The Eller Chronicles

WHO WAS HUGH MONTGOMERY (FATHER OF JANE REBECCA ELLER)

1. ) The community in Wilkes County where John and Savannah Kerns Eller lived and died is "Purlear." I notice it is spelled Purlears an P. 44 and Parlears on page 72. Although the community was named for a family who spelled their name Parlier, the name of the community has always been spelled Purlear. The post office is spelled Purlear...



2. ) The historical marker designating the site of the infamous Fort Hamby is on highway NC-268 a few miles west of Wilkesboro. There is no highway 52 in the area mentioned on page 54.



3. ) Present-day highway US-421 is known as the "The Boone Trail." Prior to the use of federal highway numbers, the road was NC-60. The original US-421 followed reasonably closely the route of old 60, but in some places the modern highway US-421 has been relocated three times since 1940. Anyway, NC-60 was the first modern Boone Trail. It no longer exists by that designation, and US-421 is now the Boone Trail. Again, there is no highway 52 in the area, as mentioned on p. 54.

Actually, Professor Hubbel could be more accurate than the people who named the highways, when he calls the road on which Fort Hamby historical marker is located the Boone Trail. Highway NC-268, on which the Fort Hamby historical marker is located, is on the south side of the Yadkin River. Daniel Boone's cabin is said to have been on the south side of the river. As late as the Civil War, the best road leading west from Wilkesboro was an the south side of the river, and crossed to the north side at Holman's Ford, which was not far from the site of Fort Hamby. So the trail that Daniel Boone traveled could very easily have been near the old location of old NC-268... When the Kerr Scott Dam was built... the Fort Hamby marker was moved, and the old bridge at Holman's Ford was destroyed... so today there is no way to get from the historical market, to the location of Fort Hamby except by boat. Today, one would get to the Fort Hamby site from US421.

GEORGE H. ELLER: EARLY SETTLER IN HAMILTON COUNTY, INDIANA

Jean Oliver (Mrs. Philip M.)
P.O. Box 81, Orrington, ME 04474

Letter, Dated 8 April 1991: "Recently I have gotten interested in searching through records for my ancestors. The enclosed article started the whole thing along with being in Indiana where my husband does consulting work for the Governor of Indiana. While my husband worked I spent hours at the Genealogy Division at the Indiana State Library... I have sent my check to join the EFA in hopes that I might establish a direct line of communication... George H. Eller is my great-grandmother's father. My dilemma is that I found various George Eller's mentioned but could not pin point one that said George "H.", or if he is the George Eller connected to the Leonard Eller family. I am looking forward to the May issue of the Eller Chronicles."

[Eds. We welcome Jean to the EFA and hope readers of the Chronicles will be able to help her in her search for her George H Eller. All who do Eller research know her problem well --too many Ellers with the same given names such as George, Jacob, Henry etc. Jean's problem is the same as Winnie Green who has a George Eller story also in this issue. We hope Jean will send us more on the Ellers of Indiana.]

Mr. And Mrs. Robert D. Emrick are today celebrating their golden wedding anniversary. Due to a fall in her home last June in which Mrs. Emrick suffered a fractured hip, they are observing the occasion at home in a quiet way.

Mrs. Emrick is the former Luzerba T. Farmer, whose grandfather, George H. Eller was one of the first settlers in Hamilton county, Indiana. Her mother, the oldest daughter of several children, helped her father fight Indians where they built their log cabin home on White river. As the years passed the Eller reunion was held in the early fall each year and as it continued to grow in attendance, Mr. Eller developed a park on the bank of the fiver, known as Ben Hur Park. It was in this park, at the annual Eller reunion that the wedding of Miss Farmer and Mr. Emrick took place on September 22, 1897

---- MBER 22 1947

Celebrate Golden Wedding Anniversary

Mr. And Mrs. Robert D. Emrick, above, are today celebrating their golden wedding anniversary.

The Emricks have been popular residents of Elkins since coming here from Grafton, especially among the young people. Mr. Emrick general secretary of the local YMCA, comes in contact with the youth of the city as possibly no one else in Elkins, He and Mrs. Emrick have also taught classes in the First Methodist Sunday School.

"... you may remember at the Estes Park conference I made a special plea for any one knowing of a picture or portrait of my Gr. Grandfather, John Cleveland Eller to let let me know... there was no response... last January the answer came in a very unusual and remarkable way... some of my children asked me to take them to the place of my childhood ... in Semi Valley, California where my grandfather, Jesse Franklin Eller, lost his life in a tragic accident... talking in advance of our visit to a distant relative still living there, I learned that Pat Havens, the Semi Valley City Historian, wanted to talk with me... so on Jan. 4, 1992 I met with Pat who took us to the Strathearn Historical Park and Museum of Semi Valley, CA and there on the wall of the 'Colony House' facing us were the large 16" x 24" portraits of a man and woman ... Pat said, 'take them off the wall and read what is written on the back' ...this we did and I immediately recognized my grandmother Eller's handwriting, and read, 'Mr. John C. Eller, father of Mr. Jesse F. Eller, grandfather of Roy, Alvin, and Grace' ...my father was not listed... showing this was written after his death in 1936... right there before my eyes were my great grandparents, John Cleveland and Jane Rebecca Montgomery-Eller... interestingly the portraits of my grandmother's parents, in identical frames, are hanging in another room of this old historical house... enclosed are snapshots: John C. and Jane Rebecca Montgomery... the notation on the back of the portrait of John C. ... the wall in the Colony House where their portraits hang ... exterior of the Colony House with my son Tom and daughter Becky in the foreground.

...... Photographs on following pages