[or-roots] Philander Lee (1802-1887) and family

gary murray gmurray1 at cox.net
Wed Oct 29 13:58:32 PST 2003


VIRGENE:  first off, i know candis very well.  she was my second teacher for
the pc.  what a wonderful person.  your post was outstanding and fills in a
few holes.  i was ALWAYS told that this lee family goes somehow back to
robt. e. lee with no sources.  mostly just wishful thinking on some of the
family, i guess.  keep up the good work.  your posts are much appreciated.
gary in az.
-----Original Message-----
From: Virgene and Dean Travis <travis.north at centurytel.net>
To: Oregon Roots List- OR <or-roots at sosinet.sos.state.or.us>
Date: Wednesday, October 29, 2003 2:54 PM
Subject: [or-roots] Philander Lee (1802-1887) and family


>I'm a descendant of Philester Lee, one of Philander Lee's brothers.  Most
of
>the date and name info. below comes from Candis Sanders, a descendant of
>Philander and much of her information comes from Winifred Jane Saltmarsh
>Raines ( 1910-1986)the original Lee Family genealogist and a granddaughter
>of Elvira Belle Lee (1835-1915) who is a dau. of Philander (see below).
>Hope this helps with the confusion
>about Philander Lee.
>          Virgene Travis in Montana
>
>
>PHILANDER LEE b. 22 Feb 1802 in Washington Co., NY, d. 12 Jan 1887 in
Canby,
>Clackamas Co., Oregon, son of Joseph Lee and Abigail Tallman.
>     He married on 20 Oct 1827 in Jefferson Co., NY
>ANNA HARVEY GREEN b. 17 Dec 1807 in Ovid, Seneca Co., NY and died 28 Mar
>1900 in Canby, dau. of Isreal Green and Hannah Witter.
>      Their children:
>1.  EMILY ARMINA LEE b. 22 Jul 1828 in Jefferson Co., NY, died
>        15 Dec 1857 in Canby, Clackamas Co., OR.  She married
>         JAMES ROLAND LEABO on 16 Mar 1851 in Clackamas Co.
>2.  EDWIN TALLMAN LEE b. 11 Sep 1830 in Jefferson Co., NY; he
>         died 16 Jul 1872 near Corning, Tehama Co., CA
>             He was married 3 times.   I have names if anyone is
interested.
>3.  HEMAN ALLEN LEE b. 29 Mar 1833 in Jefferson Co., NY.  He died
>         on & Jan 1914 in Canby. He married on 9 Apr. 1867
>          EDA ELIZABETH TICE.
>4.  ELVIRA BELL LEE b. 24 Dec 1835 in Jefferson Co., NY; died
>          25 Jun 1915 in Lebanon, Linn Co., OR.  She married on 20 Aug
>         1854 in Sodaville, Linn Co., OR Terr ARTHUR VANCE
>          SALTMARSH.
>5.  OREN LEE b. 12 Jul 1838 in Jefferson Co., NY.  He d. 11 Mar 1881
>         in Portland, Multnomah Co., OR.  He married on 26 Nov 1876
>         in Clackamas Co. CHLOE P. WHITING.
>6.  CAROLINE EUPHEMIA LEE b. 6 Jun 1841 in Jefferson Co., NY, died
>        unknown date in Salem, Marion Co., OR.  She married on 3 July 1864
>        in Clackamas Co. Rev. GEORGE W. ROORK.
>7. JASON R. LEE b. 22 Jun 1844 in Jefferson Co., NY; died Sept 1846
>         in Iowa.
>8.  ALBERT HARVEY LEE, b. 22 Jan 1847 in Des Moines, Polk Co., Iowa
>         and died 23 Aug 1936 in Canby, Clackamas Co., OR.   He married
>        on 10 Sep 1871 to MARTHA JANE HALL in Canby.
