KING H. LEE

Sacramento County

Biographies

KING H. LEE

KING H. LEE--Widely-known among the popular constables of Sacramento County, King H. Lee wields an enviable influence, enabling him to secure the cooperation of the public in favor of law and order. He is responsible for what transpires and affects the community in American Township, having been constable there for six years until 1922, and on the 7th of November of the last year he was elected for a second term. He was born on the Washington side of the Sacramento River, in Yolo County, on June 7, 1870, the second eldest of five sons and a daughter of the late Willard M. and Emma (Vanderbogart) Lee, early pioneer settlers of California. His father was born in Massachusetts in 1833, a descendant of Miles Standish, and he came to California by way of Panama when he was a boy. He started from home with his parents, and also three others of the family, but his parents died of fever on board ship, and were buried at sea off the Chilean Coast, and the children continued on to their destination, arriving at Sacramento safely in April, 1850.

Willard M. Lee engaged in placer mining for only a short time, and was soon back at his trade as a wagon-maker and painter. He was known throughout Central California as “the artist,” for he finished the stage-coaches with fancy stripes and lines, the coaches in those days being well-kept; and at one time in Sacramento, when he worked for the Old California Stage Company, he received fifteen dollars per day. He also worked in other places, in Marysville, and Oroville, and his declining years were spent peacefully at his home in Yolo County, across the Sacramento River from the capital city. He died in Sacramento, in 1903, at the age of sixty-eight, preceded to the grave, two years before, by his devoted wife. Mrs. Lee was born in Pennsylvania of Quaker stock, and her grandfather, Lieutenant Vanderborgart, accompanied Colonel Stephenson as government surveyor when he came to California. She was one of three children, and the daughter of the ferryman at the Nicolaus crossing on the Sacramento River. Then Nicolaus was a thriving outfitting post to the mines, a rival city to Marysville.

King Lee was reared in Sacramento and Yolo Counties, learned the blacksmith trade and followed the same. On May 6, 1898, he enlisted in Battery C, California Heavy Artillary, and served in the Philippines as sergeant of the United States Volunteers, and is very proud to have been one of the boys who followed Old Glory across the sea, so that his honorable discharge, dated February 9, 1899, is a highly prized document now. He returned to the Southern Pacific Railroad shops at Sacramento, and took up the work of a blacksmith there, and he continued steadily in the employ of the railway shops for twenty-five years. With the exception of a short time spent at Portland, Ore., and also a few months in Arizona and Mexico (about three months), he has lived in California, Sacramento and Yolo Counties all of his life. He belongs to the North Sacramento Chamber of Commerce, and takes a very live interest in all of its programs. He bought land at Del Paso Heights in 1911, and he has resided there, having built a fine home-place.

He had three months’ experience, in 1914, on the Mexican border, when he accompanied the 2nd Infantry, under Capt. Luke Howe, as a mechanic. Since 1916, too, he has served efficiently as the peace officer for this district. American Township embraces North Sacramento, Del Paso Heights, Robla, Rio Linda, and Elverta, and the adjoining country territory. Mr. Lee has given liberally of his time and means to carry out his work and he enjoys the esteem and confidence of everyone.

In 1899, at Portland, Mr. Lee was married to Miss Lillian King, a native of Kansas, who came to Portland with her parents in 1890. Three children have blessed their union: Rollin K is a machinist of the Pacific Gas & Electric Company, at Sacramento; Flora has become the wife of R. L. Bushey, of the capital city; Clinton is a student. Mr. Lee is a member of the Native Sons of the Golden West, and belongs to Sacramento Parlor No. 3.

Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.

Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With Biographical Sketches, Page 921. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1923.