Joseph William Ellender

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. A British seaman named Joseph William Ellender was born on May 25, 1840, and if you'd asked him back then where he'd end up, I guarantee Texas wouldn't have been his first answer. Or his second.

But the sea has a way of making those decisions for you. In 1866, Ellender was shipwrecked off the coast of Iceland. Iceland.

About as far from the Gulf of Mexico as a man can get and still be on this earth. A schooner pulled him out of that situation, and that schooner was bound for Galveston. So that's where Joseph William Ellender landed.

Sometimes rescue comes with a destination already attached. He made his way to Cedar Bayou, and in 1868 he married Nancy Lavenia Prather. They built a life together, and that life included ten children.

Now, a man who survives a shipwreck off Iceland and raises ten children has clearly made peace with the idea that the world is not going to be easy. But Ellender wasn't just survivin'. He was buildin'.

He was a Master Mason, and he served as worshipful master of Cedar Bayou Lodge not once, not twice, but three times. In 1884 he organized the Cedar Bayou chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star. And by 1889, he had risen to Worthy Grand Patron of Texas.

The British seaman the sea tried to swallow in 1866 became, by 1917 when he passed on February 24th, one of the pillars of this corner of Texas. Cedar Bayou kept him. Turns out that schooner knew exactly where it was going.

What the marker says

(May 25, 1840 - February 24, 1917) British seaman Joseph William Ellender was shipwrecked off the coast of Iceland in 1866 and rescued by a schooner bound for Galveston. He settled in Cedar Bayou and married Nancy Lavenia Prather in 1868. They had ten children. A Master Mason, Ellender served as worshipful master of Cedar Bayou Lodge three times. He organized the Cedar Bayou chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star in 1884 and was Worthy Grand Patron of Texas in 1889.