Researching the Lee family line has been a test of my genealogical skills as well as my patience. The elusive records for the Jordan Lee family lineage has made it difficult to prove with one hundred per cent certainty that Jordan is the father of Benjamin Lee. However, I do feel confident that Jordan Lee is the progenitor of the Lee clan. I have used all available online records in my research, and one-day plan to make a trip to Alabama to look for records in the local courthouse and archives. I have concluded from all the records used in researching the Lee family that Jordan Lee is the father of Benjamin Lee.
The censuses used in locating Jordan Lee and following his migration to Tallapoosa County, Alabama are the pre-1850 censuses. On the 1810 Columbia, Richland County, South Carolina census Jordan is the head of family and there are five persons under sixteen years old. The next census for Richland County, South Carolina shows Jordan Lee as the head and there are seven persons under sixteen years of age. In 1830 living in Richland County, South Carolina Jordan Lee is the head and there are five persons under twenty years of age living in the household. It appears there was conflicting information as to where Jordan Lee was living in 1840; however, after careful examination of the inventory papers for his father-in-law Benjamin Hodge I resolved the conflict. William Brown administrator of Benjamin’s Hodge’s estate received the money from Jordan Lee for a purchase he made from the estate. William Brown on November 27, 1843 submitted the money to the Court of Ordinary 5.
Benjamin Hodge, Jordan Lee’s father-in-law died 28 January 1837 in Richland County, South Carolina. Jordan Lee is stated to have bought a set of pewter plates from the Benjamin Hodge estate. Jordan stated, I am entitled by my intermarriage with the daughter of the deceas (deceased).” This is the same Jordan Lee married to Lydia Hodge, daughter of Benjamin Hodge. By 1840 Jourdan Lee was living in Tallapoosa County, Alabama and there were four persons under twenty years of age.
Jordan and Lydia had other known children – Elizabeth “Betsy”, Neoma, Burrell, Margaret, Zady Prescilla, and Zachariah. I have proven these children Elizabeth Betsy, Neoma, and Zachariah – using Lydia Lee on census records living near her children and with them in 1860 to 1870.Lidia (Lydia) Lee was living near her son Zachariah Lee and wife Martha in Township 24, Tallapoosa County, Alabama in 1850. In 1860 Lettie Lee (Lydia) was living with her daughter Neoma Lee Hastin and her husband Hugh (High on the census) Hastin. Then, on the 1870 census Lettie (Lydia) Lee is living with her daughter Betsy Lee Fetner and her husband James in Township 22, Randolph County, Alabama.
Research for the parents of Jordan Lee continues as does research on the Jordan Lee family.
