Biographical Sketch of Thomas J. Lee, Jefferson County, Missouri

>From "History of Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, Crawford and 
Gasconade Counties", Biographical Appendix, Goodspeed Publishing 
Company, 1888.

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Thomas J. Lee, another successful and enterprising farmer and stock
raiser of Joachim Township, was born on the farm on which he now lives,
January 6, 1835, and is the youngest of four sons born to Giles and
Amelia (Null) Lee.  The former was born in Pennsylvania, in 1797, and
when a mere child was taken by his parents to Kentucky,where he lived
until the age of twenty four (1821).  He then came to Jefferson County,
found employment near Pevely, and conducted a tannery for Col. Bryant, 
having learned his trade in Kentucky.  After a few years with Col.
Bryant he married and moved to near Hematite, where he started a tan-
yard on the farm on which his son, Charles F., now lives, perhaps the
second tanyard in Jefferson County.  After operating this for some time
he removed about one mile below, on the farm on which our subject now
lives, where he remained until 1855.  He then removed to Arcadia, in
Iron County, and from there to Mill Spring, in Wayne County, where he
died in 1874.  He was of German descent, and both father and mother 
were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and were among
the best families of the county.  Mr. Lee was married four times, his
last wife is still living.  The mother of Thomas J. was born near
Hematite, and died when he was but a few days old.  She was a daughter
of William Null, one of the earliest pioneers of Jefferson County, who
settled on one of the old Spanish claims near Hematite.  He was one of 
the foremost citizens of the county, and was one of the six commission-
ers to select the county seat on its removal from Herculaneum.  Thomas
J. attended the common subscription schools three or four months a
year, and in order to do so was obliged to walk four miles night and
morning.  The house was the rudest log structure and very inconvenient
in every way.  He finished his education with a one year's attendance
at Arcadia, after his father had removed there.  At the opening of the 
late Rebellion he at once joined the Confederate army in Company B,
Second Missouri Cavalry, under Col. Colton Green, in Gen. J. S. Marma-
duke's Division, and operated in Arkansas and Missouri for nearly four
years.  Although he served continuously as deputy lieutenant, he was
never wounded or captured.  After his discharge at (Nacatush) Louisiana
in June, 1865, he returned home, and September 12 of the next year he
married Maria Ellen, daughter of John and Mary (Itson) Morgan, formerly
of Kentucky, but who came to Jefferson County about 1860, and lived 
some years in Iron County.  Mrs. Lee's father is a second cousin of 
Gen. John Morgan, of Confederate fame.  Soon after his marriage Mr. Lee 
located on the farm of his birth, which consists of 261 acres, one and 
a half miles east of Hematite.  A portion of this he inherited and
bought about one-half from his father's estate.  Although having no 
children of his own, Mr. Lee has reared and educated several.  He is
an enterprising and upright citizen, and has been a member of the 
school board for about sixteen years.  Politically, he was reared a 
Whig, but has always acted with the Democratic party, his first vote
being for Breckinridge, in 1860.  He has been a prominent Mason sixteen
years, and he and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church
South.  Mr. Lee's grandfather spent the last years of his life in
Jefferson County.

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