John Doyle Lee Genealogy

2011-12-11T15:12:00.000-08:00

This week I am headed to Salt Lake City for various reasons, but one of my main objectives is to find the property that Elizabeth Doyle Reed Lee, Ralph Lee, Oliver Reed and John Doyle Lee owned in Randolph and Fayette counties. John D. Lee married Aggatha Ann in Fayette County and owned property there.

Sometime this summer we are planning on taking a Lee family trip and looking at the sites that John D. Lee would have seen as a child and young man, up until the time we headed west to Utah. Two thousand and twelve is the 200th anniversary of John D. Lee's birth. We thought this would be a fun way to commemorate it! Plans are to go to Kaskaskia and Randolph County, Nauvoo, and sites in Missouri on the way back. At this point in time we are planning on chartering a bus leaving Salt Lake, traveling to St. Louis and then to Kaskaskia. In the Randolph County area we will see sites that John D. Lee's great-grandfather owned. Then the next day on to Nauvoo where we will spend at least another day. Three of John D. Lee's properties have been located there, and of course the Seventy's Hall is there that he was responsible for building. Then see the Missouri sites on our way back to Salt Lake. If you are interested in going, please contact me. We will have room for about 42 people.

John D. Lee's Birth and Ralph Lee

2008-07-26T17:51:00.000-07:00

This is still a work in progress. John D. Lee gave information about himself and his family that was printed in Mormonism Unveiled. At first I had all the information in one blog, but it got WAY too long, so I have split it up into several (8) shorter blogs. John D. Lee's information will be printed in bold additional information will be in regular font.

In Mormonism Unveiled, John D. Lee states the following:

(p. 36) "I was born on the 6th day of September, A.D. 1812, in the town of Kaskaskia, Randolph County, Illinois.

John D. Lee's birth is verified by baptism records from the Church of the Immaculate Conception on Kaskaskia Island. The church is one of the few remaining buildings on Kaskaskia Island, although it is not the building he was baptized in. The new building has been moved from the old city of Kaskaskia which has been washed away by the Mississippi River to the new site since John D. Lee was there.

Copies of the baptism index are on microfiche and are available at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. They are non-circulating and are not available at Family History Centers. The original handwritten index does not give his birth date, but states that he is 3 months old when he was baptized on December 20, 1812 with parents Raphael [Lee] and Elizabeth Doyle.
(Add scan)

Microfilm of the original records are available at the Belleville Library in Belleville, Illinois. The original records are available in the Archives of the Diocese in Belleville. Digital copies can also be seen at http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#p=3;c=1388122;w=403 this will take you to the 1759-1815 Births, Marriages and Deaths of the Church of the Immaculate Conception from Kaskaskia Island in Randolph County, Illlinois. Go to image 216 (p. 280) and John D. Lee's record is in the lower left corner.

The original record, written in French, stated that he was born on September 6, 1812.

Picture of Jean Lie/John Lee's baptism record from Book A, p. 280 of the
Church of the Immaculate Conception in Kaskaskia, Illinois.
Click on the picture to make it bigger.

Another verification of his birth date is probate records for Elizabeth or Eliza Doyle or Lee dated 3 March 1836, stating in the last three lines that John Lee "is twenty one years on the 6th day of September 1833.

Note: You can click on this image to enlarge it

Probate records found in Randolph County, Circuit Court.

My father, Ralph Lee, was born in the State of Virginia.

This has neither been verified nor disproved.

He was of the family of Lees of Revolutionary fame, and was a relative of General Robert E. Lee, of the late war;

Through DNA testing we have discovered that John D. Lee is not related to Robert E. Lee on the paternal side of his family.

In the limited sampling of Lee DNA housed at Ancestry.com, there are currently no good matches between John D. Lee's descendants and any other Lees in the study. We have not given up finding matches with Ralph Lee's DNA. There are other possibilities, for instance Ralph's mother may have been a Lee and he took her name, or Ralph was raised by a Lee family and took their name.

he served his time as an apprentice and learned the carpenter's trade in the city of Baltimore.

Apprenticeship papers for Ralph Lee/Loe were found in December 1785 Orphan Court records in Baltimore, Maryland, stating that he was 17 years old and an orphan. (Click to enlarge)

The legal definition of "orphan" according to Black's Law Dictionary is: "Any person (but particularly a minor or infant) who has lost both (or one) of his or her parents. More particularly a fatherless child" (Black 1252)

Ralph's mother may have still been living, but his father or male guardian was probably dead.

Elizabeth Doyle and John Doyle

2008-07-26T17:50:00.000-07:00

My mother was born in Nashville, Tennessee.

This has neither been verified nor disproved. Elizabeth was probably born in Randolph County, Illinois. Elizabeth needed to be old enough to marry Reed by 1805 and have Eliza Virginia in 1806. If Elizabeth were minimally 14 years old when she got married, she would have to be born before 1791. If she got married as early as 1799, as John D. Lee says, she would definitely be born in Randolph County, Illinois, where her parents lived from the time they were married until 1789.

John D. Lee probably got the information for his mother's birth from Charlotte. Charlotte probably was not born in Illinois, but was probably born where ever the Doyles were living after they left Illinois in 1789 and before they returned in 1796. It could have been Nashville, Tennessee, but no proof has been found of the Doyles living there.

She was the daughter of John Doyle,

Joseph Page's deposition states the relationship between John Doyle and his daughter, Eliza or Betsey. See below.

who for many years held the position of Indian Agent over the roving tribes of Indians in southeastern Illinois.

Records stating that John Doyle was an Indian agent have not been found. They are probably in Federal records.

He served in the war of the Revolution,

John Doyle was a veteran of the Revolutionary War. In Randolph County Probate Book A p. 47, is the following: "Joseph Page personally well knew John Doyle a private in the Illinois Regiment under the Command of Colonel George Rogers Clark during the revolutionary war - that his name is on the printed list of said Regiment - he died in this state about fifteen years ago leaving ifsue [issue], Charlotte wife of James Conner and Eliza or Betsey whose first husband was named (blank) Reed by whom she had one daughter Eliza, and whose second husband was Ralph Lee by whom she had one child John D. Lee who have survived her."

and was wounded in one of the many battles in which he took part with the Sons of Liberty against the English oppressors.

No record of John Doyle being wounded has been found. If it were a long-lasting, permanent injury, John D. Lee may have personally known and remembered that about his grandfather.

About (p. 37) the year 1796, he was appointed Indian Agent,

See above comment about Indian Agent.

and moved to Kaskaskia, Illinois.

In 1796 John Doyle and his family returned to Illinois, and moved to Kaskaskia. (See information in blog John Doyle married Chloe Smith.) John and Chloe may have settled on property left to Chloe by her father, Henry Smith, in his will.

Elizabeth Doyle and Henry Oliver Reed

2008-07-26T17:48:00.000-07:00

My mother was first married in 1799, to Oliver Reed,

No record of Elizabeth and Oliver Reed's marriage has been found. Their marriage was probably closer to 1805. According to the index record of the Immaculate Conception of our Lady Church, Eugenia Reed was baptized on August 10, 1806. Her parents were Henri Oliver [Reed] and Elizabeth Doyle. (add scan) I believe Eugenia was later called Eliza Virginia. In the 1850 Census of Fayette County, Illinois, Eliza Nichols is shown as being born about 1807.

and lived with him until he was assassinated by a man named Jones, who entered the house when the family were asleep, and striking Reed with a seat of a loom, knocked his brains out, at the same time severely wounding my half-sister, Eliza Virginia, then six months old. The blow and the screams of the child awakened my mother, who sprang from the bed, and recognizing the assassin, said, "For God's sake, Jones, spare my husband's life!" Jones said, "You know me, G-d--n you! you shall tell no tales." With this, he caught up a sugar trough and struck my mother on the head with it. The blow rendered her senseless. Jones, believing he had completed his work of death, then left the house. My mother soon revived, called upon the neighbors for assistance, and told who had committed the murder. Jones was arrested, convicted and afterwards hung for the crime.

I have not found "original" documents verifying this, but many of the early county histories report the murder of Oliver Reed by Emsley Jones. For this crime, Mr. Jones was the first white man hung in Randolph County. From court records it is apparent this was not the first time Mr. Jones was in trouble with the law.

The injuries received by my mother, from the blow struck by Jones, affected her all the rest of her life.

One possible result of head trauma is seizures. Could this be how Elizabeth was "affected" for the rest of her life?

Elizabeth Doyle's marriage to Ralph Lee and children

2008-07-26T17:47:00.000-07:00

After the death of Reed, my mother went back to Kaskaskia and lived in her father's family until she married my father in the year 1808.

