Individual Details

(John William) Irvin Ellis was born Christmas Day, 1885, in the little town of Woodland, Summit County, Utah. John was the fifth child of an English immigrant, David Moroni Ellis, and a farm girl from Clayton County, Georgia, USA, Sophronia Ann Jackson. In 1886, John's family moved to Castle Valley, then Wellington, Utah. John's father worked as a farmer, then a freighter and a logger,and then a stagecoach driver, and played the fiddle at town dances. Irvin attended the town school and enjoyed playing baseball. He became good at pitching, but his parents discouraged him from trying out for the leagues because "he would be in the wrong environment." As a young man, Irvin and his brother Tom worked on the Bryce Ranch. An active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Irvin decided to serve a mission for the church. In 1910, Irvin went to the Central States Mission, headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, where he served for 18 months. Irvin then worked at his sister's farm in Canada, where he met a lovely lady named Margaret Emma Bennett. Irvin and Margaret were married in 1913, in the Salt Lake Temple. The couple moved to Storrs, Carbon County, Utah, where Irvin found a job driving horse teams for the coal company. In Storrs, two little daughters were born to Irvin and Margaret. The second, Amy, died of Pneumonia as a baby. About 1920, Irvin got a job servicing train engines with the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. He liked this job, but lost it when he refused to join the labor union. At this time, twin daughters had been born in this family. The family moved to a mining camp called Standardville, where Irvin's last daughter was born. The family moved to Price, Utah, where Irvin found work running a dairy farm. Irvin also continued to work at mining camps. Irvin and his family struggled through the Great Depression. Irvin lost his work at the mining camps, when they closed down, and began working at sheep farms instead. In 1943, Irvin and Margaret sold their place in Price, and moved to a two-acre spot, with fruit trees, a garden, and a cow, in Salt Lake City, to be near their daughters, who had all graduated from high school and found work in the city. Irvin began working for the Union Pacific Railroad in the freight office, where he worked until his retirement in 1957. At retirement, Irvin and Margaret sold the cow and much of their land for a sub-division, keeping their fruit trees and garden. Irvin's daughters all went on to live successful,lives. Two attended the University of Utah. One served in the U.S. Navy during WWII as a WAVE (Women Accepted for Voluntary Service), one served a mission for the LDS Church. All four daughters married and raised families. Irvin was a faithful, loving, hard-working man who cared for his family through trying times.

Birth	25 Dec 1885	Woodland, Summit County, Utah
Marriage	3 Oct 1913	Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah - Margaret Emma Bennett
Death	13 Aug 1963	Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah
Burial	17 Aug 1963	Lake Hills Cemetery, Sandy, Salt Lake County, Utah

Spouse

Margaret Emma Bennett (1894 - 1968)

Father	David Moroni Ellis (1859 - 1928)
Mother	Sophronia Ann Jackson (1864 - 1935)
Sibling	Earl Moroni Ellis (1880 - 1892)
Sibling	Martha Minerva Ellis (1882 - 1928)
Sibling	Bertha Sophronia Ellis (1884 - 1964)
Sibling	Thomas Raymond Ellis (1884 - 1968)
Sibling	Loretta Jane Ellis (1888 - 1965)
Sibling	David Henry Ellis (1890 - 1981)
Sibling	Mary Pearl Ellis (1892 - 1975)
Sibling	Grace Murl Ellis (1894 - 1982)
Sibling	Fanny Lynn Ellis (1896 - 1900)
Sibling	Asa Lynwood Ellis (1902 - 1992)
Sibling	Eva Marie Ellis (1904 - 1985)
Sibling	Elwin Demar Ellis (1908 - 1981)
Sibling	Ross Willard Ellis (1910 - 1982)

Notes