Ellen Lee

Thomas Lee sered a one-year mission for the Church at Barnsley, England, while the children were small. Ellen, her children and two other families lived in the Social Hall at Sheffield, where she helped to keep the hall clean, took in washing, helped the missionaries from America, and taught Sunday School classes.

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The following are Ellen’s words explaining these years - taken from her 200 page journal) -

“.....I was married to Thomas Octavious Lee March 1844 we had four children. ....We was both of the same faith when we was married.....He was ordained to a priest and after to an Elder to preach the gospel......Emma my 1st child died of small pox in Worsper Yorkshire where I lived with my husband two years......we then went back to Sheffield.....my 2nd daughter, Mary Lavina, was born in Worsper before we came away from that place.....my three children Emma, John and Orson Henry was born in Sheffield.....my mother-in-law used an influence against me from the time of our marriage......her plea was because I am a Mormon.....she went a few times to hear them preach but we never heard of her joining the Church.....nor any of her family.....only my husband which was her 1st born son.....he listened to his mother and he left me and my three children for a few weeks and went to live with his mother.....he gave me eight shillings a week to buy coal and pay rent and buy provisions.....I never went to plead for him to come back for he had left me without a just cause.....but our President of the Sheffield Branch told him that he must come back to his family or be cut off from the church....he came home for he was very true to the Church.....the president of the Sheffield Branch advised me to take my children and go and live in the social hall.....I did so and they sent my husband on a mission to Barnsley to preach the gospel.....he was true to his mission.....after some months the authoritys called him home....there was three families lived in the hall.....I staid one year and in that year I went out to wash and white wash and clean houses.....I used to clean the hall for meetings which was held there and prepare a upper room where councel meetings was held.....I used to wait upon the missionarys that came from America.....I waited upon the table.....I felt proud to have the happy privilege to wait upon the servants of the Lord.....after the year was out I went with my husband and children to a private house to live before we left England.....”

END of comments from Ellen Tadwell Lee’s journal

MMIGRATED - 1860, Ellen Lee and the oldest son, John (age 12), sailed to Utah on Ship Tapscott. They crossed the plains in Joseph W. Young’s company. They both worked in Salt Lake City to earn money to help with travel expenses for the rest of the family to come to Utah.

IMMIGRATED - 1863 - Thomas O. Lee and their other two children (Mary Lavina , 16, and Orson Henry 13) sailed on Ship Amazon. They traveled by train and in a box car as far as St. Joseph, Missouri. The American Civil War was on and they were glad for even a box car. Then they crossed the plains in a handcart company. They rejoined the rest of the family (Ellen Tadwell Lee and son John) in Salt Lake City in the autumn of 1863.

Thomas Octavious was rebaptized and reconfirmed. They stayed in Salt Lake City a few weeks and then they moved to Heber City in the year 1864.

5 March 1864 - SEALED in ENDOWMENT HOUSE - Thomas Octavious went to have his endowments and he and Ellen Tadwell Lee were sealed.

DEATH 1865 - In March of 1865, Thomas Lee was accidentally killed (age 41). He was getting sandstone at a rock quarry (east of Heber) to build a home for his family. The snow gave way and he was caught in a rock slide which caused his death in a few hours. He died a true Latter-Day Saint.

After Thomas Octavious’ death, Ellen Lee and her son John (age 17) moved back to Salt Lake to get work. Orson Henry (age 15) stayed in Heber City with his sister Mary Lavina and her new husband, William Denton Moulton.

DEATH 1867 - During the holiday period of 1867, her son John Lee (age 19) was making a trip from Salt Lake to Heber to see his sister (Mary Lavina) and brother (Orson Henry). His Salt Lake employer had been dishonest and had not paid him his wages so he was on his way to see his sister in Heber. He became lost in a blizzard and was trapped in deep snow for eight days before being found. He was badly frozen and the man who found him took him the last 15 miles to his sister’s in Heber (See history of John Lee for details). His mother (Ellen Lee) was still working in Salt Lake and was unable to attend his funeral.

Ellen Tadwell Lee moved back to Heber and lived until she was 77 years old. She did whatever she could for her support, with help from her children, Orson Henry and Mary Lavina. The young people and teenagers of Heber City loved her. She taught Sunday School for 20 years, and was active in Relief Society. In November, 1869 she became president of the Primary in Heber. She was always devout and had a strong testimony that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of the Lord.

DEATH - Ellen Tadwell Lee died 20 Feb 1896 and is buried in the Heber City Cemetery. -----END - - -