Frank F. Ellis, Jr.
Frank retired from the State of Alabama Dept. of Human Resources in May, 2005. He is the owner, manager and operator of the ranch. He is a member of Pintlala Baptist Church where he serves as a deacon. He is also a board of director of the Southeastern Livestock Exposition, board member of Hooper Academy, member of Alabama Beef Cattle Improvement Association, Alabama Cattleman’s Association, board member of Lowndes County Cattleman’s Association. His wife Linda is employed the State of Alabama Department of Revenue, and they have two children, Kristen Leigh and Wilson Stone Ellis.
Phone Number: (334) 315-8927
Mailing Address: 250 Ellis Road, Letohatchee, Alabama 36047
Our ranch is located in Sandy Ridge, Alabama on US 31.
We are located seven miles east of I-65 at exit 151 (Letohatchee exit).
Frank retired from the State of Alabama Dept. of Human Resources in May, 2005. He is the owner, manager and operator of the ranch. He is a member of Pintlala Baptist Church where he serves as a deacon. He is also a board of director of the Southeastern Livestock Exposition, board member of Hooper Academy, member of Alabama Beef Cattle Improvement Association, Alabama Cattleman’s Association, board member of Lowndes County Cattleman’s Association. His wife Linda is employed the State of Alabama Department of Revenue, and they have two children, Kristen Leigh and Wilson Stone Ellis.
Phone Number: (334) 315-8927
Mailing Address: 250 Ellis Road, Letohatchee, Alabama 36047
Our ranch is located in Sandy Ridge, Alabama on US 31.
We are located seven miles east of I-65 at exit 151 (Letohatchee exit).
Ranch History
The Ellis ranch has a rich history dating back to well before the Civil War. While great grandfather William Wallace Stone (1840-1886) was serving in the Confederate Army his wife, Dorothy Elizabeth Perry, her children and her parents, Squire Tom Perry and Dolly Perry (only daughter of Grandpa Billy Payne) continued to operate the plantation raising cotton, corn, horses and cattle.
When the Union Army marched through Sandy Ridge in 1864 they camped out on the ranch on a site near U.S. Highway 31 on what we call the Stone Place. The officers occupied the home place and invited themselves to dinner with the Stone family. After dinner the Union Officers noticed a piano in the parlor and asked our great grandmother, if she played. When she informed them that she did play they asked her to play them something on the piano. She immediately sat down at the piano and played Dixie. When they asked her to please play something else, she played Yankee Doodle.
The next morning when the Stone Family awoke and looked out the “face of the earth was blue with Yankees.” None of the family members were harmed by the Union soldiers although many barns where burned and horses stolen.
A tribe of Creek Indians lived on the ranch near Pinchony Creek, which flows north through the ranch. We have found many arrowheads, tomahawks and tools over the years on a bluff overlooking the creek that was obviously part of the Indian village.
The Ellis ranch has a rich history dating back to well before the Civil War. While great grandfather William Wallace Stone (1840-1886) was serving in the Confederate Army his wife, Dorothy Elizabeth Perry, her children and her parents, Squire Tom Perry and Dolly Perry (only daughter of Grandpa Billy Payne) continued to operate the plantation raising cotton, corn, horses and cattle.
When the Union Army marched through Sandy Ridge in 1864 they camped out on the ranch on a site near U.S. Highway 31 on what we call the Stone Place. The officers occupied the home place and invited themselves to dinner with the Stone family. After dinner the Union Officers noticed a piano in the parlor and asked our great grandmother, if she played. When she informed them that she did play they asked her to play them something on the piano. She immediately sat down at the piano and played Dixie. When they asked her to please play something else, she played Yankee Doodle.
The next morning when the Stone Family awoke and looked out the “face of the earth was blue with Yankees.” None of the family members were harmed by the Union soldiers although many barns where burned and horses stolen.
A tribe of Creek Indians lived on the ranch near Pinchony Creek, which flows north through the ranch. We have found many arrowheads, tomahawks and tools over the years on a bluff overlooking the creek that was obviously part of the Indian village.
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Frank F. Ellis, Sr.
My hero and beloved father worked this land all his life and made it what it is. He was a man of great faith and integrity and he was respected by all who knew him. Daddy was a 1929 graduate of the University of Alabama where he lettered on the Crimson Tide baseball team. He was a talented pitcher at Alabama and played for the Montgomery Rebels minor league for a while. After a tour of duty in the U.S. Army and then the U. S. Air Force he continued his career in the Air Force Reserve where he retired as a Lt. Colonel. He converted broom sage sand hills and sandspur patches into lush pastures for his cattle to graze. He loved his family, his ranch and his bird dogs and a part of him will always be with us. |
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Dorothy Breitling Ellis
My mother, Dot Ellis came to Sandy Ridge as a young bride of 22 in 1943. She is the granddaughter of a German immigrant. She raised three children (Frank Jr., Jane F. Ellis and Ann Ellis Robinson) while teaching school (Third grade) for many years. She retired from State of Alabama Department of Human Resources in 1979. Widowed at age 52 she remained involved in the daily activities of the ranch until her death in November 2003. She was a loving wife and a wonderful mother to her children. The joy of her later years was her granddaughter, Kristen Leigh Ellis, with whom she has a special relationship and her grandson Wilson Stone Ellis. She continues to make a positive influence in the lives of her family and the hundreds of students and friends she made in her 83 years.
My mother, Dot Ellis came to Sandy Ridge as a young bride of 22 in 1943. She is the granddaughter of a German immigrant. She raised three children (Frank Jr., Jane F. Ellis and Ann Ellis Robinson) while teaching school (Third grade) for many years. She retired from State of Alabama Department of Human Resources in 1979. Widowed at age 52 she remained involved in the daily activities of the ranch until her death in November 2003. She was a loving wife and a wonderful mother to her children. The joy of her later years was her granddaughter, Kristen Leigh Ellis, with whom she has a special relationship and her grandson Wilson Stone Ellis. She continues to make a positive influence in the lives of her family and the hundreds of students and friends she made in her 83 years.