Harrison Co., WV: Bios - Thomas Elkins LEE
*******************************************************************
USGENWEB NOTICE:  These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in
any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or
persons.  Persons or organizations desiring to use this material,
must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal
representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb
archivist with proof of this consent.
*******************************************************************
Submitted by Valerie Crook

The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., 
Chicago and New York, Volume II
pg. 639
Harrison County

THOMAS ELKINS LEE. In the course of his early busi-
ness experience, Mr. Lee became associated with the for-
tunes of that phenomenal industry, the Coca Cola Com-
pany of Atlanta, and when, some fifteen or sixteen years
ago, he selected Clarksburg as his permanent business head-
quarters he built the plant for the bottling and distribu-
tion of Coca Cola products, and he has since made that
one of the most prosperous concerns of the kind in the
state.

Thomas Elkins Lee is a native of old Virginia and a
descendant of a chain of the Lee family of that date. He
was born at Liberty (now Bedford) in Bedford County,
June 6, 1870, son of Thomas Newell and Sarah Leak
(Gills) Lee. The parents were also born in old Virginia,
and while his father lived on a farm he was a man of
pronounced technical ability, was at one time a professor
of mathematics and for many years a civil engineer en-
gaged extensively in railroad construction work.

One of a family of eight children, Thomas Elkins Lee
at an early age stood face to face with the serious respon-
sibilities of life, and after securing an academic educa-
tion, and at the age of twenty-one, he left home and began
the battle of life for himself. For three years he was in
the lumber business at Lynchburg, Virginia, then followed
farming in his native county four years, and after selling
the farm removed to Atlanta, Georgia, where he was con-
nected with the Coca Cola Company for two years. On
returning to Virginia he opened up the territory for the
sale and bottling of coca cola in the territory adjacent to
Danville.

Mr. Lee removed to Clarksburg, West Virginia, in 1906,
and acquired the Coca Cola interests for this territory.
He is now sole proprietor of the bottling works, and has
one of the most thoroughly modern plants of its kind in
the state, the building being after his own plans of con-
struction, and equipped with every mechanical device for
a thorough and efficient handling of the product. In ad-
dition to his bottling works Mr. Lee is vice president of
the Acme Ice Company of Grafton, and is vice president
of the Federal Carbonic Company of Fairmont.

The reasons that prompted him to locate at Clarksburg
have many times been justified, and incidental thereto he
has invested heavily in local real estate and is one of the
city's most ardent friends. He is a member of the Chamber
of Commerce, the Kiwanis, Country, Allegheny and Cheat
Mountain Clubs, is a democrat in politics, a member of
the Baptist Church and for thirty years has been a member
of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

In 1895 Mr. Lee married Miss Eustous Wells, a native
of old Virginia and of a prominent old family of that date.
The six children of Mr. and Mrs. Lee are Edward, Jimmie
(Miss), Russell, Virginia, Thomas and Eustous.

*******************************************************************