Birth 27 Nov 1835
Edinburgh, City of Edinburgh, Scotland
Death 29 Aug 1919 (aged 83)
Douglas, Cochise County, Arizona, USA
Burial Calvary Cemetery
Douglas, Cochise County, Arizona, USA
Memorial ID 102682748 · View Source
In 1861 John, 23 and Mary Magdaline Purcell 18 , where Married. My Great ,Great, Grandparents. John Lee, born on November 27, 1838 in Scotland, to his Father James Lee and Mother May Pearson Lee. John had two sisters and two brothers, Mary Ann 1840, Jeannette 1845, Robert,1848 and James, 1859.
At age 20 John managed to buy his own Trading Vessel , a sailing ship called the Yankee Clipper. 
This ship was not a steamship , But a sail ship. On one of his trips Capt. John discovered a small Island which he named after himself, Lee’s Island. Capt. John Sailed his Yankee Clipper to the Pacific Islands in the late 1800″s Trading with the natives for copra (dried coconut meat) and hemp which he then sold in Sidney, Australia. In his routes, he visited many ports of the Samoan Islands of Upolu, Savai’i and Tutuila and the important port of Pago Pago.
John soon bought his own coconut plantation and opened up a store at Apia on the gateway island of Upolu. He also at Pago Pago, bought a large piece of land in which included a navel base in modern times. On this land he built another store and stocked it with goods. Capt. John Loved Samoa and his favorite poem was written by Robert Louis Stevenson. Fair Isle at Sea–thy lovely name Soft in my ear like music came. That sea I loved , and once or twice I touched at isles of Paradise. Granddaughter of the king of Samoa, Mary Magdaline Purcell, Samoan Princess, was born August 18, 1843 to Ned William Purcell and Salaevalu Si ‘ ilateamai Mata ‘ afa ( or Ruth Hanna Mata ‘ afa, her English name). Hanna’s Father was Luteru Si ‘ ilatamai ( King Mata ‘ afa).
Mary had three Brothers William : Edward : and Sam Purcell. In 1861 Capt. John Lee married Mary Magdaline Purcell. John 23, and Mary 18. They had 11 children. Nine children were born in Samoa: Edward, [ Ned ]11/02/1862 at Apia on Upolu : John, 1/18/1865 on Savai ‘ i : and Robert, 4/23/1867 also on Savai ‘ i. then on the eastern end of the island of Upolu, at Aleipata was , Mary Annie, 4/13/1869 : George, 12/23/1870 : Isabella, 4/29/1873 , : Elizabeth, 12/18/1875, : and Ellen [ sic] , 3/22/1878. : the latter three girls died young ,then, James [ JIM]8/30/1879 he was the last child born in the islands.
In the United States at Kinney County of Southwest Texas May-lee-queen was born 6/01/1882 and Jeanette Always called Nettie was born 1/19/1884. Edward [ Ned ] Lee Mriried Addline Cox of Kinney County in Texas, John lee married they had 10 children William, John, Sarah, Eliza, Mary, Fred, Robert, Bulah ,Lillie, and Emma. John Lee married Hester Cox on March 1886. they had seven children. Joe at Brackettville 12/1886 , then Mary Magdaline 2/13/1889 in white Oaks, Nathan , 12/05/1889 , George on 3/07/1892 , Nellie on 7/31/1895 , Maude on 10/05/1898 and Polly on 09/03/1900
Children
- Edward Lee
- John Lee
- Robert Lee
- Mary Ann
- George Lee
- Elizabeth Lee
- Ellen Lee
- James Lee
- May Lee
- Janette Lee(Needs Page)
- Edward Lee
Newspaper Clippings
Lincoln County Ownership
| Results for your Search by Grantee: LEE JOHN |
| For official copies of documents, please visit the County office. |
| Type | Grantee | Rec | Book | Page | Filed | Grantor | Description | Doc# | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DEED | LEE JOHN | 1 | 2017 | 321 | 1893 | PYTHIAN CEMETERY ASSOCIATION |
PYTHIAN CEMETERY BLK 6 LOTS 1-4 |
189310321 | ||
| WD | LEE JOHN | 1 | M | 553 | 1898 | LEE MARY | 189810553 | |||
| Track | Unit | Block 19 | Lot 4 | COLLIERS 1ST ADDITION W O | 189810553 | |||||
| DEED | LEE JOHN | 1 | V | 73 | 1903 | BONNELL EDWIN R DEC’D | 190310073 | |||
| 1 | BONNELL IRVIN J | 190310073 | ||||||||
| 1 | BONNELL VIOLA J | 190310073 | ||||||||
| 1 | HEWITT JOHN Y | 190310073 | ||||||||
| Track | Unit | Block 40 | Lot 3 | WHITE OAKS O P | 190310073 | |||||
| WD | LEE JOHN | 1 | W | 171 | 1904 | LANGSTON EMMA H | 190410171 | |||
| 1 | LANGSTON JACKSON P C | 190410171 | ||||||||
| Track | Unit | Block 62 | Lot 4 | WHITE OAKS O P | 190410171 | |||||
| WD | LEE JOHN | 1 | 1 | 25 | 1907 |
MCDONALD FRANCES J |
190710025 | |||
| 1 | MCDONALD W C | 190710025 | ||||||||
| Track | Unit | Block 1 | Lot 10 | MCDONALD ADDITION | 190710025 | |||||
| WD | LEE JOHN | 1 | 1 | 137 | 1907 | MCDONALD FRANCES J | 190710137 | |||
| 1 | MCDONALD W C | 190710137 | ||||||||
| Track | Unit | Block 1 | Lot 9 | MCDONALD ADDITION | 190710137 | |||||
| LEE JOHN | 8 | 3 | 367 | 1911 | LEE JOHN | MARRIED 2/10/1911 | 191180367 | |||
| 8 | SMITH IDA | 191180367 |
See Video of little Casino
See Interactive Map Ownership
- Leesville
- Little Casino
Ancestry.com
- LISTED
Find A Grave
From the book: Gold-Mining Boomtown: By Roberta Key Haldane
it states on page 152, “she also packed several keepsakes of her Samoan heritage. One, a rush basket, had been woven for her by her mother, Hanna. Another was a Samoan war club called a talavalu or lapalapa, there was also a cloth many feet long and folded accordion-fashion made of beaten plant fiber from the inner bark of the paper mulberry and painted with beautiful designs.” Link to Source I have the war club, and another lady in Washington has the basket, but I don’t know where the decorative cloth is located.
Please help me locate the cloth and maybe we can bring them all together again after 150 years. White Oaks New Mexico Miners Museum. Susan Gerke manager.. The best story I can find so far history-of-john Lee Please contact me via email or see my Facebook page and message me thanks Steve
Letter received mentioning the Lee’s
