.  He is likewise a large stockholder in the First and Second National Banks of Ironton and of the Iron Railroad, which connects the rich mineral fields of Lawrence county with the Ohio river at Ironton.

Thus, Mr. Ellison has been, and still is, very prominently identified with the iron manufacturers of Lawrence county and stands at the head of the largest establishment of this kind in America.  His superior executive abilities, excellent judgment, and natural energy suit him for this responsible position.  In his business life, he has followed in the wake of his illustrious ancestors, who were the earliest pioneers in the department of iron manufacture in Ohio. 

He has been married twice.  His first wife was Elizabeth Stevenson, daughter of Charles Stevenson of Adams county, Ohio, whom he married in 1845.  She died in 1864.  In 1870, he married Mrs. Josephine Tomlinson, daughter of John Hurd, originally from Connecticut but subsequently prominently connected with the iron industries of Lawrence county, Ohio.

Mr. Ellison is a gentleman of modest, sociable, agreeable manners, and thoroughly reliable both as a businessman and a citizen.  He was one of the organization members of the Congregational Church of Ironton and is a deacon in that communion.

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I.R. June 5, 1890 – Cyrus Ellison resigned his position as trustee of the Children’s Home because of ill health.

I. R. Thursday, August 27, 1891 – 75th ANNIVERSARY – Last Monday evening, Mr. C. B. McQuigg gave an elegant tea party to his father-in-law, Mr. Cyrus Ellison, at his residence on Olive Street, on the occasion of Mr. Ellison’s 75th birthday. 

The following guests were present:  Hon. H.S. Neal, Dr. W. F. Wilson, Dr. Livesay, L. T. Dean, Prof. Eads, R. S. Dupuy, and E. Bixby.  The list will explain that it was not a dove party, but the veterans had just as good a time, notwithstanding.  We are glad Mr. Ellison’s advancing days are made bright by such a happy occasion.

I.R. July 21, 1892 – Cyrus Ellison is at Norfolk, Va., spending a few days with Geo. T. Scott and family.

I.R. Dec. 17, 1896 – Cyrus Ellison was walking in his backyard last Saturday morning when he fell on some rough boards and badly bruised his face and chest.  He had been weak for a few days, and his strength suddenly failed him. He had a similar fall a few days before.  He is sitting up and going about the house but is quite weak.

I.R. February 18, 1897 – DEATH OF CYRUS ELLISON – Last Tuesday morning at 3 o’clock, Cyrus Ellison breathed his last.  He had been on the decline for a long time, but so gradual and gentle was the descent that at the final moment, the mind was clear and the outlook bright.

The death of Mr. Ellison has taken away one of the best-known figures of this community. He came here in 1854 and has dwelt ever since, much of the time being prominently connected with the community’s business.  He was a man of Christian life and church connection, one of the organizers of the Congregational church, and a steadfast member until his death.  He was a man of strong convictions and, at all times, fearless in their expression.  He had a warm heart and was generous to the needy and afflicted.

Mr. Ellison was born on August 22, 1816, in his 81st year.  There he was schooled and, an early day, went into the dry goods business, in which he was engaged when he left Adams County to come to Ironton, which he reached in November 1854.  His brother, John Ellison, was a member of the firm of Rodgers, Dempsey & Ellison, which operated Etna and Vesuvius furnaces and the Lawrence mill. 

With that firm, he became connected as an agent and bought their supplies and sold their product.  He lived in the brick house on the south corner of Second and Hecla streets.  Besides being the agent of Etna and Vesuvius furnaces, Mr. Ellison was at various times President of the Lawrence Mill Co., of the Iron Railroad Co. of the Ironton Gas Co., He was also a director in the Ohio Iron & Coal Co., the Second National Bank and of the Etna Iron Works Co.

He was up to the past ten years, a very busy man.  He was faithful to his trusts and devoted every energy to whatever duties he assumed.  At one time, he was quite well off, but his fortune dwindled through Etna, the Lawrence mill, and declining values so that the scant insurance on his life is all he leaves to those he loves. 

In 1864, his wife died, and in February 1871, he married Mrs. Glidden, who survived him.  She and two daughters that remain, Mrs. George T. Scott and Mrs. C. B. McQuigg, were at the bedside when the good old man entered into his final reward.  The funeral services will occur at the Congregational church this Thursday afternoon at 2 o’clock.

I.R. Thursday, Feb. 25, 1897 – MR. ELLISON’S FUNERAL – The services took place at the Congregational Church last Thursday afternoon in the presence of a large congregation.  Mr. Ellison’s pew was draped in mourning, and the altar was heavily draped. 

The pastor led the services, the Rev. Mr. Manville, who gave a brief sketch of the deceased’s life, after which Mrs. Minnie Bixby sang most beautifully “Sometimes we will Understand;” Rev. Hampton and Pearce offered prayers.  The former also read an appropriate poem.  The exercises closed with another impressive solo, “Abide with Me,” by Mrs. Bixby. 

The casket was then borne from the church by the pallbearers, Messrs. E. Bixby, H. C. Burr, R. S. Dupuy, Dr. E. C. Sloan, Dr. Livesay, and Col. H. A. Marting, and the long cortege took up its solemn march to Woodland. Thereafter a prayer by the pastor, the remains were deposited in an evergreen-lined grave in the presence of many sorrowing friends. 

