Howard A. Ellis Page 250-251 - Howard A. Ellis, who is engaged in the successful practice of law in Grand Rapids, with offices at 219-20 Houseman building, and who is serving as assistant United States district attorney for the Western district of Michigan, is in his character and achievement well upholding the professional and civic prestige of the honored family name, his father having been a distinguished member of the Michigan bar and having served as attorney-general of this state. Howard A. Ellis was born at Ionia, Michigan, March 15, 1881, and is a son of Hon. Adolphus A. and Mattie (Nichols) Ellis, the father being the subject of a memorial tribute on other pages of this work and the widowed mother being still a resident of Grand Rapids, where she is a beloved member of the family circle of her son, Howard A. In the public schools of Ionia, Howard A. Ellis continued his studies until his graduation in the high school, and in 1903 he was graduated in Olivet College, from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts, his father having been one of the early students in this Michigan institution. In 1907 Mr. Ellis was graduated in the law department of the University of Michigan, and his admission to the bar was virtually coincident with his reception of the degree of Bachelor of Laws. After his graduation he was associated with his father in the practice of law in Grand Rapids until the death of his father, April 25, 1921, and he has since continued in control of a substantial and representative law business, besides which he is giving characteristically effective service as assistant United States district attorney. He is a member of the American Bar Association, Michigan State Bar Association and the Kent County Bar Association, of which latter he was a trustee two terms. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party. He is serving in 1925 as a member of the Grand Rapids board of education. He has membership in the Peninsular, the Masonic, the Century and the Highland Country Clubs, is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, including the Mystic Shrine, and with the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America, as is he also with the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and the Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity, both of the University of Michigan. He attends and supports Park Congregational church, of which his wife is an active member. In 1908 Mr. Ellis was united in marriage with Miss Enid Holmes, of Chelsea, Michigan, and the two children of this union are Enid and Holmes. Mr. Ellis is a scion of one of the sterling pioneer families of Michigan, as may be seen by reference to the memoir to his father, elsewhere in this volume.

Transcriber: Nancy Myer
Created: 21 April  2003