Back in 2006 there was a program called “Ancestors in the Attic”. My cousin from New York had heard about it and asked me if I would contact them. They were looking for participants who wanted to solve a family history question. It sounded like a good idea as we wanted to know what the connection between our great-grandfather John McEwan and Birks jewellers was. It was a great experience and showed me other venues for finding information about ancestors. While it didn’t turn out exactly as we thought, we finally learned the truth. My great-grandfather originally was an independent jeweller on King Street, in Toronto but at some point went to work for P. W. Ellis Company. Through the Ancestors in the Attic research and my own this is what has been uncovered. *more on John McEwan Phillip William Ellis was born in Toronto in 1856, the son of William Henry Ellis and Susan Cain of Liverpool. Ellis senior made his money creating The Penny Post, Toronto’s first cheap newspaper. Philip originally trained to be a teacher at the Toronto Model School but changed his mind and decided to apprentice in the jewelry business. A handsome man with a full tailored beard, he resembled what King George V would look like in several years. In 1872 he founded his own business the P. W. Ellis Jewellery Company, with his twin brother Mathew C. Ellis. This was to become the most successful jewellery and silver company in Toronto. There mark was an anchor, an E in a maple leaf and a lion passant. Ellis was sued by another silver company by the name of Gorham in 1904 because the trade mark was very similar to that of the American firm, and their flatware patterns also had a striking resemblance to those of the Gorham Company. The case was heard in Toronto and Ellis & Co. won. This is mentioned in the third edition of Rainwaters Encyclopedia of American Silver Manufacturers. It would seem that Mr. Ellis should have been happy with such a well established enterprise. He was the president of the largest wholesale jewelry business in the country, with a firm employing more than one hundred employees at his store at Yonge and Temperance Street store in Toronto. However Ellis was a visionary and moved toward other interests. At twenty-four years of age Philip Ellis married Elizabeth Kate Gooderham at Toronto on 3 November 1880. The ceremony must have been quite a gala. In the 1880’s not so long after establishing the jewellery business he fell into the real estate market by purchasing a 100 acre farm along with his brother Mathew and younger brother William, and he created the Bedford Park Company. He also invested money in the Metcalfe mansion that had been gutted by fire years before and then abandoned, however by 1895 his interests changed again and he let his brother William take over the property management part of the business. His interests further diminished when the City of Toronto prevented his idea of building a factory in the same Bedford Park area from coming to fruition even though the residential lots were starting to take off. I would think that a man of his stature was not accustomed to being refused something. In 1905 he became a member of the province’s Hydro Electric Commission and the Queen Victoria Niagara Falls Park Commission. He became appointed as the first chairman of the Toronto City Hydro-Electric Commission (now Toronto Hydro) in 1911. Ellis would make Toronto the envy of other large cities when with his first project he was instrumental in the installations of 110-watt streetlights every 80 to 100 feet in the city. Next he turned to public transit. In 1921 where he became the first chairman of what is now the TTC . In 1928 the wholesale jewellery business folded but the retail continued as part of Birks Ellis Ryrie until Birks dropped the Ellis and Ryrie names to become just Birks, the jewellery store with the famous “blue box”. In my youth I worked for Birks Jewellers first in the silverware department then the diamond counter at Toronto’s Fairview store. That famous “blue box” was not given out lightly even back in the sixties. Ellis died in 1929 while still at the head of the TTC.
17 Comments
Kenneth U. Campbell
4/29/2015 12:14:55 am
Madeleine Ellis, daughter of Philip, who married Robert Campbell of Chatham, Ontario is my grandmother. This makes us cousins. Now, check out William Ellis and Hawaii.
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Deborah Scott
5/29/2015 04:23:37 am
My grandmother, Muriel Ellis Scott, was one of PW and Kate Ellis' daughters. As a young boy visiting his grandparents in Toronto in the 1920s, my Dad remembered PW suggesting that they 'sneak' on to the TTC streetcar without paying (when of course he must have had a pass). My Dad found this quite daring and exciting!
