Ellen Melvina Leavitt Tullis

Written by a daughter-in-law, Verda May Shaw Tullis.

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llen Melvina Leavitt Tullis was born February 9, 1877, at Hebron, Washington County, Utah, the oldest child of Mary Ellen Huntsman and Jeremiah Leavitt IV. Her grandparents crossed the plains with the Latter-day Saints and came West for their religion. Both her parents and grandparents played a noble part in colonizing and upbuilding the southern part of Utah. Her mother was a wonderful woman and her father known for his honesty and integrity among both the white people and the Indians with whom he had many dealings. The Indians referred to the Leavitt children and even the grandchildren as “Heap good, Jeremiah’s papoose,” to show their respect for and confidence in the family. It can be truly said she was born of goodly parents.

Since she was the oldest in a family of fifteen, ten girls and five boys, her parents put a good deal of responsibility upon her rather early. The following is an experience she told to me in her own words: “When I was about twelve my parents took a trip to Milford to get supplies for the family, an eight day trip by team and wagon. There was only one pan of flour to last we children till our parents returned, although we had plenty other food. Father said he hated to leave me with such a little flour but told me to do my best. When they returned they asked me how I had managed and I told them I had divided the flour into eight parts, one for each day they were gone and had made biscuits every morning, giving each of the children an equal share for the day. Father said, ‘I am proud of you, my girl.’ That made me very happy.”

As a girl she dried fruit and it sold in St. George to purchase her clothing and get a little spending money. She lived in Hebron only a short time as it was washed away by floods. Most of her girlhood and early married life was spent in Gunlock, a small town about twelve miles north of St. George.

When she was a young woman, and also after she was married, she used to attend all the church meetings until her children started coming. Her main recreation was horseback riding and dancing. It was at a dance when she was seventeen that she met James Tullis who she later married. She was dressed in a pretty new calico dress she had made herself and Jim told his brother Tom that she was “cute as a little red wagon,” and that this was the girl he was going to marry. A short time later on June 25, 1894, they were married. Two years later, their first child was born, a daughter whom they names Cora Ellen. On November 26, of the same year, they went to the St. George Temple and were sealed for time and eternity. Ellen was asked to be Relief Society president several times but she turned it down as she felt that her first duty lay with her family of eleven children, six girls and five boys. However, for many years she sewed dozens of articles and made quilts for the Relief Society.

When the children were young, she and Jim used to attend the dances taking with them the children, as was the custom of the community, and made beds for them on quilts on the stage of the dance hall, where they slept while their folks danced. She sewed all her children’s clothes, including all their coats and the boys’ overalls, and even knitted their stockings. The youngest girl in the family says she didn’t have a coat from a store till after she was thirteen and no one knew her coats were homemade. Ellen was a hard worker and accomplished more in a day than most women could in two. I’ve heard her tell that she could make seven pairs of overalls, feed the pigs, take care of the house and cook all in one day. She bought several fifty yard bolts of various materials each fall from which she made her children clothes. She took great pride in dressing her children well and kept her little girls in ruffled dresses though it meant many hours of extra ironing. Even when she was old she enjoyed seeing her grandchildren come to see her well dressed, and took great pride in their appearance. Where most people bottle fruit by the dozen quarts she bottled it by the hundreds, and she never bought a loaf of bread from the store till she moved to Ogden in about 1921. When you consider the large crowds of company she entertained and fed in her home, besides her large family, this is an accomplishment in itself.

She had her leg broken twice in her life, the first time over forty-five years ago, so she spent a big part of her life on crutches. She has had poor health since she was quite young but despite this difficulty she has been very active till the past three years that she was confined to her bed. She has crocheted yards of lace and many other articles among which were three bed spreads containing 8,000 yards of thread each, six large table cloths, and several piano scarves. During World War I she knitted many sweaters and gloves and socks for the service boys. She has made dozens of quilts and wove rugs and carpets and continued to sew dresses and suits even for her grandchildren till a few years ago. She was an excellent housekeeper and very orderly and systematic. She never seemed to let things go. One of her daughters says she never remembers having to wait for a button to be sewed on or an article of clothing to be fixed. Her mother always had these things done before they were needed. To show with what high esteem she was held by her children, let me quote another daughter who said, “I don’t think there is anyone else in the world who could do everything quite like my mother could.”

She was a woman of faith and many times in her life she called in the Elders to administer to members of her family and herself. She had an alert mind, though she had very little formal education, was interested in the news of the day, and had a keen sense of humor. She and her husband took many trips with different ones of her children back to visit old friends and relatives in Southern Utah and Idaho. Since 1940 she and her husband lived at 3560 Kiesel in the home their boys built for them. She was left a widow when her husband passed away January 14, 1944.

In the late years of her life nothing pleased her more than to have her large family visit her and she delighted in her many grand- and great-grandchildren. It has been said that one who raised a good family has a great reward in store. Surely she has much to look forward to. Her children were her whole life. She devoted her every effort thoughout her life to raise a fine family, and anyone who knows them can see that she and her good husband succeeded well in this endeavor.

I can’t help but feel that she is now happier than she’s been for years. Two of her family besides her husband preceded her to the next life. What a glorious reunion she is having with them, with her parents and her friends who were there to welcome her as she came to them free from pain, for the first time in many years. More than once have I knelt at her bedside and prayed that the Lord would heal her or release her from pain. We have an answer to our prayers, and who of us would bring her back if we could? True, we will miss her, but we can only say, “Thy will be done. God bless thee Mother.”