My Genealogy Hound

Jesse T. Lee, farmer, Mars Hill Township. No worthy reference to the agricultural affairs of this county would be complete without mention of Mr. Lee, among others engaged in tilling the soil. Beside this, he enjoys, to an unlimited extent, the confidence and esteem of all who know him, and is one of the influential men of the county. His birth occurred in Alabama, in 1847, being the son of Boykin Lee and wife (nee Jeanette Garret), natives of North Carolina and Georgia, respectively. When a young man, the father went to Alabama, where he married, and in 1850 emigrated to Columbia County, Ark., and there made his home until 1855, at which time he came to Lafayette County. He departed this life in Texas, in 1886, whither he had moved about 1880, his widow surviving him until 1887, when she too passed away in the same State. Of the eleven children born to their marriage, five (three sons and two daughters) survive, Jesse T. Lee being the fourth in order of birth. He was brought to this State in his fourth year by his parents, and he attained his growth in this and Columbia Counties. He never received any schooling. In his seventeenth year he entered the Confederate army, and served as courier for about twenty-one months, but after the surrender he returned to his parents, with whom he remained for some time. He was married, in 1876, to Miss Mary Browning, a native of Alabama, born about 1840, and their union has resulted in the birth of nine children, eight of whom are still living: Addie, Robert, Sallie, Jesse, Ida, Florence, Rena and Essie. He owns 220 acres of land, lying about eleven miles south of the county seat, about ninety acres of it being under cultivation. He located the farm in the woods, and all the improvements on it have been made entirely by his own efforts and industry. Politically, he is a stanch Democrat, having cast his first vote for Horace Greeley. He and wife are both members of the Missionary Baptist Church, and take a deep interest in educational affairs, as they do in all matters pertaining to the welfare of the community; he belongs to the Wheel.