Robert Ellyson

Ellyson's origins are disputed. While he may have been born between 1615 and 1620 in Lanarkshire, Scotland, neither this date range, precise location, nor his parentage have been confirmed.[1][2] Ellyson's descendant, Elizabeth Allison Ervin, claimed in her family bible in the late 18th century that he was the son of Robert Allison and Sarah (née Spence) Allison, although the validity of this claim is questioned.[3]

Ervin also asserts that Ellyson's paternal grandparents were John Allison and Ellin (née Hamilton) Allison, and that following their marriage they emigrated from Lanark to Virginia prior to 1625.[3] While a John Ellison arrived in the colony aboard the Prosperous and his wife, Ellin, on the Charitie about 1623, a familial connection to Robert Ellyson has not been verified.[4]

Biographer Douglas W. Ellyson Wagner attested in an article published in the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography that Ellyson was descended from Robert Elysson of Northumberland, England, and that he was a cousin of Robert Ellison, an influential member of the Merchant Adventurers of Newcastle upon Tyne and the Parliament of England. Wagner also proposed that he gained a "considerable eduction," although no evidence has been found to substantiate these claims.[5]

Ellyson initially appears in the tax levy for Saint Mary’s Hundred, Maryland of August 2, 1642, which assessed him to pay thirty pounds of tobacco as taxation. In September of that year, he appears in nearby Kent County, where he may also have owned land. Identified as a “barber-chirurgeon” in January 1643, Ellyson attended to patients on Kent Island. He sued several of his patients who failed to pay for his medical services. Payments were often quantities of tobacco, ranging from 250 pounds of tobacco from Henry Brooks or 190 pounds from John Dandy to 1,156 pounds from Sir Edmond Ployden.[1]

During his residency in Virginia, Ellyson testified that he attended to Fortune Perkins when he received wounds on his arms and sides and a dislocated shoulder. In August 1661, he treated Perkins by reducing his shoulder, and he affirmed he did not how Perkins acquired his injuries. Prior to being received by Ellyson, Perkins had become the subject of an altercation in York County led by Benjamin Rucker, in which an incited multitude encouraged him by shouting "Beat out his eyes and do not let him breathe."[6] In 1657, Ellyson received as a bequest from his friend and fellow physician, Doctor Henry Waldron of York County, "all my Library and Books whatsoever in this country and my horse together with my chest of physicall means."[7][5]

Elected as sheriff of St. Mary’s County, Ellyson assumed office in January 1643. His tenure lasted less than two months, until February 9, 1643. During his service as sheriff, he investigated the case of treason of Richard Ingle, who later spearheaded an uprising against Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, the proprietary colony's Catholic governor, during the Plundering Time (1644–1646). Ellyson's final mention in Maryland was in February 1644.[8]

By 1646, Ellyson had moved to York County, Virginia where he was listed as a lawyer.[9] He settled several estates and claimed 1,030 pounds from Robert Jackson. During the 1650s, he resided in Jamestown and surrounding James City and Gloucester counties. In 1657, he was listed as a Gloucester County justice and served as High Sheriff of James City County around this time.[2] He was elected to the House of Burgesses, the lower house of the General Assembly of Virginia, to represent the electoral constituency of James City County during the 1655-56 session, which convened in March 1654-55 and adjourned on March 10, 1655-56 and December 1, 1656. During this assembly, he served on the Leavie and Private Causes committees.[10]

In March 1660, Ellyson re-elected as a burgess and was appointed to a committee to act during the recess of the assembly under the direction of William Berkeley.[11] In the same year, he was selected to serve with Walter Chiles on a Virginia Governor's Council and General Assembly committee to draft plans for the construction of the third state house at Jamestown. Ellyson and members of the committee selected a site subsequently adjoining property owned by Philip Ludwell and Robert Beverely Jr. in 1694.[8]

Bruton Parish, formed from Marston and Middletown parishes in 1674.[12]

On March 23, 1661-62, Peter Beverley noted Ellyson engaged in a dispute with Joseph Croshaw concerning the boundaries of Marston and Middle Plantation parishes. The debate concluded when the assembly ordered the boundaries to remain in accordance with York County legislation from August 25, 1656.[13] On September 11, 1663, he was appointed to a committee to examine the elections of burgesses, and on September 19 of that year he inspected the burgesses of the "king of Potomack."[13] To resolve a boundary dispute that had arisen on the Pocomoke River in Somerset County, Maryland, he accompanied Edmund Scarborough to Manakin to consult other commissioners.[2][8] While he actively participated in the local militias and was referred to as Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel, Captain, and Major, documentation concerning his military engagements are lacking.[8]

Following a patent for 577 acres on August 26, 1657, Ellyson increased his acquisitions by securing 377 acres in New Kent County on the narrows of the York River adjoining the landholdings of George Chapman, William Cox, and John Hope by importing a headright of 12 indentured servants. Subsequently, this property was granted to Robert Priddy, who later sold it to Edward White, who deserted it and consequently left it transferred to the New Kent County Court. In addition to these holdings, Ellyson also obtained a 200-tract on a branch of Birchen Swamp in James City County.[5] Following his death, several of his holdings were re-patented by his eldest son and heir, Gerrard Robert Ellyson.[8] His additional property included land on Ware Creek, which he had secured by the 1660s.[14]

Ellyson appeared to have been closely acquainted with Henry Soane, Speaker of the House of Burgesses.[5] On March 10, 1653, he is listed as a headright of Soanes for a 200-acre patent in Gloucester County on the Mattaponi River along with John Walton, William Morgan, and Daniel Whitby.[15] On March 25, 1656, he is listed among 32 of Soane's headrights for a 2,800-acre patent in New Kent County on the Mattaponi River.[15] Subsequently, he assigned 1,200 acres on the Mattaponi River to him.[15] Considering Ellyson had previously risen to prominence in Virginia by the 1650s, it has been suggested that Ellyson illegally assisted Soane in securing the aforementioned properties by arranging his inclusion in Soane's headrights.[5]

Ellyson married Elizabeth (née unknown) in 1642. While it has been suggested that she was the daughter of Thomas Gerrard, a noted Catholic physician from Maryland, due to the first name of her eldest son, no documentation confirms that connection between the two families. Ellyson’s wife was a sponsor at the baptism of William Randolph, the son of Henry Randolph, on October 24, 1658.[16] They had three children who survived into adulthood, namely Hannah (1644–1728), Gerrard Robert (1656–1749), and Eleanor (1665–1722). Gerrard Robert married Anne Myhill, the daughter of John and Mary (née Lockey) Myhill.[8] She was the niece of Edward Myhill, a burgess representing Elizabeth City County from 1680 to 1682.[8][13] Hannah married Captain Anthony Armistead, an Elizabeth City County burgess during the 1696-97 session, on July 18, 1698.[17][18]

Ellyson may have died in September 1671 in James City County, though his exact death date is unknown. On September 28, 1671, the General Court ordered Captain George Lyall to pay a debt of 593 pounds of tobacco from Ellyson's estate to John Harloe.[5] On October 2, 1672, Thomas Viccars was selected guardian of Ellyson's orphaned son, Gerrard Robert Ellyson.[19]

Among Ellyson's notable descendants include John Tyler, the tenth President of the United States, and Lyon Gardiner Tyler, the 17th president of the College of William & Mary and member of the Virginia House of Delegates, who published an article concerning Ellyson in Tyler's Quarterly Historical and Genealogical Magazine in 1929.[20][21] Ellyson is a qualifying ancestor of the Jamestowne Society.[22]