I'm very happy to have found this article. My father once told me the story of Col. Ellsworth and how many children were named after him. In my family, it started with my grandfather, William Ellsworth and his brother, Ellsworth Johnson. I am the last in my family to carry the name and happy to have some small connection with history. I am also honored to be serving those who served.

Is there any line to the Vermont Ellsworth's to Elmer Ellsworth of New York?

To Sable: My grandmother was a 4th cousin of Col. Elmer Ellsworth. I have family charts going back into the 1500's. The Ellsworth family is anything but "a handful", as you say. I have found true branches all over the map. It is interesting that your father looks like him, as you see it. I know that my great grandfather Ellsworth looks very much like him. I see it compared to the Matthew Brady photo. I am willing to help you with the genealogy. But I don't know how we can connect...is there a way on this site? Anyway, I take pause at your friend being a "direct descendant of A. Lincoln"...His line died out. Please read the book "The Last Lincolns" by Lachman. However, I have been wondering about the possibility that other parts of his family might survive. There was someone located near Macomb, Illinois that I heard of...some cousin or something...(I heard this a long time ago). Of course, we do know that Tom Hanks the actor is his cousin thru Abe's mother, as well as George Clooney. I know Tom's genealogy and it is legit. I have not looked up George's. Be very careful when using the term "descendant"...sometimes one has to just say "related"...or "possibly related" until the research is done. Just beware of people saying things that are just theories and not backed up as facts.

ahhhhhhh

My little brother was doing a report on Abraham Lincoln when he was in the 4th or 5th grade. We happened to have a pretty thorough biography on Abraham Lincoln in our small library at home. He was flipping through the book one day while he was doing his report and he got to the page that had a picture of Elmer Ellsworth on it. And he called out to me dad "Hey dad, there's a picyure of you in this book!" When we all heard him, we came over and looked at the picture, and it turns out that the man in the book looked identical to my dad. It was unbelievable, not only because the Elmer Ellsworth and my dad looked like they could be twins, but they also had the same last name! After we came across this picture we started to do some research on our family history. We are quite sure that Elmer Ellsworth is one of our great great Uncles or cousins. We have not quite figured it out yet, but many of us who have the Ellsworth surname know that there are only a handful of Ellsworth's out there. You never know, we could all be distantly related :-D This finding that my family has made is extremely intriguing. I would also like to mention, which makes this even more intriguing, is that my childhood frind whom I have know for 17 years, her fathers side of the family are direct descendants of Abraham Lincoln. They have documents to prove it. And just think, Abraham Lincoln and Elmer Ellsworth were close friends. And I, possibly being a descendant of Elmer Ellsworth is close friends with a descendant of Abraham Lincoln. Weird huh?

Let me know what you guys think...

To Bill Brown:
My grandmother was a 4th cousin of Col. Elmer Ellsworth.
1) Marshall House flag offending Mary Lincoln:
I am not sure that it is officially documented...What IS officially documented is that it was Lincoln himself who expressed to Elmer that he would like to see it come down, said while they were viewing it together from the White House more than once. It could be seen because of its massive size...specially ordered by Jackson....plus it was on a high pole. Lincoln did not order Elmer to remove it. Elmer was a VERY close friend of Abe and family, and we shall never know for sure, but it follows that Elmer would have removed the flag because Abe wanted it done. We know that Mary's reputation was being maligned by Abe's law partner Herndon in a book...so when I hear of Mary being blamed for things, I have to wonder just where it comes from.
2) "...to keep his troops from getting too feisty"...Again, officially it was Lincoln himself who was concerned that the presence of a HUGE secession flag at Marshall House might incite more violence than not...I refer to the official bio.
3) James Jackson plaque at Marshall House:
Why put a plaque only remembering Jackson, when there were 2 people involved??
4) Names of people named after Elmer:
Because Elmer became an icon before his death, and a hero/martyr in death, many people were named after him, as well as towns...So not everyone with that name will be related. In each case, the genealogy should be done.
PATTY TINSLEY

One of my great grandfathers was Elmer Ellsworth Goodrich so named by his father Bethuel after returning from his 3 month enlistment. He would have been among those first 75000 militia who volunteered to protect Washington DC., and so may have been in Washington when Ellsworth died. While casually looking through a genealogy of the Way family (the other side of my tree) I was surprised to find an Elmer Ellsworth Way born at about the same time.
I think we fail to realize today that northerners saw cofederates as traitors. They fought for the flag and country. That big Confederate flag that could be seen from the White House had to come down. I think that must have been important to Ellsworth. He had seen that flag from the White House himself.

