A Snapshot of the James William Lee Family

Those Who Have Gone Before Us

James William Lee, was the oldest son of William Alfred Lee and wife Emma Meadows. Uncle Jim, as I will call him, since that is the only name I knew him by until I began researching the Lee family about fifteen or more years ago. James W. Lee was born July 1869 probably in Tallapoosa County, Alabama since great grandparents William and Emma were married there. therefore, Tallapoosa County, is the likely county where he was born. There are no living relatives with firsthand knowledge of his birth, so I will rely on records for information of his life.

Uncle Jim was my father’s mother’s brother, and that makes him a paternal grand uncle of mine. My father spoke fondly of “Uncle Jim” as I was growing up in West Carroll Parish, Louisiana. Aunt Nannie was widowed at the age of forty-nine. Uncle Jim died 27 June 1929 in West Carroll Parish. Aunt Nannie, his widow, lived near us in Concord Community in West Carroll Parish. Lula, Janie, Gussie, Hallie, her daughters lived nearby. Also, her granddaughter Martha Gray Sanders lived near her. J. W. Lee and N. M. Wynn married 03 July 1899 in Elmore County, Alabama. The ceremony was performed by H. J. Lancaster.

By the 1900 census Uncle Jim and Aunt Nannie were living in Tallassee, Elmore County, Alabama there was a son born Oct 1899 in Tallassee, Elmore County. At the time of the census taking James W. Lee, their son, was seven months old. There were a couple of boarders living with the Lee family, Lee Teal and William D. Smith. More research needed to determine how they connect to the Lee family.

James W. Lee and Nannie were living in District 53, Ward 1, Jackson Parish, Louisiana by 1910. There were seven additions to the Lee family by 1910 – Eula was ten years old. So, she was born about the time the 1900 census was taken. Mary was nine years old, Efflu was seven, Axem, a son, was six years old, Dollie O. was four, Mary (another Mary) was three, and Tiney was 1 year and three months old. The Lee family was living on Pine Bluff and Columbia Road area in Jackson Parish. This is where the Lee family lived on April 10, 1910. Uncle Jim was a farm laborer. All the Lee families were farmers during that era. Uncle Jim was forty-two years old on this census and Aunt Nannie was thirty-nine.

Censuses are taken every ten years in the United States and names, ages, places of birth, and family members change or disappear. In 1920 Uncle Jim and Aunt Nannie had more additions to their family. William is now twenty years old on the census, Eular’s name is slightly changed from Eula. There is now May age seventeen, Ethel age sixteen, Axem is Accum and he is fifteen years old. There is Lizzie who is now fourteen and Dollie is now twelve years old. Noah is a name for a daughter, and she is eleven years old. Then, there is Tinnie who is now eight years old, and Hallie is one year old. The new addition to the Lee family who were born during the ten-year span between the censuses are Janie age seven, Avis, six years old, Gussie four, and Hallie one year old. Listed last in the household is Rubbie a granddaughter of Uncle Jim and Aunt Nannie’s. She is the daughter of Eular the oldest daughter. Rubbie was two months old which would make her birth month Nov 1919. Uncle Jim was giving the information to the census taker. There is a mark by the person who gives the information to the census taker.

Some names changed in this household, and family members’ ages varied from one census to the next census. Analyzing censuses and gleaning all relevant date from them are vital in researching our ancestors.

The next census was the 1930 census, and by the time that census was taken Uncle Jim had died. He was about sixty years old at the time of his death. One can only speculate the cause of his death, which was probably heart problems. Providing for a large family in difficult economic times was a strain on families. Farming was a laborious occupation and long hours, difficult working conditions, and very little money was a heavy burden to carry. On the 1930 census Aunt Nannie was living with her son Harrison, whom I found from researching him further. His full given name was Axum Harrison and his nickname was “Tack.”

Aunt Nannie had one more daughter, Lula, by the 1930 census, and Lula was listed as nine years old on this census. She was born 1920. Lula was Uncle Jim and Aunt Nannie’s last child. One can only surmise the heartache Aunt Nannie felt at the loss of her beloved Jim at the age of sixty. Leaving her with fifteen children to care for probably caused her unbearable anxiety and grief. How would she survive? What will happen to all her children? Survive she did. She lived to be seventy-eight years old. Her oldest son James William, Jr. was killed in 1945.

Family story has it that James W. was changing a tire on the side of the road and was hit and killed by another vehicle. He was only forty-six years old when he died and left a wife and four children, all daughters.

About a year after James W. died Eular, the oldest daughter died. Eular died 11 August 1946. She left to cherish her memories ten children and her husband, John Hulon Gray. Baby Annie Lou died of pneumonia at the age of nine months. It would be just a short time and the Gray children would lose their other parent, John Hulon Gray. He died 26 October 1947 leaving behind his nine children. The nine children made it through those difficult times. Life always will send hard, difficult, trying times our way, as it did with the Gray family. The children grew up, married, and had families of their own. They lived through the heartache and learned from those life lessons.

All of James William Lee and Nancy Matilda Wynn, children are deceased, and their descendants are many, and they have descendants living in various places throughout the United States. Their descendants have a variety of occupations, and most likely there are a few farmers among the descendants.

James William Lee and his wife Nancy Matilda Wynn had fifteen children two boys and thirteen girls, what an awesome responsibility for a couple who had meager resources to provide for their family. however, the two of them must have been strong, persistent, and determined, and kept moving and doing the things they needed to do to provide for their children. One can only surmise what life was like for them during their lifetime. Uncle Jim was a farmer, and the best that I can tell from census records he always rented on a farm. Uncle Jim died 27 October 1929 in West Carroll Parish, Louisiana.

James William Lee and Nancy Matilda Wynn
This photo was given to me by a descendant of
Uncle Jim's oldest daughter Eular's descendant.