Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

3214 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANSpitality to a large circle in their old family home at Marietta. Since 1911Judge Gober has maintained a law office at Atlanta.The University of Georgia, his alma mater, has always been close to JudgeGober's heart, and he has continued to promote its interests in every laudableway. In 1899 he was appointed one of its board of trustees, and has servedcontinuously until the present, and he is also a trustee of the Georgia Schoolof Technology. From 1877 until 1880 he served as county school commissioner of Cobb County, and for eleven years was president of the Board ofEducation of Marietta. He has a wide range of general culture, and selectshis friends and associates from among those whose standards of living are' equally high.HON. ROBERT COCHBAN ELLIS, a leading member of the bar of SouthernGeorgia, now in practice at Tifton in Tift County, is a former member of theGeorgia State Legislature, and has found and utilized many opportunities toserve the public welfare.He was born in Quitman County, Georgia, December 15, 1872, a son ofThomas J. and Rebecca (Gay) Ellis. His father was born in Houston County,Georgia, in 1831, but his parents soon thereafter moved to the neighborhoodof Union Church in then Lee, later Randolph and now Quitman County,Georgia. He was educated there and was engaged in farming when the warbroke out. Offering his services to the Confederacy, he was soon taken outof the ranks and sent to Savannah where he was made a military conductor onthe Central Railway with the rank of lieutenant and brevet colonel. His runextended from Savannah to Macon, Georgia, a time, and then from Macon toGeorgetown. At the close of the war he resumed farming in Quitman Countyand for many years was a prominent and prosperous planter of that locality.He had a keen interest in the public welfare, was active in politics, and formany years held the office of tax collector of Quitman County. He gained andheld the complete confidence of all people with whom he associated. "Whenhe died in Quitman County in 1912, he was eighty-one years of age. His wifepassed away in 1871 at the age of thirty-six, leaving nine children, of whomRobert was sixth. The other children now living are: James L. Ellis, M. D.,Dothan, Alabama; George R. Ellis, attorney at law, Americus, Georgia; Rev.Thomas D. Ellis, D. D.. now presiding elder Americus District, MethodistEpiscopal Church, South, and Mrs. William M. Bryan, Thomasville, Georgia.Robert Cochran Ellis gained his early training in the country schools ofQuitman County, and developed a good constitution by assisting his father onthe home farm. He attended Emory College, from which he was graduatedwith the degree of A. B. in 1897. After two years of school teaching, havingdecided to become a lawyer, he entered the office of his brother, Col. GeorgeR. Ellis, of Americus in Sumter County, with whom he remained two yearsas a student. Admitted to the bar in 1901 he began practice at Americus,but in the same year removed to Tifton, where he has built up his practiceand local reputation as a member of the bar. In the meantime other connections have been formed with the business and civic life of his state. He is adirector of the National Bank of Tifton, is vice president of the Empire Loanand Trust Company of Americus, and he has some extensive farming propertyin Tift County.His service in the Legislature of Georgia ran from 1911 to 1914. He wasnot a candidate for re-election in 1914, but has recently been elected again andis a member of the Legislature for 1917-18. During his earlier terms he wasa member of the General Judiciary, Ways and Means, Agricultural and othercommittees. In 1914 he fathered the important measure known as the PublicHealth Bill, which is now the law of the state and represents some of the mostadvanced thought and standards of the public health movement. Mr. Ellis isa member of the Georgia State Bar Association, the Tift County Bar Associa-