ELLIS, JOSEPH L. (?-?). Joseph L. Ellis, pioneer settler, was commissioned agent of the Alabama-Coushatta Indians by Sam Houston on August 1, 1844, and is known to have served in that capacity as late as 1860. It is believed that he came to Nacogdoches as early as 1835. He was a close friend of the Houston family.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Nacogdoches Archives, Steen Library, Stephen F. Austin State University; Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin; Texas State Archives, Austin. Harriet Smither, "The Alabama Indians of Texas," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 36 (October 1932). Amelia W. Williams and Eugene C. Barker, eds., The Writings of Sam Houston, 1813-1863 (8 vols., Austin: University of Texas Press, 1938-43; rpt., Austin and New York: Pemberton Press, 1970).
