Giles S. Ely, son of Josiah Ely and Elizabeth Sill, was born on August 29, 1796 in Lyme, New London County, Connecticut. He married Emeline Amanda Hoe on October 18, 1832. To their union were born three daughters.
On December 4, 1833, Giles signed the “Testimony of 51 Neighbors,” later printed in Mormonism Unvailed.[1] He was a businessman in Palmyra. In 1828, he associated with the Western Presbyterian Church in Palmyra.[2]
In 1850, Giles (age 54) lived in Brooklyn with Emeline Ely (age 40), Mary Ely (age 7), Emeline Ely (age 15), Isabella Ely (age 7), Barbara Brush (age 16), and William Badden (age 22).[3] In 1855, Giles lived in Brooklyn City, New York with his wife Emeline A. Ely and children— Mary E. Ely (age 22), Emeline H. Ely (age 20), Isabella T. Ely (age 12), and servant Christine Winters (age 20).[4] Giles died on September 17, 1866 and was buried in the Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn.
[1] Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, pp. 366–367.
[2] Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 2:52.
[3] US Federal Census, 1850.
[4] New York State Census, 1855.