In the Indiana 1810 census, John Doyle is found in Kaskaskia. His wife is dead. With him are two women who fit the ages of Elizabeth and Charlotte. There are also two young children that fit the ages of Eliza and a male child between the ages of 0 and 5.

R. Lee (probably Ralph) is listed two lines below John Doyle in the same census, showing they were probably fairly close neighbors. Eliza married Ralph on 26 February 1811, not 1808.

Marriage certificate of Ralph Lee and Elizabeth Reed

They were married by the Justice of the Peace, Philip Fouke. The County Clerk in Randolph County has a copy of the original record. When asked where the original records were she said they were in Springfield.

My mother had two children by my father -- that is William Oliver and myself.

Since Ralph and Elizabeth were married on 26 February 1811, it is highly unlikely that John D. Lee had an older brother whose father was Ralph Lee. The earliest William Oliver could be born legitimately would be in December 1811 and Elizabeth would have to get pregnant immediately to have John D. on the 12th of September, 1812. In addition, no child of Ralph and Elizabeth was baptized near this time.

John D. Lee gives three children for his mother, a girl and two boys. In Kaskaskia church records there are three baptisms for children of Elizabeth or Eliza Doyle, a girl and two boys.

In the archives of the Catholic church in Belleville, there was a baptism for a Benjamin Rode, on Jan 29, 1809, with parents Jean/John [Rode] and Elizabeth Daille/Doyle. The child was born the 27th of January.

Baptism record of Benjamin Rode
Digital image can be found at http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#p=3;c=1388122;w=403
Go to image 208 (p. 267) in the middle of the page.

This is after Oliver Reed is dead and before Elizabeth married Ralph. Of note, in the records of baptisms for her other children it states that she had a legitimate or legal marriage. In this record nothing is stated regarding a marriage. This child would be less than 5 in the 1810 census, which fits with the census information.

My brother, William Oliver, died when about two years old.

William Oliver (ne Benjamin Rode) could die at two years of age (1811) show up on the 1810 census and be dead even before Elizabeth and Ralph marry and definitely before John D. is born.

At the time of my birth my father was considered one of the leading men of that section of country;

Ralph associated with some of the prominent men in Kaskaskia. One of the people with whom he associated was the justice of the peace, Phillip Fouke. At a corner's inquest held June 1810, those listed as being at Phillip Fouke's house on the night of the 8th of June and giving depositions were: Francis Gardner (signed with a mark), Philip Rochblave, Ralph Lee, Isaac Postewaight, William Stringer, John Goings, Samuel Wells, Ju [Jr.], Samuel _____, John Young, Jonathan Sampson, Moses Wooden [Wooten] (signed with a mark), and Frederick Miller. Others attending were John Fleming and James Lee. Ralph Lee came to the Fouke home with Moses Wooden and Francis Gardner(Sapp 28-29).

he was a master workman, sober and attentive to business, prompt and punctual to his engagements.

He contracted largely and carried on a heavy business; he erected a magnificent mansion, for that age and country, on his land adjoining the town of Kaskaskia.

Ralph Lee did purchase property that was not Elizabeth's. This land was in Kaskaskia. It was land previously a part of John Edgar's orchard.

This tract of land was the property of my mother when she married my father.

John Doyle

2008-07-26T17:46:00.001-07:00

My grandfather Doyle was a wealthy man.

John Doyle owned 1200 acres of land in the Randolph County area which he sold for $200 in August 1800. I believe the land they lived on was land previously claimed by Henry Smith. This land is now in the channel of the Mississippi River.

He [John Doyle] died in 1809 at Kaskaskia, Illinois, and left his whole fortune to my mother and her sister Charlotte, by will.

John Doyle died in October 1809 intestate according to a deposition by James Conner, his son-in-law.

They being his only children, he divided the property equally between them.

Most of the property Elizabeth and Charlotte owned was land they received from their grandfather, Henry Smith. Elizabeth had received some land as a pre-emption right that was in the American Bottom. John D. Lee sold his mother's American Bottom land before he left Illinois.

Religion and Parents

2008-07-26T17:44:00.000-07:00

My father and mother were both Catholics, were raised in that faith;

Interesting that Ralph and Elizabeth didn't get married in the Catholic church but instead, by a Justice of the Peace. Maybe it was because Eliza(beth) had been married before. I'm not sure what the rules about marriage are for Catholics. Apparently Elizabeth and Oliver Reed were not married in the Catholic church and neither were Elizabeth and John Rode. Elizabeth did have all three of her children baptized in the Catholic church within three months of their birth.

We do not know Ralph's religious upbringing.

On Elizabeth's side, her father's family, the Doyles, were Catholic, and her mother's side, the Smiths, were Baptists. In some records, John Doyle is listed as being a prominent Baptist in New Design. I believe that John Doyle was Baptist while his wife was alive, but after she died, went back to being Catholic. Also, the Catholic religion was more prominent in the area since it is an area that was originally settled by the French.

I was christened in that Church. William Morrison and Louise Phillips stood as my representative god-father and god-mother.

John Doyle was baptized in the Catholic church. His god-father was Alexis Buat and his god-mother was Marie-Louise Morrison.

His brother's god father was Benjamin Buat, and there are Buatte decendants still in the area. The pastor during that era was Rev. Donatien Olivier from 1803-1818.

It is from that Church record that I could alone obtain the facts and date that referred to my birth.

It is a good thing John D. Lee knew French. Those records are written in French.

When about one year old, my mother being sick,

Could this be from complications from the blow to her head?

I was sent (p. 38) to a French nurse, a negro woman. At this time my sister Eliza was eleven years old, but young as she was she had to care for my mother and do all the work of the household.

This makes Eliza ten years older than John D., when in actuality, if she is Eugenie, she is only six years older.

To add to the misfortune, my father began to drink heavily and was soon very dissipated; drinking and gambling was his daily occupation.

Ralph may have begun his gambling and drinking before he married Elizabeth. There are two pieces of information that might confirm this. The first clue is from an inquest in 1810 and the second is the list of purchases Ralph Lee charged at Morrison's store in Kaskaskia.

The inquest held on the 8th of June 1810 was on a man who probably died of alcohol poisoning. Copied from the original. Bracketed information added by me for clarity.
Mrs. Fouke states: "This evening after the horse race was over, John Felming (sic) with James Lee and some others came in to her house and was drinking when some moments after[,] Lee Brought her Flemings hat and Sometime after he[,] Said Lee[,] had laid Fleming down along side the cupboard[,] he lifted Said Fleming up and took of[f] his Jacket and gave her the hat and Jacket to take care of and until he himself would call for it, Saying to Said Fleming it was a Shame for him to Drink so extravagantly and make such a Beast of himself and told this Deponent that was [if] Fleming [were] to goe home to night not to let him have his hat for he would Surely Loose it, That this Deponent Verily Believes Said John Fleming came by his Death from hard Drinking and further says she went to see him now and then[,] when she said Fleming Drew his Breath hard and groaned hard[,] to which [she] has subscribed her name.

Deposition of Ralph Lee: The Depositions of Moses Wooden, Ralph Lee and Francis Gardner who on Oath say that this evening, a little after Sun Set almost Dusk, in Coming into the House of Philip Fouke Esquire in Kaskaskia they found the Dead Body of John Fleming (now before them lying) near the cupboard in the entry of Said house and then found he was motionless called for a candle and upon examination found he was Dead -- Say they do not know how he came by Death but Suppose twas Liquor was the Cause of it which they subscribed their names. Ralph Lee signed his name. Moses Wooden and Francis Gardner made marks (Sapp 28-29).

So there is at least a possibility that Ralph Lee attended the horse race with the other participants, and apparently members of the party were imbibing.

Morrison's ledger was kept from 1805 to 1831.
Ralph began his credit at Morrison's store on September 19, 1809 and his last charge was on Sept 22, 1820. There are periods where he purchases more alcohol than others. To see his purchases go to http://digsrvr.shawls.lib.il.us/cht/, click on "Search Ledger" on the right side of the page, and enter Ralph's name in the proper boxes. Others of interest are James Conner-- Charlotte Doyle's husband, and John Doyle.

The interest and care of his family was no longer a duty with him; his presence was seldom seen to cheer and comfort his lonely, afflicted wife. The house was one mile from town, and we had no neighbors nearer than that.

The neglect and indifference on the part of my father towards my afflicted mother, served to increase her anguish and sorrow, until death came to her relief.

Records in the Circuit Court in Randolph County state that Eliza(beth) died November 1815. John D. Lee would have been 3 1/2 years old.

