I would like to find out the parents of my great-great grandafather,
John Edward Ellenbarger.  He was born in 1826 in Ohio-don't know
where.  I do know his parents were both born in PA. John married
Malinda (Lanforth) Byars who was born 1831 in Indiana.  Four children
were born to this union: all born in Indiana-Elias born 1852, Mary
born 1854, John Charles (my great grandfather) born October 1858 and
Newton Spence Ellenbarger born April 1861.  John and Malinda ended up
in Benton County, Arkansas.  John, dying in 1900.  He and Malinda are
both in unmarked graves in Wilson Cemetery, Benton County, Arkansas.

These sites might help you: 

://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=Ellenberger+genealogy&spell=1

I am pretty sure I have found your great grandfather and members of
his family in the 1880 census listing on www.familysearch.com -this is
the website of the Church of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons) who have
over the years gather data on millions of Americans and is probably
the best place to begin looking for ancestors.  I ran into a typical
problem looking for an individual, often the name is mis-spelled or
spelled differently than the information the family has. So if the
information is available and there is census information available I
pick the name of one of the children rather than the name of the
parent and I select the most distinctive name. In this case I picked
Newton Spence Ellenbarger and I found him listed in the 1880 Census
living in the Household of a Stewart Hamilton.  Elias's birthdate
matches the date you list.  Next, I typed in Elias Ellenbarger and
pulled up the household on Ine Ellenbarger, and Ine Ellenbarger's
birthdate and birth state matches that of John Ellenbarger (I suspect
someone could not read handwriting and instead wrote what it looked
like on a page coming up with Ine Ellenbarger.  This household has a
Malinda born in 1831 in Indiana.  Besides Elias born in 1852, it lists
John born in 1859 rather than 1858 and it lists a Sallie (1864.  It
did not show a Mary in the household at the time. She may have married
and moved away.

when you go to the site, you will not a menu on the left side of the
screen, select 1880 census.  It has been my experience that the search
works best if you provide only the barest information on the form
because if you are letter off, you will not find your information.  I
will often list only the last name and the country and allow the
broadest search possible. As you will see had I been using Edward, I
would not have found this family under head of household. Many records
are incomplete or names misspelled, so you have to be creative in your
search.
I hope this has been helpful to you-please don't hesitate to contact
me should you have any questions!

Yes, this is my family.  i do agree it is probably a mistake on the
first name and I believe Sallie is a wife of Elias.  Any suggestions
to find out John's parents?  Where to even start?  Thanks

the file I found on  your family in the 1880 census on
familysearch.com indicates that Ine Ellenbarger says his parents came
from PA.  I would suggest you do a bit of math based on Ine's
birthdate to get a general idea of what his father's age might have
been at Ine's birth-then go back to the site and do a general search
on the name ellenbarger. Don't look at census data in this part of the
search, but look for general info on all Ellenbarger males whose birth
dates are at least 20 years out from Ine's birthdate (1836) so perhaps
1808-1813 and begin looking for a male Ellenbarger born in PA within
that time period. If you find anything interesting-see if they are
listed in the 1880 census or if you can find an earlier census try
that. You can also do a separate search for marriage, birth or death
records, so try that.  You must be creative and ever looking for minor
differences that could prove to be links even though it may not
initially look like it. You must remember these records were were
written up years ago by people who often had poor educations and were
not great at spelling or taking down information.
good luck!

Okay-next question-If my Ellenbarger's were from Pennsylvania-what I
am being told now is from Philadelphia and there was a street called
Ellenbarger Street in Philadelphia.  How would I track down if there
ever was such a street?

Hello, I am also descended from the same John Charles Ellenbarger. I
would like to swap information. Which child are you from? We are from
Ed Ellenbarger. The item that you talked about, the street in
Pennsylvania is interesting, I would also like to know if that is
true. PLease reply when possible. Cindee Ellenbarger Turlock CA