IN MY MANY years chasing William H. Ellis, I was fortunate enough to have had the assistance of a great number of accomplices along the way.
My first thanks go to the Moore family in Southern California and the Ellis family in Mexico. When I began to search for William H. Ellis’s relatives, I was not at all certain I would ever find them, given the numerous obfuscations that Ellis had introduced into the historical record. I never dreamed that I would encounter such lovely people who have over time become like a second family to me. The Moore sisters—Susie Williams, Joan Williams, and Fanny Johnson-Griffin—have been incredibly gracious with their time; their support for this project has meant the world to me. Many thanks, too, to the rest of the family for their warm welcome: Robert Adan Williams, Angela Williams, Robin Wood, Jimmy Wood, Marguerita Drew, Dylan Drew, Cairo Collins, Adye Evans, Edison Griffin, Sheldon Johnson, Aaron Johnson, Portia Wood, and Savannah Wood, among others. I look forward to celebrating the publication of The Strange Career of William Ellis with all of you, seven long years after we first met.
When I encountered the Moore sisters in 2009, I told them that I would try to track down the long-lost Mexican branch of the family for them. Alas, for far too many years, this promise seemed a hollow one. Not until 2013, thanks to a remarkable string of coincidences set in motion by Sandra Pujals and Patricia Aulestia, did the final pieces of the puzzle fall into place. Having researched their elusive, border-crossing ancestor for so long, it was a profoundly moving experience to finally speak to members of the Mexican Ellises. This happy moment, however, soon became tinged with an unexpected sadness. Only days before I was to meet Peter, Liz, and their children, their only son, Christopher Guillermo, died in a freak accident in Mexico City. This book is dedicated to the memory of Christopher, William H. Ellis’s great-grandson and Valeria and Paulina’s beloved brother.
The Strange Career of William Ellis owes its genesis to an assignment that Emilia Viotti da Costa gave me in one of my first classes in graduate school. Knowing that I was interested in the US-Mexico borderlands, Professor da Costa suggested that I look at some of the US consuls’ reports from northern Mexico and write a brief research paper on what I found there. Little did she or I know what this supposedly short assignment would ultimately become. One of the very first reports I encountered discussed William H. Ellis’s 1895 effort to relocate African Americans to Tlahualilo. Fascinated by this unlikely tale, I returned to it again and again, even as I went on to write a dissertation about something else entirely. As I wrestled with my preliminary findings relating to William H. Ellis, Jim Scott and Gil Joseph at Yale were of great help, as was William Meyers of Wake Forest University.
Even so, this project might have languished in a desk drawer forever without repeated nudges from Sam Truett. First, Sam encouraged me to revise the essay I had written for Professor da Costa for inclusion in the anthology on new approaches to borderlands history that he and Elliott Young were editing, Continental Crossroads. Then, after I had finished my last book, Shadows at Dawn: A Borderlands Massacre and the Violence of History, Sam helped me think through how to make what still struck me as an impossible project into a coherent book. I am grateful for his boundless enthusiasm as well as his encyclopedic knowledge of borderlands history.
Marni Sandweiss, whose eye-opening book on Clarence King’s black-to-white passing proved an inspiration to me, was equally generous in offering her support and expertise. Bill Deverell was a great help in facilitating my initial introduction to Joan Williams. Marsha Weisiger proved an invaluable sounding board and a wonderful traveling companion as our research interests unexpectedly intertwined with one another. In particular, she arranged a memorable trip to Victoria, where we met Craig Weisiger and Corky Goodman, who were kind enough to share their detailed knowledge of their hometown with two befuddled non-Texans. Native Texan Aaron Frith accompanied me on another indelible Texas trip, this time to Eagle Pass/Piedras Negras, and helped with several of the illustrations for The Strange Career of William Ellis.