And now, in the sweet silence of Woodland, this good old man rests among the other pioneers of the community who have gone before, and their names mingle in sacred memory for the kindly and useful lives they lived when they were the leading and active spirits of this community.

HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY – CYRUS ELLISON – was born in Adams County on August 16, 1816, the son of Robert Ellison, the third son of John Ellison, who emigrated from Ireland in 1785.  Robert Ellison was married to Rebecca Lockhart.  He was a soldier in the War of 1812.  He had a family of ten children, his son Cyrus being the fourth son and the youngest but one.

The children were reared as all children of pioneer families were, and our subject had only such advantages of schools of that day offered.  He was, however, a great reader and student so far as he could obtain books.  He believed “that out of wisdom came to the issues of life.” 

He began the world for himself at seventeen years as a clerk in West Union, where he remained until the age of twenty-four at a salary of five dollars a month and his board.  He saved his money which he invested in Indiana Scrip, then known as “wild-cat money.”

The failure of the banks which issued the scrip depreciation his capital and gave him a severe blow, but his brother, John Ellison, loaned him $1,100, and he invested it in the mercantile business at Manchester. He managed to make and save a considerable amount of money.  On September 11, 1845, he married Miss Elizabeth Stevenson, daughter of Charles Stevenson, one of the prominent pioneers of Adams County, who had emigrated from County Donegal, Ireland.  He maintained his home in Adams County until 1853, when he removed to Ironton, in Lawrence County, and became associated with the firm of Dempsey, Rogers & Ellison, the latter being John Ellison, his brother.

This partnership owned Aetna and Vesuvius Furnaces, and he became their general agent until 1857 when he became a partner, the name of the firm being Ellison, Dempsey & Ellison.  When the Lawrence iron Works Company began business in 1852, Mr. Ellison was its manager. When that company was incorporated in 1862, he became its president until he retired from active business.

In 1857, he was one of the stockholders in the Ohio Iron & Coal Company, by which the town of Ironton was laid out. In 1872, he was one of the organizers of the famous Aetna Iron Works, at that time, the largest iron furnaces in the United States.  Mr. Ellison was a director in this company and, at one time, its president.  It was purchased from the Ellison, Dempsey & Ellison Company, the old Aetna and Vesuvius furnaces, and seventeen thousand acres of valuable timber and mineral land in Lawrence County.

Mr. Ellison was one of the original stockholders of the Ironton Gas Company and its president from January 25, 1876, to January 25, 1881.  He was also a stockholder in the First National Bank at Ironton, Ohio.  His brother, John Ellison, was one of the builders of the Iron Railroad, which connected the rich mineral fields of Lawrence County with the Ohio River at Ironton.  He was president of this road from 1859 to 1879.

In 1872, ten gentlemen, including Mr. Ellison and his brother John Ellison, met in the former’s home, organized the First Congregational Church of Ironton, and built the present handsome structure.  This church was dedicated without debt, owing to the liberality of the men who organized it.  Mr. Ellison, from the habit of extensive reading, kept up during his entire life, was a well-read man.  He was a most entertaining conversationalist and always interested in current events, even in his last days.  He was fond of traveling, and until the infirmities of age disabled him, he traveled a great deal.

From the time he came of age until the organization of the Republican party, he was a Whig.  While he was never ambitious for or sought office, he took a great interest in political matters.  He was a leader in all enterprises for the benefit or development of his city and county and was prominently identified with all the iron interests of Lawrence County. 

His superior executive ability, excellent judgment, and natural discernment were the conditions of his success.  In all the positions of trust that he occupied, and they were many, he discharged his duties with great ability and to the satisfaction of all those who had business connections with him.

He was a man of fine personal presence, about six feet, two inches tall, and well-proportioned.  He had fine regular features, light hair, a flowing beard, a ruddy complexion, and deep blue eyes.  In his associations with his fellow men, he evinced great natural dignity, and his presence impressed strangers on sight that he was a man of importance, which was strictly true.  Socially, he was much liked by all who knew him, of genial manners, and a gentleman of the old school. 

From his first marriage, there were three daughters, Frances, who died in infancy; Mary Adelaide, who married John Thornton Scott, son of Robert Scott. She has two sons, young men who distinguished themselves in the late Spanish War.  His third daughter, Rosa, is the wife of Charles Brunell McQuigg, son of the late Colonel McQuigg, of Ironton.

He was an officer in the Ironton Regiment, 8th O.V.I., during the Spanish War.  Cyrus Ellison’s first wife died in 1864, and in 1870, he was married to Miss Josephine Glidden, who survived him. Mr. Ellison was, at one time, the possessor of great wealth, but owing to the shrinkage of iron, his investments were lost, and at the time of his death, only his life insurance was left of all he had accumulated.  He died on the sixteenth of February 1897 at the ripe age of eighty years.

He left behind the memory of a life full of wonderful energy, a long vista of useful, happy years, and his bright and cheerful old age was crowned with his good work fully completed.  His last years were cheered by the presence and companionship of his grateful and devoted daughters.  He was interred at Woodlawn [sic] (should be Woodland), near Ironton, but his memory will remain green, sweet, and precious in the hearts of all those who knew and respected and loved him for his virtues.