My mother's death left us miserable indeed; we were (my sister and I) thrown upon the wide world, helpless, and I might say, without father or mother. My father when free from the effects of intoxicating drink, was a kind-hearted, generous, noble man, but from that time forward he was a slave to drink--seldom sober.

2008-07-26T17:43:00.000-07:00

My aunt Charlotte .. was married to a man by the name of James Conner, a Kentuckian by birth.

See note from Morrison's store stating that James Conner was Charlotte's husband.

They lived ten miles north of us.

James and Charlotte Conner lived in Williamsburg township in the Prairie du Rocher area.

My sister went to live with her aunt, but ... she was taken away from her aunt and bound out to Dr. Fisher, with whose family she lived until she became of age.

Dr. Fisher was Eliza's guardian.

In the meantime the Doctor moved to the city of Vandalia, Illinois.

Though Dr. Fisher moved to Vandalia in Fayette County, the people of Randolph County held him in high regard and a monument has been erected near Chester, Illinois to his memory.

I remained with my nurse until I was eight years of age,

This would be about the time that John Doyle died.

when I was taken to my aunt Charlotte's, to be educated. I had been in a family which talked French so long that I had nearly lost all knowledge of my mother tongue. The children at school called me Gumbo, and teased me so much that I became disgusted with the French language and tried to forget it--which has been a disadvantage to me since that time.

He knew enough French to be able to read his baptism record and decipher the birth date there.

I lived in the [Conner] family eight years...

(p. 39) Aunt Charlotte had five children, four girls and one boy: i.e., Minerva C., Amanda, Eliza, Maria and John Edgar. ...

When I was sixteen years old, I concluded to leave my aunt's house.

Family information given to us by JDL

2008-07-02T10:50:00.000-07:00

(p. 40) ...I got a letter from my sister, informing me of her marriage to Josiah Nichols, a nephew of Barker Berry, the sheriff of Fayette county, Illinois, and inviting me to visit them. Nichols was a wealthy man, and lived sixteen miles north of Vandalia.

Eliza Virginia married Isaiah Nichols, rather than Josiah Nichols. This could have been misinterpreted by the person who "co-authored" the book.

All I know of my father, after I was eight years of age, is, that he went to Texas in the year 1820, and I have never heard of him since. What his fate was I never knew.

If Ralph went to Texas in 1820, he returned in 1826. He is involved in a court case in Randolph County at that time. Mr. Archambeau owed Ralph money and Ralph won the case. His lawyer was Sidney Breese. John D. Lee would be fourteen at this point in time. It does not look like Ralph looked his son up at that time. Charlotte could have been ornery enough that he didn't dare visit his son.

The phrase, "went to Texas" frequently referred to a person who left town and was never heard from again.

When my mother died, my uncle and aunt Conner took all the property--a large tract of land, several slaves, household and kitchen furniture, and all; and, as I had no guardian, I never received any portion of the property...

The slaves were set free by an act of the Legislature; the land was sold for taxes, and was hardly worth redeeming when I came of age; so I sold my interest in all the land that had belonged to my mother, and made a quit-claim deed to it to Sidney (p.41) Breeze, a lawyer of Kaskaskia, in consideration of $200. My sister, by the kindness of Dr. Fisher, her guardian, received a much greater price for her interest in the land than I did.

I was born on the point of land lying between and above the mouth of the Okaw or Kaskaskia river and the Mississippi river, in what is known as the Great American Bottom--the particular point I refer to was then called Zeal-no-waw, the Island of Nuts. It was nineteen miles from the point of the bluffs to the mouth of the Okaw river; ten miles wide up at the bluffs and tapering to a point where the rivers united. ... This point of land is one of the finest on the globe; there I spent my early years;...

The course of the Mississippi River has changed since John D. Lee lived there. The Mississippi now uses the old Kaskaskia River channel. Where JDL lived is now on the western side of the Mississippi, part of what is now called Kaskaskia Island. It is only accessible from Missouri. The area where his home was is probably now in the Mississippi channel.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I know I have contradicted many things that John D. Lee said. There could be several reasons for the discrepancies. His family information was not from primary sources. His mother did not live long enough to pass family information on to him. The only relatives he had living were his Aunt Charlotte and his elder sister, Eliza. Charlotte's relationship with John D. Lee and his father, Ralph Lee, were not the best. Charlotte was also the younger sister and probably didn't know as much information as her older sister, Elizabeth, would have known. Charlotte may not have even known her mother's name if Chloe died in childbirth having her. I am actually amazed at how much information John D. Lee knew, considering the circumstances.

Sources:
(More will be added to this as I get time.)

Black, Henry Campbell, M.A. Black's Law Dictionary. West Publishing Co., St. Paul, Minn. 1968.

Lee, John Doyle. Mormonism Unveiled.

Randolph County Circuit Court. 1832-43 Probate Record.

Sapp, Peggy Lathrop. Illinois State Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol XIX, No.1, Spring 1987. "Kaskaskia-Randolph County Manuscripts".

Ralph Lee son of Ralph Lee as in IGI or new.familysearch

2008-06-08T22:31:00.000-07:00

I received the following comment, at the bottom of the John D. Lee Ancestry blog. It is worth discussing since I have had others email and ask similar questions: ashes said..."Gen 3: Could Ralph Lee b. 1742 d. 1806 and married to Mary b. 1746 potentially be Ralph Lee's b. 1768 parents? I found that info on IGI and am not sure what to do with it...."

If the information for Ralph Lee and Mary in new.family search and the IGI is accurate and in a good location, it could be correct. The ages are good.

The problem is: Are the dates of the parents made up to match Ralph (Jr.'s) age or are they the actual real data? The information needs to be sourced. Even I am guilty of not sourcing in the John D. Lee's Ancestry blog! But I am working on posting why I think the information there is accurate. If you read the rest of the blogs you can see where the information came from and even scans of some of the original documents.

If the Ralph and Mary are the ones I am thinking of, they were found by my grandmother in the late 1960's. She was so excited! But I believe that when my mom and I checked it out Ralph and Mary were a generation older. I don't have good documentation for all of this. My mom was working on the Lees while I was working on the Smiths.

The Ralph Lees that I have in my PAF file from our research are: 1) Ralph Lee b. abt. 1735, died after 1810. I have him as a son of William Lee and Hannah. He was in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. We have children for him. This is info from my mom so I don't have real good sources on it. 2) Ralph Lee b. about 1685, also a son of a William Lee who also had a wife named Hannah! We figured he was not the son of Hannah, but of William's first (unknown) wife. This Ralph had two wives named Mary, the first (possibly Atkinson), the second Mary King, and a third wife named Sybella. I believe this is the one that is erroneously put as Ralph Lee's father. The temple work on this one was done pre 1970, so I think it was my grandmother who submitted it. Many of this Ralph Lee's records are found in Christ Church of Philadelphia records and History of Bucks County, PA. This Ralph is the half brother to the William Lee who is the father of the first Ralph.

There is another Ralph Lee who married a Mary. Again, this could be the one my grandmother discovered. This Ralph's information is based upon a query by Norma Griffith. This Ralph and Mary were supposed to have died in Baltimore in1783, before the end of the Revolutionary War. Ralph was supposed to have a brother whose name was unknown and Norma Griffith was looking for information on this family. This was the only reference we found about this family.

The Ralph and Mary thing needs to be looked into and either verified or discarded. If it is info my grandmother found, she is long since gone (my mom is 91!) and she won't be able to give us the source, although I do have some old letters and cards she sent me while she was searching that might give some clues.

John D. Lee's Ancestry (as we currently have it)

2008-06-04T16:01:00.001-07:00

1st Gen: John Doyle Lee birth:. 6 Sept 1812 Kaskaskia, Randolph County, Illinois. (baptism certificate see copy in July blog titled “John D Lee’s Birth and Ralph Lee”)

Death: 23 March 1877 Mountain Meadows, Washington, Utah.

2nd Gen: John Doyle Lee's parents are:

Ralph Lee

birth: 1768 (if he was a carpenter apprentice in Baltimore, MD as JDL said he was. Verified by apprenticeship paper. See copy in July blog titled “John D Lee’s Birth and Ralph Lee” )

m. 26 February 1811 Randolph County, Illinois (Verified by marriage certificate. Copy in July blog titled “Elizabeth Doyle’s marriage to Ralph Lee and children”)

Ralph Lee’s death date and place are unknown
and Elizabeth Doyle (NOT Sarah Elizabeth Doyle. See March blog “Ralph Lee married Elizabeth Doyle Reed.”)

born. abt. 1785 in Randolph County, Illinois. (estimated. Her father was the head of a household before 1783. He came to the area in 1781, so probably married in 1782. Elizabeth’s first child was born in 1806. If she were 20 when she had her first child she was born in 1786. She needs to be born between 1783 and 1790. According to the 1810 census she is born between 1784 and 1794.Elizabeth Doyle married 1) Oliver Reed (church records say Henry Oliver Reed) no marriage date is given and no record has been found of the marriage, but their first known child was born in 4 Aug 1806 (baptism record). Estimated marriage 1805, estimated birth for Elizabeth 1785; If JDL’s info that she married her first husband in 1799 is correct, she needs to be born before 1790!

