Biography

Ellis was born in Coldwater

Coldwater

-Places:In Albania:* Cold Water, Tepelenë, a tourist attraction 8 km south of Tepelenë, AlbaniaIn Canada:* Coldwater, Ontario* Coldwater First Nation, a Nlaka'pamux First Nations government in British Columbia...

, Branch County, Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

. The daughter of Edward C Ellis, playwright and actor, and Ruth McCarty Ellis, an actress, she was 'born on the stage'. Her first part was at age 6, and by 10 she was a star. Two plays were written for her before her 12th birthday.

Several times Ellis was head of her own stock companies, travelling or stationary, and wrote, produced, directed, and acted in many plays. Her first writing attempt was out of necessity, when she and her brother, Edward, were stranded on the road by the unexpected disbanding of their theatrical company. The play was successful enough to pay their way home.

Ellis married Frank A Baker, and they leased the Park Theatre and the Criterion Theatre in Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

, where she directed plays for many years. They later moved to the Berkely Lyceum in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 where she directed her own play, The Point of View. She also wrote silent films scenarios for Samuel Goldwin. Their daughter, Ellis Baker

Ellis Baker

Ellis Baker was an American theatre actress.She appeared on Broadway in Brook , The Arabian , These Few Ashes and Lady Windermere's Fan ....

, became an actress. Edith Ellis later married C. Becher Furness, a Canadian.

In 1936, Ellis began transcribing works about life after death which she said came from a New England

New England

New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

farm boy who was killed by a British soldier in 1781. These works include: Incarnation: A Plea from the Masters, (1936), Open the Door!, (1935), We Knew These Men, (1943) and Love in the Afterlife, (1956)

Books

• A Batch of Blunders, 1897
• Mrs. B. O'Shaughnessy (Wash Lady), 1900
• Because I Love You, 1903
• The Point of View, 1904
• Mary and John, 1905
• The Wrong Man, 1905
• Contrary Mary, 1905
• Ben of Broken Bow, 1905
• The Swallow, 1906
• Mary Jane's Pa, 1906
• My Man (with F. Halsey), 1910
• He Fell In Love With His Wife, 1910
• Seven Sisters, 1912
• Partners, 1912
• The Love Wager, 1912
• Verspers, 1912
• Fields of Flax, 1912
• The Man Higher Up, 1912
• The Amethyst Ring, 1913
• Cupid's Ladder, 1915
• Make Believe, 1915
• Man with the Black Gloves, 1915,
• The Devil's Garden, 1915
• Making Dick Over, 1916
• Mrs. Clancey's Car Ride, with Edward Ells, 1918
• Whose Little Bride Are You, 1919
• Bravo, Claudia, 1919
• Mrs. Jimmie Thompson (with Norman S. Rose), 1920
• The White Villa, 1921
• Betty's Last Bet, 1921
• The Judsons Entertain, 1922
• The Illustrious Tartarin, 1922
• White Collars, 1924
• The Moon and Sixpence, 1924
• The Last Capter (with Edward Ellis), 1930
• The Lady of La Paz, 1926

Further reading

• Mary Jane's Pa: A Play in Three Acts
• The Judsons Entertain: A Comedy in Three Acts