My Family Tree

The Islander – Apr 4, 1862 Married. At St. Eleanor’s, on the 24th ult., by Archdeacon Read, D.D., Mr. Robert Ellis, of Springfield, Lot 7, to Miss Harriet Rayner, of Township 19.

Children in the PEI Baptismal Index for Robert and Harriet were: Robert Heber (1866); Sarah Jane (1868); Eliza Harriet (1870); Hugh (1872). At least two daughters died young died young, or diphtheria - Lorono and Eliza. Summerside Journal 1 April 1880, page 3, col. 2, from PEI Ancestry.

In the 1881 census, Robert and Harriet were in Lot 6 with Robert H (14), Hugh (9), Lucinda (7) and Drucie (2). Sarah is also assumed to have died before 1881, because of this census record and the number of daughters who survived Harriet. Harriet died in 1884, leaving two daughters and three sons. Robert married again, to Annie Waite.

Examiner May 1885 On May 7th by the Rev. D. H. Lodge, at the residence of the groom, Robert Ellis, Esq , merchant at O'Leary, to Miss Annie Waite, of Lot 7.

In 1891, Robert (56) and Annie (52) were living with Hugh A. (17), Drucie (12) Garfield 8, Lorena 5, George 3 and Harry, 2. Robert and Annie were living with Lorena, George, Harry, Jessie, Robert and Nelly in 1901.

Robert's gravestone says 1912, but a transcription of his obituary was dated 1914. The marriage notice for his daughter Jessie's marriage in 1913 said daughter of Mr and Mrs Robert Ellis of O'Leary, not the late Mr. Robert Ellis.

Robert wrote his will in Oct 1913.
Real estate to son Robert
$500 to son Garfield, to daughter Drucie Arbuckle of Portland Oregon
His organ to daughter Nellie; Robert is to provide her with a home until she is 21
$250 each to grandsons Ralph Ellis and John Robert Ellis
Wife Ann to have a comfortable home
George W. Ellis was an executor

Information taken from Past and Present of PEI, biography of Robert Ellis and other sources. From Threads of the Past, the history of O'Leary:

James' son, B. Robert Ellis, Sr., was born at Bideford, Prince Edward Island. In 1876 he moved to O'Leary and in 1903 became postmaster and magistrate. He purchased four hundred acres of land which constituted the southern half of the village of O'Leary. His first wife was Harriet Raynor of O'Leary and his second was Annie Waite, also of O'Leary. From these two unions, eleven children were born. B. Robert gave four of his sons one hundred acres of land each to start them off.

B. Robert Ellis had by his first wife Harriet Raynor, a son (from the dates, his mother was probably Annie), Garfield. He was born in O'Leary and graduated from the Canadian College of Pharmacy. He set up a drugstore in his cousin's (L. Robert) store. Later he moved to Montague and formed the Ellis Pharmacy Limited which he ran for ten years and set up a branch drugstore in O'Leary. He married Pansy MacFarlane and later moved to Washington , U.S.A., where he established a drug business. His older brother, Allison (aged 20), had drugstores in Montague, Charlottetown, and then Lashburn, Saskatchewan.