Rev. James H. Ellegood

Rev. James H. Ellegood
Rev. James H. Ellegood

The window on the left was presented by Rebecca Ellegood (1837 – 1909), the wife of the Rev. James H. Ellegood (1817 – 1892), in his memory. The Rev. Ellegood served as pastor of the Milton M. P. Church from 1874-76. The earliest record of him in a newspaper is a mention in the Baltimore Sun of March 21, 1856 announcing his appointment to the Carlisle Circuit in Maryland.

He was listed as a superannuate (retiree) in 1885. After his retirement, he moved back to Milton, of which he had grown very fond, to make his home there. He continued to preach, as guest speaker, as late as April 1892. In September of 1892, on a visit with his wife to her sister’s home, he took ill and died of “brain fever[1].” His tombstone in Old Methodist Cemetery in Laurel testifies that he was a faithful minister of the Gospel for 45 years. The Ellegoods had only one child, Thomas, born ca. 1860, who died at the age of seven months. In October of 1896, Rebecca Ellegood presented an elaborately rendered pulpit cover to the Milton M. P. Church, in her husband’s memory.

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[1] Victorians used “brain fever” to describe any number of illnesses either physically based or due to shock or traumatic experience, but it is not encephalitis or meningitis. In the case of Rev. Ellegood, according to his death certificate, his death was the result of a chronic bladder infection and septicemia.