{{Short description|American judge}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Powhatan Ellis | honorific_suffix = | image = Senator Powhatan Ellis.jpg | image_size = 240 | alt = | caption = | office = Judge of the [[United States District Court for the District of Mississippi]] | term_start = July 14, 1832 | term_end = January 5, 1836 | nominator = | appointer = [[List of federal judges appointed by Andrew Jackson|Andrew Jackson]] | predecessor = [[Peter Randolph (judge)|Peter Randolph]] | successor = [[George Adams (Mississippi judge)|George Adams]] | jr/sr1 = United States Senator | state1 = [[Mississippi]] | term_start1 = March 4, 1827 | term_end1 = July 16, 1832 | predecessor1 = [[Thomas Buck Reed]] | successor1 = [[John Black (U.S. senator)|John Black]] | term_start2 = September 28, 1825 | term_end2 = January 28, 1826 | appointer2 = [[Walter Leake]] | predecessor2 = [[David Holmes (politician)|David Holmes]] | successor2 = [[Thomas Buck Reed]] | pronunciation = | birth_name = Powhatan Ellis | birth_date = {{Birth date|1790|01|17}} | birth_place = [[Amherst County, Virginia]], U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1863|03|18|1790|01|17}} | death_place = [[Richmond, Virginia]], U.S. | death_cause = | resting_place = [[Shockoe Hill Cemetery]]<br>Richmond, Virginia | resting_place_coordinates = | citizenship = | party = [[Jacksonian democracy|Jacksonian]] | other_party = | height = | spouse = | partner = | relations = | children = | parents = | mother = | father = | relatives = | education = {{nowrap|[[Washington and Lee University]]}}<br>[[Dickinson College]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br>[[College of William & Mary]] | alma_mater = | occupation = | profession = | known_for = | salary = | net_worth = | cabinet = | committees = | portfolio = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | website = <!--Embedded templates / Footnotes--> | footnotes = }} '''Powhatan Ellis''' (January 17, 1790 – March 18, 1863) was a justice of the [[Mississippi Supreme Court]], [[United States senator]] from [[Mississippi]], and a [[United States federal judge|United States district judge]] of the [[United States District Court for the District of Mississippi]].
==Education and career==
Born on January 17, 1790, at [[Red Hill Farm (Pedlar Mills, Virginia)|Red Hill Farm]] in [[Amherst County, Virginia|Amherst County]], [[Virginia]],<ref name="auto1" /> Ellis graduated from Washington Academy (now [[Washington and Lee University]]) in 1809, received an [[Bachelor of Arts|Artium Baccalaureus]] degree in 1810 from [[Dickinson College]] and graduated from the [[College of William & Mary]] in 1814,<ref name="auto">{{FJC Bio|702|nid=1380461|name=Powhatan Ellis<!--(1790–1863)-->}}</ref> where he studied law.<ref name="auto1" /> He was admitted to the bar and entered private practice in [[Lynchburg, Virginia|Lynchburg]], Virginia from 1813 to 1814 and from 1815 to 1816.<ref name="auto"/> He was a lieutenant in the Prevost Guards of Virginia in 1814.<ref name="auto"/> He resumed private practice in [[Natchez, Mississippi|Natchez]], [[Mississippi Territory]] in 1816.<ref name="auto"/> He continued private practice in [[Winchester, Mississippi|Winchester]], Mississippi Territory (State of [[Mississippi]] from December 10, 1817) from 1816 to 1817.<ref name="auto"/> He was a justice of the [[Mississippi Supreme Court]] from 1817 to 1818 and from 1818 to 1825.<ref name="auto"/>
==Congressional service==
Ellis was appointed as a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Jacksonian Democrat]] to the [[United States Senate]] from Mississippi to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of [[United States Senator]] [[David Holmes (politician)|David Holmes]] and served from September 28, 1825, to January 28, 1826, when a successor was elected and qualified.<ref name="auto1">{{CongBio|E000136|inline=yes}}</ref> He was an unsuccessful candidate for election to fill the vacancy.<ref name="auto1"/> He was elected as a Jacksonian Democrat to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1827, to July 16, 1832, resigning to accept a judicial position.<ref name="auto1"/>
==Federal judicial service==
Ellis was nominated by President [[Andrew Jackson]] on July 13, 1832, to a seat on the [[United States District Court for the District of Mississippi]] vacated by Judge [[Peter Randolph (judge)|Peter Randolph]].<ref name="auto"/> He was confirmed by the [[United States Senate]] on July 14, 1832, and received his commission the same day.<ref name="auto"/> His service terminated on January 5, 1836, when he resigned.<ref name="auto"/>
