Sarah Huntington Ellis was the second wife of W. T. Ellis, Sr., and the sister of his first wife, Lizzie Huntington Ellis. Sarah had lived with her sister and brother-in-law throughout their marriage, until Lizzie died in 1878. Sarah married Lizzie's widower in 1886, but Lizzie's son W. T. Ellis, Jr., wrote in his autobiography that he and his two sisters continued addressing Sarah as "Aunt Sallie" even after she became their stepmother. W. T. Ellis, Jr., was 20 years old when his Aunt Sallie became his stepmother.