Eric Musgrove
Contributor
Last week, we began a discussion of one of my relatively obscure ancestors, Wiley Lee. Today, we'll finish this look into some of my own family's past. Despite his willingness to help neighbors in need, existing records and family stories tell that Lee had a temper, especially when it came to fighting for something that he believed in. This created at least one court record in the Suwannee County Courthouse. In helping my cousin with the research of our common ancestor, I quickly found an old court case. Knowing of the family stories that Lee had a fiery temper, we were both very curious when the court case turned out to be a charge of murder in the first degree against him. According to the case, on Feb. 16, 1893, Lee shot and killed Will Davis with a double-barreled shotgun. The court records do not go into great detail as to the reason for the incident. However, I asked my great-grandmother (Lee's granddaughter) about it before her death in 2014 at the age of 101. She told me that Davis had made fun of the chest size of one of Lee's daughters (one of my great-grandmother's aunts), and the situation escalated from there! Suwannee County was a different place during the late 1800s and early 1900s, and gunfights were not uncommon. Lee posted $3,000 bail with the help of Dr. Silas Overstreet (who was also called as a witness during the trial), George Bravaldo and other prominent citizens of the day. A jury was selected and, along with presiding Judge John F. White (who I have recently written about), heard testimony from all surviving parties and witnesses. The records indicate that Davis had followed Lee and then fired the first shot, injuring Lee in the process. After hearing all the evidence, on Nov. 20, the jury (with B. A. Peek as foreman) found Lee not guilty of first-degree murder and instead found the death to be a justifiable homicide. Lee was released to continue recuperating from his injuries. Lee died on Sept. 4, 1904, at the age of 51; family records indicate it was from an unfortunate incident without giving any details. He was buried in the Mt. Gilead Cemetery near Falmouth. His widow Celia, with 12 children (including Lee's son by his first wife) to support, was too poor to provide a proper headstone. Instead, she planted cedar trees at the head and foot of the grave. Those cedar trees still exist today (assuming they were not blown down in the hurricanes we have had over the last year), overlooking Lee's final resting place. Lee's descendants provided a proper headstone for him in 1992. Celia continued to care for the children in the family despite several financial hardships that are evident in various court records. In 1920, she moved to Winter Haven, Fla., where she and several children became well-known citizens of the area. Celia E. Jackson Lee died in Winter Haven on Sept. 28, 1932. The local newspaper listed her as "one of the city's best-known residents." Among the family members who still resided in Winter Haven at the time were her children, Lena, Bessie, Jesse, Grady, Rufus and Elmer, along with her brothers John and Dan Jackson. Her other surviving children (including my great-great grandmother Luna) continued to live in Suwannee County, where many of their descendants live today. Join me next week as we look at more Suwannee County history. Eric Musgrove can be reached at ericm@suwgov.org or (386) 362-0564.