==Later career and death==
Ellis was appointed [[charge d'affaires]] to [[Mexico]] for the [[United States Department of State]] by President Jackson, serving from January 1836 to December 1836 when he closed the [[legation]].<ref name="auto1" /> He was appointed [[List of ambassadors of the United States to Mexico|Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary]] to Mexico for the United States Department of State by President [[Martin Van Buren]],<ref name="auto" /> serving from February 1839 to April 1842.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Powhatan Ellis |url=https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/ellis-powhatan |access-date=August 26, 2022 |website=[[Office of the Historian]]}}</ref> He resumed private practice in Natchez starting in 1842 and continued private practice in [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]], Virginia until 1863.<ref name="auto"/> He died on March 18, 1863, in Richmond.<ref name="auto"/> He was interred in [[Shockoe Hill Cemetery]] in Richmond.<ref name="auto1"/>
==Heritage and family==
One account in [[The Green Bag (1889–1914)|''The Green Bag'']] stated that Ellis was a descendant of [[Pocahontas]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Somerville |first=Thomas H. |date=November 1899 |editor-last=Fuller |editor-first=Horace W. |editor-link=Horace W. Fuller |title=A Sketch of the Supreme Court of Mississippi |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_green-bag-an-entertaining-magazine-of-the-law_1899-11_11_11/page/504/mode/2up |journal=[[The Green Bag (1889–1914)|The Green Bag]] |volume=XI |issue=11 |page=504 |quote="...and said to be a descendant of Pocahontas"}}</ref> In 1833, he married Eliza Rebecca Winn who died in the spring of 1835. Together, they had two children.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=April 1863 |title=Hon. Powahatan Ellis of Mississippi |url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moajrnl/acf2679.0037.004/254:7?page=root;rgn=full+text;size=100;view=image |journal=[[Southern Literary Messenger]] |volume=37 |issue=4 |page=250}}</ref>
==Legacy==
The city of [[Ellisville, Mississippi|Ellisville]], Mississippi is named in Ellis's memory.<ref>{{cite book |author=Gannett |first=Henry |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ |title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States |publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office]] |year=1905 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n116 117] |author-link=Henry Gannett}}</ref>
==See also== *[[List of justices of the Supreme Court of Mississippi]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-sen}} {{U.S. Senator box |state=Mississippi |class=1 |before=[[David Holmes (politician)|David Holmes]] |after=[[Thomas Buck Reed]] |alongside=[[Thomas Hill Williams]] |years=1825–1826 }} {{U.S. Senator box |state=Mississippi |class=1 |before=[[Thomas Buck Reed]] |after=[[John Black (U.S. senator)|John Black]] |alongside={{nowrap|[[Thomas Hill Williams]], [[Thomas Buck Reed]], [[Robert H. Adams]], [[George Poindexter]]}} |years=1827–1832 }} {{s-legal}} {{s-bef|before=[[Peter Randolph (judge)|Peter Randolph]]}} {{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Judge of the [[United States District Court for the District of Mississippi]]}}|years=1832–1836}} {{s-aft|after=[[George Adams (Mississippi judge)|George Adams]]}} {{succession box |title=[[List of justices of the Supreme Court of Mississippi|Justice of the Supreme Court of Mississippi]] |before=Newly established court |after=[[Isaac Caldwell]] |years=1818–1825}} {{s-end}}
{{USSenMS}} {{US Ambassadors to Mexico}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellis, Powhatan}} [[Category:1790 births]] [[Category:1863 deaths]] [[Category:People from Amherst County, Virginia]] [[Category:Mississippi Jacksonians]] [[Category:Jacksonian United States senators from Mississippi]] [[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Mexico]] [[Category:Justices of the Supreme Court of Mississippi]] [[Category:Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Mississippi]] [[Category:United States federal judges appointed by Andrew Jackson]] [[Category:19th-century American diplomats]] [[Category:People from Lynchburg, Virginia]] [[Category:Washington and Lee University alumni]] [[Category:Dickinson College alumni]] [[Category:William & Mary Law School alumni]] [[Category:19th-century United States senators]] [[Category:American people of English descent]]