Joseph Ellicott (1732–1780) was one of three Quaker brothers from Bucks County, Pennsylvania Province who purchased land on the Patapsco River and set up a new milling business there.
Joseph, Andrew, and John founded Ellicott's Mills in 1772, which became one of the largest milling and manufacturing towns in the East.
[1] The Ellicott brothers helped revolutionize farming in the area by persuading farmers to plant wheat instead of tobacco and also by introducing fertilizer to revitalize depleted soil.
Charles Carroll, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was an early influential convert from tobacco to wheat.
In 1770, Ellicott was elected to the American Philosophical Society.