ELLEN LEE SIMS JAKEMAN SANDERS
7 Mar 1859 – 5 Feb 1937

Ellen, my second great grandmother on my mother’s mother’s side, was born in Beaver, Utah, the daughter of John Percival Lee and Eliza Foscue Lee.

In 1876, at the age of 17, Ellen married Elias Sims. The couple had one daughter, Ivy Pearl Sims, before divorcing.

Ellen then married James Thomas Jakeman in 1878 and became the mother of three daughters and two sons.

In 1888, Ellen began writing and publishing short stories and poems in various literary journals in Utah, including Western Galaxy Magazine, the Young Woman’s Journal and the Juvenile Instructor. Her work also appeared in The Relief Society Magazine as well as in Provo and Salt Lake newspapers. Her published works include a serialized novel and a book-length poem. She also appears in the Local and National Poets of America, published out of Chicago in 1892.

Ellen was a member of the Utah Women’s Press Club and president of the Sanpete County Woman’s Suffrage Association.

A strong advocate of suffrage and equal pay for women, she became, in 1896, the first female to be elected to the office of Utah County Treasurer. Ellen was an excellent speaker and a peripatetic traveler; she received invitations throughout Utah County to relate her experiences traveling in both California and Mexico.

Ellen and James eventually divorced and, on 15 Oct 1909, at age 50, Ellen married one last time to Martin Franklin Sanders in Fairview, Sanpete, Utah. Martin was her son-in-law, Joseph LeRoy Sanders’, younger brother. Ellen and Joseph ran a cattle business in Arizona, a business she chronicled in one of her published pieces.

Martin was a businessman whose work took him to Mexico, where Ellen often traveled with him. The couple eventually separated but never divorced. Ellen eventually moved back to Beaver so she could look after her aged and infirm mother, Eliza.

Ellen died in Salt Lake at the age of 77 on 5 Feb 1937.