Charles B. Lee

[Letter from Ed and Ruth Hine, Rt 1 Box 194A, Booneville, Ar 72927 to Pat O'Dell, Dec 1995]

Charles B. Lee was born ca 1817 in Pennsylvania and died in August 1858 in Elwood, Doniphan County, Kansas.

The 1850 census for Ohio showed great-grandfather Charles B. Lee with his wife, Rosetta Jane, and children Samuel E., Lydia M., Hiram R., and Jonathan, in Pickaway County.

Charles B. Lee next shows up in 1857 in Nodaway County, Missouri, filing a civil suit in which he states that in march 1855 he made a contract agreement to start the process for building a sawmill on River One Hundred and Two. Part of the cost was to be paid when he received his money from "Ioway". So apparently it was not too unusual for him to work in Iowa.

Then in May 1856 Charles B. Lee and Rosetta Jane, his wife sell 80 acres located East Half Southwest Quarter Section 66, Township 15, Range 35 in Nodaway County, Missouri. But there is no Nodaway County record of when this land was procured. Possibly it was part of the land involved in the IA-MO border disputes? Or maybe, as an afterthought of mine, it was a homestead? A notation at the bottom of the deed indicates the sale was finalized in may of 1857, but Rosetta may or may not have been alive at that time.

After the death of C.B. Lee, the probate court listed his heirs as widow, Pennina, along with children Samuel, Lydia, Hiram, Elmzou and Charles....no Jonathan.

I've checked all surrounding Missouri counties and border Iowa counties in an attempt to find when and where Rosetta died and also when and where Charles married Pennina. Also in August 1858 Pennina signs as guardian for step-daughter Lydia to marry Aaron Ives in Doniphan County. The death/marriage date/place seems important to me since Pennina and the children "disappear" after the probate record, with no final accounting being made.