>
>Below are some of my notes on Philander Lee:
>
>1830 U.S. CENSUS:  Lyme, Jefferson Co., New York, page 261
> Philander Lee: 1 male 5-10, 1 male 20-30, 1 female under 5, 1 female 20-30
>
>!1835 NEW YORK STATE CENSUS: Living in/near Lyme, New York, Film #895,240,
>Book 2: Philander Lee, 3 males, 2 females, 1 female under 16, no males
>eligible for military, 130 acres, 13 cattle, 7 horse, 17 sheep, 44 hogs, 20
>yds. fulled cloth, 40 yds. flannel cloth
>
>1840 U.S. CENSUS:  Lyme, Jefferson Co., New York, page 638
>Philander Lee -- 120001,101001
>1 male under 5
>2 males 5-10
>1 male 30-40
>1 female under 5
>1 female 10-15
>1 female 30-40
>   NOTE 1:  On the same page is Daniel Griggs -- 1001100001, 0000101
>   NOTE 2:  In the 1840 census index, there is another Philander Lee in
>Ellisburgh, Jefferson Co., New York on page 27 as follows:  100001, 10101
>
>1846 RESIDENCE: Ottumwa, Wapello, Iowa
>Vol. I, 1841-49 Iowa Census, Wapello Co: Philander and Philester Lee both
>listed in 1846 and 1847
>
>REASON FOR MIGRATION: The following is an excerpt from the Lebanon Express,
>Lebanon, Oregon on 21 December 1970:
>ASTHMA PROMPTED LEE FAMILY'S MOVE ACROSS THE OREGON TRAIL
>    The autobiography of Anna Lee was the basis of a series of stories
>printed in the Lebanon Express a year ago. However, that story did not
>include the following material, furnished by a descendant of Edwin Lee,
Mrs.
>Gladys Martin of Sacramento, California.
>     Edwin Lee [son of Philander & Anna Green Lee] experienced little of
the
>adventure of the Oregon Trail -- but
>much physical suffering.  According to his daughter, Mary Elizabeth Lee
>Roberts -- he was born with asthma.  Because of this ailment, the family
>moved (1846) from his birthplace in New York to Iowa where his grandfather,
>Israel Green, lived.
>     That climate didn't agree with him, either, so after much
consultation,
>the entire branch of the Lee family decided to go to Oregon.  They had
heard
>the climate was more healthful and the winters milder.
>
>MIGRATION: All four children of Josephus Lee (including Philander Lee)
>joined together in St. Joe, Missouri on the "Oskaloosa Train" June 15, 1847
>led by Captain Wiley Chapman.  Coming west with Philander and Anna (Green)
>Lee were four sons and three daughters, their seventh child dying in Iowa
in
>September 1846.  He was then the youngest, named Jason.  Their eighth
child,
>Albert H., was born in January 1847 in Iowa.  The family arrived in Oregon
>on November 15, 1847.
>
>LAND: Oregon Donation Land Claim, Certificate No. 2795. 647 acres in
>Sections 33 and 34 and Section 4, Twp. 4S, Range 1E.  Born Feb. 22, 1802
>Washington Co., New York.  Married  Anna Green (born Dec 1807) daughter of
>Isreal & Hannah (Witler [sic]) Green) on October 20, 1827, Jefferson Co.,
>NY.  Arrived in Oregon December 1847; settled claim in Jan/Feb 1850.
>Affidavits: Rice Pendleton, Champion Pendleton, Herman (sic) H. Lee (son),
>Lucius A. Seeley, Isaac F. Beals.  Town of Canby is now part of this claim.
>Responsible for 80-foot wide streets in the original platted portion of the
>City of Canby.
>
>HEALTH: Philander had asthma.
>
>OCCUPATION: From Shirley Isaac of Watsonville, California in April 1997:
>"Philander was a farmer and a rancher.  Hazel Jenkins told me that
Philander
>started from scratch as he was not rich and had a large family."
