I'm sorry, I'm not quite sure what I'm doing wrong.  I still get the error 

In Database.php line 448: An exception occurred while executing 'SELECT * FROM elgg_config': SQLSTATE[42S02]: Base table or view not found: 1146 Table 'elgg.elgg_co nfig' doesn't exist

This after creating the table, creating a user with privileges, granting permission to my apache user on the data and elgg root directories.  :-( Gotta be something simple I'm missing here

This after creating the table, creating a user with privileges

I don't understand thease actions.

All you need to create a new database. How you do it?

Can you install another CMS with MySQL (e.g. WordPress) to check your DB connection?

There is a video about Elgg installation (it's Elgg 1.12 but on Elgg 3 same steps):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kY_U3USWX0

sorry.. I meant I created the elgg database, not the "table" (it was late) and then I created a user with privileges.  The only difference I see on my configuration is that I'm connecting to a remote google cloud instance for my database, not localhost, but I've verified that I can connect successfully from my elgg instance.  I'll take a look at the video just to make sure I'm doing things correctly..