She married William Ellis on 13 August 1792,[2] and later moved to London it was reported she died in Wisbech on 12 February 1837 aged 64.

William junior and his surviving siblings were all baptised on 4 March 1806 by Richard Wright, Protestant Dissenting Minister in the Unitarian chapel, (previously in Deadman's Lane, Wisbech).

Wright was for several years employed as a missionary by the London Unitarian Fund Society to spread their doctrine and as a consequence gave up his post in Wisbech—for a while the congregation was without a minister.

All three missionary families went to Huahine, arriving in June 1818, drawing crowds from neighbouring islands, including King Tamatoa of Raiatea.

On the same voyage, another small schooner called Prince Regent, outfitted with six cannons, was presented to King Kamehameha II.

[1] In June 1823 Ellis joined the American Missionaries Asa Thurston, Artemas Bishop, and Joseph Goodrich on a tour of the island of Hawaii, to investigate suitable sites for mission stations.

Ellis and his party visited Kealakekua Bay, and toured the historic sites nearby, such as the Puʻuhonoua o Hōnaunau.

Ellis remarried two years later to Sarah Stickney (1799–1872) on 23 May, the couple were unable to have a wedding trip as William's eldest daughter was ill, she died in June and was buried in Bunhill Fields burial-ground, next to her mother.

[12] She had been brought up a Quaker but latterly chosen to become an Independent or Congregationalist, as did many of those involved in the London Missionary Society, albeit a non-denominational one.

They had previously been portrayed as naively raising the expectations, educational level, liberty and status of slaves and native peoples, rather than taking a traditionally hard-headed approach to trade and commerce.

[13] After five years, Ellis recovered his health and accepted an LMS offer to travel to Madagascar as their official emissary.

Before leaving Ellis sought the help of Roger Fenton to learn photography and obtain the requisite equipment and chemicals.

A photographic portrait of the king in military dress, with his crown on a table, taken by Ellis was displayed at the Wisbech Working Men's Institute.

[16] After Ellis's death a fellow member of Wisbech Working Men's Institute Samuel Smith printed some of his photographs.

[18] A portrait in oils of Ellis was presented to the Working Men's Institute by Jonathan Peckover for display, it is now (2021) in Wisbech & Fenland Museum.

Ellis is buried in a venerated spot in the non-denominational Abney Park Cemetery in London, near where Isaac Watts once lived.

[2] Ellis donated to the Wisbech & Fenland Museum specimens he had collected, including two idols, a flint adze, part of a gown of the Queen of the Sandwich Islands and other fabrics.

[22] A number of original collodion glass negatives from the William Ellis collection of the Wisbech & Fenland Museum were used in the exhibitions.