| Notes |
- Was a Miller
1860 Census Randolph, Illinois
Name: Abraham H Lee
Age in 1860:41
Birth Year: abt 1819
Birthplace: Ohio
Home in 1860: Township 5 S Range 9 W, Randolph, Illinois
Gender: Male
Post Office: Prairie Du Rocher
Household Members:
Name Age
Abraham H Lee 41
Josaphine Lee 25
Rodger S Lee 14
Wm H Lee 8
Louis R Lee 6
Chas H Lee 4
- Abraham and Marie purchased William Henrie?s house in 1848. This house is called ?The Creole House? and has a history of the family living there for about 3 decades. William Henrie also purchased two other parcels of land of 40 acres each in 1838 and they are recorded as being in Kaskaskia, Illinois.
In 1840 William Henrie built a grist and flour mill which later he sold (in 1848) to his son-in-law Abraham H. Lee who, with Lee?s partner, Frank Brickey, upgraded the mill and reopened it in the late 1850?s. Abraham?s occupation was also a miller, like his father-in-law and he and his partner Frank Brickey ran Brickey & Lee grist and flour mill for several years.
William Henrie served as Justice of the Peace until age 65, in Prairie du Rocher until 1860. William died Aug 1865 but it is unsure as to where he died, probably somewhere in Illinois or Missouri near Prairie du Rocher. Marie Henrie died April 1877 in St. Louis, Missouri. Both are buried in Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis, St. Louis Co., Missouri.
Marie Josephine (nee Henrie) and Abraham Lee had several children. Sometime after the birth of the last child Marie became ill and was infirm until her death in 1867.
An interesting story and a bit of fortune and misfortune came upon the Abraham Lee family. In the spring of 1867Abraham purchase a lottery ticket for $5.oo for a chance on a prize in the Chicago Crosby Opera House national raffle which included the Opera house itself, several valuable paintings, and other items. It was not known for several days that Abraham was actually the winner of the opera house itself. Word was sent to Prairie du Rocher via telegram and a fast horse from St. Louis. Due to Marie?s ill health Abraham could not go to Chicago immediately, but when he did the decision was to sell the opera house back to Mr. Crosby for $200,000 instead of taking possession. $200,000 was a fortune at the time. (The Crosby Opera House was later destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire in 1871) Lee sold his interest in the mill to his business partner and built a beautiful mansion fitted out very expensively, with colored glass windows, special woods, huge rooms, and a library filled with books of special interest. Sadly, Marie Josephine Lee did not live long to enjoy their new family status as she died in September 1867. Abraham followed a couple of years later of an apparent heart attack while on a trip to Cincinnati, Ohio. The mansion that Abraham built fell into disrepair and was destroyed in a fire in 1970.
The death of Abraham and Marie left only one child at his majority and that was Roger Samuel Lee (RELIII great-great grandfather). The other Lee children, being minors, were put under guardianship of their grandmother Marie Henrie, who was residing in St. Louis. Here they stayed until their majority or entered upon their own lives. Roger S. Lee enlisted in the military at the age of 19 in 1866 just a year before his mother?s death and married 1870 in Buchanan County, Missouri.
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Ramage Family History
1819 - 1869 (49 years)
