The Elusive Lee family of Richland District, South Carolina

The Jordan Lee family of South Carolina has been an ongoing research project for over fifteen years. Progress has been made in tracking down the Lees and their descendants. I began researching family before the internet and online resources became available for the family historian. My research experience came about by traveling to cemeteries, researching in courthouses, libraries, and archives; reading genealogy books, going to genealogy seminars, conferences, watching webinars, and genealogy videos.  If you have not realized it already, not everything is online. You may need to take a research trip and walk a cemetery to find an ancestor’s grave or research in a library or archive where your ancestor lived. I use online resources and love to use those while researching various family lines. It can be challenging to know what online resources are available for genealogists. Also, to get the most from your searches you need to know how to search and avoid random searches. The Jordan Lee paternal line has been a challenge and one that has tested my skills as the self-appointed family historian.

The research question that I am working to answer is, who are the parents of Jordan Lee? There are family trees online that have parents but there are no records that link the son to the parents. There are records attached; however, linking child to parent isn’t possible with the records that are there. Sadly, those family trees have been copied along with the records and people mistakenly assume these are their ancestors. Cousins have Lee lines in their trees that are incorrect according to the YDNA test for Lee male cousins test results. Who will tell them they have an incorrect Lee line in their family tree? 

Strategies that I have used in searching for Jordan Lee and his parents have helped me to feel confident that I am researching the correct line. I have searched by putting the surname Lee in the search box Camden District, South Carolina for the 1790 census and there was no results or Lees on the census. Then, I changed the location to Richland District, and there is a Mary Lee living in the area with three free white males under sixteen years of age and four free white females with the number of household members seven. Is Jordan Lee one of those males? Possibly! He would have been about twelve years old.  The next thing that I did was look for other Lee heads of household, related families such as Benjamin Hodge, father-in-law of Jordan Lee, John Rains Benjamin’s father-in-law, and any one who are known who is associated with the Lee family.  Lydia (Letty) wife of Jordan Lee’s sisters married, Brown, Grant, Cusard, and Martin men. Living in the area was my maternal direct line fifth great-grandfather Caspar Coon and his sons Lewis and Adam. Caspar Coon was an immigrant from Switzerland in 1749. Heads of Households with those surnames were living in the Richland District area in 1790. The next search that I did was the to search through the 1790 Fairfield District, South Carolina census.

Fairfield District borders Richland District so there is a possibility there are Lee heads of families listed on the census along with related families. I found living in Fairfield District Burrill Lee with two free white males under sixteen including heads of family and four free white females including heads of family. Is Jordan Lee one of the males? Possibly! But how do I prove it? Jordan and Lydia had a son named Burrell, so if I look at the naming patterns this is a possibility. So, I searched through each page looking for familiar names. Burrell Lee is a name that I will store and work to make a connection to Jordan Lee. Isam Lee is the other male Lee head of family living in Fairfield District, South Carolina in 1790. There were two males and one female and total of four listed. I ruled out Isam because I haven’t found that name in Lee family members through the generations. Living in Fairfield District is Conrad Koon son of Caspar Coon whom I found living in Richland District and his two son Lewis and Adam. There is a Joseph Sims that is a familiar name. Benjamin Hodge’s daughter married a Sims. Living nearby Joseph Sims is Benjn Hodge, father-in-law of Jordan Lee, and he is head of family and with seven females. Aha! Benjamin Hodge and Nancy had all daughters, so this is a promising lead that this is our Benjamin Hodge. His daughter Lucy married John Sims. Also, living nearby was Thomas Hodge brother of Benjamin Hodge.

Cousins who have contacted me said there are family stories that were passed down to them stating that Jordan Lee came to the colonies as a young boy from Scotland. There doesn’t seem to be evidence to authenticate those stories. There is a Thomas Lee who arrived in America in 1774. Departure was London at Middlesex which encloses the city of London. Is this Thomas the father of Jordan Lee? Possibly! There is a convict list with people from the 1700s who were deported to the colonies from England and I keep an open mind that this is a possibility for the father of Jordan Lee. The article that I read about these people who were deported painted a picture of the crimes being minor offenses. It was a sad situation because the people didn’t have a choice in the decision of being deported.

