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GEORGE B. LEE.
In each of the various counties of the Hanging Rock Iron
Region of Ohio are to be found men whose energy,
progressiveness and business ability have given them
prominence as leading exponents of the great basic
industry of agriculture, and in Vinton County such a
valued citizen is George Baker Lee, who has
maintained his home in Swan Township for nearly forty,
years and who is the owner of one of the well improved
and valuable landed estates of this county, where his
character and achievement have marked him as altogether
worthy of the unqualified popular esteem in which he is
held.
Mr. Lee has the distinction of claiming the
historic Old Dominion as the place of his nativity,
though he was born in that section of Virginia that was
later formed into the State of West Virginia. He
is a scion of the patrician old Lee family whose
name has been conspicuous in the history of Virginia and
that of the nation, Gen. Robert E. Lee having
been a representative of one branch of this
distinguished family. Not far distant from
Harper's Ferry, in what is now Jefferson County, West
Virginia, George Baker Lee was born on the 5th of
October, 1850. His father, James H. Lee,
was born in Loudoun County, Virginia, on the 15th of
October, 1807, and his father, Asahel Lee, was
one of the prosperous planters and influential citizens
of that county until the time of his death.
James H. Lee was reared and educated in his native
county, and as a young man he there wedded Miss
Margaret Hensen, who died in middle life, all of the
sons and daughters of this union being now deceased.
For his second wife James H. Lee wedded Miss
Rachel Baldwin, who was born in Maryland and who was
a young woman at the time of her removal to Virginia, in
company with her parents. After his second
marriage James H. Lee continued his activities as
an agriculturist in what is now Jefferson County, West
Virginia, until after the birth of four of his children,
and in 1852 he came with his family to Ohio, where he
resided for a time in Guernsey and later in Noble
County. From the latter county he removed to
Muskingum County, where he purchased the old Hayden
farm, upon which he continued to reside until
after the close of the Civil war. In 1866 he
removed to Coalgate, Hocking County, and in 1872 he
established his residence on a farm in Athens County,
where he continued to maintain his home until his death,
which occurred in November, 1886, when he was
seventy-nine years of age. His widow later sold
the home farm, for which she received $100 an acre, and
there after she passed three years in the home of her
son George B., subject of this sketch. She
then purchased a good residence property at Besmer,
Hocking County, where she continued to maintain her home
until her death, at the age of seventy-one years, both
she and her husband having been earnest and devoted
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and having
exemplified their deep Christian faith in their daily
lives, which were marked by kindliness, sympathy and
tolerance in judgment. Concerning their children
brief record is given in the following paragraph:
Charles W. holds a position in the capitol of
the State of Ohio, in the City of Columbus, and has a
family; Margaret A. is the wife of Jacob
Errick, a prosperous farmer of Swan Township, Vinton
County, Ohio, and they have children; James W.,
who owns and operates a saw mill at Coalgate, Hocking
County, has three sons and three daughters; George B.,
of this review, was the next in order of birth;
Harrison is an able physician and surgeon and is
engaged in the practice of his profession at Athens,
Ohio, his children being one son and three daughters;
Sarah is the wife of Hiram Wilson, a
carpenter and contractor residing at Groveport, Ohio,
and they have a large family of children; Catherine
is the wife of George Phillips, a farmer
in Vinton County, and they have sons and daughters.
George B. Lee
was reared under the benignant discipline and influences
of the farm and has never severed his allegiance to the
basic industry of agriculture, through the medium of
which he has found adequate opportunities for the
achieving of substantial success and definite
independence. He has been a resident of Swan
Township, Vinton County, since 1878 and has owned and
lived upon his present fine farmstead for nearly thirty
years of this period, the while he has shown his
strength and versatility in the carrying forward of
agricultural and live stock operations with great
sagacity, progressiveness and success, his homestead
place, one of the model farms of this section of the
Buckeye State, comprises 237 acres, and the total area
of his valuable landed estate is 524 acres. The
home farm has good buildings, including an attractive
residence of eight rooms and a bank barn that is 77 by
35 feet in dimensions. His land gives fine yields
of the various cereals and oilier agricultural products
and he also gives much care and attention to the raising
of excellent grades of live stock, including Hereford
cattle and also horses, sheep and swine. The farm
is effectively drained through the medium of Raccoon
Creek and is to be traversed by the new state turnpike
road between Logan and McArthur. His home is
supplied with modern appointments and facilities, with
free-delivery of mail on rural route from McArthur and
with service from two lines of telephone. Mr.
Lee has shown a loyal interest in community affairs,
is aligned as a staunch supporter of the cause of the
democratic party and has served with marked efficiency
as a member of the school board of his district, as well
as treasurer of the same.
Near Hemlock, Perry County, Ohio, in the year 1873, was
solemnized the marriage of Mr. Lee to Miss
Charlotte Priest, who was born in
Muskingum County, this state, on the 8th of April, 1855,
but who was reared and educated in Perry County.
She is a daughter of Harrison and Jemima (Wilson)
Priest, the former of whom was born in Virginia and
the latter in Ohio. The maiden name of the first
wife of Mr. Priest was McCleary, and she
died within a short time after her marriage, leaving
three children. From Muskingum County Mr.
Priest removed with his family to Perry County,
where his children were reared to adult age, and finally
he and his wife came to Vinton County, where they passed
the residue of their long and worthy lives in Swan
Township. They were folk of sterling worth of
character and commanded the high regard of all who knew
them. Mr. Priest was a democrat in
his political proclivities and his wife was a zealous
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Lee brief
data are given in the concluding paragraph of this
article.
Harrison D., who holds a position as motorman in
the street-railway service in the City of Columbus.
Ohio, married Miss Flora Hitt, and they have two
children, - Flora and Etta. Dr.
William H. was graduated in Starling Medical
College, the present medical department of the
University of Ohio, and is now engaged in the successful
practice of his profession at Plain City, Madison
County, Ohio, the maiden name of his wife having been
Anna Cody. Charles E., who resides at
McArthur, the judicial center of Vinton County, holds
the office of township clerk. He wedded Miss
Alice McVey and they have one daughter, Anna B.
George Riley Lee, who is one of the
progressive farmers of Swan Township, married Miss
Clara Ross and they have one son, Herbert C. F.
Walter, who is a popular teacher in the public
schools in the Village of Dundas, Vinton County, married
Miss Mary Falkner, and their one
child is a son, Francis E. Clyde is
identified with farming and with the operation of an oil
well in Vinton County, his home being in Jackson
Township. He wedded Miss Ora
Horton and they have one son, Maxwell M.
John R., who attained to his legal majority on
the 11th of December, 1915, completed a course in
the high school at McArthur and now assists in the work
and management of the home farm. Ida M. is
the wife of Valentine Rheinsheild, a
farmer of Vinton County, and they have four children, -
William, Callie, Baker and
Kenneth. Eva became the wife of Arthur
Tinsley and died shortly after the birth of her
only child, who survived her by only a week.
Alice remains at the parental home. Bertha
was a successful teacher in the public schools for two
years prior to her marriage to Ray Griffith, of
Perry County, where they now reside on their farm, their
two children being Charlotte and Catherine.
Emma, the youngest of the children, is a member of
the class of 1919 in the high school at McArthur.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging
Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated -
Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page
1254 |
