Celia Lorena Ellis

David Peterson and Celia Lorena Ellis

My maternal grandmother, Celia Lorena Ellis, who went by Lorena, was born near Shelby in Cleveland County, North Carolina on Feb. 20, 1905. Given that her appearance in the first two census' of her life were both in a part of Township 3 (referred to as 'Rippys'), she may have been born there instead. But the whole township is just south of Shelby, and includes Earl and Patterson Springs. Rippys is more of a substitute name for Township 3, probably named so due to the many Rippy/Rippey families in the area.

She tried her best to protect her five children from her husband and eventually left once they were grown. Her life was never easy, ever. Cotton defined her life. She and her children were sharecroppers, and later she found steadier work in the cotton mill.

Lorena had a grandfather Zenas Alonzo Ellis who married a Hannah Rippey, and so did one of his sons, her uncle William E. Ellis. They and another uncle John Rickman Ellis all lived near each other, served by the Swangs Post Office. This facility was later renamed to Patterson Springs.

Lorena's father, Joseph Briscoe Ellis, presumably lived either in an existing Ellis house or a newer house built nearby. Unfortunately census records from 1910 don't have any geographic markers. Best guess is somewhere near Zenas Alonzo Ellis' house.

Zenas Alonzo Ellis' father was Benjamin James Ellis who married Mary Polly Hopper. Zenas' brothers Charles Heberton Ellis and John Rickman Ellis built the Ellis bridge using around 80 slaves, right before the Civil War (that's the story, although uncorroborated). After the war, and after a flood washed out the bridge, they started what became known as the Ellis Ferry which served the route between Gaffney, South Carolina and Shelby, North Carolina.

Benjamin Ellis' father was James R. Ellis, Sr., who married Margaret Peggy Hopper. James was the original settler in the area shortly after the American Revolution, at one point owning over 400 acres, which was most of the land between Shelby and Buffalo Creek.

On Lorena's mother’s side of the family, the Allens, her great-grandmother was a Camp. This line goes back to at least 1480 in England, with the family name being present there as far back as 1300. It is through this line that my wife, Bronwyn Rees, and myself, Glenn Edward Dixon, are related.