>
>1850:  From Oregon Census Records Index 1851-1859, Vol. I:
> Lee, Philander     Washington Co.   1850
>
>1850 U.S. CENSUS: Milwaukie, Clackamas Co., Oregon Territory, 20 Sep 1850,
>Page 23, Family 184
>Orlando Lee age 50  farmer    all born NY, except Albert
>--Anna         age 44
>--Emily         age 22
>--Edwin        age 20
>--Herman      age 17
>--Elvira         age 14
>--Orrin          age 12
>--Caroline      age   9
>--Albert        age   3            b. Iowa
>
>1860 U.S. CENSUS:  Clackamas Co., Oregon, Family 1068
>Philander Lee  age 58  farmer  2,500  600  b. NY
>-- Anna          age 52                               b. NY
>-- Heman        age 27                               b. NY
>-- Caroline       age 19                               b. NY
>-- Albert         age 13                                b. IA
>
>1870 U.S. CENSUS:  Oregon City, Clackamas Co., Oregon, Family 455, page 113
>June 1870
>Philander Lee   age 68  farmer      b. NY    $1800/$1000
>Anna              age 62  kpng hse   b. NY
>Mary               age 16                  b. OR
>Lebo, Josiah     age 48  laborer      b. OR
>
>1880 U.S. CENSUS:  Canby, Clackamas Co., Oregon, ED12, page 20, June 15,
>1880
>Lee, Philander                 age 78  farmer  NY MA VT
>--Annie                           age 72
>--Millard            grd-son  age  7
>Knotts, Annie   grd-dau   age 25
>-- William          grd-son   age   6
>-- George          grd-son  age   3
>
>WHO WAS PHILANDER LEE? written in 1976 by Myra Wenton of Canby, Oregon.
>This article was written for the May 1976 dedication of the Philander Lee
>Elementary School at 1110 S. Ivy Street in Canby, Oregon.  A portion of the
>article follows:
>     Philander Lee was an 1847 covered wagon pioneer of the Oregon Trail at
>the age of 45.  His wife and mother of eight, Anna Green Lee, was 40.  Baby
>Albert, born in January 1847, and six older children came with them.
Jason,
>their seventh child, had died in September 1846 in Iowa after the Lee's
>four-month trip from New York, where both were born and where they married.
>     (After arriving in Oregon,) the Lees wintered at Linnton and grew
>vegetables on Sauvie Island to sell to villagers in Portland. They then
>sought their own homes.  Philander and Anna came that fall of 1848 to Baker
>Prarie, buying "squatter's rights" and building a log cabin.  In 1850 they
>gained title to their land claim and in 1860 built a frame house, the first
>in what is now Canby, Oregon.
>      Philander, his oldest son Edwin, and brother Philester, joined the
>gold rush to California in 1849.  They earned enough to return to Oregon
and
>buy apple trees which Philander planted on part of his 636-acre land claim
>in 1852.  Lee's trees produced fruit for hungry gold-seekers in California.
>Lee and his sons hauled apples in home-made boxes by wagon and ox-team over
>the tortuous route to the steamboat landing in Oregon City, seat of
>government for the Oregon Territory and until 1871 the nearest post office,
>for transport to San Francisco.
>     Pushing their Oregon & California line up the valley, railroad
builders
>apprached Lee for land in 1870.  Lee, a man of vision and action, sold for
>$2,960  111 acres of his claim for the 24-block city, 12 lots in each
block.
>Parts of other claims were also bought for the westerly part of the town
>surveyed by George Weidler on Baker Prairie.  Lee's sale was contingent on
>wide streets, as he recalled experiences with Oregon City's narrow ones by
>the bluff.  His youngest son, Albert, turned the ox-team, measured the turn
>at 80 feet, the width of the streets in the original Canby townsite.  On
>Aug. 9, 1870, the city's plat was filed in Oregon City.
>     Maj. Gen. Edward R. S. Canby, hero of Civil and Indian wars, had come
>to Oregon that summer to command the Army's Dept. of the Columbia.  The
>popular hero's name was given the new town.  Canby's plat is No. 14 in
>Clackamas county records.  Filed earlier, in 1863, was the plat of the
>one-acre Baker Prairie Cemetery in which Lee and his wife, Anna, are
buried.