In turning what had been a short article into a full-sized book, I relied upon numerous accomplished academics for advice and guidance. Special thanks to Erik Anderson, Adam Arenson, Blake Ball, Alwyn Barr, Mia Bay, Gerry Cadava, Gregg Cantrell, William Carrigan, Carlos Castañón Cuadros, Doug Cope, Sarah Cornell, Bill Cronon, Justin Castro, Grace Delgado, Anahi Douglas, Greg Downs, Ann Fabian, Eric Foner, Matt García, Adam Goodman, Greg Grandin, Matt Guterl, Ramón Gutiérrez, Steve Hahn, Douglas Hales, Françoise Hamlin, Martha Hodes, Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof, Evelyn Hu-DeHart, Andrew Huebner, Irvin Hunt, Nancy Jacobs, Valeria Jiménez, Ben Johnson, Jane Kamensky, Emilio Kourí, Chris Lamberti, Jessica Lee, Joel Lee, John Logan, Adrián Lopez Denis, Danny Loss, Monica Martinez, Jim McCann, Stephanie McCurry, Scot McFarlane, John Mckiernan-Gonzalez, Amanda McVety, Michele Mericle, Ed Morales, Dirk Moses, Rachel Newman, Mae Ngai, James Nichols, Andrew Offenburger, Jolie Olcott, Juan Antonio Padilla Compean, Dylan Penningroth, Pablo Piccato, Caterina Pizzigoni, Anthony Quiroz, Andrés Resendez, Annette Rodriguez, Bill Schell, Bill Scott, Larry Spruill, Charles Spurlin, Alexandra Stern, Andrew Torget, Ben Vinson, and Michael Vorenberg,
I also benefited from the assistance of a number of gifted research assistants. Susan Berlowitz and Billye Jackson showed me how much historians can learn from genealogists. Benjamín Alonso Rascón once again demonstrated his mastery of Mexican archives. Brown University students Khalila Douze, Elena Gonzales, Jonah Newman, and Danielle Slevens all provided invaluable help.
Over the years it took me to complete this book, I presented talks about William H. Ellis at a number of venues, including Arizona State University, Brown University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University, Oberlin College, Rutgers University, University of New Mexico, Indiana University, Southern Methodist University, Yale University’s Agrarian Studies Program, and the Newberry Library’s Borderlands and Latino/a Studies Symposium. I am grateful to all those who participated in these sessions for their thought-provoking feedback.
Without financial assistance from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and the Russell Sage Foundation, I would never have been able to take the pause from teaching necessary to write up my findings. At the Russell Sage, I was fortunate enough to be exposed to a unique community of gifted scholars, including Aliya Saperstein, Ann Morning, Elizabeth Cohen, Ellie Shermer, Mona Lynch, Susan Silbey, and Paul Osterman, as well as to receive the assistance of the foundation’s accomplished research staff. My time as a scholar in residence at the Center for Borderlands Studies at Arizona State University, run by my good friend Matt Garcia, also proved an invaluable opportunity to think more deeply about the issues relating to this book.
For help in tracking down archival materials relating to William H. Ellis’s life, I benefited from the efforts of Peter Blodgett at the Huntington Library; Lorna Owens at the Andrew Carnegie Birthplace; Evan Hocker at the Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin; John Friend at the Wisconsin Historical Society; Janette Garcia at The University of Texas-Pan American Library; Mattie Taormina at the Stanford University Library; Susan Olsen at Woodlawn Cemetery; Fenta Tiruneh at the Library of Congress; Mandy Altimus Pond at the Massillon Museum; and Xóchitl Fernández of Agrasánchez Film Archive. Ulf Lindhal was my sage guide to the arcane yet fascinating world of Ethiopian stamp collecting.
Equally important support was offered by family friend Mary Kim, who with her husband, Jeff, generously let me stay at their home when I was doing research in Southern California. New York City friends Wendy Walters, Dan Charnas, Susan Ferber, Rachel St. John, Andrew Needham, Maria Montoya, Jared Farmer, Jerry Weinstein, Suzy Kim, and others not only helped me think through some of the writing challenges associated with The Strange Career of William Ellis; they occasionally insisted I step away from my desk and enjoy my new Manhattan home. Magaly Polanco’s loving care of Jason made coping with work/life pressures manageable most days.
My agent, Geri Thoma, skillfully guided this project to the desk of Tom Mayer at W. W. Norton, who has proven to be an uncommonly astute and insightful editor. I hope this will be the first of many, many books we work on together.
Having spent so much time thinking about William H. Ellis’s family has made me treasure mine all the more. My love to you all—above all, to the tricksters who remain the heroes of the story of my life: Marie and Jason.