Elizabeth Doyle's marriage to Ralph Lee and children

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.