Alfred Lincoln Ellison was born to Alrena and A.O. Ellison on August 2, 1908, in Portland, Oregon. The family soon moved to California, living in San Francisco, Burlingame, and Los Angeles before finally settling in the farming community of Arcadia. In 1923, A.O. walked out on his wife and children, eventually prompting Ellison to legally drop the "Alfred" from his name. He then assumed much of the household responsibility, providing income, tending to the two-acre farm, and caring for his two younger siblings. Ellison graduated from Monrovia High School in 1926 and enrolled in UCLA. Over the next five years, he worked to earn his BA in botany and spent summers working for the Forest Service. After graduation, Ellison continued his work with the Forest Service, taking assignments in remote areas for long periods of time. In 1933 he married Laurel Elver, a young woman he met at UCLA. The couple moved to Miles City, Montana, in 1934 and later to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Lincoln earned his master of science degree in 1938. Later that year they moved Ephraim, Utah, where Lincoln served as the director of the Great Basin Experiment Station. While employed at the station, Ellison spent two years in Minneapolis completing coursework for his PhD at the University of Minnesota, which he completed in 1948. He transferred to Ogden in 1945, assuming the position of director for the Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. Ellison's employment in Ogden included two research trips to Australia in 1951 and to New Zealand in 1957. An enthusiastic researcher, writer, and outdoorsman, Ellsion died in an avalanche on March 9, 1958, while skiing on Mt. Ogden.