BIO: LEE, Charles Hobart, Pendleton Co., KY ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contributed for use in US GenWeb Archives by the Kentucky Biography Project Date: Wednesday, July 10, 2002 Subject: BIO: LEE, Charles Hobart, Pendleton Co., KY ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ***************************************************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ***************************************************************************** History of Kentucky, five volumes, edited by Judge Charles Kerr, American Historical Society, New York & Chicago, 1922, Vol. V, p. 213, Pendleton Co. CHARLES HOBART LEE was a youthful Confederate soldier under Morgan, and almost all the years since the war have been spent in a round of successive business duties and responsibilities at Falmouth. He has been a banker for over thirty years and is president of the Pendleton Bank of Falmouth. Mr. Lee was born at Minerva, Mason County, Kentucky, August 2, 1847. His grandfather, Charles Lee was born in New England in 1792, and spent nearly all his life on a farm at Chester, Vermont. He died in 1877. His wife was a Miss Hobart. Their son was the late Charles Henry Lee, who was born in Massachusetts in 1818, but was reared on a Vermont farm and in the early 40's came to Kentucky and settled in Mason County. He was well educated and for a number of years taught school. In 1849 he took up his residence at Brooksville in Bracken County, and entered the profession of law. He was also a surveyor and civil engineer. While in Bracken County he served as county judge. In the fall of 1865 he moved to Falmouth, and for many years was one of the leading members of the Pendleton County bar. Judge Lee died at Falmouth in the fall of 1891. He was a democrat and an active member of the Presbyterian Church. He went back to Vermont to marry Caroline Dudley, who was born in that state in 1823 and died at Brookfield, Kentucky, in 1849. She left two children: Aurora M., now of Santa Barbara, California, widow of W. W, Quinn, who was a merchant in Ohio and later in Denver, Colorado; and Charles H. The second wife of Judge Lee was Miss Martha Thomas, a native of Augusta, Kentucky, who died at Brooksville, with no issue. His third wife was Julia Ball, a native of Massachusetts, who died at Falmouth. She was the mother of two children: George D., in the United States revenue service at Covington; and Fannie L., wife of Dr. J. E. Wilson, of Falmouth. Charles Hobart Lee spent his boyhood at Brooksville, was educated in private schools until fifteen and then for a brief term clerked in a store at Augusta. He was in his seventeenth year when in 1864 he joined the Confederate Army in Company A of B. W. Jenkins battalion of cavalry. He was with General Morgan's command and was in service eleven months, until the close of the war. He was present at the skirmish near Greenville, Tennessee, when General Morgan was killed, and later participated in the engagements at Saltville and Marion, Virginia. The war over, he was for several years clerk in a store at Falmouth and for two years had the adventure and excitement of the great West as a cowboy and cattle driver over the plains. He then returned to Falmouth and was connected with mercantile concerns of that city for a number of years. For two years he was deputy Circuit Court clerk, and for six years was deputy sheriff, up to 1890. Later as a banker he served six years as county treasurer. Mr. Lee was appointed cashier of the Farmers and Merchants Bank at Falmouth in 1890. In 1896 occurred the consolidation of the Farmers and Merchants Bank and the Falmouth Deposit Bank under the new name of the Pendleton Bank. Mr. Lee became cashier of the consolidated institution, served in that position twenty-three years and since the fall of 1919 has been its president. The old Falmouth Deposit Bank was established in 1876. The Farmers and Merchants Bank began business May 12, 1890, Mr. Lee being one of its first officers. The Pendleton Bank, resulting from the consolidation, was established April 1, 1896. It is one of the very solid financial institutions of Pendleton County, has a capital of $50,500, surplus of equal amount, undivided profits of $25,000 and deposits of approximately $800,000. The present officers are: C.H. Lee, president; Charles W. Thompson, cashier; Henry W. Bishop, assistant cashier; and Leslie T. Applegate, attorney. During the World war Mr. Lee did a notable part in seeing Falmouth and Pendleton County go over the top in a number of the drives. He was chairman of the first, second and third Liberty Loan campaigns and also chairman of the War Savings Stamps drive. He is a democrat, an elder in the Presbyterian Church, is a past master of Orion Lodge No. 222, F. and A. M. Falmouth, a member of Hauser Chapter No. 116, R.A.M. at Falmouth; of Covington Council, R. and S. M., and is a past commander of Cynthiana Commandery No. 16, K. T. He is a member of the Falmouth Industrial Club. Mr. Lee resides on Maple Avenue in Falmouth. On June 14, 1877, in that city, he married Miss Louise M. McCune. Their marriage companionship continued a little more than thirty years, until her death December 24, 1907. Her parents were Mr. and Mrs. James McCune, now deceased, the former a Falmouth undertaker. *****************************************************************************