Ellis's were possibly Indian traders or connected to the Indian trade in the southeast, as the name is listed in the surname index of a three volume set of Indian affairs journals, located at http://members.aol.com/rarebk Once at the site, go to Booklists, then Native American Genealogy, and scroll down to the Cherokee Ancestry CD. There you will see a link to the surnames. This site has some fascinating Indian genealogy research sources, to include an on-line tutorial that explains how to conduct effective Native American Genealogy research (the 1835 Cherokee census is within that), also 2 CD's that appear to have magnitudes of resource material, and a surname index to Starr's "Old Cherokee Families and their Genealogy." There is more, but too much to list here. Very intriguing and unique site. Steve ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.