HARRIS DALTON
My Wife's Relatives Sang for 4,000+ Funerals  

By Harris Dalton

The South is a land of sound. The cricket chirps through the night, and the bee hums his way across the fields of clover as he fathers the female blossoms with perfumed pollen. Birds with their morning anthem salute the dawning of each breathless sunrise while the pines and brooks whisper their soft refrain in the background.

In a land dancing with the music of nature, it's no surprise that lyrics would be added to the melody. That's where man takes the stage. Early Crisp Countians in South Georgia who heard these melodies of nature were quick to appreciate the tunes and hurried to join the chorus.

Major Ellis, my wife Tina's uncle, a highly successful Crisp County businessman, never let business stand in his way of singing. Friends recall when he would cut short business conferences to rush off and sing at funerals.

Mrs. Eula Dorough recalls, "Major might be in the middle of the sale of a tractor when he would interrupt the potential buyer and excuse himself and run off and sing for a funeral."

Looking at his watch, Major would explain, "I've got to run over to Penia to sing for a funeral. You just wait right here, and we'll get on with the business as soon as I get back."

Such interruptions did nothing to hurt business. As a matter-of-fact, the customer probably expected Major to sing at his funeral. Over the years, Major Ellis and his famous Ellis Quartet sang for nearly every funeral in Crisp, Dooly, Wilcox and Turner Counties. The quartet also sang on Cordele's radio station each Sunday morning for many years.Eula Dorough, one of the original quartet, estimates that the group sang at about 100 funerals each year. "We started singing for funerals about 1918," she recalled. All told, the quartet sang at the funerals of more than 4,000 souls.

"I sang with the quartet for a funeral on the day I was married," Mrs. Dorough proclaimed. "We started to postpone the wedding because of the funeral, but my husband's father was superstitious and thought it would be bad luck to delay the wedding because of a funeral. So we went ahead with the wedding after we had sung for the funeral."

Mrs. Dorough, who was 77-years-young when she told me this story back in the late 1970s, explained the makeup of the Ellis Quartet. "Major had the leading part in the quartet. My husband, J. J. Dorough, sang the bass. Tom Wright was the tenor, and Elweda Ellis Hunt played the piano. I sang the alto."

In the early days, The Ellis Quartet bumped along dusty roads in a Model-T Ford to get to little churches in the country. "We were always ready to go if someone requested us," Mrs. Dorough testified. "I always kept some flowers in the kitchen so I would have a bouquet ready in case of a funeral."

Asked if the funeral did not leave her depressed, she stated, "I got more joy than I could possibly give. Life in heaven is just as real to me as life on earth. I think they (the deceased) are better off than you and me. Life after death is just a reality. Our singing was to comfort the family."

If the roads to the funerals were rough, so was the life. Mrs. Dorough said, "I worked on the farm, and there were many times I didn't see the inside of a school house until January 1."
Later, Mrs. Dorough became a school teacher and commuted from home to school in the Model-T which also carried her to funerals. She recalls one of her students breaking his arm while cranking the old Ford.

Singing was the recreation of the day before there were radios and televisions to entertain. Mrs. Ellis at 85 recalled when she first "laid eyes" on Major. "He had come to our house on business and was spending the night. I came down the stairs, and he was playing the piano and singing. I thought he was the most wonderful thing I had ever seen, the way he could play and sing."

The Ellis Quartet was the most popular singing group in the four-county area and was in constant demand. Huge throngs would turn out for the annual Crisp County Singing Convention held at the courthouse. There would be other singing groups, such as the Harmony Four with Doc Rains, appearing on the program. Shy country youth would cast loving glances at members of the opposite sex as the singers poured forth with popular gospel songs. Those were exciting times in Crisp County, and Mrs. Dorough recalled that the master of ceremonies died in the midst of the singing one hot July day.

The quartet would also meet in homes and join with the youth of the various communities in the singing at churches, but they never accepted money for their performances. Major Ellis said, "We are singing for the Lord. We don't sing for money."

Singing frequently cost Major Ellis money. His firm, The Georgia Implement and Truck Company, began sponsoring the quartet's singing on the radio in the 1940s. And then, there was the time when he was stopped in Vienna for speeding while on the way to a funeral in Dooly County. He pulled out a $20 bill from his wallet and told the officer, "I haven't got time to talk to you right now. I've got to get to a funeral. Here's $20 for my fine. I'll stop and get my change on my way back through. "

Major Ellis died in 1964 after bringing joy to thousands during his lifetime.