The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 63, No. 260, Ed. 1 Sunday, September 1, 1985 Page: 36 of 47
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: The Baytown Sun and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Sterling Municipal Library.
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JOSEPH WILLIAM Ellender was a British seaman who came
to Cedar Bayou in the 1860s. A.past master of the Cedar Bayou
Masonic Lodge, he was the first worthy patron of the Cedar
Bayou Eastern Star Chapter. This photo^as made in 189Q and
belongs to one of Ellender’s descendants, Marie Garrett.
Historical marker
ceremony Sept. 7 f
A state historical grave
marker will be dedicated at 2
p m Sept 7 in honor of Joseph
William Ellender, prominent
pioneer of the Cedar Bayou
community.
A past worthy grand patron
of Texas, Order of the
Eastern Star, Ellender helped
organize the Cedar Bayou
Eastern Star Chapter more
than a century ago and was its
first worthy patron.
A master Mason, he also
served as worshipful master
of the Cedar Bayou Masonic
Lodge three times.
The ceremony will be spon-
sored by the Harris County
Historical Commission and
Cedar Bayou Eastern Star 11.
The marker will be unveiled
by Ellender’s granddaughters,
Marie Garrett and Bertie
Todhunter. Mrs. Todhupter is
his oldest living descendant
and Mrsr Garrett is a past
worthy matron.
The marker w-ill be
presented by County Commis-
sioner Jim Fonteno and ac-
cepted by Margaret Barber, a
past matron.
Wayne P. Jones, worthy
grand patron of Texas, will
give the main address. In
troductions will be made by
W.P. Lamb, past most wor-
shipful grandmaster.
The invocation will be
presented by the Rev. Mike
Weinman, pastor of First
Christian Church, and the
benediction by the Rev. Em-
mitt C. Barrow, pastor of
Cedar Bayou United
Methodist Church.
Linda Neff, worthy matron
of Cedar Bayou Eastern Star,
will lead the pledge to the U.S.
flag and the pledge to the.,
Texas flag will be led by R.G.
Linck, worthy patron.
Frank E. Tritico, chairman
of the Harris County
Historical Commission, will
present the welcome.
Greetings will be presented
by Mayor Emmett 0. Hutto.
The Robert E. Lee Junior
Reserve Officers Training
Corps will present the colors
in the beginning of the
meeting and will retire the
colors at the end of the
ceremony.
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THE BAYTOWN SUN Sunday. September 1, 1985_W
TORY
IGHUGHTS
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SEATED IN a buggy near the Cedar Bayou The men holding the paint buckets are uniden-
Masonic Lodge, Joseph William Ellender was one tilled. This photo belongs to one of Ellender’s
of its leading members. The photo was taken one descendants, Lou Venia Robberson.
day when the lodge was getting a new paint job.
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THESE EASTERN Star officers were installed in Proctor, Augusta Brooks, Anna Magee,. Orilla
1889. Standing, 'from left: F.M. Fitzgerald, Annie Shearer, Nancy Ellender, J.W. Ellender, Sarah
Schilling, Lydia Fisher, Willie Eichelberger, J.W. Brown, Elizabeth S. Wright, Rosa Kilgore and
Magee, J.T. Bayliss, Elizabeth Bayliss, G.C. Brown Baker.
Shairp and Pjnky Ellisor. Seated, from left: Alice (Photo courtesy of Lou Venia Robberson)
NANCY PRATHER Ellender
was a charter member of the
Cedar Bayou Eastern Star
Chapter and served as worthy
matron on numerous occasions.
The pioneer
* Ellender prominent in Cedar Bayou
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JOSEPH AND Nancy Ellender are buried at Cedar -at 2 p.m. Sept. 7 in honor of Ellender, who helped
Payou Masonic Cemetery on Ferry Road. A organize the Cedar Bayou Eastern Star,
historical marker will be dedicated in a ceremony (Sun staff photo by Angie Brace;')
Cedar Bayou pioneer Joseph William Ellender
was born in England when Texas was still a
Republic.
Son of Joseph and Elizabeth Forwell Ellender,
he was born on May 25, 1840, in the parish of St.
