The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-10-29
"ASTROLOGER" ELLIS DEAD.
Woman of Unique Experiences
Much Beloved by Her Friends.

After a life Of varied experiences that
few, whether they be men or women. can
boast, Mrs DR.. Mary A Ellis lies dead at
the home of her brother, w. A. Early, No.
GA North Senate avenue. She had been a
frail woman for twenty years, but such was
her will power that she did not quit her life
of activity till three weeks ago, when she
called for Mr.. Flanner who had buried her
daughter and son, and told him that her
time was near at hand IT is not as an
astrologer or a doctor that her friends say
they wish to remember her, but as a good
woman ever willing and ready to console
those in aff1iction or lend helping hand to
those in distress. 1t has been said that she
left fortune of $4,000 or $4,000. 1t is true
that she had considerable money at differ
ent times during her life. but very little Of
it, her friends claim. was used for her own
needs. Her life was simple and she had
few needs. She died with just sufficient
money to cover her funeral expenses.
At the beginning of the war she assisted
her husband in raising the First Missouri
Volunteer Cavalry. Her husband was made
colonel. She accompanied the husband to
the front and acted as nurse till after the
battle Of Pea Ridge in March, 1862 They
took their own conveyances, carried their
In her capacity as nurse she even furnished
medicines and drugs for use among the sick
and wounded. One of the. officers of her
regiment was sick and in the hands of the
rebels. She was asked by one Of his brother
officers if she could do anything for him.
She secured a horse. rode into the camp Of
the enemy and attended the sick man. II is
said she caused the enmity of a doctor by
saving mans life who had been given an
pronounced the man dead and she had re-
vived him. In 1851 she carried on horseback
an important dispatch from General Hunter
to General Price. She was given the dis
patch at 9 o'clock in the morning and at
O'Clock in the afternoon she placed it in the
hands of General Price, who was stationed
srhe country was full of guerrillas and
bushwhackers, and they had cut off tele-
graphic communication and nterfered with
the running of trains. At the request Of
Government Detective Force she for time
acted as detective. She was finally taken
sick and carried to st. Louis, and it was
months before she was able to return to
She says in the little account of herself
she wrote for the Army Nurses Book"
published in 1895, that she willingly gave
her son, though he was all she had, to her
country and he was returned to her Grip
pied for life. 1t is said that her son finally
ing from the condition the war left him in
that he was driven to the use of narcotics,
and ii was an overdose that caused his
death.
When her daughter Daisy died some ten
wears ago the mothers heart was nearly
broken Her friends say that she had not
been quite her former self since.
Mrs. Ellis came here from Washington
about eighteen years ago. She was interest
ing Her experiences had been varied.
Belva A. Lockwood, with whom she studied
law for a year, never missed an opportunity
to pay her visit. They never tired of CALI
ing up "reminiscences of their student days
AS girls together Mrs. Ellis told Miss Lock-
wood that she would go to Europe Miss
Lockwood secuted the idea of ever being
able to make the trip. but the prophecy has
turned out true fourfold. Her friends claim
that Mrs. Ellis had of late years turned this
alleged gift of prophecy to some account
She did not make much out of II in finan-
cial way for herSelf, but the Diamond Oil
Company. they claim, seems to have done
great things on her suggestion, and the man
who located the Diamond wells became
known as the "oil wizard" Mrs Ellis was
a member of the California street Methodist
Church and was q regular attendant while
her health permitted. She was member
Of the Mai Robert Anderson Relief Corps,
No a. w. r. c. The corps will attend the
funeral in a body and the pallbearers will
be chosen from it, Mrs. Ellis was born sew
enty-five years ago in Adams county. Ohio.
Her nearest surviving relatives are the
brother with whom she lived, two brothers
in Kansas, sister. Mrs Rebecca Johnston,
Of Jamestown, o., and a brother. Elijah
Early of Muncie. The funeral will take
place on Saturday at o'clock