The Humphrey and Mary (Harris) Lee Family
Humphrey Lee, Sr.
was born in 1876 to James Monroe and Emily (Byrd) Lee.
Humphrey's parents were working, likely as sharecroppers, on the Helm Farm when Humphrey was born. As his son, Harris Lee Sr., explained in an oral history, "there was forty men living off this farm - the farm and the river: fishing, oystering, clamming, and so forth. The only way they had of making a living."
When Mr. Helm died, his son, Gustav, distributed about 3-4 acres to each family working on the land. Humphrey, his parents, and his siblings started a new independent life on this land. Humphrey's father, James Monroe made a living as a carpenter, and the family "grew corn, potatoes, peanuts, butterbeans, stringbeans, salad, turnips, all that kind of thing," according to Harris Lee.
Source: Harris Lee (1984:1, 6)
Humphrey Lee married Mary Harris (1878-1925)
on August 14, 1901 in York County, VA. Mary was the daughter of William Harris (1840-) and Mary Ann (Mason) Harris (1839-) who also lived in the Reservation community.
"My daddy bought his land after he got married," Harris Lee recalled. Humphrey and Mary purchased land close to his parents, James Monroe and Emily Lee.
Source: Harris Lee (1984:5, 9)
Humphrey Lee was an oysterman, and, as his son Harris Lee remembered:
"Lord, he knowed how to do that."
Humphrey Lee sold oysters and fish. "The market folks would be out there in the river to buy them, so all they had to do was catch them, put them on his little boat," Harris Lee explained, "And that's another thing, too; my granddaddy built them a 32' canoe for each of them boys" - for Humphrey Lee and his brothers. "Then they would take their boats out and then go fishing and then they would sell them right there."
Source: Harris Lee (1984:24)
Humphrey Lee practiced small-scale oystering, like other Reservation families, which was more ecologically sustainable than the industrial oystering of the time.
Listen to Harris Lee Sr. describe how his father, Humphrey Lee, and his uncle, John Henry Lee, supported the renewal of local oyster populations by planting them in the wintertime:
Source: Harris Lee (circa 1984)
Oystering could be lucrative, but also risky and competitive. Harris Lee recalled his father's business:
"Prices would rise and fall, go up and down, plus there would be competition, just like these days. Oyster boats would be out there, with the sailboats buying oysters. People were in competition with each other, because they would get loaded and then go back up to Maryland...And he could probably get fifteen cents a bushel for them" in a canoe holding 50-55 bushels.
Source: Harris Lee (1984:26)
The family diversified their livelihood, as oystering was a seasonal enterprise. As Harris Lee described: "The season started in September and run through the winter months through February or about the first of March. Season would run out then and then we turn to fishing. Box them up and ship them...croaker, trout, different kinds of spot" that were shipped to New York and that region.
The family farmed in the summer, growing food for their own use. Mary worked on the farm. Harris Lee describes how his family stored their food for the winter: "We had what we called kilns, you'd make a kiln for your rutebagas and cabbage and potatoes, all that stuff. Put them in the kiln. Dig a small hole, not too deep, and bank the dirt, then take some paper...and bank dirt all around it, put a small pipe in the center for a vent. Put your stuff in there and it would stay in there and keep - wouldn't freeze either...rutebagas, white potatoes, sweet potatoes, cabbage." "We used to have collard greens at Christmas time, because we covered them up with pine bushes...And then in the winter we'd go in the pine bushes and get them out of the snow and what not."
Source: Harris Lee (1984:26, 28; 1976:7)
Storage pit for storing food, perhaps similar to that used by Humphrey Lee's family
Courtesy: Storage Pit for Storing Food
Humphrey Sr. and Mary had eleven children:
James Eugene "Red" Lee (1901-1964), Humphrey Lee, Jr. (1905-1953), Robert Lee (1906-1974), Harris Lee, Sr. (1908-1988), Edith Myrtle Lee (1910-2003), William Otis "Cootie" Lee, Sr. (1912-1959), Israel Lee (1915-1915), Lucy Lee (1916-1916), Hattie Lee (1917-2000), Mary Lee (1919-1919), and Melvin Lee (1922-1979).
