Gordon Alden LEE

Notes:

Shown as an adopted son in the 1930 census. Not listed with his mother and step-father in the 1940 census.

He lived in Waterville, Minnesota, at the time of his mother’s death in 1981.

According to one of his nieces: “Gordon Alden, went by Anderson until adulthood when he went by Lee. He died 16 Jan 2009 at the age of 91 in Waterville, Le Sueur, Minnesota, and was buried next to his wife Thelma Delores Cram Lee. There is an interesting story in conjunction with his death. He seems to have died during that terribly cold winter and was not discovered. The national nightly news comentator, Brian Williams, featured this on his show saying this should never happen in America where we often live alongside neighbors, friends and family. The neighbors hadn't seen him for a while so they called in the police to check on him. He was found frozen to death in his home. The gas heat had quit and he was angry about the company shutting off his gas, but they told him they had not. Apparently his furnace broke and he was too angry to think that could be the problem. He was found wrapped in layers of clothing and next to the phone. He may have had a heart attack, and froze to death that night in the 20 below freezing weather.”

His obit:

Gordon Alton Lee, 91, of Waterville, died Friday, Jan. 16, 2009, at his residence in Waterville.
?Born in Minneapolis on Sept. 18, 1917, he was the son of Andrew and Nancy (Darby) Lee. He attended school in North Dakota and following his schooling, worked for farmers in North Dakota as well as the Waterville area. Gordon later worked at Backmans Produce in Waterville grading poultry before entering the U.S. Army. Following his discharge, he returned to Waterville and worked at a service station and later operated a dragline digging ditches. He married Thelma Lee on July 31, 1938, in Faribault. Gordon also built bridges for M & St. L railroad before finally working for McQuay in Faribault building air conditioning units.
?He is survived by four half-siblings; Esther Pagel of Albert Lea, Joyce Nelson of Carson, N.D., Donald Anderson of Salem, Ore., Vernon Anderson of Salem, Ore.; as well as several nieces and nephews.
?Gordon was preceded in death by his parents; his wife; one brother and three sisters.
?Graveside services will be held at a later date at Sakatah Cemetery in Waterville. Prosch-Dennis Funeral Home in Waterville is assisting with arrangements.

He registered for the draft at Fort Snelling on 3 Mar 1945 as Gordon A Lee. He was married, had a grammar school education, and was employed in civilian life as a semi-skilled laborer.

Birth:
Minneapolis in his obit. Not listed in the MHS birth certificate index.

Gordon married Thelma Delores CRAM on 31 Jul 1938 in Faribault, Rice County, Minnesota. Thelma (daughter of William CRAM and Julia MATZ) was born on 10 Jul 1919 in Le Sueur County, Minnesota; died on 9 Apr 2002; was buried in Sakatah Cemetery, Waterville, Le Sueur County, Minnesota. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Married:
According to his obit. Not listed in MOMS.

Andrew married Nancy Emily DARBY. Nancy (daughter of Moses DARBY and Mary Bell CLAYBURN) was born on 10 Dec 1891 in Osceola, St. Clair County, Missouri; died on 2 Dec 1981 in Salem, Marion County, Oregon; was buried in Lee Mission Cemetery, Salem, Marion County, Oregon. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Oregon Death Certificate: 81-20789

Notes:

Or Emmaline.

She is shown in the 1930 census as having been 24 years old when she was first married.

As Nancy Emily Lant, b. 10 Dec 1891, d. 2 Dec 1981, in Marion County, Oregon, she was the spouse of Lester. Her SS# was issued in North Dakota before 1951.

According to one of her granddaughters: “Her parents were Moses Darby and Mary Bell Clayburn, born in Missouri and had 3 brothers and a sister. She married William Gustaf Anderson who was a widower with 5 living children. She had one son of her own from a previous relationship. Together they had 8 more children, my mother being one of them. After Grandpa died, Grandma Nancy married Lester Lant. She outlived Lester and remained a widow until she died in 1981, lacking 8 days of being 90 years old.”

According to another granddaughter: “Nancy Emmaline Darby Anderson Lant was never married before marrying William Gustav Anderson. She had a baby boy fathered by Andrew Lee in 1917, but Andrew had a wife and family and left her immediately to go back to his family. Nancy was devastated, but loved her baby and raised him by herself until she married Bill who treated him as his own.”

An obit:

Nancy Emily Lant, 89, of 672 Hawthorne NE, died Wednesday in St. Timothy Nursing Home.

She was born in Osceola, Mo. and moved to Salem in 1946. She was a member of the First Christian Church.

Survivors include her sons, Vern and Don Anderson, both of Salem, Virgil Anderson, Bellflower, Calif. and Gordon Lee, Waterville, Minn., daughters, Louise Johnson, New Richland, Minn., Betty Swenson and Esther Pagel, both of Albert Lea, Minn., and Joyce Nelson, Salem, sister, Martha Rugg, Minneapolis, 51 grandchildren, 52 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild.

Graveside services will be at 3:30 p.m. Monday in Lee Mission Cemetery.

Notes:

The only white Moses Darby in the 1900 census lives in the “State Lunatic Asylum, Number Three” in WashingtonTwp, Vernon County, Missouri. That Moses can read, write, and speak English, but no other data is provided for him in the census.

He’s still there in the 1910 census, now shown as age 51 and born in Missouri. He is listed as being unable to read or write.

Moses married Mary Bell CLAYBURN. Mary was born in Sep 1860 in Missouri. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Or Clabourne, the mother’s maiden name listed in Martha Rugg’s death certificate. It was Claburn in the 1900 census.

In the 1900 census, as Mary B Darby, she lived in Taylorville Twp, Christian County, Illinois, with her three children and her mother, 62 year-old Martha Claburn. She had been married for 12 years although no husband is listed for her. She had had five children, only the three still living. Those three children were Nancy, b. Dec 1891, Martha, b. Feb 1894, and Corbin, b. Nov 1895. Corbin’s father was born in Kansas, Martha’s father was born in “Miss”, and it’s not clear where Nancy’s father was born.