Previous information for her birthplace has been given as Nashville, Tennessee. The odds are 6/7 that this is not correct. See copy of deposition (in March blog “John Doyle married Chloe Smith”)given by her father, John Doyle, saying that he came to Illinois in 1781 and never left until the fall of 1789. Elizabeth would have to be born in Illinois unless she were born in 1790. The land that John Doyle owned was in Randolph County.

Elizabeth died in November 1815 according to court records in Randolph County. (See copy in July post “John D. Lee’s birth and Ralph Lee.”)

3rd Gen: Ralph Lee's parents are unknown. We are currently trying to get DNA samples from possible relatives to figure where to go next!

Elizabeth Doyle's parents are

John Doyle

b. 20 Sept 1760 Albemarle County, Virginia (History of Albemarle County, Revolutionary War records) (See April blog “John Doyle and John Dyal and Revolutionary Records)

m. abt. 1782 probably in Randolph County, Illinois.

If it were earlier it would have been at Ft. Jefferson or Clarksville, Lincoln County –now Livingston County- Kentucky;

d. October 1819 Randolph County, Illinois

His son-in-law, James Conner said he died about 29 October, (see deposition in March blog “John Doyle of Illinois not married to Evaline”) but I believe he died on the 20th of October. On the 21st of October James Conner is listed in court cases along with John Doyle. Previous to that John Doyle had been listed by himself.

and Chloe Smith

b. abt. 1766; Virginia, probably Bedford County.

(NOT Evaline. See March blog “John Doyle of Illinois not married to Evaline”)

The reason I have her born in 1766: In her father’s will, although she is listed as being married, she is listed with the younger unmmarried daughter, receiving like inheritance rather than with the two other daughters who are also married. Her parents were married in 1761. With children two years apart the earliest she could be born is 1766 if she is the third child. At that rate she would be 16 when she got married.

Bedford County is where her father owned land at the time.

Death after 1794 place unknown. Her daughter, Charlotte, was probably born about 1794. If Chloe died between 1789 and 1796 she didn’t die in Illinois. Charlotte said she was born near Nashville, Kentucky, so that could be where she died. No proof has been found of the Doyle family going to Davidson County, Tennessee.

Censuses showing when Charlotte was born:

CENSUS: 1810 Illinois, Randolph, John Doyle head of household 2 females 16-26 (Elizabeth and Charlotte) b. between 1784-1794

CENSUS: 1820 Illinois, Randolph, Williamsburg township, James Conner is head of household. Charlotte is 26-45, (born between 1775 and 1794.)

CENSUS: 1840 Illinois, Randolph p. 213 James Conner head of household Charlotte age 40-50. (born between 1790 and 1800)

CENSUS: 1850 Census: Illinois, Randolph, Prarie du Rocher. Page 100 line 24. dwelling #7 - family #17, Charlotte Connor age 55, female, born in Illinois. 1850 United States Federal Census. Living with daughter, Minerva Lynch and children.

Estimated birth year: abt 1795

Charlotte may have fudged on her age in her later years. She had a daughter that became 10 years younger between the first census she was on and the last census she was on!

4th Gen: John Doyle's parents are

Dennis Doyle, Jr.

b. 1732, (tombstone) (See April blog “John Doyle Ancestry”) place unknown, but between Massachusetts and Virginia;

d. 30 June 1795 (tombstone) (See April blog “John Doyle Ancestry”)

buried in Stafford County, Virginia.

and Katherine last name unknown

b. abt. 1732; (tombstone) (See April blog “John Doyle Ancestry”)

d. 25 October 1794. (tombstone) (See April blog “John Doyle Ancestry”)

Chloe Smith's parents are

Henry Smith

b. between 1734 and 1736; Virginia

In April of 1755 Henry is NOT 21. His step-father is joint in court cases until this time.

1734 BIRTH: Virginia. Henry sells land in December 1755.

1736 BIRTH: Virginia. Henry was born in 1736 according to his testimony given at court in Kaskaskia. He said he was 45 in 1781.

I put 1734. He may have forgotten or wanted to be a little younger in the court case. He was 15 to 20 years older than the rest of the people concerned in the case.

m. 26 May 1761 Bedford County Virginia; (marriage certificate) (See copy in May blog “Henry Smith’s marriages: 1) Mary Burks/Birks, 2) Margaret widow of Gideon Garrett”)

d. between 19 August 1789 and 15 Sept 1789. Killed by Indians place unknown. Will probated in Lincoln County, Kentucky.

and Mary Burks b. abt 1740 Amherst County,Virginia;

She did not need consent when she got married in 1761.

d. 1781. (See Mary’s death segment in May blog “Henry Smith’s marriages: 1) Mary Burks/Birks, 2) Margaret widow of Gideon Garrett”)

5th Gen: Dennis Doyle, Jr's parents are

Dennis Doyle, Sr

b. abt 1700 in Ireland;

m. 9 December 1731 Boston,, Massachusetts;

d. abt 1760 Albemarle County, Virginia

and Elizabeth Cunningham.

This information is from the late Stella Shamo of Hurricane, UT. Her presentation at our family reunion is included in my April blogs “John Doyle and John Dyal and Revolutionary Records” and “John Doyle Ancestry.”

Katherine's parents are unknown but she and her husband are buried in the Brent Catholic Cemetery, a small family cemetery in Stafford Co., VA.

Henry Smith's parents are

Edmond Smith

b. abt. 1710; place unknown (estimated from Henry’s birth)

m. abt. 1733; place unknown (estimated from Henry’s birth)

d. May 1746 Lunenburg County, Virginia (probate court records)

and Anne

b. abt 1714. (estimated)

Anne married William Hays/Hayes after Edmond's death and before September 1747. (Court records)

Mary Burks parents are probably

Samuel Burks, Jr.

b. abt 1704;

m. abt. 1725;

d. 1753 Albemarle County, Virginia (probate records)

and Elizabeth last name unknown

b. abt. 1709.

Mary and her sister Elizabeth’s guardian was John Peartree Burks, brother of Samuel Burks, Jr.

6th Gen: Dennis Doyle's parents in Ireland are unknown.

Elizabeth Cunningham's father is John Kunningham. (Information from Stella Shamo – see above.)

Edmond and Anne Smith's parents are unknown.

Samuel Burks, Jr.'s parents are

Samuel Burks, Sr.

b. abt. 1680;

m. abt. 1703;

d. bef. 12 Feb1756 Saint Anne's Parish, Albemarle, Virginia, (probate records)

and Mary Davis

b. abt. 1685; d. 1770.

7th Gen: * The parents of Mary Davis are
Nathaniel Davis
b. abt 1650;
m. abt 1680
and Elizabeth Hughes
b. abt 1654.

8th Gen: The parents of Nathaniel Davis were
an unknown son of 9th Gen: William Davis and Elizabeth Jonathan.

The parents of Elizabeth Hughes were
a "trader" Hughes, possibly Rice or Rees
m. abt 1650
and an Indian maiden, Nicketti.

9th Gen: There is controversy as to who Nicketti's father was, but Davises say that he was a Cayuga Chieftan and
her mother was Cleopatra (her Anglicized name), half sister of Pocahontas.

* The lineage from Mary Davis (7th Gen) back has not been proven. The information is from the Davis family tradition.

Henry Smith's marriages: 1) Mary Burks/Birks 2) Margaret, widow of Gideon Garrett

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Henry Smith married 1) Mary Birks/Burks in Bedford County, Virginia 26 May, 1761.

Henry Smith married 2) Margaret, widow of Gideon Garrett about 1781 probably in Kentucky. By the time Henry died, Margaret was living in Kentucky. Historians in Garrard County, Kentucky did not know the first wife's name, but knew that Margaret was the widow of Gideon Garrett, so she was probably from Kentucky.

Steps used to find Henry's marriages:

1) Look for spouse of Henry Smith.

