Item Detail
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Coombs, Sarah Ellis Day
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1883-1981
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MSS SC 2681
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Biography
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Sarah Ellis Day Coombs was born on 1 March 1883 in Mount Pleasant, Utah to Eli Azariah Day, Sr. and Eliza Jane Staker Day. She was the third of 13 children, her siblings being: Eliza Estella, Charlotte Jane, Martha Geneva, Dora Pearl, Eli Azariah, Jr., Harriet Josephine, Joseph Smith, Rowena Merl, Alvin Delroy, Nola Maud, George Nathan, and Arthur Merril.
Sarah grew up in a polygamous home, as her father married Elvira Euphrasia Cox as his second wife. He was arrested a few times for his practice of polygamy. Sarah spent much of her youth, and some of her adult years in Fairview, Utah, where the family moved in 1899, and where she also became a member of her Sunday School stake board.
On 2 June 1909 in Manti, Utah, Sarah married Leslie McLean Coombs, and together they had 4 children: Esther, Dora Day, Leslie Claybourne, and Gladys. According to records, she only married once.
She was active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints all her life, and some of her callings include organizing the kindergarten class in the Sanpete Stake, serving on the MIA stake board in Canada, the Relief Society stake board in Provo, Utah, and as president of the Daughter of Utah Pioneers, North Sanpete County for a time.
Outside of her church service, she was still a busy, hard-working woman. She taught school in many of the numerous places she lived (which ranged from Canada all the way South to Mexico), worked as a store clerk, took classes at the University of Chicago and Brigham Young University, and made candy in the 1910s, when her husbands health began to fail. He passed away in 1917.
She retired in 1948 but served a mission to the Central States in 1953. Some time after that, she moved to Bicknell, Utah, and she began to lose her hearing later in life.
She died on 4 September 1981 in Provo, Utah at the age of 98. -
This folder contains 4 copies of a 7-page typescript biography of Nathan Staker. The title page (included with 2 of the copies) reads, Biography of Nathan Staker Pioneer, Born: 26 November 1801 Kingston Ontario Canada, Died: 29 May 1884 Mt. Pleasant Utah, Arrived in Utah Fall of 1852, Henry Miller Company, Married: 1) Jane Richmond 1827; 2) Eliza Cusworth (Burton) 1857
The authors of this work are listed as Dora Sanderson, Granddaughter, William Merchant Staker, Grandson, and Sarah Ellis Halley Pearson, Granddaughter [it is uncertain whether the names, Halley and Pearson really belong to Sarah Ellis Day Coombs, but it is most likely that she is the Sarah in question]. It should be noted that Williams name is the only one included at the end of the biography, but it is uncertain who wrote which parts of the life sketch. It is also mentioned that the manuscript has been submitted by Geneva Day Larsen, Granddaughter, of Camp Sowiette of Center Utah County, Provo, Utah.
The document covers Nathan Stakers life, beginning with his birth and Methodist upbringing before talking about his conversion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and his marriage to his first wife, Jane Richmond. After crossing the plains from Nauvoo to settle in Utah, Jane passes away from Smallpox in Pigeon Grove. After her death, Nathan moves to Pleasant Grove, Utah, where his bishop introduces him to his second wife, Eliza Cusworth. The biography mentions that he spent much of his time farming, and even fighting off Native Americans from the Black Hawk tribe before recounting a story of true faith and power. After a harrowing incident, where Nathans oldest daughter fell from a footbridge and drowned, he brought her back to life, using the miraculous power of the Priesthood. The biography closes by also mentioning how Nathan would often teach school as a volunteer.