Other People | Frank J. Bradley | Olive Rambo Cook | Jerry Litton | | |||
Past and Present of Livingston County Volume 2. Biographies by Major A. J. Roof. 1913 |
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Page 156-157
Thomas R. Lee owns and operates a valuable farm of six hundred and twenty acres in Monroe township, and his business qualifications, his genuine personal worth and the success which has attended his well directed efforts entitle him to mention with the representative citizens of Livingston county. He was born in Cheshire, England, September 12, 1853, and is a son of Richard and Mary (Robinson) Lee, the former of whom was a farmer all during his active life. He engaged in agricultural pursuits in his native country for a number of years and came to America in 1854, settling in Lake county, Ohio, where he remained for several years. The family moved to Livingston county in 1865, where be became prominent in business circles, serving as president of the Farmers National Bank. He held this important and responsible position until his death, which occurred in 1904, at the age of seventy-seven, having long survived his wife, who passed away in 1884. But buried in Monroe cemetery, Monroe township.
Thomas R. Lee acquired his education in the district schools of Ludlow township and laid aside his books at the age eighteen in order to assist his father with the work of the farm. After three years upon the homestead he began his independent agricultural career. He now owns six hundred and twenty acres of land on sections 7, 8 and 15, range 25, Monroe township, and with characteristic energy began the cultivation of his farm, which is today one of the finest agricultural properties in this part of the state. Mr. Lee has made substantial improvements upon it, building a fine residence, barns and outbuildings and equipping the place with all the accessories and conveniences of a model farm. He carries on mixed farming, raising grain and keeping about fifteen head of horses, twenty head of cattle, seventy-five swine and six hundred head of sheep, his stock-raising interests constituting an important source of his income. He has in addition representative business interests in Ludlow, being a director in the Lee Lumber Company and in the Farmers National Bank, and a stockholder in the Central States Life Insurance Company, of St. Louis, Missouri.
In 1873 Mr. Lee was married near Ludlow to Miss Sadie Bryan, a daughter of Jefferson and Jane (Bradon) Bryan, both of whom have passed away and are buried near Ludlow. Mr. and Mrs. Lee are the parents of four children: George A., who is engaged in farming in Livingston county; M. E., who operates a farm near Ludlow; Carrie, the wife of J. D. Wells, a general merchant in Ludlow; and Lizzie, who married M. Hamblin, a farmer in this vicinity.
Mr. Lee gives his allegiance to the republican party, and fraternally is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He has made steady advancement in his life, not only in business affairs but also in matters of citizenship, gaining at the same time the favorable regard of all who know him. He is a man of marked strength of character, genial disposition and genuine worth and has the unqualified good-will of his fellowmen.