Children's guardianship

Henry Smith's will, found in court records of Lincoln County, Kentucky, named his current wife, Margaret, and living children. (See information under "John Doyle married Chloe Smith" proving that Henry Smith of Illinois also lived in Kentucky.) His three eldest daughters, Leddy Duff, Sarah St. Onge and Chloe Doyle were married and are not mentioned in later guardianship proceedings. The other two living children from his first marriage, Henry and Elizabeth, were over fourteen years of age and were old enough to select their own guardians, Samuel and Isham Burks.

Found: Henry Smith married to Margaret, widow of Gideon Garrett.

Margaret, was assigned to be the guardian of her son Liberty Smith, son of Henry, and her son, Henry Garrett-Smith, son of Gideon Garrett. These boys were younger than fourteen, so they were assigned a guardian rather than getting to chose a guardian. When Margaret married a third time to Joseph Jones in 1791, guardianship for Liberty and Henry Garrett was changed to Henry's brothers. The two sons were still less than fourteen years old. Because Henry Garrett, Margaret's son by a previous marriage, and Liberty Smith, her son by Henry are younger than Henry's other children, this shows that Margaret was a second wife for Henry.

2) Find Henry's first wife.

Henry Smith, Jr. and Elizabeth Smith were wards of Isham and Samuel Burks. Court records and the division of Henry's estate show this.

"By Henry Smith Junr Lagacy paid to Isham Burks his guardian 73.9.5
By Chloe Dials Lagacy paid to her husband John Dial agreable to the will 46.8.5
By Elizabeth Smiths Lagacy paid to Samuel Burks her guardian" 69.7.5
(amounts in pounds, shillings and pence)

In researching Samuel and Isham Burks, the guardians for Henry's middle children, it was found that they did not live in Lincoln County, Kentucky at the time, but in a more distant county in Kentucky. They must have some relationship to the family. With both of them having the last name of Burks, it was highly likely that Henry's first wife had the last name of Burks.

3) Look for Henry Smith married to a woman with the last name of Burks.

In court in Illinois, Henry Smith stated that he was a native of Virginia.

4) Look in Virginia for Henry Smith married to a woman with the last name of Burks.

Virginia Records

Records in Botetourt County, Virginia had Henry transferring land with a John Burks. When Henry sold land, his wife was listed as Mary.

5) Look for Henry Smith in Virginia married to a Mary Burks.

The search was expanded to Bedford County, Virginia where at an earlier date, Henry was found having land dealings again with Burks.

In Bedford County a marriage record was found between Henry Smith, bachelor and Mary Birks, spinster. Because consent didn't have to be given, Mary must be of age. The security was John Partree Burks.

Marriage certificate of Henry Smith and Mary Birks showing Henry's signature and the signature of John Partree Birks

Found!! Henry Smith married Mary Burks in Bedford County, Virginia 26 May 1761.

Children listed for John Partree Burks were Samuel, Isham and John Burks. This is the Samuel and Isham who become Henry and Mary's children's guardians. The boys (Samuel, Isham and John) are quite a bit younger than Mary. John Partree Burks also gave consent in Bedford County to the marriage of Elizabeth Burks. Neither time does he give relationship as their father.

Mary's father

In doing further research, John Partree Burks' father was Samuel Burks, Sr. Samuel Sr. had a son, Samuel Jr. who died before Samuel Sr. did. Samuel Jr., John Partree's brother, left many under-aged children. Two of his younger daughters were Mary and Elizabeth. John Partree got married about the time Samuel Jr. died. I believe that John Partree Burks became the guardian of Mary and Elizabeth. Mary and Elizabeth would be raised in John Partree's home and Samuel, Isham and John would be raised as their younger brothers.

John Partree Burks died in Bedford County, Virginia, but his son John Burks was found in many of the same areas as Henry. They both lived in Botetourt County at the same time, having land dealings with each other. They were both at Ft. Jefferson on the Mississipi River at the same time. This is also an indication of family ties.

Mary's death

We learn information about Mary's death in the Draper Papers from correspondence between Col. John Floyd, Mary's second cousin, and Col. William Preston, a neighbor of Henry Smith's family on Pott's Creek in Botetourt County.

1781 APRIL 26 Letter from Col. John Floyd to Col. William Preston. "...and poor Henry Smith has lost his wife and almost the whole family by sickness at Illinois."

The previous letter was written on September 5, 1780.

Summary

Henry Smith married Mary Burks, ward of John Partree Burks, in Bedford County, Virginia on 26 May 1761. Mary died before April 26, 1781. Henry owned land both in Illinois and Kentucky. Shortly after Mary died in Illinois, Henry married Margaret, widow of Gideon Garrett, probably in Kentucky.

Comparison of John Doyles who served in the Revolution

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I am putting these comparisons here so that people can see the differences in the John Doyles who served in the Revolution. Most of this information is from DAR records. Some is from pension records and the information on John D. Lee's ancestor is from research Stella and I did. This newer information on John D. Lee's ancestor, John Doyle, was submitted to DAR in 2007.

No wonder the differences between these four John Doyles has been difficult to sort out. Two came from Pennsylvania, but only one was born there, both served with Pennsylvania troops. Two were born in Virginia, two served with George Rogers Clark, but in different locations, one was born in Maryland and another was married in Maryland, two were privates and two were officers!

1) DOYLE, JOHN (Grandfather of John D. Lee)

Service: VIRGINIA

Rank: PRIVATE

Birth: 1760 Albemarle Co. Virginia

Death: 20 Oct 1819 KASKASKIA RANDOLPH CO ILLINOIS

Service Description: CAPT THOMAS, COL GEORGE ROGERS CLARK

Wife: Chloe Smith.

Parents: Dennis Doyle and Katherine

Children: Elizabeth Doyle Reed Lee and Charlotte Doyle Conner

Note: John D. Lee and Charlotte Doyle Conner filed for a pension for John Doyle. It went to Congress, but was lost in committee. Actions taken are available in the American State Papers.

Note 2: It has long been known that John Doyle married a Smith, a daughter of Henry Smith. Charlotte and Elizabeth, John D. Lee's aunt and mother, inherited land from Henry through their mother. John D. Lee and his sister Eliza also inherited part of the land when their mother died.

2) DOYLE, JOHN

Service: PENNSYLVANIA

Rank: CAPTAIN

Birth: 10 May 1758 WEXFORD IRELAND

Death: 12 May 1850 PHILADELPHIA, PHILADELPHIA CO, PENNSYLVANIA

Service Description: INDEPENDENT CO

Wife: Anna Marie Walsh

Child: James

Notes: There was a John Doyle from Pennsylvania that became a Major. He also went back to Pennsylvania and died. He had several documents in the American State Papers dealing with Congress. This could be the same person. This person could possibly have filed a pension, although it is not listed in DAR records. He was alive late enough to apply.

3) DOYLE, JOHN

Service: MARYLAND

Rank: PRIVATE

Birth: 1748 MARYLAND

Death: 3 Jun 1837 KNOXVILLE KNOX CO TENNESSEE

Pension Number: *S38665 Filed for the pension in person

Service Description:1) CAPT LYNCH
2) COL SMALLWOOD, Lt COL FORREST

This John Doyle had two wives. The first wife is unknown, but the second wife was Evaline Formwalty.

Known children for him are James, John and William. Apparently they are all children of the first wife.

Note: Did not sign his name, but made a mark. This is one of the John Doyle's our John Doyle has been confused with the most. Our John Doyle has had Evaline listed as his wife.

4) DOYLE, JOHN (John Dyal - Descendants are Doyals)

Service: PENNSYLVANIA

Rank: PRIVATE (Later became an officer)

Birth: 27 Nov 1762 WINCHESTER - FREDERICK CO VIRGINIA

Md: on 6 Apr 1797 Christine Davis b. 12 Mar 1778 at Cecil Co. MD

Death: 8 Dec 1845 LEWIS CO. KENTUCKY

Pension Number: S*W2082 He filed for the pension himself and his widow also filed.

Service Description: 1) CAPTS HORD & BENJAMIN WHALEY, Pennsylvania Continental Line.
Also served with Colonel Floyd and George Rogers Clark in Kentucky, Served with Capt Haynes or Hynes company of rangers. John was commissioned a captain in 1789 when his captain died. Also served with Captain Harmer.

Wife: Christina Davis

Children: Rebeckah, David D., John W., Elizabeth, Susanna, Ann, Edward T. and Juan.

Note: He was a Justice of the Peace and High Sheriff of Kentucky.

Note 2: Both our John Doyle and this John Doyle served with George Rogers Clark, but this John Doyle served in Kentucky and our John Doyle served in Illinois. After the Revolution they both returned to the areas where they served.