There are numerous online family trees with Jordan Lee’s name as Thomas Jordan; however, all the records that I have found for Jordan Lee have his name as Jordan Lee. The search continued in Fairfield District by searching the 1800 census looking for any Lee living there, and related families to the Lee family. 

Living n Fairfield County, in 1800 is Burrell Lee, Burrell Lee, Jr., Francis Lee and Stephen Lee. Again, I considered the naming patterns that would fit into the Lee family and recalled the son of Jordan named Burrell. Burrell Lee was a possibility as the father of Jordan and he has a son named Burrell.  Burrell Jr. and Stephen Lee are listed as living nearby Burrell Sr.  Francis Lee is on the following page of the census where Burrell Lee, Burrell, Jr., and Stephen are listed. There may be a connection to the four families. This is the same census that Benjamin Hodge and John Rains are listed on. Therefore, there is a possibility that Burrell Lee is connected to Jordan Lee. The quest continued on with the search of the 1810 Fairfield County, South Carolina census.

John Rains father of Benjamin Hodge’s wife Nancy is living in Fairfield County in 1800. Isom Lee was living in Fairfield with three in his household. Thomas Hodge brother of Benjamin was also living there. A familiar named that showed up was John Hastin. One of Jordan Lee’s daughters, Naomi married a Hugh Hastin. John Grant was living in the county. Remember one of Benjamin’s daughters married a Grant. There was only one Lee family listed on the Fairfield County 1800 census. The next census was the Richland County, 1810 census and that is the place where Jordan Lee was living. Related families in the nearby Fairfield County are John Rains, Jordan’s grandfather-in-law, John Rains, Jr., Dennis Hodge, and Thomas Hodge.

Also living nearby his son-in-law Jordan Lee’s family in Richland, South Carolina in 1810 was Benjamin Hodge, Joseph Martin, Benjamin’s son-in-law, Lewis Coon my fourth great maternal grandfather, and James Strange. Jordan’s daughter Margaret married John Strange.  The Jordan Lee family was the lone Lee family living in Richland County in 1810. Then I moved on to the 1820 Richland County, South Carolina census and continued the search for Lees living in the area during that time period.

The search continued for the parents of Jordan Lee and searching for evidence to link son to father using all the tips that I could find in researching elusive ancestors.

Living in the household was Jordan Lee head of the family, one free white male under ten, two males sixteen to eighteen, one male twenty and under forty-five. Two females under ten years, two females ten and under sixteen, two females sixteen and under twenty-six, and one female twenty-six and under forty-five. There was a Timothy Lee living in Richland County in 1820, but I haven’t made a connection to that family. John Rains, Benjamin Hodge’s father-in-law was deceased by 1820.  Those were the only two Lee families that I found living in Richland County in 1820. So, I moved on to the 1830 Richland County census.

Jordan Lee is head of the family with one male under five, two males five to ten, one male fifteen and under twenty, two males twenty and under thirty, and one male of fifty and under sixty.  There were one female of fifteen and under twenty, three females of twenty and under thirty, and one female of fifty and under sixty. Then by the next census taking the family was on the move and was living in Tallapoosa County, Alabama in 1840. Benjamin Hodge died in 1837 and his estate was probated, and Jordan Lee was mentioned in the estate papers in 1843. Jordan Lee and wife Letty were listed as “living out of state.” By the 1850 census Jordan Lee was named on the census or any other census thereafter. He died about Dec 1847 in Tallapoosa County, Alabama.

The one dilemma that I have about Jordan Lee is that he acquired land in Tallapoosa County in 1845. What happened that he died? Was there a disease that struck him? Was he suddenly killed? I guess that I will never know. Benjamin, Jordan’s son seems to have died suddenly before the taking of the 1860 Tallapoosa County, Alabama census. Both Benjamin and his daughter Elizabeth were listed with other family members on the 1850 Tallapoosa County census but neither Benjamin or Elizabeth are found on any records afterward.

Research is on going on the Lee family line.