Ellen Lee Jakeman was born in Beaver, Utah, the daughter of John P. and Eliza Foscue Lee and the younger sister of another talented writer, Lu Dalton. She exhibited literary skill at an early age, and as an adult she worked as a journalist and a typesetter. In 1889 she assisted Susa Young Gates and Lucy B. Young in canvassing Utah Territory for subscriptions to a new publication entitled Young Woman’s Journal. The premier issue included her article, “Spiritualism, or What Became of Murphy?” It was the first of many contributions from Ellen, including poetry and short stories. Her work also appeared in the Juvenile Instructor and in the Relief Society Magazine as well as in Provo and Salt Lake newspapers. 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. An excellent speaker, she received invitations throughout Utah County to relate her experiences traveling in California and Mexico. She married James Thomas Jakeman in 1878 and became the mother of three daughters and two sons. [from Discoveries: Two Centuries of Poems by Mormon Women, 98]