Joseph William Ellender
Baytown, Harris County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(May 25, 1840 - February 24, 1917) British seaman Joseph William Ellender was shipwrecked off the coast of Iceland in 1866 and rescued by a schooner bound for Galveston. He settled in Cedar Bayou and married Nancy Lavenia Prather in 1868. They had ten children. A Master Mason, Ellender served as worshipful master of Cedar Bayou Lodge three times. He organized the Cedar Bayou chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star in 1884 and was Worthy Grand Patron of Texas in 1889.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Joseph William Ellender's Texas story began with disaster: a British seaman, he was shipwrecked off Iceland in 1866 and rescued by a schooner bound for Galveston. He settled at Cedar Bayou, married Nancy Lavenia Prather in 1868, and raised ten children while becoming a pillar of the community. A dedicated Master Mason, he served three times as worshipful master of Cedar Bayou Lodge, founded its Order of the Eastern Star chapter in 1884, and rose to statewide fraternal leadership.
Why it matters
Ellender's life illustrates how immigrants swept onto the Texas coast by chance put down roots and helped build the fraternal and civic institutions of their new communities.
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Related people
- · Joseph William Ellender
- · Nancy Lavenia Prather
Themes & tags
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