Humphrey and Mary were members of St. John Baptist Church in the Reservation. As their son, Harris, recalled, "I was baptized when I was a young boy in the York River."
Source: Harris Lee (1984:40)
Baptism at a river (possibly the James River at Gospel Spreading Church Farm Park), First Baptist Church, Williamsburg, Va., circa late 1940s-1950s, perhaps similar to Humphrey Lee's baptism in the York River
Courtesy: Albert Durant Collection, Media Services, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
The family had happy times as a child growing up in the Reservation community, as Harris Lee recollects. At Christmas, the children would hang stockings, and each child would receive one toy and dried raisins on the bunch.
However, the family also experienced tragedy. Three of Humphrey and Mary's children, Israel, Lucy, and Mary, died in infancy. Israel was born on January 18, 1915. When he was just four months old, he came down with a fever and diarrhea, but there was no doctor to see, given the limited access to medical care for the Black community at this time. Israel died on May 30, 1915. Lucy Lee was born on February 6, 1916. At five months of age, she experience stomach problems and died on July 26, 1916. Baby Mary Lee was born on June 13, 1919 and died when she was not yet a month old on July 30, 1919.
All three infants were buried in the Cheesecake Cemetery in the Reservation, although their gravesites are now unmarked.
Israel Lee, infant son of Humphrey and Mary (Harris) Lee, death certificate
Courtesy: Bernie Vaughan
Source: Ancestry.com. Virginia, U.S., Death Records, 1912-2014 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.
Lucy Lee, infant daughter of Humphrey and Mary (Harris) Lee, death certificate
Courtesy: Bernie Vaughan
Source: Ancestry.com. Virginia, U.S., Death Records, 1912-2014 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.
Mary Lee, infant daughter of Humphrey and Mary (Harris) Lee, death certificate
Courtesy: Bernie Vaughan
Source: Ancestry.com. Virginia, U.S., Death Records, 1912-2014 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.
Humphrey Lee was civic-minded and interested in politics.
Harris Lee recalls his father voting, despite efforts to disenfranchise Black voters through Jim Crow laws. The poll tax was "$1.58 per year," according to Harris Lee, and "the purpose of it was...to make [Black people] not interested [in voting], see, 'cause it's going to cost you $1.58 a year...and that discouraged a lot of them who wanted [to vote]." Despite these obstacles, Humphrey Lee voted, and, as Harris recalled, "that's what made me vote. He voted, and I saw him vote, and I said, well, I'm going to vote too, when I get to be a man."
Source: Harris Lee (1984:13, 17)
Poll Tax Notice, Williamsburg, VA, circa 1920
Source: Henry Denison Cole Papers, William & Mary Special Collections
Humphrey Lee was willing to serve his country.
He registered for the World War I draft. At the time, he was working as an operator for the DuPont Engineering Company in Penniman, VA, in addition to his oystering enterprise.
However, Humphrey Lee would soon be asked to serve his country in a different way - by giving up his land, his oyster grounds, his livelihood.
Humphrey Lee Sr., WWI draft registration card
Courtesy: Bernie Vaughan
Source: Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com, Operations Inc, 2005.
Displacement
Just as Humphrey voted in spite of efforts to stop him, he also joined his neighbors to stand up to the U.S. government when it announced it would commandeer their land and give them just 30 days to vacate. Humphrey Lee signed the Prayer Petition, calling for more time to relocate:
Source: Roberts, John A., Moses Lee, Annie E. Roberts, Cyrus Jones, and L. Redcross. 1918. Petition submitted to Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, by residents of York County threatened with eviction by Presidential Proclamation #1492 dated November 15, 1918. General Correspondence, Records of the Bureau of Ordinance 1818-1967; Record Group 74; National Archives Building, Washington D.C.
Humphrey and his brother William Moses Lee also testified before the U.S. Government's Board of Valuation on Commandeered Property regarding the value of his property and investments in oyster grounds. Below is an abstract of that testimony.
