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JOHN R. LEE FROM:
The History of Gallatin, Saline, Hamilton, Franklin, and Williamson
Counties, Illinois (Chicago: Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1887).
). P. 717-718.
John R. Lee, a prominent farmer and pioneer, was born in Tennessee in
1830, the son of rev. Robert and Rebecca (Mitchell) Lee.
The father, English in ancestry and born in North Carolina in 1803,
died in 1850.
His father, John, also a native of North Carolina, was a volunteer
at New Orleans under Jackson in the war of 1812, and when Robert was a boy
moved to Rutherford County, Tenn., then to Alabama, back to Tennessee and
to Illinois, about 1832, locating in Shelby County, afterward in White
County, where he died.
Robert was married when about twenty-five in Tennessee, and about
1835 moved to White County, and some time after to Hamilton County, where
he spent the rest of his life.
He was a farmer and mechanic, and while a resident of Tennessee,
was licensed to preach.
His removal to Illinois, and the division in the church, led him to
join the General Baptist Church, by which he was ordained to preach the
gospel. He
organized and built a church on the site of Thackery, which was admitted
to the Franklin Association of the Missionary Baptist Church, which more
nearly accorded with his belief.
His work was in Hamilton and White and the adjoining counties in
Indiana.
The mother was born in Giles County, Tenn., about four years her
husband’s junior, and died about 1869.
She was of Irish ancestry.
Our subject’s education was very limited.
May 20, 1850, he married Elizabeth Sneed.
Four of their five children are living: Rev. Robert W., of Franklin
County; Elijah, deceased; Cleory J., wife of J. B. Reed; James M. and
Perry S.
His wife died September 3, 1860, and in March 1861, he married Mrs.
Martha A. Plaster, daughter of John and Nancy Irby. Their six children are
Nancy E. (wife of A. D. Phillips), Louisa A., Ada C. wife of R. T. Dixon,
of Posey County, Ind., Emberson M., Minnie E. and Lillie B.
He soon located on his present farm, which he has improved and
added to until he now has a fine farm of about 200 acres.
He has always been an active and esteemed man, formerly a Democrat
and first voting for Pierce, now a Greenbacker.
His is an Odd Fellow, and nearly all his family are members of the
Missionary Baptist Church. |
