Administrative Information

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Preferred Citation

Ellison Family Papers, Accession #2013.8.26, Roanoke Public Libraries, Roanoke, VA

Acquisition Information

Donated by Beirne Ellison

Biographical Information

Mr. Beirne Ellison was born August 29, 1870 in the community of Forest Hills in Summers County, West Virginia. Ellison worked a teacher in the 1890s. He was often referred to as Professor Ellison. In 1900 he served as the principal of the Pembroke Grammar School in Kimbalton, Virginia. When Ellison was not teaching during the summers, he was employed in resort hotels. He managed the Mountain Lake Hotel in Giles County, Virginia for nearly 20 years. For a short while, Ellison also managed the Blue Ridge Springs Hotel in Botetourt County, Virginia. Ellison was offered a position by Union Mutual Life Insurance Company in Richmond, Virginia in 1909, but only relocated to Roanoke, Virginia in 1920, where he was the district agent for Union Mutual Life Insurance Co. Ellison passed away at the age of 83 on February 27, 1954. Charles L. Ellison and Leona B. Ellison (born Hobbs) were the parents of Beirne Ellison, as well as the parents of Beirne’s siblings, sister Cora, and brothers Orley, Earl, Webb (Webbie), and Ira Ellison. Beirne Ellison was first married to Gracie (or Grace) Ellison, who died in September 1908. Beirne Ellison married his second wife Nannie (or Nancy, born Nannie M. Givens) Ellison in September 1910. Beirne had an Aunt Blane (also Blaine), but the exact family relationship was not determined. Beirne Ellison’s father Charles Ellison was a teacher, who acted as an attorney and served as the county superintendent of schools in 1875. Charles Ellison was designated as the administrator of the estate of Jordan Lively, who was a property owner and whiskey distiller. Beirne Ellison’s mother Leona Ellison, who died in 1894, had three sisters, Jane, Lizzie and Belle, and two brothers, William and Benton Hobbs. Beirne’s wife Nannie Ellison’s mother was named Mertie A. (or Martha) Slusser (or Sluser or Schusser). Apparently Beirne Ellison had four children, a son Marcus (or Mark) Ellison, and three daughters, Mary and Martha Ellison, twins, and Nancy Ellison. Marcus Ellison married De Lila Hayes in 1926.

