Emerson Ela was born in Rochester, Wisconsin where his father, Richard Emerson Ela, was a prominent manufacturer of farm implements. He attended Rochester Seminary, Beloit Academy, and Manitowoc High School and graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1899 and the University Law School in 1901. At the University he was prominent in debate and oratory.
After graduation Ela settled in Madison where he became one of the city's most prominent attorneys. He began his practice with James Oliver. After Oliver's death in 1907 he joined the practice of Frank L. Gilbert and Russell Jackson, which was later known as Ela & Gilbert, then as Gilbert, Ela, Heilman & Raeder, and then as Ela, Christianson, & Ela. In 1922 Ela was named counsel for the Northern Wisconsin Cooperative Tobacco Pool and a year later he became its business manager. During the 1920s Ela successfully prosecuted a suit to stop outside interference with the pool. The Supreme Court ruling on this case was considered a charter of farmer rights with regard to marketing cooperatives. Other important clients included Richard Lloyd Jones, Kennedy Dairy, Union Trust Company, Amos P. Wilder, and the Wisconsin State Journal.
Emerson Ela was also extremely active in many civic enterprises. A loyal alumni of the University of Wisconsin, he served as president of the Wisconsin Alumni Association in 1938 and during the 1920s he was chairman of the Dane County Committee to raise money to build the Memorial Union. As a result of his involvement in the Wisconsin YMCA Ela became executive chairman of the United War Work Campaign in Wisconsin, an effort which oversubscribed the Wisconsin quota by 134 percent. In addition he headed the Madison Kiwanis Club and the Madison Association of Commerce and was an organizer of the Madison and Wisconsin Foundation and the Madison Planning Trust.
Ela was married to the former Florence White, also of Rochester, Wisconsin, in 1903. Shortly after their marriage they built one of the first homes in the Wingra Park plat (1101 Grant Street), then a remote area of the West side, and in 1911 they built one of the first summer cottages in Morris Park on Lake Mendota. The Elas were the parents of four children: Ellen, Richard E., Robert White, and Walter P. Ela. Emerson Ela died in March 18, 1956. Florence Ela died January 6, 1972.
