Whakaotihia te rerenga e whai ake nei: I whānau a Alva C. Ellisor i te 26 o Aperira, 1892 ki Galveston, Texas. I te waru o ona tau, i ora ia i te
Ko te Hurricane Nui o Galveston i te tau 1900. E rua ōna tuakana i mate i te kaupapa. I te mea ko ia te kaitohutohu o tana akomanga, i muri mai, i te tau 1915, i puta ia hei akonga honore i te Geology mai i te Whare Wananga o Texas, a ko ia tetahi o nga wahine tokorua i puta i tana mara. Whai muri i tana tohu, ka mau a Ellisor i tetahi tuunga whakaako i Ball High School. He poto te roa o tenei i te wa i whakatau ai ia ki te hoki ki te whare wananga me te ako i te tumanako kia noho hei kaiwhakaako. I te wa ano e ako ana a Ellisor, kei te mahi rangahau ano ia i roto i te mara o te matawhenua i raro i te tirotiro a ona kaiwhakaako, Ahorangi Francis L. Whitney me Ahorangi Hal P. Bybee. Ko tetahi o ana tuhinga rangahau tuatahi i whakaputaina i muri tata mai, i te 1918, i roto i nga kitenga maha o ana kohuke. I whakauruhia enei kohinga ki roto i te Handbook of Texas Cretaceous Fossils, na W.S. Adkin (1928). I taua tau ano, ka tiimata a Ellisor ki te mahi hei kaiwhakaako i te Whare Waananga o Kansas e whakaako ana i te matawhenua, ana i te tau 1919 ka taea e ia te whakamahi i ona wheako i a ia e mahi ana mo te Rangahau Matawhenua o Kansas.