SHEBOYGAN HISTORY

John W. Lee, Page 407

JOHN W. LEE has been a resident of this county since 1848, being one among the early settlers who came to Sheboygan County when it was inhabited only by Indians and wild animals.  Mr. Lee was born in Caldwell County, N. C., March 23, 1824.  His parents, Jordan and Elizabeth (Stepp) Lee, were natives, respectively, of North Carolina and Virginia.  Of their eight children, five sons and three daughters, but one survives, the gentleman whose name heads this article.  His parents died in Caldwell County, N. C., and their eldest son died in the late war.

    John W. was the second son in his father's family.  he was reared on a farm, but had very poor opportunities for securing an education.  In the spring of 1848, with a number of families from his old home, Mr. Lee came to Sheboygan County, and located in the town of Sherman.  Some three years later he purchased forty acres of timber, built a log house, and began life in true pioneer style.

    January 4, 1855, marks the date of the marriage of Mr. Lee and Susan E., daughter of Alpheus and Elizabeth Ann (Howe) Miller.  The ceremony was performed in Sherman Township, the home of the bride.  Mr. Miller was born in Dutchess County, N. Y., October 3, 1815, while his wife's birth occurred February 4, 1823, in the same State.  The latter is a lineal descendant of Lord Howe, of England.  Mrs. Lee is also a native of Dutchess County, N. Y., born February 20, 1840, and when about two years of age she was left motherless.  She has one brother, Isaac G., who carries on a butter factory in Waupaca, Wis.  Her only sister died in childhood.  After the death of his first wife, Mr. Miller wedded Zilpha Wright, by whom he has one living child, now Mrs. Phoebe E. Halter, of Lima Township.

    In 1847 Mr. Miller came to Sheboygan County and purchased eighty acres of Government land, which was then covered with a thick forest.  Industrious and energetic, he improved his property and added from time to time to his original purchase, until he became an extensive farmer.  he was a man of intelligence and of good business judgment.  Politically, he was a strong Republican, and religious belief was a Baptist.  In 1875 Mr. Miller removed to Waupaca County, where he still resides.  Though seventy-eight years of age, he retains the use of his mental faculties in a marked degree.

    Until 1870 Mr. Lee continued to farm in Sherman and Lyndon Townships, and then removed to his present farm on section 26, in the town of Plymouth, where he still owns a good farm of eighty acres.  Of the six children born unto Mr. and Mrs. lee, three died in infancy.  Of the living, Joel A., who married Cora, daughter of B. O. Coon, is a farmer of Plymouth Township; they have one child, an infant daughter. Alpheus W. owns and operates a cheese factory in the town of Lyndon; and Anna, the youngest of the family, is at home.

    Both Mr. and Mrs. Lee are members of the Baptist Church, and in political belief are Republicans.  Mrs. Lee is a woman of superior mental and business ability, and on political, as well as other subjects, keeps herself well informed.  She and her husband are numbered among the pioneers of the county, having not only witnessed, but taken part in, its growth and progress.