Ellis wrote his family story to be placed in the cornerstone of the new sanctuary of the Mt Pulaski Christian Church, starting with the story of their meeting in 1907. She died on January 8, 1975, 11 days short of the couple's 65th wedding anniversary. Both couples settled down to farming.Įllis and Ethel had five children. The couples, joined by their mothers, went by horse and buggy to Lincoln on January 19, 1910, where they were married at the Lincoln Christian Church. In order to have the double wedding Ellis paid for Ethel's dress. The families were friends and the couple seemed well suited.Įventually the talk to turned to marriage and it seemed natural to have a double wedding. The Brookers lived half a mile west of the Downing household.
Most would have said the couple had nothing in common.Įllis' older brother Clarence was dating Lena Drake. The families did not know each other, certainly were not in the same social or economic circles. Both of Lillie's parents were descendants of Abraham Lucas. Teddie was a bricklayer whose ancestors came from Ireland in the 1830s. Ellis' father, who farmed land his family originally settled, had died of typhoid in 1903.Įthel was the third daughter of Edward Daniel and Lillie Margaret Wood Ryan. The couple met that day.Įllis was the second of the four sons of William Nelson and Eliza Sciota Harding Downing, our Lida of prior posts. Ellis enjoyed music and dancing, which the Methodist Church in 1907 did not, so he and his brother were attending the Christian Church. Also at the event was Ellis Downing whose minister ancestors and their family founded several of the Methodist Churches in Logan County and across central Illinois. Pulaski Christian Church building with her friend. Although not a member, she went to the dedication of the new Mt. Sunday, April 14, 1907, was Ethel Ryan's 15th birthday.
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