>He was 84 at death in 1887; she was 92 and died in 1900.
>     Although her children were grown, Mrs. Lee was interested in
education.
>She and Mrs. Wait (daughter-in-law of Oregon state's first supreme court
>chief justice, Aaron Wait) took story books to children of the "white
>school" on Baker Prairie after that one-room frame building was built.  The
>1860 log schoolhouse was moved in 1863 to the east edge of Lee's claim, and
>burned about 10 years later.  The "white school" was built by William
Knight
>about 1875 on the highest point of Wait's land at what is now 1408 N. Holly
>Street in Canby. Church services were held in both the log and frame
>schoolhouses before Canby's first church was built in 1884.  Caroline Lee's
>husband, the Rev. George Roork, a Methodist minister, held services in
both.
>(Note: Caroline is a daughter of Philander and Anna.)
>     Heman (sic) A. Lee, Philander and Anna's second son, became Canby's
>first mayor when the city was incorporated Feb. 15,1893, to become
Clackamas
>county's second earliest.  The 1847-born Lee, Albert, became Canby's first
>merchant when he and Caroline's husband opened Roork and Lee's store Aug.
1,
>1871.  Albert Lee also was Canby's first railroad agent.  One of Albert's
>sons, Millard J. Lee, was the first white boy born in Canby.  M. J. was a
>champion bicycle rider, state legislator, pioneer in irrigation in the
Canby
>area, and is the man for whom the 1953-built ferryboat at Canby Ferry was
>named.  One of Heman's daughters, Ora Lee Cattley, was first queen of the
>Clackamas County Fair, first woman elected to the Canby Union High School
>board, and Canby librarian in her later years.  Other descendants of the
>Lees have made contributions through the years to the Canby community in
>which many of them still live.
>     In this U.S. Bicentennial year of 1976, Canby district 86 school board
>has named its new elementary school at 1110 S. Ivy Street in recognition of
>Canby's founder, Philander Lee.
>
>RESIDENCE: The following was written by Myra Weston of Canby, Oregon in
>January 1994 and submitted to me by Denise Swenson of McMinnville, Oregon:
>Three houses were homes to the Philander Lees in Canby, Oregon: First a log
>cabin on what has become S.E. 1st Avenue, near the streets of Willow Creek
>tributary through Hazel Dell Gardens.  Second, the 1860 house of two
stories
>which a grandson, Warren P. Lee and his wife, Jane Mitts Lee, occupied in
>1904, and which Warren moved west in 1914 and placed over a potato cellar.
>All four of the Warren Lee children were born there.  Damaged by fire
>Decebmer 6, 1956, the house was reduced to one story and still stands in
use
>in 1994.  Jane Lee lived there until her death in February 1978.  Its last
>owner was her daughter, Vesta Lee Tucker (deceased).  Third house, near a
>three-stemmed oak tree near the railroad and east of the second house's
1914
>location, was built in 1868 and both Philander and Anna Green Lee lived
>there through their final years. Later it was the property of Heman's
>youngest child, Ora Lee Cattley and her husband, George H. Cattley, its
>occupants for some years.  In 1967, the property was purchased by Package
>Containers, Inc., for a manufacturing plant which was built on the site of
>the largest Lee house.
>
>CEMETERY INSCRIPTIONS:  From Baker Prairie Cemetery, Canby, Clackamas Co.,
>Oregon
>LEE, Albert H.       1847 - 1936
>LEE, Anna Green   Passed Over Mar 28, 1900 aged 92 ys
>              (Note: Philander and Anna LEE share one headstone)
>LEE, Martha J.    Wife of Albert H. LEE Died May 15, 1890 aged 36 y 19d
>LEE, Millard J.     1872 - 1950
>LEE, Oren           b. 12 Jul 1838, died 1881
>LEE, Philander    Passed Over Jan 12, 1887 aged 84 ys 10 ms 18 ds
>      (Note: shares a headstone with Anna LEE)
>
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