My Genealogy Hound

Preston J. Lea, one of the old and much respected citizens of the county, was born in Jefferson County, Tenn., November 20, 1814, the son of Maj. and Rhoda (Jarnagin) Lea. The progenitors of the Leas made their first settlement in America, from England, in North Carolina. Maj. Lea, the grandfather of P. J. Lea, immigrated with Daniel Boone to Tennessee, and made a settlement near Cumberland Gap, where he died, a hale man, at one hundred and eight years. He had a son, Maj. Lea, who married Rhoda Jarnagin, whose father came from Virginia to East Tennessee in 1775. By agreement they assumed three spellings of name in order to distinguish the families, Lea, Lee and Leigh. Robert E. Lee and Gen. Leigh are of this stock. The father of our subject was born close to the Virginia and North Carolina line, and when young moved with his parents to East Tennessee, where he married Miss Jarnagin, and where both spent the remainder of their days. The father was killed by lightning, when our subject was but a lad. In their family were nine children, seven sons and two daughters. Both parents were members of the Missionary Baptist Church, and the father was a farmer by occupation. Their youngest child but one, Preston J., attained his growth on the farm and received a very limited education. On reaching manhood he took to river life, and for many years ran flat­boats on the Mississippi River and its eastern tributaries. He piloted the first steamboat that ever went up the Holston River. In 1834 he was married in Grainger County, Tenn., to Miss Mary H. Peck, daughter of Benjamin Peck. She was born September 20, 1818. Having lived in Tennessee until the close of the war, they then moved to Ringgold, Ga., and in 1881 came to this county. His chief occupation has been farming, although he ran a flour and saw-mill for many years. Both he and wife are members of the Old School Presbyterian Church. He was a Whig before the war and a Democrat since. Mr. and Mrs. Lea are the parents of sixteen children, six sons and ten daughters. The eldest son, Benjamin H., was lieutenant of a company of United States troops during the late war. Mr. Lea has never aspired to any office, but has always been a plain, practical business man.