Elliott Family Histories

The following account was written by Maxine Mottice, daughter of Bernard Elliott and Goldie Reip, while she was a student at Glenville State College.  It was probably written before 1950.

The Elliotts

There is not much information known about our branch of the Elliott family.  A part of the information we have now is just tradition which has been handed down from generation to generation, either oral or written.

Although some think our branch of the Elliotts are of Irish descent I think it is generally acknowledged that the Elliotts are of English descent, but some had migrated from England to Scotland and Ireland.

Several different families of Elliotts came to America between the years of 1631-1830 and we find a part of them settled in nearly every state of the union.  From what information that has been handed down and from the information my father has compiled, our particular tribe seems to have com from Ireland.  This particular group landed in America somewhere in New York, but sometime later they moved from New York to Pennsylvania, and it is from Pennsylvania that most of our relatives came.  My great, great grandfather, whose name is Jabes Elliott, moved on into the part of Virginia which is now West Virginia.

The Reverand Charles Elliott, a brother of my great, great grandfather, Jabes Elliott, came across from Ireland in 1814.  He is one of the more outstanding Elliotts.  He was once a missionary to the Wyandotte Indians and a Presiding Elder and Journalist in the Methodist Church.  He was the first editor of the Methodist magazine, The Christian Advocate, then under the name of The Pittsburg Congerence Journal.  For sixteen years he was the editor of The Western Christian Advocate and he was also the editor of The Central Christian Advocate.

He was once president of Iowa Wesleyan College.  He was a great lecturer and he was also the author of several books, two of which are:  The History of the Great Secession From the Methodist Episcopal Church and The Delineation of Catholicism.  In his preaching he would often say, "Brethren I am shouting happy."

The Reverand Charles Elliott's brother, Jabes Elliott, who is my great, great grandfather, married Elizabeth Wigner from Pennsylvania and to this union were born nine children:  Jacob, John, Washington, Benjamin, Henry, Jabes Jr., Mrs. Manley Collins, Mrs Sarah Howard, and Mrs. Elizabeth Lowther, of whom Minnie Kendall Lowther, the author of History of Ritchie County is a relative.

Jabes Elliott served in the War of 1812 as a private in Captain John Bozarth's Company of Infantry, Fifth Regiment Virginia Malitis [Militia?] commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Waddy Street.  He served from August 30, 1814 until March 19, 1815.  He also fought in several Indian wars.  In one of these wars in the state of Ohio he was severely wounded by the Indians and this resulted in his death.

Jabes Elliott Jr. was my great grandfather.  He married Sarah Ann Johnson of Wood County and to this union were born seven children:  John, Charles, Linza, Columbus, Jasper, Mrs. Harriett Barr, and Mrs. Izetta Sickel.  Two of these are now living.  Jasper Elliot lives at Mt. Zion, Calhoun County, about ten miles from Grantsville, West Virginia.  He has three children:  Walter, Harold, and Edna.  Walter, who is a graduate of Glenville State College, is a teacher in the Calhoun County High School.

Izetta Sickle, who is now a widow, lives in Ohio.  These are my great aunts and uncles.

My grandfather was John Elliott, who married my grandmother Arminda Elliott.  To this union eight children were born:  Alva, Watson, Oley, Bernard, Mrs. Roxid Proudfoot, Mrs. Florence Sturms, Mrs. Millie Price, and Mrs. Verna Haught.

Watson, who is my uncle, is in the horse racing business, and makes his home near Baltimore, Maryland.

Bernard Elliott, my father, was born in 1888 at Sycamore, Calhoun County, in West Virginia.  On October 27, 1826 he married Goldie Evelyn Reip and to this union were born the following children:  John Francis, Maxine (myself), Pauline, Nina Rose, and Lewis, who died in infancy.  My father taught school in Calhoun County, but has been an assistant cashier of the Calhoun County Bank for twenty-three years.  My father and one of his brothers, Oley Elliott, served in World War I.  My father was in the regiment band and, therefore, did not see any action.

My mother died December 16, 1938 during childbirth.  In December 1927 she was bapized into the fellowship of the Bethlehem Baptist Church in Granstville by the Reverend M. P. Lowe of Spencer, West Virginia.  Her funeral services were held at home by the Reverend Fell Ross Kennedy, then pastor of the Baptist Church at Grantsville, and she was buried in the Mt. Zion cemetary.

A few years ago my father married Minnie Poling of Mt. Zion.

My brother, John, graduated from high school in 1946 and then served eighteen months in the army in Japan.  He is now attending the Clarksburg Business School at Clarksburg, West Virginia.

My sister, Pauline, graduated from high school in 1948 and is now at Pineville, West Virginia.  Nina Rose, my younger sister, began her first year of high school last fall.  I was born December 11, 1928 at Granstsville, West Virginia.  I was ten years old when my mother died.  In 1946 I graduated from the Calhoun County Hight School.  While in graded school I played a clarinet in the band and was in the chorus in high school.  I also play the piano some and am in the chorus at college.  I plan to teach in the elementary grades when I finish school and I will probably teach in a state other than West Virginia.

The majority of my immediate family of Elliotts are farmers but I have a cousin, Hays Elliott, who is cashier of the Union Bank of Harrisville, West Virginia, and another, Alpha Elliott, who is a dentist at Ellenboro, West Virginia.

My great, great, great grandfather, Michael Elliott, was a Catholic.  However, he married a Protestant and did not press his religion so most of us became Presbyterians, Methodists, and Baptist.  My grandfather and grandmother were Methodists, but my own family is Baptist.  My father is a deacon in the First Baptisit Church at Grantsville.

Many of the Elliotts lived to be very old.  My great grandfather and grandfather both were eighty-five when they died.  Some now living are:  Wesley Elliott of Grantsville -- 92, Alice Elliott Hathaway of near Bridgeport -- 93, and David Elliott -- 90.  Henry Elliott, who was born on a steamboat on the Mississippi River, lived to be 86.

The Reips

Since my mother is dead I could not secure much information about her family, the Reips.

The Reips are of German descent and they came to this country in the latter half of the seventeen hundreds.

My great, great grandfather Reip, whose name was Adam, and his wife Edith, spoke mostly German.  Their English was very broken.  They came from Huntindon, Pennsylvania.

They had eight children, namely:  Jerusha, who married James F. McDonald;  Elizabeth, who married Alonzo Smith; and Edith, Alonzo, David W., Peter, Robert P., and Ira Reip.

Peter Reip was my great grandfather.  He married Ellen Downey and to this union were born five children:  Howard, Frank A., Grover, and Adam, and one girl, Mrsl Emma Hanger.

My grandfather was Frank A. Reip.  My grandmother was Victoria Mace.  Four girls were born to this union, namely:  Goldie, my mother, who was born July 30, 1905, Mrs. Maud Irvin, Mrs. Donald Place, both in Ohio, and Mrs. Edith King of Euclid, West Virginia.