John Doyle Ancestry

2008-04-30T21:54:00.000-07:00

This is the second half of the presentation given by Stella Shamo at the John D. Lee reunion in September 2007. The first half is under the blog title John Doyle and John Dyal and Revolutionary Records.

John Doyle (John D. Lee's grandfather)
The latest research shows that our John Doyle was born in Albemarle County, Virginia. Albemarle is in the middle of Virginia at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, adjoining the Shenandoah Valley. Charlottesville, where Thomas Jefferson lived during the same time period, is Albemarle's county seat.

John Doyle was born on the Doyle's branch of the Moorman River, probably in or near Doylesville. The Moorman River runs close to the borders of Rockingham and Augusta Counties.

John Doyle's father was Dennis Doyle, Jr. and his grandfather was Dennis Doyle, Sr.

Dennis Doyle, Sr. (John Doyle's grandfather, John D. Lee's 2-gr grandfather) In researching the Doyle line, Stella has discovered that Dennis Doyle, Sr. was born in Dublin, Ireland about 1700. He came to America before 1731 and married Elizabeth Cunningham in Boston, Massachusetts in 1731. We know very little about Dennis Sr. from the time he was married until he came to Albemarle in the late 1730's or early1740's. The earliest we have record of his being in Albemarle is 1741. Dennis Sr. died around 1760, probably in Albemarle. The date and place of his wife's death is unknown.

Between 1741 and the time of his death, Dennis Doyle, Sr. amassed more than 11,000 acres of property along the Moorman River and on both sides of the Doyle's Branch. He raised tobacco on his plantations. In fact, barges used to come up Doyle's Branch to pick up the tobacco to take it to Richmond to be processed. Stella visited this area three years ago (2004) with her niece. Two hundred plus years later, it isn't possible to get a boat up the creek. The little branch is no longer usable for navigation.

Dennis Jr. and Sr. lived in St. Anne's Parish of Albemarle County. Regardless of religious affiliation a person had to join the state church of Virginia, the Episcopalian Church. People paid taxes to the church. Those who belong to a church other than Episcopalian, like the Doyles who were Catholic, had to pay double taxes.

Some people who had to pay double taxes rebelled and set fire to the Episcopalian churches, destroying many records. In addition, the Revolutionary War and the Civil War were heavily fought in the Albemarle area and again, records were destroyed. So it has been difficult to obtain information about the Doyle family in the Albemarle area.

Dennis Doyle, Jr. (John Doyle's father, John D. Lee's great grandfather)
Dennis Jr. was born in 1732, possibly in Boston, Massachusetts, where his parents were married. The earliest records we have found of the Doyles in Albemarle County, Virginia are in 1741. Dennis Jr would be about 9 years old when he arrived in Albemarle. Dennis Jr. married Katherine. Her last name is still unknown.

Dennis Doyle, Jr. and Katherine, moved from Albemarle County to Stafford County, Virginia between 1786 and 1787. Stafford is north and east of Albemarle County. It borders on the Chesapeake Bay across from southern Maryland. Dennis Jr. died in Stafford County in 1795. His Wife, Katherine preceded him in death in 1794. They both were buried in the Brent Family Catholic Cemetery.

Brent Catholic Cemetery (Burial place of Dennis Doyle Jr. and his wife Katherine) The Brent Catholic Cemetery is a small cemetery with an eight-foot fence around it with barbed wire around the top and double-wide steel gates. The land around the cemetery is privately owned, but the road leading from the street and the cemetery are both owned by the Catholic Church. This is the oldest cemetery in the area. Most of the burials are Brent family members with a few Catholic clergy. Because Dennis and Katherine are buried in the Brent Catholic cemetery there is a strong possibility that Katherine is a Brent.

Below are some of the pictures Stella Shamo took of the cemetery when she visited there. You can click on any of the images to make them bigger.

This is a picture of the small outdoor chapel in the Brent Cemetery where religious services are held.

The tombstone of Dennis Jr. and Katherine Doyle is just to the right of the front entrance as seen in the picture below.

This is the tombstone of Dennis Jr. and Katherine Doyle. The yellow paint was sprayed by vandals.

Dennis Jr. and Katherine's tombstone is very large. You can tell by comparing it's size to Stella.

Some of the tombstones in Brent Cemetery were chipped so badly the inscriptions were barely readable. But the writing on the two Doyle tombstones near the front entrance is very beautiful. Because of their excellent condition, Stella wondered if the Doyle tombstones weren't new stones, except for the writing is in the old style with "f's" replacing "s's" and "also" is spelled "allso". The tombstone adjacent to Dennis Jr. and Katherine, to the right in this picture, is Rettfon or Rettson Doyle, relationship unknown. Because of the age given on the tombstone, he could be a brother of Dennis Sr.

Inscription on tombstone:

In Memory of
Katherine Doyle wife of
Dennis Doyle who departed
From this life 25 Oct 1794
In the 62 year of her life
Allso to the memory of
Dennis Doyle husband to
The above said Katherine
Who departed this life
June 30, 1795 Age 63

Although Katherine died first, the fact that she is named first could also be an indication that she is the one related to the Brent family. There are several Katherines in the Brent family, but we have not yet made the connection between Katherine Doyle and the Brent family.

John Doyle and John Dyal and Revolutionary Records

2008-04-30T19:53:00.000-07:00

This is the first half of the information presented by Stella Shamo at the John D. Lee reunion held September 2007.

Searching for information about John Doyle has been very confusing. There were at least 5 John Doyles who served in the Revolutionary War. Separating the John Doyles and their service has been difficult. An example of the confusion is illustrated by the information given by Rev. Edgar Woods in his book, History of Albemarle County in Virginia. Pages 52 and 53 give information about Dennis Doyle and his son, John Doyle, who served in the Revolution.

Woods, Rev. Edgar. History of Albemarle County in Virginia. 1901.(53)

This is an example of combining together information on at least two John Doyles who served in the military during the Revolutionary War. The information that refers to the John Doyle, ancestor of John D. Lee is:

"as in that year (1760) was born within its limits, John Doyle who was in all probability a son of Dennis. At the age of eighteen, John accompanied the march of General George Rogers Clark into the North West Territory. Returning to Albemarle he joined the army and served to the close of the Revolution."

The rest of the information pertains to one or two other John Doyles.

Stella knew that Illinois was part of the Northwest Territory and many of the records for the area are in Indiana. Stella wrote to the Indiana State Library regarding military records. She received a letter back telling her that they didn't have the staff to do the research she needed. But they made an exception to her request because they had recently celebrated the bicentennial of George Rogers Clark capture of Vincennes in Indiana.

Bottom part of the letter Stella received from the Indiana State Library

According to materials submitted to the library by Lt. Col. John A. Doyle of Cincinnati, Ohio, it appeared that there were two John Doyles who served with George Rogers Clark and Col. Doyle had separated them out.

"One signed his name John Dyal, but persons referred to him as Doyal. He was born in Winchester County, Virginia in 1762 and died in Lewis County, Kentucky in December 1845. This person appears to have been more involved in Clark's Kentucky campaign."
"The Doyle that settled in Illinois was probably born on the Doyle's Branch of Moorman's River in Albemarle County, Virginia. His father was Dennis Doyle who was an extensive land owner."

After receiving this information Stella wrote to Lt. Col. John A. Doyle. She was so disappointed to learn that Lt. Col. Doyle had died two weeks before receiving her letter!!

The person who responded to her letter was Dean A. Doyal of Virginia. He was an avid Doyle genealogist who volunteered at the Newport News Family History Center, although not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He had done a lot of research on Doyles and the derivatives of the Doyle name, and published a Doyle newsletter. It was through corresponding with him that Stella was able to separate the military records of John Doyle of Illinois and Dean Doyal's ancestor, John Dyal/Doyal of Kentucky. She received the following information from Dean Doyal about his ancestor. This information came from pension application records.

John Dyal was born in 1762 in Frederick Co. VA
He was the son of Edward Dyal, Jr.
He served with George Rogers Clark, mostly in Kentucky.
He served with Capts. Benjamin Whaley, Benjamin Fields, and Capt. Haynes.
He became a Major.
He married Christina Davis and had eight children.
He died in 1845 in Mason (later Lewis) Co. Kentucky.
He received a pension for his services.

Stella also sent a letter to the Virginia State Library requesting military information on John D. Lee's grandfather, John Doyle. She received two certificates of service, one showing that John Doyle served as a private in Captain Mark Thomas' Company in the Illinois Regiment. Capt. Mark Thomas recruited soldiers from Albemarle County and was one of the captains under Col. George Rogers Clark's command.

