John Thomas Lee was born on December 15, 1838 in Chesterfield, South Carolina. His father William was 22. His mother Elizabeth Martha Thomas Lee was 25. In the 1840 census, John Thomas Lee is living in Chesterfield, South Carolina with his brothers James Crawford and Samuel William. John Thomas’s sister Hannah Lee was born in 1843 and was followed by brother Henry Alexander in 1844.
After the birth of Henry Alexander, the Lee family was blessed by the birth of five girls. In 1850, John Thomas was living with his family in Chesterfield, South Carolina. His father, William was a farmer owning land “Real Estate” valued at $350. His mother Elizabeth was a housewife. According to the census, both William and Elizabeth could read and write. The Lee children were James Crawford, age 12, John Thomas, age 11, Samuel age 9, Hannah age 7, Henry, age 6, Mary age 4, Ann age 3, Jane age 2, and Eliza, 5 months. Also living with the family was hired hand, William Poston, age 17.
In the 1860 census, three of the older Lee children have left home. James has married Hauley Parker and left home and is living next door. Hannah has married Samuel James Parker and is living in the Chesterfield area with her baby girl. Mary has married Badgerwood Boggan Parker and is also living in the Chesterfield area. Three Lee siblings (James, Hannah and Mary) married three Parker siblings (Hauley, Samuel James, and Badgerwood Boggan. The Parker’s mother and father were George Parker and Hauley Lee.
In the 1860 census, John Thomas Lee is still living with father William and mother Elizabeth. Sam, Ann, Jane, Eliza and another girl, Charlotte born in 1851 who has joined the family are also listed with their parents in the 1860 census as well. The decade has apparently been a good one for the Lees as the value of their real estate property has risen from $350 to $2,560 and their personal property is worth $1,600.
Sometime after 1860, mother Elizabeth Martha dies. It is not known if she died before the Civil War or after but is not found in any records after 1860. John Thomas enlists in Company G, Butler’s South Carolina Infantry 1st South Carolina Regulars on April 3, 1863 at Fort Moltrie. These men were recruited in Charleston, Columbia, Cheraw, Greenville, Lancaster, Chesterfield, and Anderson. Company G was garrisoned at Fort Moltrie from January 1862 until the evacuation of Confederate forces on the night of February 17, 1865. They were instrumental in keeping the Port of Charleston open during the War.
John Thomas continues to stay at in the Charleston area until April 13, 1865 when he pledges allegiance to the Union and is discharged. There is no record he was paid for his service after 1863. The discharge document indicates he had dark hair, dark eyes, dark complexion and was 5 foot 2 inches.
John Thomas is living alone in Chesterfield in the South Carolina State Census of 1869 and is found in the Militia Enrollment of Men between the ages of 18 and 30 for the Chesterfield area. John Thomas half brother Joseph Daniel was born on August 26, 1869 when John Thomas was thirty years old. His father William had remarried after the death of Elizabeth Martha Thomas Lee. William Lee married Hannah Parker and to this union, Joseph Daniel was born.
Not long after this John Thomas marries neighbor, Sarah Jane White. Her pension application states that she married him on May 11, 1870.
John Thomas and Sarah Jane Lee’s first son, John William “Johnny” was born early in their marriage in Anson, North Carolina. In 1875 John Thomas purchased 275 acres formerly owned by Joel Brock on Big Westfield Creek. This purchase has been transcribed by Charles Purvis on his blog, Carolina Family Roots. It can be found at the Register of Deeds, Chesterfield, South Carolina Deed Book 2, page 323-324, November 19, 1869.
