Ellis Baker Usher

Ellis Baker Usher (November 7, 1785 – May 21, 1855) was an American lumber businessman and Whig politician from York County, Maine. He served as a delegate to the 1819–1820 convention which drafted the Constitution of Maine, then represented York County in the Maine Senate during the 1823 and 1824 sessions. At the time of his death, he was one of the largest lumbermen on the Saco River. In historical documents, his first name was sometimes incorrectly spelled "Elias".

His father, Abijah Usher Sr., and brother, Abijah Usher Jr., also served in the Massachusetts and Maine state legislatures.

Biography Ellis Baker Usher was born in Medford, Massachusetts, in November 1785. His mother died when he was about 5 years old, and he and his brother were sent to be raised by their maternal grandmother, Mary Weld ( Ruggles; 1737–1811).

In the fall of 1822, Usher ran for a seat in the Maine Senate and was elected to represent York County, alongside Mark Dennett and John McDonald. All three were re-elected in 1823, but Usher did not run again in 1824.

Personal life and family Ellis Baker Usher was the elder of two sons born to and his first wife Mary ( Weld). had served in the American Revolutionary War, enlisting with the New Hampshire militia at age 16. After the war, he served as a captain in the Massachusetts militia and served as a representative in the Massachusetts General Court for Medford, Massachusetts, in 1809, 1810, and 1821. Ellis Baker Usher's younger brother, , became a colonel in the Maine militia and served in the Maine Legislature as a representative in 1821 and 1822, and as a state senator in 1829 and 1830.

According to a biography written by his grandson, Tucker Ellis Baker Usher, his namesake was Captain Ellis Baker, his aunt's grandfather.

Ellis Baker Usher married twice, both marriages were to family members of his first employer and later business partner, Colonel Isaac Lane. Isaac Lane had commanded a regiment of U.S. infantry during the War of 1812, and before that had served as a private in his father's militia company in the American Revolutionary War. Ellis Baker Usher's first wife was Rebecca Randall, a stepdaughter of Lane. They married on November 12, 1812, but she died just seven years later. The first marriage produced three children, but one died in infancy and another died young. After his first wife's death, Usher married Isaac Lane's only surviving daughter, Hannah Lane, on November 26, 1820, who ultimately survived him. With his second wife, he had seven more children, though three of those children also died in infancy.

His only surviving son was Isaac Lane Usher, who went west to Wisconsin to work in the lumber industry for Cadwallader C. Washburn, and later became sheriff of La Crosse County, Wisconsin, and an assistant assessor of internal revenue. His son, Tucker Ellis Baker Usher, became a notable journalist and politician in Wisconsin, and wrote a biography of Ellis Baker Usher (the subject of this article). Leila Usher, the American sculptor, was a daughter of Isaac Lane Usher.