Eller Family Association

Road Work at Old Smyrna Cemetery

Efforts to make access to the “Old Smyrna Cemetery” in Towns County, Georgia, are progressing.  Steve Eller of the Eller Family Association has been encouraging both the County and Forest Service to help with the almost impassable road.

He reports Towns County has started work on the east-west section of Charlie's Creek Road. It should be in decent shape during our family conference in July. He also reports he received an email from the Forest Service and was informed that they would be working on the road from Charlie's Creek to Old Smyrna Cemetery in mid-June.

Steve has been coordinating efforts to clean up the cemetery and repair some of the broken stones.  There has already been a workday there and he hopes to have another workday at the cemetery after the roads are completed. He asks those in the area to save June 26th on your schedule if you can.

The crew finished clearing the entire cemetery and worked to clear turn around areas for vehicles.

The new sign was installed and we will return to paint after the treated lumber has time to dry out.

It was a very productive day. Thanks to all who showed up to work and those who donated money for the sign.

The "Old Smyrna Cemetery" was heavily overgrown with some headstones damaged. It is the resting place for several of our ancestors including Hardy Washington and Joseph Jacob Eller.

New Research on George Eller Jr.'s Family

EFA member Donn Koenig has been doing extensive research on the genealogy of the George Eller, Junior line. Donn has completed work five of George’s nine children and plans to continue to the remaining four. The five completed research materials, totaling more than 1,600 people, are posted on the Eller Family Association website (see links to his research below).

George Eller, Jr. (1777-1851) is the son of Rev. George Eller (1754-1808) and his wife Christiana Sanger Yost (1755-1844), Rev George Eller was the son of immigrant Christian Eller/Ohler (1724-1804).

John Eller Research | Wilkerson Eller Research | Harrison Eller Research
George Washington Eller Research | Betsy Eller Research

Donn began this research during Covid when he had free time. He says he was pleasantly surprised that Ancestry.com had much more primary data than when he previously had researched these lines. We should note that Ancestry.com requires a paid membership.

George Jr. and his wife Polly raised their family in Kentucky and some in the first generation moved on to Texas. These two states. Donn says, are great for following family lines using state and county records that can go through about 2000.

In later generations, other lines moved out of Kentucky, mainly to the factory towns and farms of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. Once there, Donn observes, they were much harder to follow.

A good resource, he suggests, is the Find-a-Grave website (free to use) that often includes pictures and obituaries, and which can have information on children and grandchildren of the deceased as well as parents and siblings. 

In his research, Donn addresses the question of whether George Junior’s daughters Betsy and Susan Elizabeth are the same person. His conclusion: they are not. [Full Story]

Jacob Eller line (Roanoke Ellers) DNA

We are looking for a male descendant of Jacob Eller of the Roanoke Ellers who is willing to submit his DNA for the Eller Family Project at Family Tree DNA.

The EFA will pay for the DNA kit and for the DNA test.

Ellers Buried at Arlington
National Cemetery

There are nine Ellers burried in Arlington National Cemetery. Two are the wives of men buried there. Of the remaining seven, four are linked to Ellers in our EFA database. The other three appear to be from lines that trace back to later Eller immigrants.

Board Nominations in Advance

Some nominations have already been made for EFA officers and board members, but any member can nominate someone. Any nominations made will be reviewed by a nomination committee prior to the EFA Conference in July and presented to the membership at the Member Meeting held at the Conference.

Nominations from the floor are allowed as well, but prior nomination is preferred. Send nominations to Ed Eller, Secretary/Treasurer (kermiteller38@gmail.com).

Updating the Jacob Eller Book

Thanks to everyone that turned out on November 6th at the Hiawassee Historical Society for our Eller Family Event. Thanks to Sandra Green, Ed Eller, Jerry Taylor and Jerry Kendall for your time and help today. We gained a lot of family information to update the John Jacob Eller and His Descendant Book.

It's not to late to add your information. Contact Steve Eller at ellerpop1@yahoo.com. We are looking for dates of birth, places of birth, marriages and place of marriage and any burial location for those who have passed on.