John Breckenridge Ellis was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

 of the late 19th and early 20th century.

Mr. Ellis was born near Hannibal, Missouri

Hannibal, Missouri

Hannibal is a city in Marion and Ralls counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. Hannibal is located at the intersection of Interstate 72 and U.S. Routes 24, 36 and 61, approximately northwest of St. Louis. According to the 2010 U.S. Census the population was 17,606...

, February 11, 1870, but spent most of his life in Clinton County

Clinton County, Missouri

As of the census of 2000, there were 18,979 people, 7,152 households, and 5,299 families residing in the county. The population density was 45 people per square mile . There were 7,877 housing units at an average density of 19 per square mile...

. He was the son of John W. Ellis, PhD. and Sallie Breckenridge Ellis.

In 1880, his father purchased Plattsburg College and the family moved to Plattsburg, Missouri

Plattsburg, Missouri

Plattsburg is a city in Clinton County, Missouri, along the Little Platte River. The population was 2,354 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Clinton County.- History :...

 where the elementary school

Elementary school

An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...

 still bears his name.

J. Breckenridge Ellis was a prolific writer, having written 26 works (primarily historical romance

Historical romance

Historical romance is a subgenre of two literary genres, the romance novel and the historical novel.-Definition:Historical romance is set before World War II...

s) that have appeared in book form besides numerous serials

Serial (literature)

In literature, a serial is a publishing format by which a single large work, most often a work of narrative fiction, is presented in contiguous installments—also known as numbers, parts, or fascicles—either issued as separate publications or appearing in sequential issues of a single periodical...

 of book length which have been published by national magazines.

His novel, Fran, was on the best seller list in America, and made into a movie. Several of his works were made into motion pictures and stage plays. He also served as president of the Missouri Writers' Guild.

Ellis' writing is of the Stanley Weyman school. His romances were pithy and understated, artfully avoiding the affectations and pretensions of many of his contemporaries.

Novels

• Garcilaso (1901)
• The Holland Wolves (1902)
• Stork's Nest (1905)
• Fran (1912)
• Lahoma (1913)
• The Picture on the Wall
• Little Fiddler of the Ozarks

Films based on novels

• Emmy of Stork's Nest (based on Stork's Nest) (1917)
• The Love Hunger (based on Fran) (1919)
• Lahoma (1920)
• Cinderella of the Hills (based on Little Fiddler of the Ozarks) (1921)
• The Shadow on the Wall (based on The Picture on the Wall) (1925)

External links

• The Clinton County Historical Society webpage includes a picture of his homehttp://www.rootsweb.com/~moclinto/histsoc/houses/index.htm