Lewellyn Lee 1862-1917

157 years ago, 16 June 1862, in Southfield, Oakland County, Michigan, Lewellyn Lee was born to Charles Norton and Esther Jenks Lee.  Uncle Willy was the brother of my great grandmother, Effie Clarissa Lee Weaver.

I got to know Uncle Willy from how he was constantly referenced in postcards in my grandfather’s collection — see previous blog entries.  But, a recap of his history was captured by our family historian for the Jenks Family Reunion the year following his death on 29 July 1917:

Llewellyn Lee, the only son of Charles N and Esther Jenks Lee was born June 16, 1862, and died July 29, 1917. He was a man highly respected by his neighbors and a host of friends, and dearly loved in his own home circle. The mainstay of his aged mother and the idol of his sisters. His early death was a shock to the whole community. In his death the Jenks reunion lost one of its most interested members and the Historian lost one of her most earnest helpers. He was the genial host at our 2nd and 3rd Jenks reunions of 1912 and 1913, held in the house where he was born and where he died. His childhood and youth was spent with his parents and sisters on the farm now owned by his brother-in-law, Stephen Wright. Then they bought and moved into the old Jenks home where the rest of his life was spent.

Uncle Willy, holding the horses’s reins in front of the Jenks’ place

At the time of his death he was Worthy Master of Redford Lodge, No 152, and left a record to be proud of in the history of Masonry. His great grandfather, a Mr Lee [ed note: William Lee], who was raised in the state of New York, died an honored member of the craft, June 1, 1840. His grandfather, Horatio Lee, a member of Redford Lodge, died February 15, 1869, and his father, Charles N Lee, also a member of Redford Lodge, died October 23, 1905, making four generations to belong to that body and three of them members of Redford Lodge at the time of death. His brother Masons took charge of the funeral services and he was laid to rest with highest Masonic honors in Southfield Cemetery, August 1, 1917.

Eva Seymore Jenks, The Reunion Papers of the Jenks Family, 1918.