Anthony Lee
Information comes from census records and other information at the Campbell County Historical & Genealogical Society in Alexandria Ky.
Anthony Lee was born about 1795 in Fairfax, Virginia. It is not known at this time if he was a free man of color or was freed after his birth. He was first listed in the 1840 Census in Lexington, Kentucky, as a free black. He had a wife age 24-35 and 1 female child under 10. He was in Campbell County by 1847 where he was listed on the Flagg Spring Baptist Church membership role book as having been received & baptized Jan 1847. (Book #7150-2011-0115, page 101-102 at the Campbell County Historical & Genealogical Society) These pages are from The Kentucky Genealogist, July/September 1982, Vol 25, No 3. Also listed were Mary, received & baptized Jan 1854; Sophia #154, 1864 membership list.
In the 1850 Census for Campbell County, he was listed as working as a farmer in the household of Jannetta Ball in California, Kentucky. With him is Anna Trimble Lee, aged 40 born in Virginia. Jannetta Ball was the widow of Edward Porteus Ball, both of whom came from Virginia. They are related to President George Washington, whose mother was Mary Ball. Across the river from the Ball home was the Parker Academy, which is at Clermontville, Oh. It is believed that Anthony Lee and his family helped runaway slaves from Kentucky to cross the river and then secure them at the Parker Academy. During this time there was a ferry that ran from California across the river to Clermontville.
According to research done by Margaret Hartman, a bill of sale was issued to him in 1851 from Peter Nelson for property from the Nelson estate in Flagg Spring. Bill of Sale to Anthony Lee 1851
In the 1860 Census he was living in Flagg Spring, with Anna Lee, age 56 born Virginia; Sophia Lee, aged 63, born Virginia; and Hager Lee, 96, born in Virginia.
The Draft for the Union Army in Campbell County was done 5 April 1865, at the Provost Marshall's office in Covington. 482 names were drawn out of the wheel. Anthony Lee was one of those names. Cincinnati Dailey Enquirer, 6 April 1865, page 3
From the research done by Theodore H Harris, Hager Lee was born 21 Mar 1751 in Virginia (or one census says Maryland) and came to Kentucky with Lewis Wilcoxen and his wife, Sarah Beall, who was a sister of Benjamin Beall. Lewis Wilcoxen and Sarah Beall married 17 Feb 1796 in Mercer Co Ky. Benjamin Beall and his family came to Campbell County in 1796. The Beall families came from Maryland. Hager Lee died 6 July 1873 in Gubser Mill, Ky. and was buried in the Flagg Spring Baptist Cemetery.
Obituary of Hager Lee; DEATH OF OLDEST PERSON IN THE COUNTY
"On Sunday last, Aunt Hager, a colored woman,
died in the country near Alexandria. She was probably the oldest person in the
United States, being 122 years old, having been born on the 21 of March 1751.
She was a native of Virginia and was brought to Kentucky at an early day of its
settlement by Lewis Wilcoxen, whose wife was a sister of Ben Beall, the elder,
grandfather of Ben Beall, the present Circuit Clerk of Campbell County. At
the time of the old woman's death, she was living in the care of a colored man
names Anthony Lee. She died of old age. For the past twenty years, she has been
blind, but in other respects possessed all her faculties to the last."
Newport Ky. Leader, published in the Louisville Courier
Journal, 14 July 1873, page 3
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In the 1870 Census Anthony Lee was living in Gubser Mill and listed with him was Anna Trimble, age 73; and Hager Thomas, aged 108. In this census, Hager has listed she was a waiter for General Washington.
Anthony Lee died in 1874 and was buried in the Flagg Spring Cemetery in Flagg Spring. Sophia Lee died in 1866 and was buried in the Flagg Spring Cemetery. There is no record of Ann Lee's death but it is assumed she was buried in the Flagg Spring Cemetery along with her husband and Hager Lee.