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JuliJ McCaffrey
2/4/2018 10:01:53 am
I am also part of the Ellis Scott line and remember Auntie"Mu" with much affection, even though I was quite young when she passed
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Dianne Gregg
12/23/2016 09:48:24 am
I have a bag that I believe is for silver that has the name Birk-Ellis-Ryrie on it. Can you tell me how many months or years that Birks kept the Ellie-Ryrie part of the name?
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William Ellis
12/17/2017 07:23:25 pm
I have my great grandfather's portrait. It is immense. My grandfather was his son, Kenneth Gibbs Quirk. Do you know what the connection back to the Isle of Man is? I am trying to bridge the gap...William Ellis, the South Pacific missionary was born near London in 1794. I was always told the family was from the Isle of Man, in fact I have a cast of the Isle of Man Giant - Arthur Caley's hand. Strangely, the story of Arthur Called was written by John Quirk...and that's my late grandfather's middle name. Any thoughts?
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Carol Ellis
5/8/2018 04:58:34 pm
I too have the name Quirk (middle name) -which I got after Charles Quirk Ellis (my granfather) nephew of PW Ellis. My grandfather and his twin brothers were in the Ellis Bros business -as was my father B S Ellis - who was amanging director of birks. I have always been told that the Qquirk name came form the Isle of man too - but do not know the connection. Very interested to learn more too.
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Bruce William Ellis
7/27/2018 03:23:54 pm
Philip William Ellis was my great grandfather and my father , the son of Reginald Cain Ellis was named after him. I am the remaining one in my generation having recently done the service of burial for my older brother Reginald ... a younger brother died in 1975.
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Estelle Johnston
6/7/2019 08:46:33 pm
Very interested. Did you learn anything more about your history?
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Susan Milton
1/20/2019 05:08:18 pm
I have the original copper hand engraved cheque plate for P.W.Ellis & Co jewellers. It also has a test print with it. It is a beautiful piece of our past.
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Annie MacDougall
2/4/2019 12:30:10 pm
I currently have a beloved family piece that was my grandmothers which was engraved with her initials, marked on the side is “STERLING ELLIS BROS.” Thank you die this piece of History and sharing!
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RH
4/29/2019 08:13:28 am
I have a ring (yellow gold, 18K, 4.5 mm width), styled like a wedding band, that has the P.W. Ellis hallmarks on it. Can't say what the date is, but definitely before 1928 when the company was then absorbed by Birks.
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Estelle Johnston
6/7/2019 08:07:40 pm
I have a beautiful ring made by the Ellis Bros. It’s 18k white gold, amethyst with a beautiful cameo of a young woman. I don’t see many carved items in their catelogs. Do you know if it was a commissioned piece?
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Ted Banning
5/16/2020 06:58:21 am
Does anyone know if Philip W. or Matthew C. Ellis had a coin collection? Or what happened to it. I am researching early Canadian numismatists and have found a couple of references to a coin collection, but it's only attributed to "P. W. Ellis & Co." I don't believe this is just referring to medals the company made and sold at the time (1895-1903)
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Deborah Scott
8/25/2020 07:15:02 am
I am a great granddaughter of PW Ellis, and may have a clue about the Quirk family and Isle of Man connection.
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Alex Gibbons
9/9/2021 10:51:28 am
We have an old art deco ring that is believed to from a Canadian soldier in WW1 , it is stamped with the famous E from T.Eaton & Co & has the letters J m stamped next to it . Do you know what your family's jewelry mark was ? Did they do any work for Eaton's ?
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walt johnson
10/6/2021 12:23:39 pm
A relative of my dad (uncle?) " W.J. INNES" received a bicycle medal, with the "ELLIS STERLING" Hallmark) in Windsor/Walkerville, Ont. Wondering if there is any archive or information about this medal or the race? Great website!!!
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