Ellis Willoughby was born at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan on February 26, 1864. His parents were Daniel and Martha Passen Willoughby. He married Sarah Elija Wilson on March 19, 1890. She was born in Temple, New Hampshire on June 10, 1863. Mr. Willoughby came to Larrabee, where he homesteaded, in 1886.
In the spring of 1900, they were in the hardware and implement business in McHenry for five years. At this time he was a deputy sheriff in Foster County and was seriously wounded in 1903 while trying to settle a shooting affair. They moved back to their farm in 1905 and to Grace City in 1917.
Sarah died on November 5, 1926; Ellis died on February 23, 1933. They are buried in the Grace City Cemetery.
Their children were: Wilson, Daniel, Eugene, Calvin, and Lucy.
Source: A History of Foster County 1983 Page 66B