Ela, David Hough, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was born in Canaan, Me., in 1831. He was converted in childhood, and joined the Church at the age of nine years. While yet a youth he learned the trade of printing and that of a machinist also. In 1854 he became a student and Christian worker in Wesleyan University, from which he graduated with honors in 1857. He was a successful pastor and presiding elder in the Methodist Episcopal Church in New England for many years. Cornell College gave him the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1876. His death took place October 7, 1907.