Moses Ellis

This picture of the Barn at the Ellis Farm in East Barnard, Vermont was taken in 1999 by R.H. Ellis

From the BARNARD, VT. HISTORY 1928

Moses with his brother, Joseph, were the ones who came to Barnard, VT. from Walpole, MA. in 1785.  Moses at age 16 settled the Ellis Farm.  The barn that is dated 1785 was probably finished that year.  His brother Joseph settled an adjoining farm.  This is supposition is based in part on my imagination  but I feel that the move from Walpole to Vermont might have been prompted by the offer of free land since Vermont had not yet achieved Statehood. The adventuresome spirit of the young men of that era might have had a lot to do with it.

   Moses married Catherine Boyden February 3, 1794 in Walpole Massachusetts.   To this union six children were born.  They were Clark*, Joel, Lucy, Catherine, Enoch, and Joel. Note: I don't understand the two Joels since the second one was born before the first Joel died.

 

Until 1947 the Ellis farm had not been out of the family.  It still goes by that name but was bought by Baron Lenis de Rothschild of the French financiers.  It was a real show place after being remodeled and landscaped. 

   The following are notes by R.H. Ellis: The Baron and Mrs. de Rothschild are both dead (she is buried in the cemetery at East Barnard) and the farm has been passed to MIT, then to a man from Texas who never lived at the farm, and now to a family named Desmond. 

   I visited the farm around 1973 and met the Baroness.  She showed us around the house and barn and allowed us to take pictures.  She shared a story about when they first bought the farm, “The neighbors said that now that the Baron had purchased the farm. He would probably paint out the Ellis name."  She stated, "He did precisely that and then had the name repainted with orders that as long as he had the farm the name would always stay.  She also told me about a visit she had from my Uncle Bert who brought her a black walnut tree and she gave him a pine to take back to Iowa Falls, IA."

   From the Book belonging to Helen Moe:  "The Rothschild’s--A Family Portrait" by Frederic Morton Published by the Curtis Publishing Co.  Copyright 1961   Page 264-265

   "Then Louis returned to his spacious farm in East Barnard, Vermont.  The New England highlands evoked the Alps.  The tart reserve of the Vermonters matched his own temper well.  Professors of art and botany came to visit from Dartmouth.  His brother, Baron Eugene (surviving today and the husband of the English stage star Jeanne Stuart), often came to visit from his Long Island estate.  Baroness Hilda created a beautiful garden on the grounds, as well as something Louis had never been sure he would like: a family home.  He liked it.  In the last years of his life the Rothschild folks even gave open-air barn dances, and the Baron do-si-do'd with the same cool grace with which he had once waltzed on Vienna parquets.  He died, in his seventies, the way a grand seigneur should--swimming in Montego Bay, under a blue and perfect Caribbean sky".

   This next was taken from Helen Moe's family history:   Also from the HISTORY OF VERMONT, received from the Vermont Chamber of Commerce:  Moses Ellis was a deacon in the Christian church which had a small following in this section in the early days.  About the year 1801, when the Methodist persuasion first visited the neighborhood, she (Catherine Ellis) became seriously convinced of sin in heart and life.  After mourning for sin many weeks, one day, while engaged in her domestic employments, the burden was removed and her soul was made to rejoice with exceeding joy. From that time her face was set toward heaven.  For more than ten years her husband was rather opposed to "experimental religion".  Experimental religion has become a habit with descendants of this woman to the present generation.


* my direct lineage