Price Ellison

{{short description|Canadian politician}}

{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}

File:Price Ellison, Vanity Fair, 1911-01-25.jpg

Price Ellison (October 6, 1852{{cite journal |url=http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/pdfs/bchf/bchn_1998_summer.pdf |title=Price Ellison: A Gilded Man in British Columbia's Gilded Age |pages=8–15 |journal=British Columbia Historical News |date=Summer 1998 |last=Richard |first=George |volume=3 |issue=3 |accessdate=August 23, 2011}} – December 10, 1932{{cite web |url=http://search.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/sn-4E75D75/view/Deaths/find-adv%2B%20callnumber=%28%221932-09-467445%22%20%29%20AND%20microfilm=%28b13144%29%20%2B%2B%2B%2B/1 |title=Vital Event Death Registration |publisher=BC Archives |accessdate=August 22, 2011 }}{{Dead link|date=May 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}) was an English-born blacksmith, farmer, rancher and political figure in British Columbia. He represented Yale-East from 1898 to 1903 and Okanagan from 1903 to 1916 as a Conservative in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia.

He was born in Dunham, Cheshire, the son of James Ellison and Ellen Fearnaught, and was educated in Manchester. Ellison entered the blacksmith and hardware business.{{cite web |url=https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.15438/230 |title=Biographical dictionary of well-known British Columbians with a historical sketch |page=160 |last=Kerr |first=John Blaine |year=1890 |location=Vancouver |publisher=Kerr & Begg}} In 1873, he came to the United States, travelling from Boston to California. Ellison settled in Vernon, British Columbia in 1876. In 1884, he married Sophia Christine Johnson, the first school teacher in Vernon.{{cite web |url=http://memorybc.ca/ellison-price;isaar |title=Ellison, Price |publisher=British Columbia Archival Information Network |accessdate=August 23, 2011}} After not meeting much success at mining, he again worked as a blacksmith for a time in Vernon. Ellison then purchased a farm, where he grew wheat and raised livestock. He served in the provincial cabinet as Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works and then as Minister of Finance and Agriculture. He also served as deputy speaker of the Legislature. Ellison was defeated when he ran for re-election to the assembly in 1916 and again in 1924. He died in Vernon at the age of 81.

Ellison Provincial Park was named in his honour. In 1910, as Commissioner of Lands and Works, Ellison travelled with a group of surveyors who established the boundaries for Strathcona Provincial Park, the first provincial park in British Columbia.{{cite web |title=Ellison Park |work=BC Geographical Names |url=http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/bcgnws/names/2853.html |publisher=Government of British Columbia |accessdate=August 23, 2011}}