Powhatan Ellis was born in 1790 in Amherst County, Virginia. He was educated at Dickinson College in 1809-1810 and continued his studies at the College of William and Mary in 1814 to pursue a career in law. For four years he entered into private practice before becoming a judge of the Mississippi Supreme Court from 1818 to 1825. He was appointed by Andrew Jackson in 1825 to serve as the U.S. Senator from Mississippi, and also held his Senator's seat from 1827 to 1832. Ellis was the U.S. Charge D'Affaires to Mexico in 1836 and was the U.S. Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Mexico from 1837 to 1842. He died in Richmond, Virginia, in 1863.
The Powhatan Ellis Papers are comprised of two letters addressed to Judge Ellis dated in 1823 and 1827. The 1823 letter is from David Dickson of the Choctaw Agency to Mr. Ellis. The letter talks about local political news and then Dickson requests information from the Indian agent in order to educate six children. The second letter dated in 1827 is from Battle of San Jacinto veteran Benjamin F. Smith of Columbus, Mississippi, to Judge P. Ellis in which Smith asks Ellis to have him reappointed as Indian agent.
Arrangement is chronological.
None.
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Frank Glenn, Aug. 1940.
Processed by Lisa M. Lomas, 2012.
[Identification of Item], Powhatan Ellis Papers, MC176, San Jacinto Museum of History, Houston, Texas.