The second certificate showed John Doyle's service in the Virginia Continental Line.

Pension applications are a valuable resource of information, but John Doyle, John D. Lee's grandfather died before he could apply for a pension. His wife preceded him in death so she didn't apply for the pension either. After John D. Lee was a grown man, he and Charlotte applied for a pension on behalf of John Doyle, but his petition never left the committee. Through research done by Stella Shamo and Renee Durfee we have been able to piece together the following information on John Doyle:

John Doyle was born in 1760 in Albemarle Co., VA.
He was the son of Dennis Doyle, Jr.
He served with George Rogers Clark mostly in the Illinois area.
He served with Capt. Mark Thomas and the Virginia Continental Line.
He was a private.
He married Chloe Smith.
He died 1819 in Randolph Co. Illinois.
He did not receive a pension.
He did receive a bounty land warrant for 200 acres which he sold in April 1792 to Francis Graves.

Through the help of Lt. Col. John A. Doyle and Dean A. Doyal and Stella's research we have been able to clarify John D. Lee's grandfather's involvement in the military, which helps identify who he was and where he was more clearly.

These are two of John Doyle's records from the National Archive now found on microfilm at the FHL. Both show service in Clark's regiment serving in Illinois.

John D. Lee and DNA

2008-04-12T21:57:00.000-07:00

John D. Lee's paternal ancestry has been particularly difficult to sort out. There has been much speculation as to his lineage. The only known ancestor on the Lee line was his father, Ralph Lee. John D. Lee had very little information about his father and his Lee relatives and believed he was related to Robert E. Lee. Recently, Dr. Terry Lee, a descendant of Aggatha Ann, has been DNA tested and has also enlisted a researcher, Daniela Moneta, to help solve the problem. In addition to research she has been finding Lee men to be DNA tested.

The DNA testing has to be done on the male line. For example, my brothers are descendants of John D. Lee, but their paternal line is Smith. They would not match the Lee DNA, but would match Smith DNA. For the DNA test to work, men have to be found with the Lee last name. The tests will not match up if a child was adopted or if there was some “hanky-panky” among the females of the family.

John D. Lee and Robert E. Lee - DNA

There have been over 165 submissions to a LEE DNA study. Among those are descendants and cousins of General Robert E. Lee.

In addition to Dr. Terry Lee, another male descendant from a different wife of John D. Lee's has submitted his DNA to another study and Terry and he are excellent matches to each other.

According to information on the Lee DNA website, Y-chromosome DNA matches less than about 88% are considered to indicate no kinship via a common Lee male ancestor over the past genealogical interval of about twenty five generations. There have been over 165 Lee men who have submitted their DNA for this study and the descendants of Ralph Lee and John D. Lee have a less than 70% match with any of them. One of the sponsors asked the question if we were really Lees!

So far John D. Lee’s descendants are not a good match with any other Lees in the study, including descendants of Robert E. Lee.

John D. Lee and Josiah Lee - DNA

One theory as to Ralph Lee’s ancestry has been a Josiah Lee b. abt. 1740. Josiah listed three children in his will: Sarah, Josiah Jr., and Keziah. This family looked good because Ralph Lee was an apprentice in Maryland, and this family came from Maryland. Ralph would be born about two years younger than Keziah. Also, interestingly enough, Josiah Jr.'s descendants claimed to be related to John D. Lee.

A descendant of Josiah Jr. could not figure out how his ancestor and John D. Lee could be related. He asked two of his Lee cousins to be DNA tested. The researcher could not be tested because he came through a female line and and the test has to be entirely through the male line. The results on both DNA test have come back with the following results:

The two descendants of Josiah Lee have a 97.7% match with each other.

According to the Lee Project manager, John D. Lee’s descendants,

“have DNA results way out of range for any kinship to the above descendants of Josiah Lee. The match percentage is in the lower 20 percentile range. Further support to this conclusion is via a close match (better than 90%) of this Josiah Lee descendant to two other Lee DNA Genealogy Project participants. The earliest proven ancestor for these two Lee males is: David Lee born 1765 Cumberland Co., MD died 1848, Switzerland Co., IN”

Because the descendants of Josiah's DNA matches the other Lees in the study so well, it is apparent that they are Lees, with no “mistakes” or adoptions on their line.

But it does prove that Ralph’s ancestry is not through Josiah Lee b. abt. 1740.

We will have to continue our search for our Lee ancestry.

To see more information about John D. Lee and Josiah Lee DNA studies, copy and paste this address into your address bar:

genforum.genealogy.com/lee/messages/20727.html

If you are interested in keeping an eye on the DNA tests here is one of the websites: http://dna.ancestry.com

The descendant of John D. Lee is listed as T108037 a descendant of Ralph Lee.

Ralph Lee married Elizabeth Doyle Reed

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Ralph Lee married Elizabeth Reed on the 26th of February 1811 in Randolph County, Illinois. Their marriage license is available from Randolph County, Illinois. *1

In some instances of Family Search, Ralph's wife has incorrectly been identified as Sarah Elizabeth. This information probably came from Nauvoo Temple Index records. *2

This card states that John D. Lee is Sarah Doyle's son.

This card states that John D. Lee is Elizabeth Lee's grandson.

The temple records show that John D. Lee was baptized for his "mother," Sarah Doyle. In addition they show that he was baptized for his "grandmother," Elizabeth Lee. The information regarding relationships was entered incorrectly. This was not unusual for this period of time and under the circumstances, understandable.

John D. Lee's soon to be published1840 journal gave the information as it should have been recorded. On page 112, John D. Lee listed his deceased relatives for whom he was baptized. "Firstly my mother Elizabeth Lee. Grandfather John Doye (sic) Grandmother Doye (sic) Aunt Sarah Doyle, and Father, R Lee."*3 The information on Ralph was missing in the Nauvoo Records Index.

From this journal account it is evident that Sarah Doyle was John D. Lee's aunt, not his mother. His mother's name is Elizabeth.

*1 Randolph County Illinois Recorder. Marriage Record of Ralph Lee and Eliza Reed.

*2 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint. Nauvoo Temple. Baptisms for the Dead 1840-1845. Salt Lake City, Utah: Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1958, 1967, 1972. FHL US/CAN film 0,820,153. Index to proxies 1840-1845 FHL US/CAN film 485753 item 2.

*3 Lee, John Doyle. 1840 Diary. Unpublished. Copy in possession of Carmen Smith, PO Box 339, Central, AZ 85531.

John Doyle married Chloe Smith

2008-03-23T15:11:00.000-07:00

This is the last part of the presentation Renee Durfee gave at the John D. Lee family reunion in September 2007.

John Doyle was married to "Miss Smith" a descendant of Henry Smith, because Elizabeth Lee, Charlotte Conner, then later, Eliza Nichols and John D. Lee received property as heirs of Henry Smith.*1

Elizabeth's land being put in trust for Eliza Reed and John Lee.

Second page shows she received the land as an heir of Henry Smith.

John Doyle gave us the best clues as to his wife's identity. In the early 1800's the government decided to give land to people who had come to Illinois before 1783, were heads of families, and had made improvements to the land. John Doyle had come to Illinois prior to 1783 and was still living in the area and was able to give depositions about the residents who were making claims for land.

When he was asked if he knew a William Smith he stated that William Smith was a relation of his, that William had come to Illinois various times, had raised a crop on his father's land at the little village (St. Phillipe), and that William was still a young and single man when John Doyle had seen him at his father's in Kentucky in 1790.

Original deposition found in Illinois Archives in Springfield, Illinois. These were loose papers that were bound into a book. This had John Doyle's original signature.

