Amanuensis Monday: Frank Welch Lee's 1932 Travel Journal

Phi Delta Chi Fraternity Composite
Frank Welch Lee (top row, third from left)
University of Louisville, 1934

In the summer of 1932, my dad, Frank Welch Lee, was nineteen years old and had just completed a year of pharmacy school at the University of Louisville.  A member of  Phi Delta Chi, a pharmacy fraternity, Dad was  elected to attend the fraternity's national convention in Los Angeles, California.  Thus, began my dad's Great Adventure.  For the next few weeks, I'll make use of  Amanuensis Mondays and Travel Tuesdays to share with you the travel journal and the photo album Dad kept during this time.  Those who knew my dad will understand how rare and wonderful this piece of family history is.  For Dad to have traveled is surprising enough, but for this very private man to have documented his trip is almost unbelievable.

When I say that Dad kept a travel journal, what I mean is that he wrote down a few details of his trip in a little 3" x 5" notebook he kept in his shirt pocket. Some of the things he saw and experienced, however, are just amazing. Without further ado, here's Dad's first journal entry.

Entry # 1
Frank Welch Lee's 1932 Travel Journal

Tues--July 19, --32

Left home at 1:40, arrive in Louisville at 9: P.M.  Had a very pleasant trip although was very dusty when arrived.  Spent the night with Jim.  I sure did enjoy talking over old times together.

Kentucky


"Home" in this instance was probably his grandmother's home in La Grange, Kentucky, where Dad often stayed during his breaks from college.  He would have traveled from La Grange to Louisville by train.  The railroad tracks ran through Main Street right in front of the Lee house in La Grange.  The depot was only steps away from the house as well.  "Jim," I assume, was a friend, maybe a college buddy.

At the bottom of the page, written in pencil in a different handwriting, are some numbers and the words "Rains" and "gladiola bulbs."  I think these are probably some notes written by Dad's grandmother, Georgia Lee.  More than likely, Dad borrowed her notebook to serve as his "travel journal."

Return to Trimble County

Trimble County, Kentucky
1950

In August of 1950, my grandfather, Frank Lewis Lee, his sister, Daisy Lee Long, and their brothers, Linus Virgil Lee and Sidney Orin Lee, returned to Trimble County, Kentucky where they spent so much of their childhood.  They visited the places of their youth:  the home of their Gill grandparents where Frank and Daisy were born, the home of their Lee grandparents, the old Jackson School where Frank and Daisy went to class, Wise's Landing, the Bedford Cemetery, and their own homeplace (pictured above).  On this visit, they took a series of wonderful 3 1/2" x 11 1/2" black and white photos.  I have my granddad's copies of these photos, and, what's even better is that Granddad labeled all but one of them!  So, as I promised in yesterday's post, here they are.  Hope you enjoy them.

G. O. & Georgia Gill Lee Home

G. O. & Georgia Gill Lee Home
(if you look closely, on the right you'll see the Lee siblings picnicking in the yard)

J. F. M. (Frank) & Margaret Anderson Lee Farm

John & Sarah Gill Farm

John & Sarah Gill Farm

John & Sarah Gill Farm

Wise Landing along the Ohio River

This is the only photo that wasn't labeled.  Bedford, maybe?

Fridays With Frank: Frank L. Lee Grows Up

The Lee Family, c. 1887
(left to right)  Georgia Gill Lee, Frank Lewis Lee, Linus Virgil Lee,
Gilbert O. Lee, Daisy Lee

Sometime between 1883 and 1885, Gilbert and Georgia Lee moved their young family from Trimble County, Kentucky, to Albany, Missouri.  I've been unable to find out much of anything about their time in Albany, but I do know that Georgia's brother, James L. Gill, moved there also at about that same time. While in Albany, two more baby boys were born to Gilbert and Georgia Lee.  Linus Virgil was born on December 1, 1885, and Sidney Orin arrived on February 9, 1889.

Jackson School, Trimble County, Kentucky
Linus Virgil Lee (l), Frank Lewis Lee (center)
Photo taken in 1950

Inside Jackson School, Trimble County, Kentucky
Photo taken in 1950

Gilbert and Georgia soon moved their children back to Kentucky and settled into their old farmhouse in Trimble County.  My granddad, Frank, and younger sister, Daisy, went to Jackson School there.

By 1897, at the latest, the Lee family had moved to nearby La Grange, Kentucky, in Oldham County.  They had a house close to the railroad depot on Main Street in downtown La Grange.  Gilbert O. Lee was now Dr. Lee and opened his dental office in a downstairs room of the family home.  According to the Oldham County Kentucky School Census Reports, all the Lee children attended school in La Grange.  Frank attended until he was 19 years old in 1900.

