%ELLIS, REV. WILLIAM, whose name has become associated with the progress of Christian missions in the Sandwich and South Sea Islands, became officially connected with the Loudon Missionary Society in 1815. In November of that year Mr. Ellis married Miss Mary Mercy, a young lady who, under deep religious convictions, had been led to offer herself for missionary work before she became acquainted with her future husband and fellow-labourer. In Decem ber 1815 Mr. and Mrs. Ellis embarked at Portsmouth, and finally sailed from Spithead on January 23rd, 1816. The vessel in which they took their passage visited New South Wales and New Zealand, called at Tahiti, and reached the island of Eimee about thirteen months after leaving England. From this period till October 1824, Mr. and Mrs. Ellis were constantly and zealously engaged in promoting the instruc tion and welfare of the natives of Relates, Huahine, and other of the South Sea Islands : Mr. Ellis visited in 1822 Hawaii, or Owbyhee, the chief island of the Sandwich group, and in the following year removed his family thither. The result of his acquaintance with the condition of the islands and the character of the population, he has given in a work of great interest, entitled Polynesian Researches.' Among other works brought out by the missionaries for the benefit of the natives, in 1823, a small book of hymns, in the native language, for use in religious worship, was prepared under Mr. Ellis'a superintendence, and printed at the Mission press at Oahn.
The health of Mrs. Ellis having become seriously affected, her husband found It necessary to leave the scene of their labours, and in October 1824 they set sail on board the 'Russell,' an American ship, and arrived at New Bedford, Massachusetts, in March 1825. The owners of the vessel declined remuneration for the passage, and by numerous persons in Boston and the neighbourhood Mr. Ellis and his family were treated with much kindness. During his residence in America he took part in public meetings on behalf of the missionary cause, the more readily that he had been on terms of cordial friendship with Mr. Stewart and other American missionaries at Honolulu, the
capital of the Sandwich Islands. Mr. and Mrs. Ellie arrived in London in August 1825. Mrs. Ellis experienced occasional intervals of im provement in the state of her health, and her husband was occupied in connection with the business of the London Missionary Society at home. Mrs. Ellis died on January 18th, 1835. Mr. Ellis subsequently married 3lisa Sarah Stickney, a lady known as the author of several useful works on female education and the promotion of social im provement. Of these may be named ' The Women of England,' The Mothers of England,' and ' The Daughters of England ;" Family Secrets, or flow to Make Home Happy ;" A Voice from the Vintage,' and other works bearing on the Temperance Reformation. Mr. Ellie being in poor health, and suffering from depression of spirits, paid a visit to Pau, accompanied by his wife, and the result of their resi dence there was published for the information of other excursionists, under the title of 'Summer and Winter in the Pyrenees.' They have since resided at Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, where Mrs. Ellie has con ducted an educational establishment for females. Among the more important of Mr. Ellia'a productions may be named a ' History of Madagascar,' published in 2 vols. Svo, in 1S39, prepared by him from information received from the missionaries and from government official documents. The state of affairs iu Madagascar having been much improved of late, and the profession of the Christian religion being now tolerated in that island, Mr. Ellis, who is in improved health, has recently proceeded to Madagascar on a mission of obser vation for the London Missionary Society. Among his other works are—' Narrative of a Tour through Owhyhee,' 1826; History of the London Missionary Society,' and A Vindicatiou of the South Sca Mis sions from the Misrepresentations of M. von Kotzebue,' 1831 : ' Village Lectures on Popery,' 1851; and an interesting memoir of the first Mre. Ellis, published in 1835.