Transcription of deposition done by Raymond Hammes.*2

A Smith man had to be found that was related to John Doyle or his wife, owned land near The Little Village, had a son named William, and lived in Kentucky. It seemed logical that the Smith man would be Henry Smith, but Henry did not own land near The Little Village and no Henry in Kentucky had a son named William. But there was a James Smith who owned many acres of land near The Little Village and lived in Mercer County, Kentucky.*3

Transcription of Cahokia Land record done by Raymond Hammes

Mercer County was derived from Lincoln County, Kentucky in 1785 and in 1796 a part of it became Garrard County, Kentucky. Most of the records for James Smith are found in Garrard County. According to James' will in 1798, he had a son named William. *4

Last page of James Smith's will

Two historians in Garrard County, Kentucky have written extensively about James Smith. Fred Simpson, a descendant of James mentions that William was James' son and that James made at least two trips to Illinois. He also stated that James had a brother, Henry who was killed by Indians in 1789. *5

Forest Calico in his "History of Garrard County and its Churches," stated that James Smith, a Baptist minister, had been kidnapped by the Indians in Illinois and ransomed by William Smith. James had a brother named Henry who was killed by Indians on a trading expedition.*6

Henry Smith wrote a will which was probated in September 1789 in Lincoln County, Kentucky. In the will he named his living children. They were: Henry and Liberty Smith, daughters - Chloe Dial (Doyle) and Elizabeth Smith, Letty Duff/McelDuff and Sarah St. Ton/Santon (St. Ange) and a step-son Henry Garrett Smith, son of his second wife, Margaret. *7

In the division of Henry Smith's estate, part of the property and/or money was given to the following people: Chloe Dial's (Doyle) legacy was paid to her husband, John Dial (Doyle), John McelDuff (Duff) received his wife's legacy and Sarah Santons (St. Ange)received her own legacy. *8

Although James and William Smith lived in Kentucky and had property and traveled back and forth from Kentucky to Illinois, did the Henry Smith who had his will probated in Lincoln County, Kentucky have connections to Illinois? John Doyle's depositions again strengthened his relationship to Henry Smith and Chloe.

In November 1812, John Doyle gave one of his longest depositions stating the relationship between John Duff and Jean Baptiste St. Ange. He stated Duff and his Negro built a cabin on some land, but that he might have built it for St. Ange, because St. Ange was his brother-in-law. St. Ange was a married man, living on the east side of the Kaskaskia River in Smith's fort or station.*9

John Duff and J.B. St. Ange were brothers-in-law. They were married to Henry's daughters, Letty and Sarah. John Doyle was married to their sister, Chloe, explaining why he knew so much about their affairs. All three of them resided in Randolph County, Illinois.

John Doyle further strengthened his ties to Henry and Chloe Smith in a deposition given in 1809 explaining when he first came to Illinois, when he left Illinois, where he was for part of the time he was gone, and when he returned. He stated that he came to Illinois on the 17th day of September, 1781 and that he never left [Illinois] until the fall of 1789 and was absent about six years. He was at The Red Banks (on the Ohio River in what is now Henderson County, Kentucky) in May 1794. He was well acquainted with the people of Illinois previous to 1789 and after his return in 1796. [The never was not in Raymond Hammes' transcription creating some confusion.]

Original copy of deposition given by John Doyle regarding William Kelly. Found in the Illinois Archives in Springfield.

Transcription of John Doyle's deposition by Raymond Hammes. A key word was missed which makes the information confusing. *10

It is not coincidental that John Doyle left Illinois in the fall of 1789 and Henry Smith's estate was divided in September 1789. John Doyle received his wife's legacy at that time. We also know that he saw William Smith in Mercer County, Kentucky in 1790 as stated in a previous deposition.

Charlotte and Elizabeth were heirs of Henry Smith through their mother, Chloe Smith. Henry's will only listed property in Lincoln County, Kentucky. That property was given to his sons Henry and Liberty and his wife, Margaret. Henry's will stated that "all of the residue of my estate that is then left and not in this will given away be equally divided between my two sons Henry Smith* and my two daughters, Chloe Dial and Elizabeth Smith."*11

Since Henry's land in Illinois was not mentioned in the will, that is the land that Chloe inherited and passed on to her daughters, Elizabeth and Charlotte, after her death.

John Doyle was married to Chloe Smith, daughter of Henry Smith and cousin of William Smith.

*1 Randolph County (Illinois) Recorder. Randolph County Illinois Land Records Book M. Salt Lake City, Utah : Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1975: 392-399. FHL US/CAN Film 956816

*2 Hammes, Raymond Henry. Declarations and depositions regarding land, taken at Cahokia and Kaskaskia, 1807-1812. FHL US/CAN Film
1543598 Item 17, p. 129.

*3 Hammes, Raymond H. (Henry). Collection of Illinois Records, Volume VII, Cahokia Record Book A, land records, 1790-1797, Salt Lake City : Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1988. Item 3:36 FHL US/CAN Film 1543598

*4 Probate records, 1797-1923, Vols. A-D 1787-1820. Kentucky. County Court (Garrard County). Salt Lake City, Utah : Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1959, 1988. FHL US/CAN Film 183232 Vol. A pg.14.

*5 Simpson, Fred Logan. Back of the Cane: Early Virginia Surveys in today’s Garrard County, Kentucky – 1775-1789. Lancaster, Kentucky : F.L. Simpson, c1992:286 FHL US/CAN 976.9525 R28s

*6 Calico, Forest. History of Garrard County Kentucky And Its Churches. Micro reproduction of original published: New York: Hobson Book Press, 1947: 186. FHL US/CAN Film 467397 Item 4

*7 Kentucky County Court (Lincoln County). Probate records, 1781-1865 Vols. A-B 1781-1808. Will book A: 178-181. FHL US/CAN Film 192227

*8 Kentucky County Court (Lincoln County). Probate records, 1781-1865 Vols. A-B 1781-1808. Will book B: 33-36. FHL US/CAN Film 192227

*9 Hammes, Raymond H. Collection of Illinois Records, Volume XVII, Declaration and Depositions Regarding Lands Taken at Cahokia and Kaskaskia. Salt Lake City: Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1988. XVII:58. FHL US/CAN Film 1543598 ]

*10 Hammes, Raymond H. Collection of Illinois Records, Volume XVII, Declaration and Depositions Regarding Lands Taken at Cahokia and Kaskaskia. Salt Lake City: Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1988. Item 17:128-129 FHL US/CAN Film 1543598

* I don't know if the copier missed Liberty's name, or if it was to be divided between Henry Smith and Henry Garrett Smith. Henry Garrett received the property his father had left him.

*11 Kentucky County Court (Lincoln County). Probate records, 1781-1865 Vols. A-B 1781-1808. Will book A: 178-181. FHL US/CAN Film 192227

John Doyle of Illinois not married to Evaline

2008-03-18T14:03:00.000-07:00

This is the beginning of the presentation given by Renee Durfee at the John D. Lee reunion in September 2007.

Looking at Ancestral File and Family Search, many entries show John Doyle married to Evaline. There was a John Doyle who married an Evaline and lived in Tennessee. Both John D. Lee's ancestor and the John Doyle of Tennessee were Revolutionary War veterans. Initially there was some confusion, but as more records have become available, it was discovered that the John Doyle of Illinois was not the John Doyle who married Evaline.

Records of John Doyle of Illinois and the other John Doyles who participated in the Revolution have been combined, creating multiple errors in genealogical information. There were at least three other John Doyles who took part in the war, a major from Pennsylvania who returned to Pennsylvania, John Dyal/Doyle who also served with George Rogers Clark and moved to Kentucky, and the John Doyle from Maryland who moved to Tennessee and married Evaline.

In order to separate the John Doyles it is necessary to identify what is known about the John Doyle who was John D. Lee's grandfather. A succinct compilation of the information available for John Doyle is given by the Illinois State Genealogical Society stating that John Doyle was buried in Randolph County, Illinois. He settled near Kaskaskia, and taught in one of the earliest schools in Randolph County. He was a scholar. He was listed in the 1810 Census of Kaskaskia. He served as a soldier with Col. George Rogers Clark.*1

It is general knowledge that he had at least two daughters, Elizabeth Doyle Reed Lee and Charlotte Doyle Conner. According to probate records in Randolph County, Illinois, John Doyle died in Randolph County in October 1819.*2

Deposition regarding John Doyle's death signed by James Conner, Charlotte Doyle Conner's husband.

John Doyle was educated and could sign his name. This signature is taken from court records in Randolph County.

The John Doyle who married Evaline was found in Revolutionary War Pension Applications.
A summary of the information is included in this letter to May Doyle Saunders.

According to the information in the folder, John Doyle, who married Evaline, died at the age of 70 on June 3, 1837 in Knox County, Tennessee. His Revolutionary service was with Col. Smallwood's Maryland regiment. The only child listed was a son named William.

"Signatures" from John Doyle of Tennessee's Revolutionary War Pension application

The John Doyle married to Evaline made marks for his signature instead of signing his name.*3

Because of the difference in death dates, residence, Revolutionary War service, children and signatures, John Doyle of Illinois was not the John Doyle of Tennesee who was married to Evaline.

*1 Devanny, Mrs. John S. and Illinois State Genealogical Society. Soldiers of the American Revolution Buried in Illinois. Springfield, Illinois: The Society, 1976. 64. FHL US/CAN Book 977.3 M2s
*2 Probate Records, Randolph County, Box 28.
*3 Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Applications. Letter sent to Mrs. May Doyle Saunders in Chattanooga, Tennessee on February 17, 1937. FHL US/CAN Film 970848