I have read with interest today the messages concerning the Ellis/Murphree families of Blount County. I do not believe that I am directly related to the Ellis family, but have several ties with the Murphree/Easley/Strickland families. I am not the original researcher on the following information. However, I recently received a Murphree file from Gerald Ball in Texas. The source of the file was a book written by a Mr. Bruce A Jordan in Prairie Hill, Texas. The general information from that book on the Ellis family is : "Edward Ellis born about 1673 Jeremaih Ellis about 1694 wife Mary Jermiah Ellis (II) about 1715 wife Elizabeth Edward Ellis about 1736 wife Mary Jesse Ellis, Sr abot 1757 wife Elizabeth Young (children were Sarah "Sally Ellis about 1778 who married Daniel Murphree, Jesse Ellis, Jr. Sept 20, 1790 who married Hannah Murphree, Benjamin Ellis about 1800 who married Nancy Murphree) (I forgot to check for second wives when I copied down the information) Jesse Ellis, Jr. and his wife Hannah Murphree had children Reuben,, Elizabeth, Nancy, Marium, George C, John Wesley, Daniel G.W., Jeremiah, Sarah Jane, Jesse Benson, Hannah M, Stephan S. If interested, I can dig a little deeper into the file. I do not have any of the original sources of information....only the file of names. I do have the address of the author Mr. Bruce A. Jordan if interested. Hope this information helps give a direction for your research. Ann (Kiker) Turk turk@tenet.edu