Elizabeth Hakes (maiden name: Hamilton) was born around 1839 in New York. She married Loel C. Hakes around 1861, and they had at least five children: Nellie, born around 1862; Minnie, born around 1868; Emma, born around 1869; Wheeler, born around 1877; and Winnie, born around 1879. Her husband served in the Union army from 1862 until 1864.
They moved to Winslow, Illinois, in the 1860s, and her husband worked as a farm laborer there. By 1870, they owned $250 of personal property. They moved to Wellsville, New York, in the 1870s, and her husband died there on February 13, 1899. She applied for a widow’s pension in March 1899 and eventually secured one. She died on August 11, 1901, in Dayton, Colorado, while visiting her daughter.