Every small town needs an Ellis Hull.
By: Joan Ruddiman
Ellis was "Mr. Allentown." He was the longtime editor of the town’s weekly newspaper, then called "The Messenger," operated local businesses, served as a councilman and was elected by his peers as president of the council for many years.
In a town that runs on volunteers, he served the Allentown Presbyterian Church and the Lions Club for 50 years, was a founder of the Allentown Upper Freehold Historical Society and was a guiding force in developing the Allentown Public Library Board, including his service as board president.
But more than any other vocation or avocation, Ellis was a historian, by degree from Bucknell, but moreover in his soul. He was the keeper of the town’s history and history is what keeps life in perspective. Ironically, Mr. Allentown was not native born. He came to Allentown as a dashing young man in 1932, the suitor of the newspaper editor’s daughter, Helen Naylor.
"The folks in town just did not know what to make of me such a rake in spats," Ellis teased. Ellis knew what to make of Allentown folks. Small towns everywhere have the same culture. The man from a small town in Vermont knew how to move into society where he was "neither a birth nor a death," but an outsider who had to win the trust and confidence of families who had lived here for generations.
Ellis was such a fixture with The Messenger and town politics for so long that most do not realize he was for many years "Helen’s husband" who was only a visitor to town when they came to see Helen’s family. Ellis and Helen, with daughter Elizabeth, lived in Union where Ellis was an "industrial counselor" for Western Electric. Ellis moved to Allentown in 1950 with Elizabeth after Helen died. When his father-in-law died unexpectedly in 1952, Ellis took over the family business, The Messenger.
Ellis was quite capable of stepping into the role of editor, with his education and business background. More importantly, he understood the traditions Naylor had established.
"J.W. (Naylor), held the philosophy that the paper was not to be controversial. I followed through with this," Ellis explained in an interview in 1994. "My father-in-law wrote in the first issue (in 1903), that he wanted The Messenger to be like a comfortable pair of slippers to slip on, to just relax and read."
Yet, as an historian, Ellis also understood that history is written first in newspapers and he determined the tone that history would take. By focusing on what may seem to be the mundane, like who visited whom on Sunday afternoons in the country, and which house got a new coat of paint, "I tried to record the life of the village and Upper Freehold," Ellis said.
Long before newsprint was preserved on microfilm, Ellis knew newspapers preserved the history of a town and its people. His attention to the usual announcements of engagements, marriages, births and deaths extended to who built, renovated or moved a house, and who came to visit from out of town, or who traveled away from town. This has become the record now avidly sought by people from literally around the world as they search for their family’s roots.
Years ago, Rutgers microfilmed The Messengers for its New Jersey Historical Collection. When funding for this project ended, Bob and Joan Halle who bought The Messenger from Ellis in 1971, financed the annual microfilming of the paper. The current owners of what is now known as The Messenger-Press, the Princeton Packet Inc., have continued to preserve the paper on microfilm, which are added to the permanent collection at the Allentown Public Library.
Ellis the historian in understanding the nature of research was instrumental with his great friend Bernyce Van Kirk, the longtime head librarian of the Allentown Public Library, in having the newspapers indexed. This massive task, done by volunteers, notably Helen Ely and Elizabeth McCutcheon, allows researchers to use the newspapers on microfilm as a primary resource about people and events in the Allentown and Upper Freehold area over the last century.
The Allentown Public Library is rightfully proud of this microfilm collection and of an extensive vertical file of local history and the book collection that Ellis and Bernyce developed over the years the renowned Van Kirk New Jersey Historical Collection.
Among his many contributions to our small town, Ellis is most fondly remembered by many of us for his dedication to the Allentown Public Library. The library was housed for decades in his front parlor and then the entire downstairs of his Main Street home. He was on the first board, was president of the library board for many years and was a constant cheerleader in the past 20 years as we’ve worked to preserve and renovate our historic building, and as we have expanded library services.
Ellis was a profound influence on so many of us. I counted him as a friend when I was a kid in town, as a teen, and as a respected colleague when, as an adult, I served with him on the library board. He was the only man who could call this group of high-powered women "girls" and not cause offense. He certainly meant no offense given the great respect he always extended to us. It was simply that to this very courtly, senior man we were just puppies in the back yard of life.
It was hard to believe that Ellis was in his 90s. Only in the last years did he succumb to the trappings of old age by moving to a nursing home. His great misfortune was the loss of his hearing. Though his mind was razor sharp, as was his wit, he felt the limitations of not being able to fully participate in conversation. A loss, also, to his wide range of friends, from kids to adults of every decade, as any conversation with Ellis on any topic was an intellectually joyful experience.
For so many years, any question about Allentown has been punctuated with "Ask Ellis." After 94 very full years of life, our Mr. Allentown is gone. We’ve lost a great friend, but marvel in the legacy he leaves. The culture of our small town reflects Ellis’ vision as a historian, his gentle, ethical spirit that channeled his initiatives as a newspaperman, and his statesmanship that guided public policies.
Every small town needs an Ellis Hull. This town is grateful he came to us.
Joan Ruddiman is a teacher and friend of the Allentown Public Library.