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From Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette, Wisconsin, publ. 1901 - page 477-478
GEORGE LEE, prominent in agricultural circles, and widely known as one of the leading farmers and stockmen of the town of Lima, Grant county, was born at Allens Heads, in Northumberland, England, April 18, 1842.
John and Ann LEE, his parents, were both also natives of Northumberland, the father born in 1811, and the mother in 1816. In 1849 they came to Jo Daviess county, Ill., by way of New York, Buffalo and Chicago. Mr. LEE was engaged in mining for some seven years, and then moved into the town of Highland, Iowa Co., Wis., where he bought a farm of eighty acres, and had his first experiences in the cultivation of the soil. On this place they lived until 1863, when Mr. LEE sold it, and moved into the town of Lima, two and a half miles northwest of Platteville, where he died the following year. Mr. LEE was well known, and very popular among the early settlers, who knew him not only as a kind and courteous man, but as a good neighbor and a trusty friend. Mr. and Mrs. LEE were members of the Methodist Church, and sincerely lived the faith they loved. After his death the widow moved into Platteville, where she lived some years, dying in 1874. They reared a family of seven children: (1) John, born in 1838 in England, where he was educated, married Miss Ann LEESE, of Iowa county, Wis., and settled in Dodgeville. Moving to the Lake Superior country, he followed mining until 1856, in which year he went to Pike's Peak, Colo., working in the gold mines there until the breaking out of the Civil war, when he enlisted to fight the hostile Indians. After some time he moved his family into Kansas, where they still reside. Returning to the Colorado gold mines, he died in 1897. (2) Mary Ann, born in England, died when a young woman, in Illinois. (3) George is the third in the family. (4) Jane, born in 1844 in England, married Robert GRAHAM, of Grant county, and they now reside in Platteville, where Mr. GRAHAM is living retired. John GRAHAM, their son, is a resident of that city. (5) Hannah F., born in Jo Daviess county, Ill., is the wife of James BUTSON, of Marshall, Minn., where he is known as one of the wealthy farmers of that section. Four children have been born to their union, Annie, Harry, Minnie, and John. (6) Matthew H., born in Jo Daviess county, Ill., married Miss EGAN, of Highland, for his first wife. she died soon afterward, leaving him one daughter, Nellie, who now resides with her father in the State of Iowa. Mr. LEE married for his second wife, a Miss NEWMAN, of Iowa. (7) Thompson, born in England, died in childhood in Illinois.
George LEE acquired his early education in the district schools in Jo Daviess county, Ill., and Iowa county, Wis. While still a boy he worked in the lead mines in Illinois, and in Wisconsin did the same work until fully grown. When his parents, moved to Lima he became the manager of the farm, and after his father's death rented the place until 1872, in which year he pre-empted a quarter section of land in Lyon county, Minn., moving his family from Platteville by wagon. The grasshoppers destroyed all farm products, and he came back to Wisconsin in the winter of 1873, after proving up his Minnesota land. Buying the old home farm in the town of Lima, which contained 160 acres, he has added eighty acres of timber land thereto. The quarter section of land in Minnesota he has retained, and it is now a valuable and well improved farm.
In 1865 Mr. LEE married Susan J. BUTSON, of Lima, daughter of Thomas and Susan BUTSON, old pioneers of Grant county, who came from Cornwall, England, among the very early settlers of Grant county. Our subject and wife are now living in the old LEE homestead, where they have reared a family of nine children: (1) John, their eldest son, was born in Grant county in 1867, married Miss Ida EASTMAN, and is now living on his farm in the town of Lima. They have had two children, Gretta and the baby. (2) Susan, born in 1869, married Thomas EDGE, and lives in the town of Ellenboro, on his uncle's farm; they have two children, Emma and Harry. (3) George William, born in Grant county in 1872, attained manhood under the parental roof, and is now the manager of his father's farm in Minnesota. (4) Henry, born in Grant county in 1877, is unmarried. (5) Charles was born in 1881; (6) Minnie, in 1884; (7) Ernest, in 1886; (8) Frank, in 1889; and (9) Elsie, in 1891. The younger children are at home.
In politics Mr. LEE is a Republican, and in religion he and his family are intimately associated with the Methodist Church. His career affords a conspicuous illustration of the value of pluck and energy, when backed up by a disposition to make the most of all passing opportunities, and do the best thing possible every day. He began with nothing, and has gradually accumulated a very handsome property. Some years ago Mr. LEE met with an accident, receiving a severe injury on the spine, which left him a cripple for life.
This biography generously submitted by Carol Holmbeck