Source: Board of Valuation on Commandeered Property. 1920. Abstract of Testimony In Vols. 1 and 2 of Hearings Before Board On Valuation of Commandeered Property at Yorktown, VA. Box 42, Records of the Board on Valuation of Commandeered Property 1918-1922, Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Navy) 1799-1950, Record Group 125; National Archives Building, Washington D.C.
When the family was forced to leave, Humphrey and Mary and their family lived for a period in what Harris Lee described as a "shack" on Queens Creek Road. They saved their money and eventually put it together with the compensation that they received for their land and some money that Mary received from her father who was also displaced from the Reservation, and they purchased land in Grove.
Humphrey Lee experienced significant distruptions to his father's livelihood as a result of the displacment. While he continued to fish in the James River, but, as his son Harris recalled, the displacement "took his oyster ground away from him over on the York River, you see, because the government took all that land...All the oysters and everything was left over there. He could get to the James River but he couldn't get to the York River....He kept his boat over there on the James River....Farming was cut out, too, that's right. Cut that out, too, because there was no where to farm."
Source: Harris Lee (1984:48)
Harris Lee was asked in a 1984 oral history if the displacement was a setback for his father. He responded:
"What are you talking about, child? It was a setback. Must have taken them 10 years. A setback, it was quite a setback. Ten years before he could even breathe."
Source: Harris Lee (1984:48)
As the family began to rebuild, they again experienced heartbreak. Mary (Harris) Lee passed away on December 5, 1925 of tubercolosis.
Harris Lee recalls his mother planning for the children's future: "She had thought about things some, she was going to send me to college." After her death, however, these plans did not come to fruition.
To help the family, Harris Lee found work at the Navy Mine Depot when in opened in 1926, a year after his mother died. He was about 17 years old. "They weren't supposed to hire me 'til I was 18," he recalled, "but I wasn't quite 18, but Mrs. Coleman, she was in Personnel, she said, you're not 18, but I'm going to hire you and let you go to work. So they sent me down for an examination, and I came on back in first class shape. She said, you take this...to number two warehouse to Mr. Davis - Gerard Davis - and you give him this slip and get to work."
Mary (Harris) Lee, death certificate
Courtesy: Bernie Vaughan
Source: Ancestry.com. Virginia, U.S., Death Records, 1912-2014 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.
Humphrey Lee passed away in 1950.
Humphrey Lee Sr., obituary
Courtesy: Bernie Vaughan
Source: Daily Press, March 1950
Humphrey Lee Sr., death certificate
Note: mother's name recorded incorrectly, should be Emily Byrd
Courtesy: Bernie Vaughan
Source: Ancestry.com. Virginia, U.S., Death Records, 1912-2014 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.
Humphrey and Mary (Harris) Lee Children
James Eugene "Red" Lee (1901-1964) was born in 1901 and was in his early 20s when his family had to relocate off the Reservation.
James married Josephine Roberts (1903-1970). They had five children: Jean Lucille, Warren Edgar, Sr, Mary Juanita, Josephine Vivian (December 3, 1931-January 21, 2022), and Barbara Ann.
Their daughter, Josephine, studied at the James City County Training School and graduated from the Bruton Heights School. She continued her education, graduating from the Saint Phillips School of Nursing in 1952 and pursuing additional nursing education at Virginia Union University and the University of Maryland.
She married Clifton Lee Hargis in April 1953, and the couple moved to Williamsburg and purchased a home in 1956. They had one child, Brian Fernandez “Little Woo” Hargis (March 1957-) and lost a baby daugther at birth in October 1966.
Josephine began her nursing career at Blayton’s Clinic in Williamsburg, and later was employed at the Veteran’s Hospital in Hampton, VA, as a faculty member in the School of Nursing at Hampton University, and finally as Director of Nursing at Eastern State Hospital. She was also a dedicated community member, serving on the Executive Board of the YJCW NAACP, and Chairman and Secretary of the York County Electoral Board, among many other posts.
Josephine “Pie” (Lee) Hargis, daughter of Eugene and Josephine (Roberts) Lee
Courtesy: Whiting’s Funeral Home
Humphrey Lee, Jr. (1905-1953) was born in 1905 and was a teenager when the U.S. government took his family's land.
