His attainments in theology were highly satisfactory.

_The Eufaula Shield_, a newspaper of that State, praised him as a man courteous in manners, polite in conversation, and manly in demeanor.

Knowing how useful Ellis would be in a free country, the Presbyterian Synod of Alabama purchased him and his family in 1847 at a cost of $2500 that he might use his talents in elevating his own people in Liberia.[1] [Footnote 1: _Niles Register_, vol.lxxi., p.

296.] Intelligent Negroes secretly communicated to their fellow men what they knew.

Henry Banks of Stafford County, Virginia, was taught by his brother-in-law to read, but not write.[1] The father of Benedict Duncan, a slave in Maryland, taught his son the alphabet.[2] M.W.
Taylor of Kentucky received his first instruction from his mother.
H.O.Wagoner learned from his parents the first principles of the common branches.[3] A mulatto of Richmond taught John H.Smythe when he was between the ages of five and seven.[4] The mother of Dr.C.H.
Payne of West Virginia taught him to read at such an early age that he does not remember when he first developed that power.[5] Dr.E.C.
Morris, President of the National Baptist Convention, belonged to a Georgia family, all of whom were well instructed by his father.[6] [Footnote 1: Drew, _Refugee_, etc., p.