Introduction

Biography

Ellenberger was the son of Sam­uel El­len­ber­ger and Sar­ah Boltz, and hus­band of Mar­ga­ret She­ri­dan (mar­ried Feb­ru­ary 17, 1857, Har­ris­burg, Penn­syl­van­ia) .

Educated in the pub­lic schools, at an ear­ly age he showed a strong in­ter­est in and tal­ent for vo­cal mu­sic.

Converted at age 9, by age 12 he be­gan lead­ing sing­ing in the Sun­day school, and by age 19 was in charge of the church choir.

Ellenberger was ap­pren­ticed to learn the trade of ca­bi­net mak­ing, which he sub­se­quent­ly fol­lowed, and moved to Har­ris­burg in 1854 as a jour­ney­man.

During the Am­er­ican ci­vil war, he en­list­ed as a pri­vate in Com­pa­ny A, 201st Re­gi­ment, Penn­syl­van­ia Vol­un­teers, and served un­til the end of the war.

Afterward, he re­turned to Har­ris­burg, where he es­tab­lished him­self in the fur­ni­ture bu­si­ness, where he worked un­til about 1870.

He then be­gan to make the pur­suit of mu­sic the main ef­fort in his life. He com­posed and pub­lished ma­ny se­lec­tions, and made a name for him­self in lo­cal mu­sic cir­cles.

He was elect­ed in­struct­or of mu­sic in the pub­lic schools of Har­ris­burg in 1873, and held that post un­til mu­sic in­struc­tion was dis­con­tin­ued.

He then had charge of mu­sic at Ri­pon Col­lege, Wis­con­sin (1884–87), and in 1891 was elect­ed su­per­in­tend­ent of mu­sic in the Har­ris­burg schools.

Ellenberger was a mem­ber of the Lo­cust Street Me­tho­dist Epis­co­pal Church (lat­er known as Grace Me­tho­dist Epis­co­pal), from 1855 un­til his death. He held va­ri­ous of­fic­es, and served for 40 years as a class lead­er.

He al­so be­longed to Hart­ranft Post Num­ber 58, Grand Ar­my of the Re­pub­lic.

Works

• Bright Gems (York, Penn­syl­van­ia: Cri­der & Bro­ther, 1881)
• Songs of Love and Praise (Har­ris­burg, Penn­syl­van­ia: S. B. El­len­ber­ger, 1884)