Person:John Lee (14)

From A Standard History of Erie County, Ohio

ALMON J. LEE Representing the fine old American stock that first peopled and settled this section of Northern Ohio, Alon J. Lee has for many years applied himself successfully to his chosen work as a farmer in Vermilion Township. With farming he has combined fruit growing. His work, thrift and industry have been wel rewarded. His name is always spoken with due respect in the community where he spent most of his life, and his accomplishment and those of other members of the family well justify that this record should be printed in permanent form.

The Lee family came originally from Maryland. Mr. Lee's grandfather, Henry A. Lee, was born in the City of Baltimore, and was married there to Polly Driver. The children born to them in Baltimore were John, James, and Thomas. Then in 1841 this little family set out upon the long journey to a new home in Ohio. They were people in modest circumstances, and all their worldly possessions were stowed upon a wagon drawn by a single horse. They went along the highways day after day before reaching their destination, and camped out by the wayside. On arriving in Vermilion Township they selected a place along the Joppa Road, and there in the wilderness they exchanged their temporary abode in the wagon for the comforts and privations of a log cabin home. Year after year they worked industriously in improving the land and constituting for themselves and their children a better home, and both grandparents lived to a good old age. They were members of the Methodist Church, while the grandfather was a republican. Of their three sons all grew up and married, and the only one now living is Thomas, whose home is in Berlin Heights. He is seventy-six years of age, he and his wife are members of the Methodist Church and in politics he is a republican.

John Lee, father of Almon J., and the oldest of the three sons was born in Baltimore City January 9, 1839, and died at his home on the Joppa Road March 20, 1913. He was very young when the family came to Erie County and received his education in some of the old time schools. For his vocation he applied himself to general farming and grape growing, and well deserved the comfortable success he enjoyed. He finally changed from the republican party, with which he had early affiliated, to the democrats. For his first wife he married, in Vermilion Township, Sarah Ann Johnson. She was born in Pennsylvania about 1835, and was still a child when brought to Erie County by her parents. She was only about twenty-two years of age when she died, and her son Almon at that time, her first and only born, was one year of age. Mr. John Lee married for his second wife Miss Harriet Merriman, who was born in Ohio, her father being a Methodist minister and consequently living in many different localities while Mrs. Lee was growing to womanhood. She is still living on the old homestead east of Joppa Corners, and is now past sixty-eight years of age. She has been a consistent member of the Methodist Church, and Mr. John lee was of the same faith.

Almon J. Lee was born December 21, 1856. As a boy he attended the local schools, and after his marriage he made his home for a number of years in the villages of Berlin Heights and Vermilion. He has now been identified for a long time with the community at Ashmont in Vermilion Township, and his home is on the Joppa Road. Mr. Lee as the result of many years of steady industry has accumulated seventy acres of good farm land. Of this he has nine acres in fruit, and has a very attractive and prosperous looking home. He and his family reside in an eleven-room residence situated in the midst of a large lawn, and surrounded by various farms and outbuildings.

On Hill Street in Vermilion Township Mr. Lee married Miss Rozella Hill. She was born in the house that still stands on the old Hill farm December 28, 1862, and has spent practically all her life in Erie County. Her parents were John W. and Charlotte (Swartwood) Hill, both natives of Ohio...

Mr. and Mrs. Lee naturally take much pride in their children, several of whom have already assumed the serious responsibilities of the world and are making good...

Obituary Sandusky Register 27 March 1913

John Lee, an aged resident of Vermilion township, died Thursday and was buried Sunday at 1 o'clock from his late home west of town. He was aged 80 years and is survived by a wife and several children.

From Pleasure Magazine article by Duncan Christy, Summer 2002

Little did the United Stated Navy know, when it issued its sailors a comfortable new cotton undergarment in 1913, that it would be sparking a fashion revolution. Part of the reason, said the Navy, was to cover "the chest hairs of its salty dogs." The sailors liked the light weight and the freedom of movement the shirts provided. Since they'd been wearing wool and flannel before, in clumsy neck-to-ankle union suits, it's not hard to see why. T-shirts make life easy.

1. ↑ Hewson L. Peeke. A Standard History of Erie County, Ohio, Vols. I & II. (The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago and New York 1916)
   p. 1126-1127.
2. ↑ Vital Records - GenealogyLibrary.com
   Erie Co, Ohio Roll 1265, Book 1, p. 186a, dwelling 47, 47.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} John Wesley Lee, in Find A Grave.