On December 20, 1950, an article appeared in the Marietta Daily Journal about “‘Doc’ Ellis,” recently deceased. In this memorial article, the late doctor was described as someone who “saw humanity in all its facets, and often at its worst, and still he loved humanity.” Dr. John W. Ellis’s tale is a rags-to-riches story that begins with his birth in Forsyth County on June 11, 1868, to Samuel J. and Sarah A. Ellis.
The young John Ellis attended school in Cherokee County and spent seven years at Reinhardt Academy in Waleska, GA. He had “to pay his way through Reinhardt,” so he worked as a janitor. After graduation, he accepted a scholarship from the Southern Medical College (today Emory University). The scholarship covered his tuition but nothing else, so Ellis had to work on a farm for a year to pay for two years of school. Ellis returned to the farm for another year to pay for his final two years. After his Emory graduation, he worked as a cotton picker for fifty cents a day. Ellis used this money to pay for two years at the Georgia College of Eclectic Medicine. After graduating in 1900 he was ready to open his own medical practice.
Why Dr. Ellis choose to open his medical practice in Kennesaw is unknown. Regardless, his original office opened on April 4, 1900. It was a wooden building that sat at the corner of Main Street and Watts Drive. The site is today across the street from Trackside. Back in 1895, Ellis had married Carrie Boring of Woodstock. The couple lived in a wooden house next to his office.
Dr. Ellis was one of several doctors living in the community at the time. Dr. Charles H. Fields practiced in Kennesaw until June of 1900. Dr. J. T. Gault built an office in Kennesaw in 1901, but he relocated to Atlanta before 1912. Dr. J. E. Lester opened an office in 1903 and stayed in our community until 1928. When Dr. Ellis fell ill in 1907, Dr. T. J. Van Sant served in his place in Kennesaw and stayed for eighteen months. Despite this large number of doctors in our small community Dr. Ellis emerged as a community leader. By 1903 the Marietta Journal was already saying “a more honest, upright gentleman never lived here than John Ellis.” The next year he was elected to the City Council, and he served until 1906. He was elected as Mayor in 1916, 1917, and 1923.
Dr. Ellis also began expanding beyond his medical practice. In addition to serving as a doctor, he owned a drugstore, opened a blacksmith shop in 1904, and owned farms across the area. He was a founding director of the Kennesaw State Bank and served with the bank until his death. He was a member of the Meyerhadt Masonic Lodge, a member of the Kennesaw lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and was part of the Farmer’s Union.
There are many stories recorded in newspapers about Dr. Ellis’s personal life. While playing “pin the tail on the donkey” at a Valentine’s Day party hosted by the Hill family, it was the “surgical skill of Dr. Ellis [that] enabled him to re-tail the donkey.” In 1911 he purchased a car which he used to visit patients, and his Ford was soon a familiar sight. Later in life, Dr. Ellis purchased a television set and “watched constantly. Milton Berle was his favorite entertainer.”
In 1909, Ellis moved his drugstore to the first floor of the new Kennesaw Hotel (that sat in the middle of what is now J. O. Stephenson Avenue.) In the 1920s or 30s, Ellis built a small building next to the Hill Store Building (today Eaton Chiropractic). The small white structure is currently vacant. In 1936 his wooden house was torn down and replaced by a brick bungalow that was the home of By-Gone Treasures antique store.
Dr. Ellis was very involved with the medical community in Cobb County. In 1935, he hosted a meeting of the Cobb County Medical Society at his house. The chicken pie Ellis served was so large it made the front page of the Marietta Journal. He was a stockholder in the Marietta Hospital until it closed in 1950 and was replaced by Kennestone Hospital.
Dr. Ellis continued serving his community until his death. He passed away at the age of 83 on December 16, 1950. He was a staple of the community for fifty years, and it was hoped “the people of Kennesaw, where he spent his life as a physician, will keep his memory green through the years.”