Hugh Craig Judge of Probate to John T. Lee Deed[3]
The State of South Carolina
To all whom these presents shall come or be made known or whom the same may in any wise concern I Hugh Craig Judge of Probate for the County of Chesterfield in the State Send Greetings: Whereas James P. Brock on or about the nineteenth day of November in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty nine [1869] did exhibit his petition on the Court of Probate at Chesterfield Court House, in the county of Chesterfield, and State aforesaid, representing that Joel W. Brock, late of said County deceased, was at the time of his death seized and possessed of a certain tract or tracts of land lying and being in said County on Big Westfield Creek and desiring and praying that a summons in partition do issue to be served, on Sam’l Brock, Sen. Adm. of said Joel Brock, Leonard Davis and Wife Sarah, Wm. P. Brock, Ann Brock, Thomas Brock, Sam’l Brock, Jr., Eli Brock, Eli Whittington and wife Elizabeth and James P. Brock requiring them to appear in the Court of Probate to be held at Chesterfield Court House on the 29th day of November A. D. 1869, to show cause if any they could why the said real estate should not be divided or Sold. And the cause being at issue, before the Honorable Court aforesaid, cause on it to be heard on the Eight day of December one thousand eight hundred and Sixty-nine, where the sad Court, after a full hearing thereof, and mature deliberations on the premises did order, adjudge and decree, that the tract or parcel of land of two hundred and Seventy [270] acres more or less herein after mentioned and described, should be, sold at public auction by the Sheriff of Chesterfield County, on the time and, for the purpose mentioned on said decretal order as by referenced thereto in the Registry of the said Court will appear and the said P. J. Spoffoad, Sheriff of Chesterfield County after having been duly advertised the said tract of two hundred and Seventy [270] acres more or less for Sale, by Public Outcry on the third day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred, and Seventy, did then, openly and publicly, and according to the customs of auctions, sold and dispose of the said tract of land below described unto Jesse C. Smith who after bidding off the same did transfer Vis Vis for the same, as will appear by and instrument of writing hereunto annexed for the sum of three hundred and fifty-five dollars being at that price, the highest bidder for the same. Now know all men that I the said Hugh Craig Judge of Probate of Chesterfield County, in consideration of the premises and also in consideration of the sum of three hundred and fifty-five dollars to me paid or secured to be paid me by the said John T. Lee the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged. Have granted, bargained, sold and released and by these presents do grant, bargain, sell and release unto the said John T. Lee and his heirs and assigns all that tract or parcel of land situated in said County on Big Westfield Creek bounded by lands of the Estate of Lucy Hinson, Isham Wallace, Samuel Brock and others sold by virtue of a Decree of the Probate Court as the property of the Estate of Joel W. Brock referenced being had to a deed from Dr. Thomas E. Powe to said Joel W. Brock will more fully appear together with all and Singular the rights, members, hereditaments and appurtenances whatsoever to the said tract of parcel of land, belonging or in anywise appertaining and the reversions and reminders, rent, issues and profit thereof: and also all the Estate rights, title, interest, dower, possession, property, benefit, claim and demand, whatsoever, both at law and in Equity of the said Joel W. Brock, and of the parties to the said suit and of all other persons rightfully claiming or be claim the same or any part thereof, by, from or under them or either of them. To have and to hold the said tract of land with its hereditaments, privileges and appurtenances unto_ the said John T. Lee, his heirs and assigns forever.In witness whereof I the said Hugh Craig Judge of Probate for Chesterfield County under and by virtue of the said Decree have hereunto set my hand and seal at Chesterfield C. H. this third day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand and eight hundred and seventy, and in the ninety fourth year of the Sovereignty and Independence of the United States of America.
Sealed and delivered}
In presence of }
Hugh Craig {seal}
Samuel J. Parker}
Judge of Probate
J. C. Smith}
State of South Carolina
Chesterfield County}
Personally appeared before me J. C. Smith and made oath that he saw Hugh Craig Judge of Probate Sign Seal and as his Act and deed, deliver the within written deed and
that he with Samuel J. Parker witnessed the execution thereof.
Sworn before me}
J. C. Smith
3 January 1875}
T. F. Mulloy (no seal)}
Clk.
Recorder 24th Feby 1875
Original Del’d to John T. Lee
John Thomas and Sarah Jane White had six daughters beginning in 1876. These were Mary Elizabeth “Molly”, Rebecca Jane, Dora Lucy, Nancy Ellen, Bessie Aileen, and Linnie who was born in March, 1887. Unfortunately, Nancy Ellen passed away on May 28, 1883 when she was less than a year old. John Thomas’s Sister Hannah Parker died in 1890 and his sister Lottie Charlotte White died in 1891. His son Benjamin Franklin Lee was born May 17, 1891. William Lee, John Thomas’s father passed away on January 30, 1893 in Chesterfield, South Carolina at the age of 76. Because of proximity to Anson County, North Carolina, the estate was settled in both North Carolina and South Carolina.
Shortly before the death of John Thomas Lee’s father, William, his brother Samuel Lee of Blount County, Alabama transferred 86 acres on Big Westfield Creek. Samuel had received this land from father William Lee and he transferred it to his brother, John Thomas for $150.
John Thomas and Sarah Jane Lee soon had two more sons. Son Ira Burton “Burt” was born in 1894 and son Clarence Eugene “Gene” was born in 1896. His sister Ann “Annie” Wilkerson died in 1899 when John Thomas was 61 years old.
