Edward Stanton Ellis

Candidate Biography:

Born: November 12, 1874 in Cherokee County, Kansas
Married: ????? (m. 1906), Alice Jacinto (m. 1911)
Children: Billie and Edward "Stanton" Jr.
Missing: May 22, 1915 in Oakland, CA
Died (possibly): March 11, 1952 in Sacramento, CA

1908: Elected Assessor of Okanogan County [Washington] (but left town before assuming office)
1912-1914: Editor and Proprietor, Livingston Chronicle
1914: Delegate, Western Irrigation Congress

• 1915: "After the adjournment of the legislature Ellis and his wife sent to Oakland, where they secured apartments. Telling his wife that he was going to Sacramento on business, he disappeared [on May 22nd] and has not been heard from since." He left town with $125, telling his wife that he would be traveling to Sacramento and Merced and then possibly continue to Portland. Police in all three cities indicated he never arrived in those towns but it appears that he instead fled to initially to Kemmerer, Wyoming.
• ACTUAL IDENTITY: A newspaper investigation found that Ellis ran for Assembly (and served a term) under an assumed name. He had previously used the name Frank Warner in Cheney and Okanogan counties (in eastern Washington state), where he had been a newspaper editor before disappearing in 1908. Three years after his marriage to "a Bellingham girl," he left town and abandoned his wife and two children.
  Warner (AKA Ellis) was found living in Nogales (Mexico) in December 1916. By November 1917 he was working as a newspaperman in Oreville, Oregon.

1. There was an Elwyn Edwards born November 12, 1874 in Kansas who died March 11, 1952 in Sacramento. His mother's surname was Larson. Stepfather of Frances Maitien Overshiner of Indiana. He lived in San Joaquin Township (now Elk Grove) in 1940 and in Sacramento by 1950.
2. There was an Joseph Frank Atkins/Adkins born November 12, 1874 in Lowell (Cherokee Co.), Kansas who died April 11, 1952 in Joplin, Missouri. He lived in San Francisco in 1910, married Myrtle Pherigo in 1919 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and lived in Los Angeles in the 1930s. [Find a Grave] Almost certainly not the Assemblyman.
3. There was an Hale Wilmot Buell born November 12, 1874 in Alma (Wabaunsee Co.), Kansas who died July 8, 1949 in San Joaquin County. Married Leta Elnora Doak on 14 January 1907, in Walla Walla, Washington. They were the parents of Milo and Mira. Almost certainly not the Assemblyman.
4. There was an James Tannahill Morton born November 12, 1874 in Phillipsburg (Phillips Co.), Kansas who died May 30, 1951 in Eugene, Oregon. Tannahill appears to have lived in Kansas from birth until 1935, and was married and living in Dayton, Kansas from 1910-1920. [Find a Grave] This was not the Assemblyman.

• His son Edward Stanton Ellis died of appendicitis at age 8 in mid June 1920.

Source: California Blue Book (1913-15)
Source: "Assemblyman Ellis May Have Led Dual Life" Modesto Morning Herald Modesto, California · Sunday, November 21, 1915
Source: "Edward S. Ellis, Legislator from Merced, Missing" The Fresno Morning Republican 12 Jun 1915, Sat · Page 1
Source: "ASSEMBLYMAN EDWARD ELLIS IS FRANK WARNER" Chronicle (Livingston), Volume 8, Number 8, 19 November 1915
Source: "Edward S. Ellis Passes Away Here" Merced County Sun, Volume LIV, Number 23, 25 June 1920
Source: "Death Calls Little Edward S. Ellis" Merced Sun-Star, Volume 41, Number 3, 24 June 1920
Source: “ED S. ELLIS IS IN NOGALES MEXICO" Madera Mercury, Volume XXXI, Number 30, 8 December 1916
Source: "ELLIS NOW AT OREVILLE, ORE." Chronicle (Livingston), Volume 10, Number 11, 30 November 1917