First attempt to see if related to E.E. Have some family tree material. Thoughts?

Ellsworth was up the tree from my great-grandmother.
I have a book (HOffman's Strange Stories) that was in Ellsworth's knapsack when he was shot.

I have an envelope, black-bordered, addressed to his parents. The story in our family is that it was Lincoln's letter to them. The letter went down some other path of the tree. The envelope is pretty certainly addressed by a secretary, not Lincoln.

Richard A Jones
Boulder, Colorado

My wife is an Ellsworth - her family says they are collateral descendants of Elmer ("cousins" in other words), a branch of the family that moved west to Ohio.

Up until the early 80s her folks had a Zouve uniform. A friend gave it to them decades earlier because of the Elmer Ellsworth connection. It was remarkably intact, so much so that they eventually passed it on to a museum, but I have photos of my wife wearing it - it was quite a dashing costume.

I note with interest that this article leaves out one of the oft-repeated legends that Col. Ellsworth sought to take down the rebel flag because it personally offended Mary Lincoln - who could allegedly see it from the White House. Instead the author says it might have been to keep his troops from getting too feisty. I'm curious what that is based on (the remark in his letter quoted in the comment above about being "among so many careless fellows?").

It's not that I hold to the old legend - in fact I'm suspicious of it, since almost everything I've read about Ellsworth is drenched in the war-time sentiment of the era.

BTW, on the 125th anniversary of Ellsworth's death, my wife and I crossed the river (we live in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC) to find the site of his death. The building was torn down, but we thought we might find a plaque. We found one, alright, but it was in honor of James Jackson! We left a little memorial card and some flowers anyway.

My father-in-law, Edward Ellsworth Harrison, son of Ellsworth Race Harrison is a direct descendant of Elmer Ellsworth Harrison, born February 19, 1864 in Seneca Falls, New York. We had wondered how the Ellsworth name came into the family and I think we now have a pretty good idea. One family story was that Elmer was named after a "boy who was good to his mother".

Ellsworth's fiancee was Carrie Spafford, whom he called Kitty. The night before he marched upon Alexandria, VA, he penned this moving and prescient letter to her:

My own darling Kitty,
My regiment is ordered to cross the river & move on Alexandria within six hours. We may meet with a warm reception & my darling among so many careless fellows one is somewhat likely to be hit.
If anything should happen – Darling just accept this assurance, the only thing I can leave you – the highest happiness I looked for on earth was a union with you…. God bless you as you deserve and grant you a happy & useful life & us a union hereafter.
Truly your own,
Elmer
I will be including this in a forthcoming book.

On Sunday May 15,2011 there will be a re-enactment of Ellsworth's funeral in Mechanicville, NY. Our Civil War Round Table has designed a commemorative postal cancel for the event. Collectors may send envelopes to the Mechanicville PO or they may purchase a commemorative envelope from the Round Table. All proceeds from sales goes to CW battlefield preservation.

Dr. E.E.Brown, President Taft's Commissioner of Education who became Chancellor of New York University in 1911 was born in western New York State on August 28,1861.His baptismal name was "Elmer Ellsworth" Brown and I suspect that there were many more "E.E.'s" born at that time.
A search of New York Times obituaries in the late 19th century turns up numerous Civil War veterans whose claim to fame was to have "served with Ellsworth." The mere mention of the Colonel's name was all of the explanation needed to inform readers of the significance of the deceased veterans contribution.
Mechanicville City Historian