Yell County ArArchives Biographies.....Lee, William Leroy 
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Robert Sanchez http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00027.html#0006574 July 20, 2009, 11:59 pm

Author: S. J. Clarke (Publisher, 1922)

WILLIAM LEROY LEE.
    William LeRoy Lee, engaged in law practice at Dardanelle, has been a
resident of Yell county since 1880, at which time he was brought to Arkansas by
his parents, William Carter and Mollie (Walker) Lee, from the old home in
Alabama, where William LeRoy Lee was born in 1874. His parents were natives of
Virginia, but when young people they went to Alabama, where they were reared and
married. The Lee family comes of the same ancestry as the distinguished
Confederate general. Robert E. Lee. The grandfather in the maternal line was
James Walker, a native of Virginia, who, removing to Alabama, spent his
remaining days there. His daughter, Mrs. Lee, was a woman of liberal education,
attending college at Selma, Alabama, while her husband's educational privileges
were those of the common schools, but he became a well-read man of sound
practical judgment and both were highly esteemed where they were known. He
devoted his life to farming and won a substantial measure of success in tilling
the soil. In early manhood he served through the Civil war, was wounded on two
or three occasions and was captured and sent to a northern prison. In 1880 he
left Alabama and with his family removed to Yell county, Arkansas, where his
wife departed this life. while subsequently he became a resident of Mississippi
and there spent his remaining days. They were both Christian people, Mr. Lee
belonging to the Methodist church, while his wife held membership in the
Christian church. Fraternally he was a Mason and his political allegiance was
always given to the democratic party. To him and his wife were born six
children, three of whom are living: Mrs. Lena Bernard, a widow, residing at
Centerville, Yell county; William LeRoy of this review; and C. W., an oil man of
Glenpool, Oklahoma.

    William L. Lee, having mastered the branches of learning taught in the
common schools of Yell county, continued his education in the academy at
Chickalah, Arkansas, and was there graduated. He also pursued a business course
in Fort Smith and when seventeen years of age he began to teach, following the
profession for four years. He regarded this, however, merely as an initial step
toward other professional labor and while teaching he devoted his leisure hours
to the study of law. He afterward engaged in merchandising at Dardanelle and
continued in the business until 1911, when he sold his interests there. He was
admitted to the bar in 1915 and through the intervening period has continued in
active practice, making steady progress in his chosen profession. His purpose in
conducting the mercantile business was to get funds enough with which to pursue
his legal education and to give him a start in his law practice. He also became
one of the organizers of the Farmers Bank of Dardanelle and was elected its
first president, continuing to act in that capacity for five years, when he
resigned in order to give his undivided time and thought to his practice. He is
deeply interested in legal science and his ability is demonstrated in the
success which has followed his efforts. He practices in partnership with H. C.
Scott and the firm has a liberal clientage. Mr. Lee has ever displayed marked
devotion to the interests of his clients, yet he never forgets that he owes a
still higher allegiance to the majesty of the law. He practices in all of the
state courts and he is a member of the Yell County Bar Association, of which he
is secretary. His opponents in the trial of a case always recognize the fact
that he had made careful preparation and ever displays marked ability in
marshaling facts and evidence. Perhaps his strongest asset is his oratory and
his ability in addressing a jury.

    In 1906 Mr. Lee was united in marriage to Miss May Toomer, a daughter of
Joshua Toomer, who possessed one of the brilliant minds of Arkansas and figured
prominently in connection with the early history of the state, serving as a
member of the state senate and exercising marked influence over public thought
and action. Mr. Lee was called upon to mourn the loss of his first wife in 1907.
On the 10th of July, 1909, he married Barton Caplinger, who was reared at Conway
and is a niece of Captain J. M. Jenkins, a distinguished citizen of Quitman,
Arkansas. Mrs. Lee was graduated from Hendrix College at Conway, Arkansas, and
by her marriage has become the mother of two children: Elizabeth and James,
aged, respectively, eleven and four years. Mr. and Mrs. Lee belong to the
Methodist Episcopal church, South, and are interested in all those forces which
make for higher ideals and the advancement of moral standards. Politically Mr.
Lee is. a democrat and served in the general assembly in 1921, being called to
the office by the vote of his fellow townsmen without solicitation for the
position on his part. He was made a member of the judiciary committee and also
of the agricultural committee and thus he has figured in connection with
lawmaking as well as with the interpretation of the law in the courts. He is
making steady advance in his profession and his ability is widely acknowledged.


Additional Comments:
Citation:
Centennial History of Arkansas
Volume II
Chicago-Little Rock: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company
1922


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