Humphrey Jr. married Pauline Hundley (1907-1985) on October 31, 1926 in York County, VA.
Humphrey Lee Jr., son of Humphrey and Mary (Harris) Lee
Courtesy: The Lee Family
Robert "Bobby" Lee (1906-1974) was born in 1906 and was a teenager when his family was forced to move out of the Reservation community.
Robert married twice, first to Pollie Hundley (1906-1988) and then to Elizabeth "Liz" Washington (1922-1985) on May 4, 1969 in York County, VA.
Robert Lee, son of Humphrey and Mary (Harris) Lee
Courtesy: Bernie Vaughan
Source: Findagrave.com
Pollie (Hundley) Lee, wife of Robert Lee
Courtesy: Bernie Vaughan
Source: Findagrave.com
Robert Lee was employed by the College of William & Mary in the 1940s when he registered for the World War II draft. He also worked as part of the dining staff at Log Cabin Beach. In 1945, Robert was employed at the Naval Weapons Station, Yorktown, on the land where he was born.
Robert and Pollie later operated the Suburban Flower Shop. They produced beautiful floral arrangements that often graced the podium at St. John Baptist Church.
(l to r) James Dillard Brown, Robert Lee, Pete Coley, James Payne, John Holcomb, and Unidentified, Dining room waiters at Log Cabin Beach, a segregated swimming and recreational facility located along the James River just outside of Williamsburg, Virginia, circa 1950s.
Courtesy: Media Services, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Robert Lee
Courtesy: Mary Lassiter
Source: Naval Weapons Station Yorktown, Staff Yearbook, 1945
Robert Lee, WWII draft registration card
Courtesy: Bernie Vaughan
Source: Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
Robert served as a deacon at St. John for many years. Family remember him as a religious man who cried in church almost every communion Sunday.
Pollie served as treasurer for the Eastern Star Tribe 181 of Grove and as clerk for St. John Baptist Church. Pollie passed away in 1968.
Robert's second wife, Liz, later worked with him at the floral shop, and together they taught her neice, Paulette Washington, the art of floral arrangments. Paulette also took up this profession. Robert passed away in 1974.
Pollie Lee, obituary
Courtesy: Mary Lassiter
Source: Virginia Gazette, August 9, 1968, via Williamsburg Public Library
Harris Lee, Sr. (1908-1988)
was a teenager when the U.S. government took the family's land in the Reservation. "They took it on a day in February 1922," he recalled in an oral history.
After his mother passed away in 1925, Harris Lee began working at the Navy Mine Depot (later known as the Naval Weapons Station, Yorktown), where he worked for 42 years.
"I was in the Ordnance Department, working in explosives...I would melt explosives, put it in the containers, pouring rockets, mines, or hand grenades, all that stuff." It was dangerous work, as Harris Lee explained, "can't make but one mistake...we got about 30 cents an hour more for hazardous pay."
Source: Harris Lee (1984:47-48)
Ordnance Department employees puring hot, liquified Torpex into torpedo warheads, Yorktown Navy Mine Depot, circa WWII
Source: WWII Yearbook, Yorktown Mine Depot
Coutesy: Hampton Roads Naval Museum
In addition to working at the Naval Weapons Station, Harris Lee invested in land. In the 1940s, "I bought this piece of land, right there," he recounted in an oral history, "My daddy give me a quarter of a lot, sort of a triangle...so there wasn't enough to put the housee over here, so then Mr. Carter had a piece over there, Charlie Carter, and I bought a half an acre off him, a triangle. so I'd have a square so I could set the house over here."
Source: Harris Lee (1984:10, 11)
Harris married Irene Wallace (1913-2018), daughter of Howard and Katherine Wallace, on January 12, 1930 in Williamsburg, VA. Irene and her parents also lived in the Reservation community and were displaced.
In this video clip, Harris and Irene's daughter, Katherine Curtis, recounts how her grandmother, Katherine Wallace, saved money to help her parents built a new house. She had kept all the money hidden in her home as she did not trust white banks. Harris Lee also recalled hiding money underneath the rugs in his home. Given that both Harris and Irene's parents were displaced from the Reservation by the U.S. government, the distrust of white institutions was significant.
Film Courtesy: Media Collections, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Harris revealed his "can-do" attitude and sense of humor in this anecdote about the newlyweds:
"Me and my wife got married, and it was Mr. Alex - he ran the hardware store - and I didn't have a penny. I wanted a lawn mower. [My wife] said how in the world are you going to get a lawn mower when you don't have a penny in the world? I said, I'm going to get one; do you want to go? I don't know as I want to go - I don't want to be embarrased with you [she said]. I said, come on and get in the car; you don't have to get out...I went on up ther and I said, Mr. Alex, I want a lawn mower. I said, I ain't got no money...I'll come up every week to pay you fifty cents or a dollar until it's paid. He said, you go over there and pick yourself out one. I went out to my wife with the new lawn mower, and she said, how in the world did you get that lawn mower? I said, I stole it, I took it right over my shoulder and I stole it. Yes, sir. I could get anything I wanted there, anything. And he ran the hardware store and he was a city council member too."
Source Harris Lee (1984:31-32)
Harris Lee and his wife, Irene Lee
Courtesy: The Lee family
Humphrey and Irene had four children: Harris, Jr., Horace Alvin, Katherine Claudia, and Edgar.
In this oral history clip, daughter Katherine (Lee) Curtis recalls her father working as a woodcutter in the evenings after he returned home from the Navy Mine Depot. She recalls traveling around the community with him as a child as he delivered the wood and seeing the difficult living conditions that faced segments of the Black community and the lack of political representation to make change.
Film Courtesy: Media Collections, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
In this clip, Katherine Curtis explains how it was difficult to speak on a level playing field about social and political issues with one's employer, giving the example of her mother who worked as a domestic worker in a white family's home.
Film Courtesy: Media Collections, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Harris Lee carried on his grandfather and father's legacy of civic-mindedness that began in the Reservation community. Harris served on the Williamsburg-James City County Democratic Committee, including 20 years as the committee's chairman for the Roberts District.
In this clip, Katherine Curtis recalls Grove as a vibrant community with its own civics, garden, and savings and loans clubs and churches. Just as the Reservation community had built community institutions to take care of each other, so too did the descendants that settled in Grove. When another Black community was displaced from Magruder by the U.S. government in WWII, those families who relocated to Grove also carried on this tradition.
Film Courtesy: Media Collections, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Edith Myrtle Lee (1910-2003) was born on October 3, 1910. She was about twelve years old when her family left the Reservation.
Edith was politically active, carrying on the legacy her father, Humphrey, began in the Reservation. Edith and her first cousin, Sarah Lee Roberts, attended NAACP events together.
Edith attended the York County Training School and later graduated from James City County Training School in 1931. Edith continued her education at the Medical College of Virginia School of Nursing, graduating in 1936.
Edith purused a career in nursing in New York City and later earned a degree in nursing from the University of New York. Edith worked in the nursing field for more than 44 years. After retiring, she returned to live in Williamsburg. She passed away on November 13, 2003.
Edith Lee, daughter of Humphrey and Mary (Harris) Lee
Courtesy: The Lee family
William Otis "Cootie" Lee, Sr. (1912-1959) was around 10 years old when his family was pushed out of the Reservation.
William married Florence L. Washington (1916-1983) on July 8, 1935 in Lackey, VA. They had 5 children: Baby Girl Lee (1936-1936), Ruth Fay, William Otis, Jr., Peggy, and Lloyd.
In 1940, when he registered for the World War II draft, William was working for Mr. R. L. Banks at the Williamsburg Steam Laundry.
William Lee, WWII draft registration card
Courtesy: Bernie Vaughan
Source: Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
Hattie Lee (1917-2000) was born in 1917, the same year that her aunt and namesake, Hattie (Lee) Roberts passed away. She was a young child when her family was pushed off the Reservation.
Hattie married twice, first to Thomas Kearney (1909-1991) on July 19, 1939 in Williamsburg, VA. Thomas and Hattie were employees of Colonial Williamsburg, and the family lived in 'White City,' the Colonial Williamsburg employee housing on Scotland Street.
They had three children: William Thomas "Bumps", Edith "Cookie" and Norman Paul. She later remarried to Samuel N. Thomas (1917-1988) on March 4, 1957 in James City County, VA.
Hattie loved people and loved to travel. She had a great sense of humor and was known for her hearty laughter. She was a very good cook and was known for her fruit cakes and cobblers. She is remembered as a skilled gardener, and fashionable dresser. She enjoyed her family and would walk to visit her first cousins, Yearda and Johnny, who lived on the same street. She was also an important family historian, offering information and guidance for family and church history booklets.
Hattie was a long-standing member of St. John Baptist Church. She was also a member of the Jolly Colonial Retirees Club, the James city Democratic Party, Toano chapter 39 of the Eastern Star, and the James City County Training School Alumni Association.
Hattie was blessed with eight grandchildren. Her daughter Edith had four children, and her sons William and Norman each had two children.
Hattie passed away on March 16, 2000 at the age of 83. She is buried beside her sister, Edith, in St. John Baptist Church Cemetery.
Hattie Lee, daughter of Humphrey and Mary (Harris) Lee
Courtesy: The Lee family
Hattie (Lee) Kearney Thomas
Courtesy: The Lee family
Home of Hattie and Thomas Kearney, originally owned by Hattie's uncle and aunt, William Moses and Laura Lee
Courtesy: Denise McClintock
Melvin Lee (1922-1979) was born on February 12, 1922 just as the family was forced off the Reservation.
In 1942, when he registered for the World War II draft, Melvin was a tall, young man - 20 years old and 6'1" in height. He was living with his sister and her husband, Hattie and Thomas Kearney, in 'White City' on Scotland Street in Williamsburg. Melvin was working at the Naval Mine Depot, Yorktown, where his family once owned land. Melvin enjoyed fishing and hunting for turtles, carrying on traditions from his ancestors in the Reservation.
Melvin Lee
Courtesy: The Lee family
Melvin Lee, WWII draft registration card
Courtesy: Bernie Vaughan
Source: Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
Melvin married Alice Bernice Hundley (1926-1994) on June 9, 1950 in Newport News, VA. They had three children: Otelia (Lee) Walker, Angelette Teresa (Lee) Dennis, and Linda (Lee) McClinton.
Melvin joined the U.S. Navy and served honorably for 16 years. He was a member of St. John Baptist Church. In later years, he lived with his sister, Hattie, on Oak Drive until he passed away on June 7, 1979.
Melvin and Alice Bernice (Hundley) Lee, marriage certificate
Courtesy: Bernie Vaughan
Source: Ancestry.com. Virginia, County Marriage Records, 1771-1989, [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.
Melvin Lee, obituary
Courtesy: Mary Lassiter
Source: Virginia Gazette
Descendants of Humphrey and Mary (Harris) Lee, 1991 Family Reunion
Courtesy: The Lee Family
Edith Lee, Edith Heard, and Hattie Thomas, 1991 Family Reunion
Courtesy: The Lee Family
Sources:
Ancestry.com. Virginia, U.S., Death Records, 1912-2014 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.
Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com, Operations Inc, 2005.
Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
Ancestry.com. Virginia, County Marriage Records, 1771-1989, [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.
Board of Valuation on Commandeered Property. 1920. Abstract of Testimony In Vols. 1 and 2 of Hearings Before Board On Valuation of Commandeered Property at Yorktown, VA. Box 42, Records of the Board on Valuation of Commandeered Property 1918-1922, Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Navy) 1799-1950, Record Group 125; National Archives Building, Washington D.C.
Lee Sr., Harris. circa 1984. Oral History. James City County Oral History Collection, Special Collections Research Center, William & Mary Libraries.
Legacy.com. 2003. Edith Myrtle Lee, obituary.
Roberts, John A., Moses Lee, Annie E. Roberts, Cyrus Jones, and L. Redcross. 1918. Petition submitted to Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, by residents of York County threatened with eviction by Presidential Proclamation #1492 dated November 15, 1918. General Correspondence, Records of the Bureau of Ordinance 1818-1967; Record Group 74; National Archives Building, Washington D.C.