James, County of Kent, Dover, England
His father was an overseas pilot, sailing from the
Cinque Port of Dover, England. Both parents were
of Welsh descent. ,
Little is known of Ellender’s childhood. A collec-
tion of old family letters from his homeland
reveals that he hgd at least one brother and
perhaps two sisters, also several nieces and
nephews.
Ellender followed the calling of the sea, and at
the early age of nine, he was a cabin boy on small
cutters, sailing in and out of the Dover Harbour.
Later he began to serve his apprenticeship, sail-
ing on vessels that eventually took him around the
world three times. On his last voyage, a tragic
shipwreck occurred off the shores of Iceland.
Then an able-bodied seaman, Ellender was able
, to survive .by clinging to an iceberg in the icy nor-
thern waters long enough to be picked by a passing
schooner.
This schooner was bound for Galveston, and
after many months it brought Joseph Ellender
safely to America in 1866.
He was then 26. Determined to see land for a
change, he jumped ship while the vessel was an-
chored on the Galveston Bar.
He was soon picked up, as was the custom in
those days, by a passing freighter carrying sup-
plies from Galvestoryto Cedar Bayou.
Ellender liked the bayou country and deckled to
make the small community of Cedar Bayou his
home.
He readily found work on one of many
brickyards then in operation along the bayou mak-
ing mud bricks by hand. These hand-pressed
bricks were used widely in Galveston, Harrisburg,
and other early Texas towns for building and
roads.
When the brickyards were idle, Ellender would
sail as the captain on a small freighter between the
Port of Galveston and Cedar Bayou. He later
pastured cattle, goats and other stock, cut and sold
timber and firewood.
On Sept. 1,1868, Joseph Ellender married Nancy
Lavenia Prather.
Bom in 1849 in Dalton, Whitefield County, Ga.,
Nancy Ellender was the daughter of George W.
and Hannah Spann Prather. Her mother and two
brothers moved to Texas in 1867, first settling
around GooSe Creek and later in the Cedar Bayou
community,
Joseph and Nancy Ellender lived for a time
upstream from the bayou until January 1884 when
they moved to a new home on the banks of Cedar
Bayou a little northeast of where Cary Bayou
enters Cedar Bayou.
It was in this home they reared six sons, Joseph
William Jr., Frederick Robert, Albert Edward,
James, Thomas Oliver and George Lafayette; and
"four daughters, Rose Luella, Nancy Elizabeth,
Catherine Jane and Josephine Julia.
Joseph William Jr. and Rose Luella died young.
The other ’'children married and reared their
children mostly in this area.
Those who finally moved to various parts of
Texas would return for an occasional family reu-
nion at the old home place on the bayou.
Joseph Ellender was a member of the Cedar
Bayou Christian Church, long since disbanded. He
was for many years deputy tax assessor-collector
for Harris County. He also was a member of the
first Cedar Bayou School Board, a position he held
for 15 years.
During this time public school was held in the
lower part of the Masonic Hall and continued to be
held there for some 25 more years.’
The degree of master mason was conferred on
him by Cedar Bayou Lodge 321 on April 29,1871. In
the centennial history of this lodge the following
account of Joseph W. Ellender was given:
“During the 45 years of. his membership in the
lodge there were only about half-dozen years when
he did not fill some office in it. He served the lodge
as worshipful master three times. He was a bright
man and a Mason, and the author of most of the
resolutions that govern the lodge.
He was a 32nd-degree Mason.
Cedar Bayou Chapter 11, Order of the Eastern
Star was organized May 17, 1884, by Joseph W.
Ellender. He was appointed as a special deputy of
general grand deputy by Rollin C. Gaskill, right
most worthy grand patron of the general grand
chapter, to organize this chapter and to present its
charter.
He wag the chapter’s first worthy patron. During
the years he served in that office seven times.
Many hours of his time were spent in giving in-
struction,' guidance and leadership to ensure the
future growth of this chapter.
In continuous existence under its original
charter, Cedar Bayou Eastern Star is the oldest
chapter in the state.
Ellender was a worthy grand patron of the grand
chapter of Texas, Order of the Eastern Star in 1889.
He died Feb. 24, 1917, and was buried under an
old oak tree in the Cedar Bayou Masonic ,
Cemetery.
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Brown, Leon. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 63, No. 260, Ed. 1 Sunday, September 1, 1985, newspaper, September 1, 1985; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1074757/m1/36/?rotate=180: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.