Scope and Content

This collection is arranged into four main series, and seven subseries, in seven record storage boxes for a total of 10.25 linear feet. The first series is documents and records, which includes official records, lists, receipts, summons, deeds, wills, certificates, financial documents, bank deposits, cancelled checks, and tax statements. The second series is miscellaneous manuscripts, such as notebooks, poems and other non-correspondence of a non-official nature. The third series is published and printed materials. The fourth series is Ellison family correspondence and other correspondence, which is further divided into subseries for the correspondence of Beirne Ellison’s parents Charles L. and Leona B. Ellison, for Beirne Ellison himself, with separate subseries for personal and for business and professional correspondence, for the correspondence of his wives Gracie and Nannie, and finally for the miscellaneous correspondence of other relatives and associates. Apparently Beirne Ellison compiled or retained this collection himself, a collection which includes correspondence, cards, and miscellaneous documents from his family and friends and family associates. The bulk of the materials in the collection were gathered from the 1880s to the early1900s. A few of the documents go back to the ante-bellum period of the nineteenth century, one dated as early as 1838. Among the documents and records are various lists and certificates, including articles of agreement for teaching, teachers’ certificates, church subscriptions, school term and monthly reports, and a wedding invitation for the marriage of Nannie Givens and Beirne Ellison on September 1, 1910. Other documents in the collection are receipts, bank statements, cancelled checks, petitions, articles of financial agreement and copies of deeds, including a deed from Mary F. Huffman to C. A. Sanders. Also among the documents and records are bills of lading and shipping orders, payment agreement notes, a lottery list, a lumber price list, and a railway schedule and train order. There is a menu from the Mountain Lake Hotel, tailor’s measurements for Floyd Snidow, school grades, reports and surveys, various summonses, and a packet of C.O.D. orders for Beirne Ellison. One ante-bellum tax receipt lists the tax paid on a slave. Charles Ellison, Beirne’s father, was a man of substance in West Virginia and Virginia. He was involved in many 19th century business deals and acted as the administrator of the estate of Jordan Lively, who was a property owner and whiskey distiller, whose last will and testament is among the documents. There is also a copy of the will of Samuel Huffman. Many of Charles Ellison’s accounts and business and tax records are included in this collection, as are records from his associates, and some of his correspondence. Manuscripts are varied and include ledger books, notebooks, notes, marginalia, school papers, tests and assignments, poems, and other writings. Many of the notebooks include numerous inserts of various sorts, but have not been disturbed and were left as discovered. Non-official documents and non-correspondence were all included in this category. Publications and printed materials include a large run of church bulletins from 1932 to 1940, the bulk of which are from 1932 to 1938. There are several complete and incomplete books. School grammars, textbooks and atlases are among the publications in the collection. There are brochures, including promotional literature on Mountain Lake and Mountain Lake Hotel, booklets, political flyers, catalogs, a miniature almanac, and a cookbook. Advertising is well represented, both as contents of letters (that is as “junk mail� and enclosures) in the correspondence series, and separate as printed matter in the published and printed materials series. Some of the advertising and promotional literature relates to publications of interest to teachers and educators, and other advertising is aimed at the business of hotel management, farming, or property management in general. Beirne Ellison kept his father Charles Ellison’s personal, professional and business correspondence, which extends from about the end of the civil war until the 1880’s. Charles Ellison’s correspondents included W.W. Adams, J.H. Alderson, F.B. Baber, W.W. Baker, R.G. Ballinger, C.E. Black, Richard Burke, John Casden, Jonathan M. Davis, J.W. Davis, R.L. Deeds, H.M. Dickinson, E.G. Duncan, E.L. Dunn, D.C. Gallaher, William W. Johnson, R.B. Lively, J.D. Logan, R.M. McClelland, John C. McNeer, C.L. and W.W. Rance, William M. Reynolds, Fleming Sanders, J.S. Schumate, A.G. Tabbetts, and C.L. Thompson. Leona Ellison, Beirne Ellison’s mother, maintained an extensive correspondence with relatives, friends, and various associates. She wrote many letters to and received many letters from her brothers Benton Hobbs and William Hobbs, and her sisters Lizzie and Jane. Leona also received numerous missives from Isaac M. Brogles, J.L. Broyles, Mary Crawford, E.L. Dunn (a cousin), Harriet