Dr. G. O. Lee's Home and Dental Office
Main Street, La Grange, KY
c. 2008

Dr. G. O. Lee's name on the sidewalk in front of his home/office
c. 2008

Hope you'll visit the blog for the next Amanuensis Monday to read Daisy Lee's own account of growing up in Trimble County.  AND in next week's Fridays With Frank, Granddad gets a career--and a wife!

Amanuensis Monday: Eight-Year Old Frank L. Lee's Letter to His Family

In September of 1889, my granddad, Frank Lewis Lee, was eight years old and staying with his grandparents in Trimble County, Kentucky.  His parents and younger siblings were elsewhere--maybe still in Albany, Missouri, where the family had moved a few years earlier.  During this time, young Frank wrote a letter to his family.  It's obvious from  the different, more mature handwriting at the beginning and the end of the letter that he had a bit of help.  Following is my attempt at transcribing the letter.

Letter written by 8-year old Frank L. Lee, page 1
Trimble County, Kentucky, 1889

Page 2 of  Frank L. Lee letter
Trimble County, Kentucky, 1889

Sunday 1:00 (?) Sep 22d 1889

Dear Mama, Bro & Sisters  I have just got home from sun day school.  I started to school mondy  we went to sun day school in the sur rey this morning  we got a letter from you last night  we just had dinner and grand-ma has just got through the dishes  I have been up the hill to pack peaches  I will make boxes for them  we will pack peaches this week
     I'm sor ry I cant go.  I get to ticket a day  sometimes I make one ticket to keep from whispering all day and one for a head mark.  I am going to keep Aunt Effie's horse till she come back to ride to the post office  I went to the post office on bonny  (?) but I went with one of the darkey and we had lots of fun  I wish Daisie and Pete was here to play with me.
I wish you would kiss them all for me and kiss the baby six times and I want you to go to the locking glass and kiss your self for me to.
bye bye

Your Son
Frank Lee Jr.












What a gift it is to have original family documents and letters such as this!  I think it's our responsibility to preserve and share them, too. Thanks to Geneabloggers for the Amanuensis Monday and other blog prompts.  For a great explanation of amanuensis, check out this link to the blog Transylvanian Dutch.

Introducing Fridays With Frank: A Weekly Series About Frank Lewis Lee

"Our Boy" c. 1883
Frank Lewis Lee, Age 6 Months

Since his file cabinet of family memorabilia so inspired me to unravel the Lee family history, I've decided to devote my Friday blog posts to my granddad, Frank Lewis Lee.  Though  I never knew him, my research about him is revealing quite a remarkable man and an interesting character.  I hope you'll enjoy reading this series as much as I know I'll enjoy writing it.

Let's begin at the beginning.  Frank Lewis Lee was the first of four children born to Gilbert Oliver Lee (1858-1923) and Georgia Ella Gill (1860-1949), both of Trimble County, Kentucky.  Frank was born on April 16, 1881, and his sister, Daisy, joined the family on February 11, 1883.  Both Frank and Daisy were born on Gill Ridge in Trimble County, Kentucky, at the home of their maternal grandparents,  John Lewis Gill and Sarah Shirley Gill.

Frank and Daisy lived with their parents on a farm that fronted the Ohio River.  According to the 1880 U.S. Census, Gilbert Lee was a farmer then and Georgia, or Georgie as some called her, kept house.  Both sets of grandparents, plus several aunts, uncles, and cousins all lived close by in Trimble County.  The Gills had a farm on Gill Ridge, while paternal grandparents, J. F. M. "Frank" Lee and Margaret S. A. Lee, had a farm only a few miles away which also fronted the Ohio River.

Birthplace of Frank L. Lee and Daisy Lee
Home of John L. Gill & Sarah Shirley Gill
Gill Ridge, Trimble County, Kentucky
Pictured in photo are Frank L. Lee (right) & younger brothers,
Sidney Orin Lee (left) & Linus Virgil Lee (center)
Photo taken in August, 1950

Georgia Gill Lee, Gilbert O. Lee,
Daisy Lee, & Frank Lewis Lee
c. 1884

Home of Gilbert O. Lee & Georgia Gill Lee in 1880s and 1890s
Trimble County, Kentucky
Photo taken in August 1950

I hope you'll check back next Friday for more of Frank Lewis Lee's story and throughout the week for more discoveries about my Lee family!