Biography of Major Jordan Gray Lee, native of Union Parish Louisiana Submitted for the Union Parish Louisiana USGenWeb Archives by Hank Johns, 8/2006 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ ================================================================================= Biography of Major Jordan Gray Lee, native of Union Parish Louisiana "Father of Forestry in Louisiana" Transcribed from copies obtained from Office of Public Relations Records, Faculty / Staff Files-RG#A0020, Jordan G. Lee; LSU Libraries Special Collections, Hill Memorial Library, Baton Rouge, LA 70803 ================================================================================== Major Jordan Gray Lee (1865 - 1945) Major Jordan G. Lee, knows as the "Father of Forestry in Louisiana," was born in Farmerville, La. December 17, 1863. He received his, B.S. degree from LSU in 1888, and served as Assistant Director of the North Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station during the next eight years. Major Lee, whose namesake was the late well-known Dean of the LSU College of Agriculture, next served as State Commissioner of Agriculture and Immigration from 1896-1906. The first professor of forestry at LSU, Major Lee was appointed to this post in 1910. He was professor of forestry and horticulture, and as early as 1921 he began taking his students into the Louisiana forests for first hand study of their subject during the summer months. This was in the Bogalusa area where the summer forestry camps and school were later set up on extensive woodland tracts. Because he caught the vision of reforestation and its importance to future generations, especially in a great timber state like Louisiana, Major Lee was termed a pioneer in reforestation and in advanced methods of horticul- ture. Under his leadership the LSU forestry curriculum was extended to include a fourth year of study in 1925. Old timers remember that the Lee home was on College Avenue just off the old campus, and many remember his "war garden" located on a small plot near the site of the new state capitol. In this small space he and his horticulture studends demonstrated rotation of crops, showing how several kinds of vegetables could be raised simultaneously along rows from which corn stalks sprouted. A self-styled sprinkler system showered the conglomeration of vegetables, which were sold to the university boarding club and to the professors. Any money collected above expenses was turned into a loan fund for deserving students who desired to take the entire agricultural course at LSU. Professor Lee was a major on the staffs of two governors, Samuel Douglas McEnery and Francis T. Nicholls. He served twice as Louisiana Commissioner in charge of state exhibits at the Buffalo Exposition and for the West Indies Exposition at Charleston, S.C. 1891-92. He was a Trustee of Sourthwestern Louisiana Institutue from 1899-1904, and was secretary of the Louisiana Commisssion for the St. Louis World Exposition, 1903-04. For many years he served on the state forestry advisory board of a number of state organizations, and was a member of the Southern Forestry Congress. An active civic worker until ill health forced his retirement, Major Lee finally left his old home and moved with his wife to live with relatives in Greensboro, Alabama in October, 1944. And here he died February 28, 1945. He was a Deacon in the First Baptist Church of Baton Rouge. He was a member of Kappa Alpha, Kiwanis Club, Elks, Masons, Knights of Pythias, and the Golf and Country Club. Major Lee was first married to Miss Addie E. McGrath, daughter of General John McGrath of the Confederate Army. After her death he married Miss Sallie Lane Lee of Marion, Alabama. ###################################