Résumé

Ellison served in the US Navy between 02/20/1942 and 08/06/1946. (See Ancestry.com, Source Information: U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011, accessed 04/27/2020.) He continued to serve in the US Naval Reserve until 07/1971, retiring with the rank of Lieutenant Commander. (See Ancestry.com,Original data: United States Military Registers, 1902–1985. Salem, Oregon: Oregon State Library, accessed 04/27/2020.)

Draftsman, Naramore, Bain, Brady and Johanson (NBBJ), Seattle, WA, 1949-1951. (See Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1951, p. 374.)

Detailer, John W. Maloney, Architect, Seattle, WA, 1951.

Staff Architect, LaMonte Shorett, Architect, Seattle, WA, 1952.

Staff Architect, Wortman and Wilkins, Architects, Seattle, WA, 1953-1957. In 1953, the Wortman and Wilkins Office was located at 200 Broadway in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Partner, Wortman, Wilkins and Ellison, Architects, Seattle, WA, 1957-1959.

Partner, Wilkins and Ellison, Architects, Seattle, WA, 1959-1983.

Professional Activities

Member, American Institute of Architects (AIA), 1955-c. 1983.

Relocation

James Whitley Ellison was born in Kingsport, TN. In 1920, two years before James's birth, the Ellisons rented a house at 700 Robertson Street in Kingsport. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation: Year: 1920; Census Place: Kingsport, Sullivan, Tennessee; Roll: T625_1767; Page: 37A; Enumeration District: 167, accessed 04/27/2020.)

The 1930 US Census located the Ellisons as living in a residence they owned at 125 East Ravine Road in Kingsport. This house had a value of $4,000, slightly lower than others in the immediate neighborhood, but about average for the time. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: Kingsport, Sullivan, Tennessee; Page: 7A; Enumeration District: 0012; FHL microfilm: 2342015, accessed 04/27/2020.)

Sometime during the depths of the Depression, between 1930 and 1935, James's family relocated to FL. In 1935, the Florida State Census listed 12-year-old James living with his parents and two sisters in Orlando, FL, at 729 Citrus Avenue in the Griffin Park neighborhood. The Ellisons rented their house at the time. (See Ancestry.com, Source Information: Florida, State Census, 1867-1945 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008, accessed 04/27/2020.) The family had moved to 800 22nd Avenue in Orlando by 1939. (See Orlando, Florida, City Directory, 1939, p. 138.)

James continued to live in Orlando in 1940, where his family had a dwelling at 1615 Ferris Drive. By this time, the Ellisons had managed to buy the Ferris Drive house, worth about $2,000. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation: Year: 1940; Census Place: Orlando, Orange, Florida; Roll: m-t0627-00603; Page: 10A; Enumeration District: 48-15, accessed 04/27/2020.)

He lived at 2419 West Raye Street in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle between 1951 and 1954, at least. (See Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1951, p. 374 and Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1954, p. 408.)

Ellison resided with his wife, Elaine, moved to 3633 13th Avenue West in 1955, while their new house at 2369 26th Avenue West was being built. (See Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1955 p. 410.) They moved into their new residence by late 1955 or early 1956. (See Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1956, p. 411.) Between 1995 and 2002, Ellison continued to live at this address. (See Ancestry.com. Source Information: U.S. Phone and Address Directories, 1993-2002 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005, accessed 04/27/2020.)

Parents

His father was John Melvin Ellison (born 07/18/1883 in Mulberry, TN-d. 01/1960 in Orlando, FL), his mother, Eva Eunice Brahe, (born 03/30/1893 in VA-d. 07/29/1977 in Brevard County, FL). They married c. 1914.

In 1918, John Ellison worked as a printer for the Kingsport Times newspaper, R.D. Kinkead, Editor. John Ellison operated his own print shop in Kingsport, TN, in 1920, as per the census of that year. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation: Year: 1920; Census Place: Kingsport, Sullivan, Tennessee; Roll: T625_1767; Page: 37A; Enumeration District: 167, accessed 04/27/2020.) The 1930 US Census recorded that John was an agent for a printing company. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: Kingsport, Sullivan, Tennessee; Page: 7A; Enumeration District: 0012; FHL microfilm: 2342015, accessed 04/27/2020.) According to the 1935 FL Census, John Ellison worked as a printer for the Inland Press in Orlando.

Growing up in the area near Seminary, VA, Eva attended the The VA State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Harrisonburg in 1912, indicating that she may have been training to be a teacher. (See Ancestry.com, The Virginia State Normal and Industrial School for Women, Schoolma'amYearbook, 1912, p. 72.) She spent some of her childhood in Seminary, Lee County, VA, where her father, James P. Brahe, (born c. 01/1867 in VA), was also a teacher in 1900. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation: Year: 1900; Census Place: Seminary, Lee, Virginia; Page: 2; Enumeration District: 0040; FHL microfilm: 1241715, accessed 04/27/2020.)

By 1930, she managed the household consisting of three children: Mary Gwendolyn Ellison, (born c. 1920 in TN), James, and Jane Slemp Ellison RiCharde, (born 1924 in Kingsport, TN-d. 04/30/2007 in Lexington, KY). She married Sidney Mitchell Richard (1923-2006) on 11/15/1942. It appears that Richard changed his name to the unusual spelling, "RiCharde" after this marriage.

In 1940, Mary worked as a bookkeeper for Libby and Freeman, an Orlando plumbing and heating company, while James, at age 17, had a job as a pressman likely at the press, where his father was the manager. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation: Year: 1940; Census Place: Orlando, Orange, Florida; Roll: m-t0627-00603; Page: 10A; Enumeration District: 48-15, accessed 04/27/2020.)

Spouse

He married Elaine S. Ellison (born 10/14/1925-d. 02/13/1992 in King County, WA), before 1951. (See Department of Health, Death Index, 1907-1960; 1965-2017 - Ellison - Elaine, Department of Health, Death Index, 1907-1960; 1965-2017, Washington State Archives, Digital Archives, http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov, accessed 04/27/2020.)

She passed away in Seattle at the age of 66. (See Department of Health, Death Index, 1907-1960; 1965-2017 - Ellison - Elaine, Department of Health, Death Index, 1907-1960; 1965-2017, Washington State Archives, Digital Archives, http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov, accessed 04/28/2020.)

Biographical Notes

SSN: 263242172.

• Kingsport, TN (Architect's Birth)
  Kingsport, TN 37660

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