Jane Ely (Jane Wellington Barker) was born in 1817 in Oriskany Falls, New York. She married Edward Ely (b. 1811) in Connecticut) in Oswego, New York April 23, 1843. They had five children: Charles born 1844 in Ohio; Helen Mar born in Ohio in 1850; Mason Barker born in Winona, Minnesota Territory in 1853, Kirkland Henry AKA Horace born in Winona, Minnesota Territory, 1857 and Harriet Elizabeth born 1858 in Winona, Minnesota.

Edward Ely arrived on Wabasha Prairie May 4, 1852 aboard the Str Nominee. Jane and her husband were pioneers who lived in Lancaster, Ohio and Wheeling, Virginia (West Virginia was not created until the Civil War era) before they moved further west arriving on Wabasha Prairie 1852. Jane's husband Edward was a Baptist minister who became Postmaster of Wabasha' Prairie, and later a businessman.

To help support her family and because she enjoyed an active life, Jane started her own school or taught in schools that were already established. She taught art and French as well as other subjects. She also took in boarders.

The Ely family letters were collected and published in The Ely Ancestry, New York: The Calumet Press, 1902. We have copied Jane Ely's letters from this collection and divided them into two parts.

Jane Ely's Letters 1845-1851 are letters written when Jane and her family were living in Lancaster, Ohio and Wheeling, Virginia. These letters are useful for understanding the attraction of the frontier and the West to young people of that time. They also provide information for us on the daily life of ordinary people who were leading extraordinary lives and how families communicated even though great distances separated them.

Jane Ely's Letters, 1852-1858 are letters which were written after Jane and her family moved to Wabasha Prairie. Jane became one of the leaders of the growing community. She earned local fame for her portraits of prominent Winonans and respect for her devotion to family and friends.
 
 

Edward Ely, 1875, Winona's First Postmaster. Husband of Jane Ely.

Helen Ely, 1875, First woman graduate of the University of Minnesota, taught in Winona Schools in the 1860's

We provide a number of questions, which will guide your reading, and discussion of these letters.  Scratching Beneath the Surface, Understanding Jane Ely's Letters.