In a post about the Littleton and Judie Ellis cemetery on today’s Forest Hills Road in Wilson, I asked if the Ellises had migrated to Arkansas with the Exoduster movement, then returned to Wilson. The death certificate of their daughter Maggie Ellis Darden reported that she was born in Arkansas in 1886.
Below, the death certificate of Rosetta McCoy, filed in North Little Rock, Pulaski township, Arkansas, states she was born 22 October 1887 in Wilson, N.C., to Littleton Ellis and Mary [is this a mistake?; maiden name unknown]. Thus we have additional evidence that Littleton Ellis and family made the long journey west, but returned to Wilson County before 1900.
In the 1880 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: farmer Littleton Ellis, 45; wife Judah, 30; and children Bryant, 14, Martha, 12, Patsey, 10, Mary, 8, Bud, 6, Thomas, 4, Rose, 2, and James, 1.
On 28 November 1897, James McCoy, 21, of Toltec, Lonoke County, Arkansas, married Rosetta Ellis, 19, of same, in Lonoke County, Arkansas.
In the 1900 census of Williams township, Lonoke County, Arkansas: farmer James McCoy, 23; wife Rosetta, 22; and children Alberta and Birtrice, 1; also, Sarah Smith, 26, a cook.
In the 1910 census of Lafayette township, Lonoke County, Arkansas: on Witherspoon Road, farmer James McCoy, 33, born in North Carolina; wife Rosetta, 32; and children Bertrice and Alberta, 11; Willie, 9; Johnny, 8; Asillie, 6; Gus C., 4, and James M., 1.
In the 1920 census of Lafayette township, Lonoke County, Arkansas: on Keo Road, James H. McCoy, 47; wife Rosetta, 43; children Bertrice and Alberta, 21, Willie, 19, Johnnie, 18, James M., 11, Norah, 8, L.C., 7, Nathaniel, 5, Ruthie, 2, and Thomas, 6 months; daughter Rosa L. Huggins, 16, and son-in-law James Huggins, 19.
In the 1940 census of Lafayette township, Lonoke County, Arkansas: farmer Rosetta McCoy, 45, widow; children L.C., 17, Nathaniel, 15, Ruthie, 13, and Thomas, 10; and grandson Willie Henry, 8.
In the 1940 census of North Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas: Rosetta McCoy, 63, widow, born in North Carolina; daughter Gertrude Duckery, 40, widow, maid; and grandchildren Rosetta Howard, 15, Artelia Howard, 12, James Duckery, 9, Famous Hall, 15, and Rosie Anne McCoy, 4.