Alfred Washington Ellet was born in Penn’s Manor, Pennsylvania on October 11, 1820. Growing up on his father’s farm, he was schooled in Pennsylvania until the age of 17. When ill health prevented him from further education, he and his brother, Dr. E. C. Ellet, went to Illinois, where they established the village called Plainview, 10 miles north of Bunker Hill. Alfred farmed, ran a small store, and became the first postmaster, though he was not yet of legal age.

In 1843 he married his childhood companion, Sarah J. Robarts. They made their home in Bunker Hill, IL and had five children, two of whom died in infancy. Surviving were Edward C. Ellet, later of El Dorado, KS and California, William H. Ellet, later of El Dorado, serving as postmaster, and Mrs. Elvira E. Kendall of Chicago, IL.            

Engaged in raising stock and management of country store, he also worked with his brother Charles in the civil engineering field.

Serving with distinction in the Civil War, Ellet served as Captain of the 59th Illinois Infantry. He later served as Lieutenant Colonel under his brother, Col. Charles Ellet, Jr., in the Mississippi River Ram Fleet. Following his brother’s death, he assumed leadership of this fleet, later commissioned to the rank of Brigadier-General of Volunteers in November of 1862.

In 1871 Ellet arrived in El Dorado, Kansas, moving here from Topeka, and before that, Philadelphia. Living at 202 Star Street, his interests included banking, bringing the railroad to town, and opening the Ellet opera house. He was known as a giant in stature with a commanding presence, of strong moral convictions and character, with a kind and generous heart.

Following the death of his first wife, he married her niece, Abigail Robarts. When stricken with partial paralysis due to a stroke in 1893, the Ellets spent a year in California, hoping the climate would improve his health. When it did not, they returned to El Dorado. Other strokes followed, though his intellect remained clear; he died in El Dorado January 9, 1895 and was buried in Belle Vista cemetery.