SOME NOTES ON THE LEE
FAMILY
Compiled by David Wayne Bailey
March 2006
……leading from Williams Lee to Bessie Irene Lee, wife of
Doctor Fremont McCarty
WILLIAMS LEE, ancestor of the Lee family of Bradford County, born 31 Jan 1772, died in Evergreen, Albany Township, Pennsylvania, 25 Apr 1839; married Elizabeth Lindsley, daughter of Samuel Lindsley and Rachel Boughton, born 24 Nov 1771, died 22 Jul 1866, “over 90.” In the 1850 Census, Elizabeth is listed as living with her son, Williams, in Evergreen.
There has been confusion surrounding the birthplace of Williams, many sources stating that he was born in Northern Ireland, an “Orangeman.” Recent research on the part of James Dibble has revealed that Williams was the son of Joseph Lee, who leased Lot 151 in the Rensselaer manor, 13 Nov 1787 from Stephen von Rensselaer, in what is today Rensselaerville, Albany County, New York. Samuel Lindsley, Elizabeth’s father, had leased nearby Lot 360, 25 Feb 1795. Willams was born before that date, so birthplace is still a mystery.
Heverly’s Pioneer and Patriot Families of Bradford County confirms that Williams Lee came to Albany Township from the great Van Rensselaer patent or manor. Heverly goes on to tell us that Williams first stayed with Jonathan Frisbie, and perhaps Daniel Miller before erecting a cabin of his own. He squatted for a time on what was known as “Lee’s Hill,” later owned by William Kenyon, staying there until 1824. In about the spring of 1825 he purchased a place in Evergreen on Hibbard Hill (Craft’s history says 1823). That house was later lived in by his son, Williams Jr’s family and later grandson, Mark Lee.
THE WILLIAMS LEE HOUSE (C.1896)
THE WILLIAMS LEE HOUSE TODAY
Williams Lee has been described in several sources as being:
…a good natured man, nearly six feet and four inches in height, strong and possessed of ability to do almost any kind of work. Being strong and quick, he was a good man to spar.
The story is told of Mr. Lee and Daniel Miller out hunting one day, when a thunder shower came up. To protect themselves, they took shelter beneath a hemloch tree. A flash of lightning came down by Miller and upset his nerves for a moment. Springing around the tree, he looked up and vociferated, “Lee, Lee, did you see me dodge lightning?”
Williams and Elizabeth had nine children: Marilla, Polly, Rachel, Betsey, James, Richard, Anna, Joseph and Williams, Jr. [Sources: Dibble, Heverly, Craft, Bradford County Marriages, 1850 Census]
WILLIAMS LEE, JR., ninth child of Williams and Elizabeth (Lindsley) Lee, born in Evergreen, Albany Township, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, 29 May 1812, died in Evergreen, 24 November 1872, buried in the Evergreen Cemetery; married in Wysox, Bradford County, 29 Sep 1840, Sally Tanner Brewster, daughter of Daniel Brewster and Roxania Beeman, born in Wysox, 29 Nov 1814, died in Evergreen, 14 Mar 1900, buried in the Evergreen Cemetery.
Williams and Sally had eleven children: Lorinda, Irene, Welthy Katherine, Uriah, Edgar, Marilla, Daniel, Eva Ophelia, Anna Rose, Mark Lyndon and Nelson. [Sources: DCM, 1860/70 Census, gravestones]
URIAH LEE, fourth child of Williams Lee, Jr. and Sally Tanner Brewster, born in Evergreen, Albany Township, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, 23 Apr 1845, died 26 May 1878, buried in the cemetery at Laddsburg, Albany Township; married 12 May 1870, Carrie Lucelia Lenox, daughter of George Lenox and Julia Ann Nichols, born 23 Apr 1846, died 29 Jul 1907, probably buried in the Laddsburg cemetery.
URIAH LEE
CARRIE LUCELIA LENOX LEE
Uriah enlisted as Private, C Company, 107th Regt., Pennsylvania Volunteers. He was wounded at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia, 13 December 1862. He spent six weeks in the infamous Libby Prison after which he was transferred to Andersonville Prison for the duration of the War. He was discharged by General Order, 12 June 1865.
URIAH LEE’S DISCHARGE FROM THE UNION ARMY
The marriage between Uriah and Carrie was performed by the Reverend B. Jones.
MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE
Uriah Lee died while working on the railroad in or near New Albany, Bradford County. Before automatic couplings came into use, a person had to drop a pin into the coupling as the engine pushed the cars together. As Uriah attended to that task, the cars came together too fast, and he was crushed to death.
URIAH LEE’S GRAVE IN LADDSBURG
Uriah and Lucelia (Lenox) Lee had three children: Bessie Irene, Benjamin and Purley Uriah. [Sources: DCM, gravestone, NA, discharge papers, marriage certificate, family Bible, Bates History of PA Volunteers]
BESSIE IRENE LEE married DOCTOR FREMONT McCARTY, see above, as well as DOCTOR FREMONT McCARTY: AN APPRECIATION for extended information on that family.
But a brief word is in order regarding Bessie’s two brothers, Ben and Purl:
Ben and his brother Purl worked for the railroad in Buffalo, New York. From 1909 to 1912 this company had a contract to build a railroad around the falls on the Madeira River, a tributary to the Amazon in Bolivia. Bolivia had no outlet by rail, and the river was un-navigable because of the falls. So Ben and Purl went to the Madeira River, later telling of settling right in the jungle and seeing natives in jaguar skins.
While seeming like a very romantic adventure, the following passages from the non-fiction book, AMAZON, by Brian Kelly and Mark London, tends to paint quite a different picture of the project:
The railroad is properly called the Madeira-Mamore, “Mad Maria” for short. It was started in 1872 and, after a number of interruptions, finished in 1912. Cut through dense, swampy jungle from Bolivia to the Madeira River, it was meant to transport rubber - something it rarely did. Now it is a ruin.
People called it the “Road of the Devil” and said that half a million men died building it. When the survivors finished, no one had any use for it. The costliest and perhaps the most senseless failure in the Amazon, the railroad is a monument to man’s unquestioning faith in his ability to prevail.
“They say there is a skull resting on each tie,” said one local. “I believe that, yes I do.” With 1,630 ties for each of the 366 kilometers, that would be almost 600,000 skulls. Less naïve historians would have said that the actual number is probably between 5,000 and 10,000, although no accurate record exists.
Ben and Purl Lee came back unscathed loaded with trinkets and living well into old age.
BEN, BESSIE AND PURL LEE (C.1920)
BESSIE IRENE LEE McCARTY