Ellis, William T., representative, was born near Knottsville, Ky., July 24, 1845. He attended the public school, worked on a farm, and in 1861 enlisted in the 1st Kentucky Confederate cavalry, serving with his regiment till April 21, 1865. He attended Pleasant Valley seminary, in Daviess county, for a few months in 1865-66, and was principal of Mount Etna academy, in Ohio county, 1866-67. He was admitted to the practice of law in 1868, attended Harvard law school in 1869, and in 1870 settled as a lawyer at Owensborough, Ky. He was county attorney, 1871-79; presidential elector in 1876; an unsuccessful candidate for representative in the 50th congress in 1886; and a representative from the second district of Kentucky in the 51st, 52d and 53d congresses, 1889-95. He published One Hundred Days in Europe.

Source: Lamb’s Biographical Dictionary of The United States, Edited By John Howard Brown, James H. Lamb Company, Boston, 1899