Family Website

Lee Family Tree

Shield The name “Lee” is an incredibly common English topographical surname derived from the Anglo-Saxon “leah” meaning “from the meadow or clearing”. While “Lee” is historically one of the most prominent Romani Gypsy surnames in the United Kingdom, genealogical records indicate that this specific branch of the family, at least at this time were not Romani Gypsies. The earliest records show that my branch of the Lee family starting with John Lee or possibly spelt Lea, were from around the 1760s agricultural workers settled in an area along the River Severn just to the south of the city of Worcester.

John Lee was born in January 1761 and baptised 11/01/1761 at St. Swithin’s, in the heart of Worcester city centre. At 26 he married Elizabeth Stoors. They had only two children Martha and William. Elizabeth died at age 66 in Upton-upon-Severn, Worcestershire just two months after her son was married, so that may be where they lived or she just moved there to live with with her son after John died.

There is another record for a John Lea, same age, born 1761 in Bromsgrove, about 16 miles north-east of Worcester and married to Mary, born in Birmingham 1773. They had a son William baptised January 1791 in Birmingham who was also married to a Sarah Willis.

William Lee was baptised in January 1789? (But he is age 50 in the 1841 census, which matches with his father being John Lea above!). He worked as an agricultural labourer and was married at age 37? to 28 year old Sarah Willis from Earl’s Croome, a village north of Upton-upon-Severn, just before her 28th birthday. Four months later she had a baby girl at her home, where they may have lived for a while. They then moved to Severn Stoke, a village further north for maybe 7-8 years, where they had another girl and 2 boys before moving north again to Perton around 1835 where they had another boy. Finally, by 1841 they ended up in Baynhall, Kempsey, a village four miles south of Worcester, and still close to the River Severn. He died age 58 and Sarah is stated as being head of household in the 1851 census.

Personal Portfolio: William LEE (1789-1847) + Sarah WILLIS (1798-1864)

Benjamin Lee was born in June 1830 and by age 11 was living with his parents William Lee and Sarah Willis, 2 sisters and 2 brothers in Kempsey, Worcestershire. While working as an agricultural labourer Benjamin met a local servant girl, Elizabeth Price. They married when he was 22, lived their whole lives at 33 Kempsey Common and managed to produce 11 children before he died at age 84.

His brother William’s grave is shown here. He lived on Stonehall Common, just a couple of miles from Kempsey. Strangely this grave is placed all on its own, just in front of that pine tree in the photo and is a long way away from the rest of the graveyard, which is behind the church. Such practice is usually reserved for plague victims or social or religious outcasts, but more likely the graveyard was just getting too full. No other family graves could be found.

Personal Portfolio: Benjamin LEE (1830-1910) + Elizabeth PRICE (1831-1906)

James Price Lee was born on 28th February 1858. He lived with his parents Benjamin Lee and Elizabeth Price, 6 brothers and 4 sisters on The Common, Kempsey, Worcestershire. When he was older he moved to live in Lozells, Birmingham to find work and this is possibly where he met Sarah Jane Blocksidge from Stirchley, Shropshire; whom he married in 1880 at the age of 22. By 1885 they had 2 children, Edith and Benjamin, and decided to move to London to find work. James managed to get a job looking after horses at Brentford Wharf, then in Middlesex, west of London. The wharf was situated where the Grand Union Canal meets the River Thames and would have been a very busy place in those days with horse-drawn barges and wagons coming and going throughout the day. They lived at the wharf and following his parents’ sense of procreation had 7 more children – now 5 boys and 4 girls, one of whom was my grandfather. As far as I can discover 4 of those 5 boys did not produce any direct male descendents.

Personal Portfolio: James Price LEE (1856-1942) + Sarah Jane BLOCKSIDGE (1856-1935)

John Joseph (Jack) Lee, my grandfather, was born on 31st May 1896 to parents James and Sarah at 1 Grand Junction Wharf, Brentford End, Middlesex. At the age of 23, he married Violet (one of eleven siblings) and eventually set up home at 276 Lionel Road, Brentford. He worked as a turner and store manager where he lost an eye in an accident. He had 3 daughters but one died young and 2 sons, only one of whom, my father, went on to have children. Pop Lee lived to the ripe old age of 95.

Personal Portfolio: John Joseph LEE (1896-1992) + Violet Harper FREEMAN (1898-1982)

Douglas Norman Lee, my father, was a bomber pilot during WWII, was shot down over Berlin in 1941, and spent the rest of the war in a prison camp where he studied a correspondence course to become a qualified accountant. On returning home he immediately married his childhood sweetheart and purchased a newly built house at 72 Windmill Lane, Southall, Middlesex. He continued as a pilot for a while then got a job as an accountant at Fuller’s Brewery in Chiswick. They had 2 children, me and my sister Diane, but he run off before I was born with a woman he met at work and played no part in my upbringing. After retiring from work he lived in Bovey Tracey in Devon and died there at age 90.

Personal Portfolio: Douglas Norman LEE (1920-2010) + Doreen Ellen BOAKS (1921-2002)

Ian David Lee, finally me. I was educated at Chiswick Grammar, as was my father and studied chemistry at Hull University. I was a science teacher but crossed over into IT when computers appeared in the 80s. Like my father, I also married my childhood sweetheart and have just 2 children (we now had freely available birth control). Both are girls, so it is the end of the Lee line from James. Maybe his 6 brothers produced surviving male descendents. However, in the true spirit of the 21st Century, both of my daughters have kept the surname Lee and one has passed it on to both of her offspring Benjamin and Eleanor Lee.

Personal Portfolio: Ian David LEE (1950-) + Joan BEESLEY (Burnett) (1951-)

Personal Portfolios

By visiting the Family-Tree Portfolios listed above, you can see more details about the people and use the links that are provided to follow through the generations on both the paternal and maternal branches of the family at any point.

Family-Tree Flowcharts

IAN’S FAMILY TREE
PATERNAL:
LEE (1710+)
LEE (1856+)
BLOCKSIDGE (1695+)
DICKINSON (1890+)
FREEMAN(1866+)
FREEMAN/RILEY (1760+)
BROADLY (1887+)
PEARCE/URWIN (1883+)
MATERNAL:
KING (1826+)
BOAKES (1635+)
MUMFORD/BOAKS (1793+)
BOAKS/KING-2 (1900+)