Mr. Lee was born July 4, 1839, and is consequently approaching the fiftieth year of his age. His father, George Lee, was a native of Yorkshire, England, and the son of a Yorkshireman, who operated a small farm, and with his estimable wife spent his entire life on his native soil, both dying at an advance age. George Lee was one of the younger members of a family of ten children, and remained under the parental roof until a youth of seventeen years. Then he set sail for the United States and made his way directly to this county, where he commenced the battle of life for himself as a farm laborer. After his marriage he began operating land on his own account, first in this county, but later removed to Macoupin County, where he died at the age of seventy years.

The mother of our subject was, in her girlhood, Miss Mary Audas, a native of Yorkshire, and the daughter of John Audas, whose first wife, the mother of Miss Mary, died when the latter was a child of eight years. He was then married to a lady whose first name was Elizabeth, and soon afterward came with his family to America. They settled on eighty acres of land, which is now the property of our subject, Mr. Lee, and where Mr. and Mrs. Audas spent their last days, dying when quite well advanced in years. The mother of our subject also died on this farm, when only forty years of age, both she and her husband were members of the Methodist Church.

Our subject is the second child and eldest son of his parents, whose family comprised four sons and three daughters. One son and one daughter are now deceased. Thomas, our subject, like the others, was reared on the farm, and trained to habits of industry, while he obtained his education in the common school. He chose farming for his life occupation, and when ready to establish a fireside of his own was united in marriage with Miss Martha J. Hall. This lady, like her husband, is a native of this county, and was born Sept. 18, 1838. Her parents, William and Elizabeth Hall, are now deceased. They were among the pioneer settlers of this county, and lived to be quite aged. They were born and reared in Yorkshire, England, and crossed the Atlantic early in the thirties. They were active members of the Methodist Protestant Church, and were of that kindly and hospitable disposition which endeared them to all who knew them.

Mrs. Lee was reared to womanhood in the home of her parents, and by her marriage with our subject became the mother of nine children, three of whom, Sarah E., Ida and Nellie E., died when quite young. Mary, the eldest daughter now living, is the wife of Thomas H. Eades, and they live on a farm in Woodson County, Kan. Minnie I. Is the wife of Samuel I. Coultas, and they reside in this county, on a farm near Lynnville. George W., Mattie J., Clara E., and Eva L. are at home with their parents. Mr. Lee, politically, supports the principles of the Republican party, and with his wife and family belongs to the Methodist Protestant Church, in which he officiates as Steward.