D. Ellison, J.W. Francis, L.P. Hobbs (a nephew), Martha Johnston, A.L. Keadle (an uncle), J.D. Logan, Gracie Lowe (a cousin), Joshua Lowe, J.P. McNutt, E.H. Peck, Horace G. Peck (a nephew), A.J. Skaggs (a dentist), J.D. Thrasher (a physician), John Wanamaker, S. W. Willey, and Jennie Wilson. Beirne Ellison’s earliest surviving letters were written to his mother and are located with the subseries for her correspondence. His personal correspondence begins with letters from the late nineteenth century and continues into the 1930s. Among his family and other associated correspondents are C.L. and Anna E. Boone, E.P. Buchanan, W.H. Buchanan, Julia W. Bullard, Blanche Carroll, Charles Carroll, Nancy A. Dun, Lora Epling, Clarence Fisher, J.H. Gillispie, Sam Gillispie, Emma B. Hale, Hugh Hodge Hill, J.B. Hobbs (Belle’s husband), W.H. Jones, L.D. Keadle, C.L. King, Mrs. E.L. Landrum, Fay Martin, Julia F. May, Fannie A. McLaurey, C.E. Miller, F.C. Nunemacher, C.A. Peck, C.J. Peck, Duke Putney, Eva R. Robinson, Joseph and Mrs. J. Robinson, L.D. Shumate, George L. Smith, Floyd E. Snidow, Frank M. Snidow, Frank P. Snidow, L. B. Snidow, Ethel Snidow (Mrs. L.B. Snidow), Florence W. Thompson, W.B. Thompson, Florence Wells, Nannie S. White, C.A. Worley, Harvey B. Worley, and Mrs. L. Young. There are times when Beirne Ellison’s personal and business or professional letters overlap, so there is not always a clear distinction between these series. Beirne Ellison included business and professional matters in some personal correspondence, and vice versa. Beirne Ellison collected his business and professional correspondence as a teacher, hotel manager and property owner. Among these letters is extensive correspondence about Mountain Lake Hotel with H.E. Dorland (circa 1899-1912), T. Gilbert Porterfield (circa 1900-1909) and others. Other business correspondents include J.D. Bolton, Walter H. Boude, Daisie Buchanan, G.L. and Mrs. G.L. Collins, J.E. Coalter, Lyman Denison, J.E. Dunklee, E.L. Dunn, Charles E. Eckerle, W.J. Finley, Frederic J. Haskin, Mrs. J.C. Heaberlin, Belle G. Hobbs (his aunt), S.F. Humphreys, A.P. Huffman, D.P. Hylton, B.F. Johnson, Nannie Keister, G. L. Kinsley, C.W. Lowe, Mrs. C.W. Lowe, M.E.C. Merriman, C. H. Pack, G.J. Porterfield, W.S. Rogers, L. B. Rowan, M.J. Sanders, M.A. Smythe, John Stickler, Bettie St. Clair, Paul S. Stonesifer, J. H. Walken, Charles Wilkerson, and J. W. Younger. Gracie Ellison’s collected correspondence is mostly addressed to her husband Beirne and spans the period from 1899 to 1902. Nannie Ellison’s correspondence goes back to her life before marrying Beirne Ellison. She has an extensive correspondence with her mother Mertie A. Slusser and other relatives and friends. Her correspondents include an old boyfriend, William J. (Willie) Shelburne, as well as others such as J.A. Campbell, Cora Harper, Lelia Hunter, Lotta McPherson, Hester Price, Mattie Pearle Shelburne, and Clara Warner. Her letters also include correspondence with her husband Beirne and their daughters Mary and Martha. The miscellaneous correspondence includes general mailings to Mountain Lake Hotel as well as correspondence to and from relatives and associates such as Martha Ellison (daughter of Beirne), Webb Ellison (brother of Beirne), Haven Hoge, Jordan Lively, Calvin Moss, Fleming Sanders, and Joseph Patton. Some of the other names that appear among the materials as subjects and correspondents, relatives, friends and associates include: F.E. Atkins, W.H. Ballard, W.S. Beasley, Phebe S. Bell, Lila Bridges, Phil F. Brown, Lacy Crawford, D. L. Duncan, P.B. Durham, J.B. Elkins, J. Taylor Ellyson, G.C. Foster, S.M. Goldsmith, Edward S. Green, Wallace G. Hale, H.H. Hawkins, W.C. Henderson, William Hinchman, G. Hinton, Samuel Hinton, Nancy Hitchens, S.P. Hobbs, Mrs. Ray H. Jester, James Jowett, Ruth Jowett, Mary D. Long, Fleming Lowe, Joshua Lowe, L.C. Lucas, John Lynn, Helen Mason, J.P. McNutt, Thomas Miller, Horace G. Peck, Alice Lemon Price, G.B. Price, C. H. Pritchard, Louise M. Schmidt, Lilia Smith, L.W. Snidow, Alex Turnstall, and Jennie Wilson. There was no order to the materials, as they were received. All of the items in the collection were individually arranged chronologically, from 1938 to 1940. Letters in envelopes were left folded in the envelopes. Letters without envelopes were flattened. Each item was sorted into categories based on the following schema:

Arrangement

The documents are arranged by series and further arranged chronologically within the series. There was no original order to the documents. They were sorted first chronologically, and then arranged by logical series according to types of materials. The arrangement follows the following order: Documents and Records; Manuscripts; Publications and Printed Materials; Charles L. Ellison Correspondence; Leona B. Ellison Correspondence; Beirne Ellison Personal Correspondence; Beirne Ellison Business and Professional Correspondence; Gracie Ellison Correspondence; Nannie Ellison Correspondence; and Miscellaneous Correspondence.