The 1900 census finds John Thomas and Sarah Lee farming with their children, Dora, Bessie, Linnie, Benjamin Franklin, Ira Burton, Eugene and with grandson Perdie Lee. John William “Johnny” Lee had left home. He first married Roxanna Sanders. They had three children together, two of which died. Perdie Lee was the surviving child of this union and he came to live with his grandfather and grandmother. Johnny then married Lydia Frances Griggs and was living nearby with their two children and a farm laborer. Mary “Molly” Lee married Daniel Teal and they were living nearby with their three kids. Rebecca had married James Edgar Brock and they were living nearby with their son Ira and a farm laborer. Cotton was the main cash crop of the family and the process was manual. It was not mechanized until the 1940’s and 1950’s.
John Thomas and Sarah Jane Lee’s last child, Cora was born in 1902 when John Thomas was 63 years old. In 1910, John Thomas and Sarah Jane are living on the farm on McFarland Road with Benjamin Franklin “Ben”, Ira Burton, Eugene, Cora, and grandson Perdie. Dora, Bessie, and Linnie had all married and moved out. Dora had married William Harrison Teal and was living with him and their four children on McFarland Road. Bessie had married John Thomas Teal and was living with him and their five children on McFarland Road. Linnie had married Elijah Jones and was living with him and their son and a farm laborer on McFarland Road. Three of the Lee daughters married three of the Teal brothers from the family of William Harrison Teal and Elizabeth “Lisbeth” Short. Also three of the Lee siblings married into the Samuel Washington Walker Brock family. Samuel Washington Walker Brock married Sarah Jane Lee, so the offspring of these couples are double cousins. Rebecca’s husband James Edgar Brock was the son of Samuel Washington Walker Brock and Sarah Jane Lee. Eugene “Gene’s wife Nannie Brock was the daughter of Mary Brock whose parents were Samuel Washington Walker Brock and Sarah Jane Lee. Cora Lee’s first husband who died in World War I, William Samuel Brock was Nannie’s brother.
John Thomas’s brother, Henry Alexander died in 1912 when John Thomas was 73 years old. His daughter Mary Elizabeth “Molly” passed away in childbirth on October 26, 1914 at the age of 38. John Thomas’s brother Samuel William died in Alabama on June 17, 1915, when John Thomas was 76 years old. John Thomas Lee died on May 28, 1916 in Chesterfield, South Carolina when he was 77 years old. He was the last of his generation of Lees living in the Chesterfield area. His half brother Joseph Daniel had moved to Arkansas and was buried November 6, 1944 in the Oakland and Fraternal Historic Cemetery in Little Rock, Arkansas.
John Thomas Lee is buried at Zoar United Methodist Church in Chesterfield.
John Thomas Lee and Sarah Jane White had eleven children in a span of thirty years. Those children and their spouses are:
1. John William “Johnny” Lee 1873-1935 married Roxanna Saunders 1878-1897, Lydia Frances Delila Griggs 1874-1922, Lillie Mae Peele 1899-1973
2. Mary Elizabeth “Molly” Lee 1876-1914 married Daniel Teal 1870-1950
3. Rebecca Jane Lee 1878-1952 married James Edgar Brock 1873-1941
4. Dora Lucy Lee 1880-1931 married William Harrison Teal Jr, 1873-1967
5. Nancy Ellen Lee 1882-1883
6. Bessie Aileen Lee 1884-1962 married John Thomas Teal 1870-1964
7. Linnie E. Lee 1887-1964 married Elijah Jones 1884- died unknown
8. Benjamin Franklin Lee 1891-1954 married Sarah Ellen Gulledge 1896-1989
9. Ira Burton “Burt” Lee 1894-1958 married Mollie Ellen McLaurin 1894-1965
10. Clarence Eugene “Gene” Lee 1896-1957 married Nancy Jane “Nannie” Brock 1898-1883
11. Cora Lee 1902-1943 married William Samuel Brock 1896-1918, Lonnie Lee Parks 1910-1999
References available at Rogers Family Tree on Ancestry
https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/34712803/family
and at Family Search https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/L6PM-QGQ?1=1&spouse=M6MX-NXH
Martha's Family Connections 
How about Eliza Lee. My great grandmother. She had two boys John Wesley Lee and Henry Lee. Do you have any information about her or who the father of her two boys may have been. I know she later married a Butler man and had more children.
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