History of John and Harriet Hales Ellis

John Ellis was born in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, on the 14^th of January, 1814. He was the first child of John Ellis and Hannah Stoner. Very little is known about his parents or his boyhood days.

John was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1836, when he was 22 years old. After he joined the Church he was not welcome in his father's home.

The story passed down through the family is that he left Canada during the winter, taking with him only his ice skates. He probably skated on the frozen streams, skirting the edges of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, and finally arrived at Kirtland, Ohio, in 1837 where he joined the body of the Saints.

He worked as a cooper making barrels. John moved with the Saints from Kirtland to Far West, Missouri in 1838. He was with the Saints who were driven from Far West and found refuge in Quincy, Illinois. It was here that he met 14 ½ year old Harriet Hales.

Harriet was born 10^th of June, 1824 in Rainham, Kent, England the daughter of Stephen and Mary Ann Hales. The Hales family emigrated to Scarborough, Ontario, Canada in 1832. In 1836 her parents were baptized. Harriet was baptized in 1837 at the age of 13. In 1838 they came by ox team to settle with the Saints in Far West, Missouri. They were driven out and sought refuge in Quincy.

It would be wonderful to know about the courtship of John and Harriet. They were driven out of their homes during the cold winter months and found safety in Quincy. Close your eyes and imagine two young people meeting and courting through the spring and summer months. John Ellis was a large man, six feet tall with very dark hair and blue eyes. Harriet was of medium height, with dark brown hair and blue eyes. They were both very social people and enjoyed music and singing. How would they have spent their time together? They were married on the 31^st of October, 1839 when John was 25 and Harriet was 15. They made their first home in Quincy, Illinois. They became the parents of 12 children.

Nauvoo is half encircled by the Mississippi River. Across the river to the northwest is Fort Madison, Iowa and across the river to the east is Appanoose, Illinois. These three cities are within a radius of 12 to 14 miles. In the 1840's there were no bridges across the river, so it was necessary to cross by boat. Traveling by boat the distance from Fort Madison to Nauvoo was only about three miles. John and Harriet owned two pieces of property while living in Nauvoo. One was near the banks of the Mississippi River and the other was up on the flats.

We do not know why the Ellis family moved to these other cities but think it is perhaps to be near the right kind of wood for John's trade as a cooper. We do know that he made his living making barrels, buckets and wash tubs.

On the 5^th of October, 1846, Harriet's father, Stephen Hales died from drinking bad water at Fort Madison, Iowa. Their third child, Stephen Hales Ellis was born there on the 18^th of October. John and Harriet now had three children and her widowed mother to care for. Their next child was born in Appanoose, Illinois. They began the trek west but stopped off in Garden Grove, Iowa for some time. Several of Harriet's brothers were living in Garden Grove. In 1850, Harriet's widowed mother, Mary Ann Hales, married William Thompson, a widower. In 1851 they made the trip across the plains to the Salt Lake Valley with the Harry Walton Company. Harriet's mother died on the 9^th of August 1851 and was buried near Ancient Bluff, Nebraska the next day. They used a wagon box to make a casket for her body. Harriet had a hard time leaving her mother buried on the prairie because they had seen other graves that had been disturbed by wolves. They finally reached the valley on the 24^th of September, 1851. John was 36 years of age and Harriet was 27. She was also 6 months along with her 5^th child.

The Ellis family visited for a while in Salt Lake with Harriet's sister, Mary Isabella Hales Horne, who had come to the valley in 1847. They then traveled north and located in the area know as South Bountiful and later Woods Cross. (The property was located between 800 West and 500 West, 900 South to 1100 South.) Here John Ellis built a one room log cabin in which, just three months later, another daughter, Harriet Louisa, was born on the 21^st of December. This must have been a merry Christmas for the family. Seven more children were born to John and Harriet Ellis in this log cabin which served as the family home until 1869. The covered wagon was used as sleeping quarters for some members of the family. They also had trundle beds which were tucked under the regular beds and hidden with a valance during the day. This cabin remained standing until 1944. It had been used as a cow stable for many years.

In about 1869 a four room adobe house with attic space was completed. The adobes were made of clay and straw by John Ellis and his sons at a nearby adobe yard. Years later, a son, Stephen Ellis, told his children that he remembered tromping adobe with his bare feet. The carpenter work on the house was done by Henry Hales (either Harriet's brother or her nephew) with lumber sawed from logs which were procured from the canyons east of Bountiful. This adobe house later became the home of Charles William Ellis and his wife, Robenia. It was torn down around 1945.

John had brought his tools with him to the valley. He worked as a miller for John Taylor in Farmington. With these tools he made furniture for his home and other important items, wooden tubs, barrels, buckets, churns and washboards for his family and neighbors. The spinning wheel he made for his wife is on display at the Hogan Cabin in Woods Cross. (about 759 West 1500 South - 2010)

The name of John Ellis is recorded several times as serving in the local militia. In 1851, John is listed as a Private and was supplied with a rifle. Mustered in 1851, Company B., North Battalion, Cavalry Nauvoo Region. In 1857 John served as a Captain for Company D, 2^nd Battalion, 4^th Regimen of Infantry, Nauvoo Legion from 9^th of November through the 28^th of November. This company was stationed in Echo Canyon for service against the U.S. troops of Albert Sidney Johnston. He was supplied with one musket, 1/4th lb. powder and 1 lb. lead. Harriet and her children moved south to Cove Fort during this time.

