Butte County
Biographies
LEVI W. LEE
LEVI W. LEE.--A pioneer of California, having arrived in the Golden State in September, 1852, Levi W. Lee was born at Nashville, Washington County, Ill., January 3, 1841. His father, G. W. Lee, was born in Washington County, Va. He removed to Tennessee, and there married Mahala Griffin, a native of that state. Removing to Washington County, Ill., they resided there till 1852, when the family joined the mass of emigrants to the new El Dorado on the Pacific Coast, crossing the plains with ox and horse teams and wagons. On the Big Bend of the Humboldt River the Indians stole their horses, and they completed the journey with oxen. The wife and mother died of cholera west of Ash Hollow, on the plains. They located on a farm three miles south of Nicolaus, Sutter County. In 1854 G. W. Lee was elected county recorder of Sutter County, in which office he served four years. He continued on his farm until his death in 1871. Of the ten children that grew up in the family, three--James T., A. G., and M. G.--crossed the
plains to California in 1849, and were mining men in Nevada County. A. G. Lee returned to Illinois in 1851, and in 1852 he piloted the rest of the family across the plains. Of the family only one other besides Levi Lee is now living, G. C. Lee, who makes his home with his brother.
Reared on the Illinois farm until eleven years old, Levi W. Lee came with his father to Sutter County in September, 1852, and there attended the public schools, which at that time afforded but limited advantages. He assisted his father until 1863, when he went to Austin, Nev., and for a period of three years prospected and mined for silver. Returning then to Sutter County, he engaged in business in Nicolaus for more than twenty years. In 1883 he sold out and located in Butte County, purchasing his present place at Pentz. He has added to his original purchase, and now has two hundred eighty acres devoted to raising alfalfa and stock. He has taken out a private ditch, and obtains water for irrigation from Dry Creek.
In Sacramento, November 19, 1871, Mr. Lee was married to Mary Ellen Vahle, born in Nicolaus, April 27, 1853, the daughter of Frederick and Rosina Vahle, pioneers of California. Her father left New Orleans in 1848 with others who were starting for California. Out on the plains they quarreled and disagreed, and the company divided into two different groups and proceeded separately. The group of which her father was member took the northern route and arrived in California in 1849. The members of the other party never were heard from again. After mining in California till 1851, Mr. Vahle returned East and brought his wife via Panama, arriving in San Francisco in January, 1852. They were farmers in Sutter County. After they retired they both spent their last days with Mrs. Lee. She was their only child; and she received her education in the schools of Sutter County. Mr. and Mrs. Lee have had six children: Christene I., Mrs. J. H. Wood, of Camas, Wash.; Anna C., who died at four years of age; Margy, Mrs. A. F. Rapp, of Eugene, Ore.; Ada, Mrs. William S. Williams, of Oroville; George F., residing in Chico; and Lottie, who was the wife of W. C. Bader and died at the age of twenty years.
Mr. Lee is well posted on early California history. He saw all the early boats on the Sacramento River; viz., Daniel Moore, Governor Dana J. Bragdon, Thomas Hunt, Urilda, R. K. Page, Flora, and General Sutter. He has been trustee of Mesilla Valley school district for many years. Fraternally, he was made a Mason in Table Mountain Lodge, F. & A. M., at Cherokee.
Transcribed
by Roseann Kerby.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1137-1138, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2010 Roseann Kerby.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies