MARGARET
JANE MARSHALL LEE.
Before we proceed with the
remainder of this document, it is necessary to provide the reader with proof
that the Lee's of Derbyshire are linked with the North Staffordshire Lee's.
After all, this document is supposed to be a factual account of the
descendants of George 1625 as far as it is possible with genealogy.
In order to confirm the link between the two families, I will have to
describe certain events which occurred during my researches, events which have
made my task so pleasurable.
The initial search for my ancestors, via birth and death certificates, marriage certificates, census returns, electoral rolls, parish registers and the like, led me back to Job and Jane Lee when they were residents in North Staffordshire. I then came to a halt, as I could find no records in Staffordshire that would lead me further into the past. However, on the International Genealogical Index, a database kept by the Mormon Church to enable them to follow their religious beliefs, I found a marriage entry of a Job Ley and Jane Marshall at Carsington, Derbyshire. Now, it so happened that Jane, the wife of the North Staffordshire Job Lee was also from Derbyshire because, on a census return for 1841, she stated that the place of her birth was Hilton, Derbyshire. I followed these leads into the Derbyshire records and in doing so, discovered the family of the Brassington Lee's. [I later discovered that 'Hilton' should have read 'Elton'.
However, I still had not
proved the link between the two families when my travels led me to Leek cemetery
in an attempt to trace the grave of my great-grandfather, Robert Lee, the son of
Job and Jane Lee of Armshead. I
entered the cemetery and was astounded at the number of graves.
It was just like the proverbial "Boot Hill"; rows of the things
spread over a number of undulating hills. My
task was almost impossible. I
searched for two hours and eventually found myself by the Superintendent's
office. I knocked on the door and
entered the office.
"Can I help you?”
asked a kindly old gent from behind his desk.
"Yes please", I
replied, "could you tell me where I could find the grave of Robert
Lee?"
"Certainly.
What was his date of death?"
"I've no idea", I
said, (hoping that he did).
The old gent laughed in a
kindly way and said, "There are sixteen thousand people buried in this
cemetery, young man, so I'm afraid I can't help you without a date of death.
If you provide me with that information, not only will I tell you where
he's buried, I'll also tell you who else is in the grave with him and their age
and address when they died".
I thanked him for his help
and began the long walk back to my car, glancing left and right at the
headstones as I sauntered along. My saunter came to a dead halt.
I couldn't believe my luck. There,
on the right hand side of the steep path on which I was sauntering, was a
headstone and written on it were the words:
IN LOVING
MEMORY OF ROBERT LEE. DIED JUNE 20TH 1891 AGE 70.
ALSO
MARGARET,
WIFE OF ABOVE, DIED AUGUST 27TH 1906 AGES 86.
I was delighted.
The information fitted perfectly with the data I had collected and I was
in no doubt this was the grave of my great grandparents.
There were two graves adjacent and, out of curiosity, I gave them a
closer inspection. The first stone
I looked at meant nothing to me but when I studied the other one, I was quite
excited. The epitaph read:
MARY
ELLEN, WIFE OF JOB LEE. DIED OCTOBER 17TH 1888 AGED 32.
ALSO
MARGARET
JANE MARSHALL, DAUGHTER OF THE ABOVE. DIED
NOVEMBER 27TH,
1890 AGED
3 YEARS AND 11 MONTHS.
There were more family
members in the grave, all relating to Robert and Margaret Lee, but the MARGARET
JANE MARSHALL entry was the vital evidence I had been looking for when I was
searching for a link between the Derbyshire and Staffordshire Lee's.
MARGARET was the grandchild of Robert and Margaret Lee.
She had been given a first Christian name of Margaret, after her
grandmother. Her second and third
Christian names had obviously come from her great-grandmother, Jane Marshall,
who had married Job Ley at Carsington in Derbyshire and was now buried in the
nearby Church of St. Edward the Confessor at Cheddleton along with her husband,
Job.
They say that the Lord works in mysterious ways and, although I am a confirmed agnostic, I must admit that I was more than a little moved by my discovery. This precious small child who died of tuberculosis one hundred years ago, and whose bones lay beneath my feet, had become my link. Had she not died when she did, I would never have discovered her grave and the two families would have remained just that - two families. Of all the ancestral family members I have discovered, Margaret Jane Marshall Lee is the one I hold dearest to my heart. She was born on Christmas Day, 1887. At the very moment of writing this page, I also have a granddaughter who is 3 years and 11 months old. When I look at her very beautiful features, I consider that Margaret may have been identical to her. Only then does the enormity of losing such a precious child really have meaning. Here is a picture of my Granddaughter, Katie Rebecca.
