John Ellicott (December 28, 1739 – December 28, 1794) was one of three

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...

brothers from Bucks County, Pennsylvania who chose the picturesque wilderness up river from Elk Ridge Landing (known today as Elkridge, Maryland) to establish a flour mill. John and

Andrew Ellicott Andrew Ellicott (January 24, 1754 – August 28, 1820) was an American land surveyor who helped map many of the territories west of the Appalachians, surveyed the boundaries of the District of Columbia, continued and completed Pierre (Pet ...

moved to

Baltimore County, Maryland Baltimore County ( , locally: or ) is the third-most populous county in the U.S. state of Maryland and is part of the Baltimore metropolitan area. Baltimore County (which partially surrounds, though does not include, the independent City o ...

in May 1771 purchasing 50 acres of Baltimore County land from Emanuel Teal and 35 acres from William Williams. John, Andrew, and Joseph Ellicott founded Ellicott's Mills which became one of the largest milling and manufacturing towns in the East. The Ellicott brothers helped revolutionize farming in the area by persuading farmers to plant

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

instead of

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

and also by introducing

fertilizer A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...

to revitalize depleted soil. Charles Carroll, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was an early influential convert from tobacco to wheat. Cassandra Ellicott remarried in 1800 at the opening of the Quaker Meeting House. John Ellicott was the uncle of surveyors

and Joseph Ellicott.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellicott, John People from Bucks County, Pennsylvania 1739 births 1794 deaths People of colonial Pennsylvania American Quakers