The Ellis family did some farming and stock raising. A small flock of sheep furnished wool which Harriet prepared for clothing. She was a very fine needle woman. She sewed by hand for her large family even making trousers for her husband and sons. She also made them straw hats by braiding the straw and sewing the braids together. They made their own soap and candles as well as their dyes. When the grain was ready for harvest it was cut and cradled by hand. During the harvest when the men worked hard, Harriet made lunches and a cool drink and sent them to the fields during the morning and afternoon.

The first molasses mill in the community was owned by John Ellis. They raised sugar cane which was crushed in the mill producing the juice that was boiled down into sweet molasses. The liquid had to boiled for a long time and be skimmed several times before the final product was ready. Youngsters came from miles around with their pails to get the "skimmings" to make candy. The mill was located near the site of the present Bountiful City Cemetery. (2224 South 200 West) The family referred to this piece of land as the mill ground and the land on 11^th West, north of 5^th South as the meadow piece. John's son Stephen had charge of the mill ground, and son Charles the meadow land.

In a booklet to honor Laura Victoria Ellis, a granddaughter recorded some of the family memories: "Their father, John Ellis, also raised much sugar cane and made their own molasses. One day when their parents had gone to town, the girls were playing house. They decided to have a little dish of molasses for a treat. Their father had tipped the barrel on its side and left it, and when the girls pulled the plug out the molasses ran out over the dish. They couldn't get the plug back in, so they ran off and left it. Soon the sticky fluid spread over the floor. Later their older sister, Louisa, found it, and so did their little ducks. They got so stuck up wading about in the molasses that she had to give them each a bath."

She also wrote: "We planted an orchard and were fortunate enough to have apples in winter, and as there were usually some stored in a large trunk under the head of their bed, the girls used to help themselves after going to bed. As Laura was just a little girl and made too much noise, she was often forced to put her head under the covers while she ate hers for fear of being heard by their mother.

"Dolls were not plentiful in those days, but the Ellis girls were each fortunate to own one. One day the older girls washed their china dolls, and when Laura dipped hers in water, it being made of a painted, doughy composition, was ruined. The other girls laughed and thought it was funny, but Laura was heart-broken."

John Ellis was a happy, fun-loving person. He enjoyed having young people come to his home, and they came often. Harriet was a refined and very capable person. Naturally their fireside was often the scene of social gatherings. These two enjoyed singing and often sang together for the entertainment of their family and friends. In fact, "singing school" was often held in their home. This love of singing has been handed down through the generations to their descendants.

One of John Ellis's sons-in-law, Stearns Hatch, had recorded in his genealogical records that John was well acquainted with all the authorities of the Church and that he was present when the Prophet Joseph Smith preached his last sermon before going to Carthage Jail. John Ellis was the commissary for one of the companies at the time of the trouble in Nauvoo. Stearns also stated that John Ellis was blessed and ordained an Elder by Patriarch Smith. He was ordained a Seventy sometime between the 24^th of February, 1856, and February, 1857.

John was not well during the last year of his life. He had what was probably cancer of the face and suffered very much. It became necessary to feed him with a cup having a spout. One time when he was returning home after having treatments in Salt Lake City, the freight train stopped at the lane near their home where his boys met him and carried him home in a rocking chair which he had made himself. (There was a lane going west across the tracks at about 1050 South and 800 West. It went to Walter Hogan's home.)

Before he died, John wanted to see his son, Stephen, and Helen Marr Lee married. They stood by his bedside while the ceremony was performed, and at a later date they were sealed at the Endowment House in Salt Lake City. Stephen and Helen moved into the old log cabin to be near enough to help Harriet care for John during his last days of life.

John Ellis died on the 3^rd of April, 1871. He was 57 years and nearly three months old at the time of his death. He was patient in his suffering and had ever been a true and faithful Latter-day Saint. He was survived by his wife, ten of his twelve children, and nine grandchildren. He was buried in the Bountiful City Cemetery next to his two young sons, George and James.

Harriet lived thirty-nine years as a widow, and she too was a faithful Latter-day Saint. She raised her family under trying conditions, teaching school in her home to support them. She taught Sunday School in South Bountiful for twenty-five years and when the Relief Society was organized she served as treasurer of the ward organization. She was very caring and often went among the sick and needy to render aid. She was matron at the Deseret Hospital for about two years. Harriet visited England and Canada with her sister Mary Isabella Hales Horne in search of genealogy both for herself and husband. The last 13 years of her life were spent in the home of her youngest daughter Laura Victoria Ellis Hatch, who made her comfortable and happy. Harriet passed away on the 24^th of May, 1910, 17 days short of being 86 years of age. She was buried by her husband at the Bountiful Cemetery. At her death she had 101 grandchildren, 205 great grandchildren and 38 great great grandchildren.

The information for this history was taken from a history written and compiled by June J. Ellis, wife of Orson Hales Ellis, John Ellis's grandson. Edited by Veoma M. Stahle. The information comes from many sources including the histories written by Mildred Lee Thurgood and Stearns Hatch. In 2011, Lenore Ellis Peterson, a great grand-daughter, clarified some information, corrected mistakes, added pictures and added the addresses of property mentioned in the history.

There are several mistakes that have been printed in previous histories of John Ellis.