Soldier Information
Name: Charles R Lee
Alias:
Place of Birth: Nelson KY Year of Birth: 1823
Occupation: Farmer
Eyes: Black Hair: Black Complexion: Black
Height in Feet: 5 Inches: 8
View Ledger
Enlistment Information
Enlistment Date: May 28, 1865
Enlistment Place: Frankfort
Enlistment State: KY
Compiled Military Service Record
Document: View
Congressional District: 7 (Franklin County)
Company: F Regiment(s): 119th USCI
Mustered Where: Lexington, Kentucky
Mustered Out Date: April 27, 1866
Rank at Muster Out: Private
Notes:
On page 3 of the CMSR (muster information), under “Remarks,” was written “Alex Grant.” Someone added this note in red, “Probably name of owner.” On page 14 (the reverse side of an enlistment document), what appears to be a signature of Charles R. Lee’s enslaver, was likely written by someone else. “Aleck Grant Franklin County,” was written in the space reserved for “Consent in Case of Minor.” Charles R. Lee was not a minor when he enlisted. His enslaver’s name rarely appeared as “Aleck Grant,” and more frequently appeared in newspapers and other documents as either “J. A. Grant,” “J. Alex Grant,” or “Alex Grant.”
Soldier Death Information
Died in war? No
Military Death Date:
Military Death Location:
Military Cause of Death:
Death Date: March 7, 1896
Cause of Death: Drowning
Soldier Pension Information
Pension Card Link: Pension Card
Pension Application Date: December 5, 1887
Application No.: 631132 Certificate No.: 535433
Alternate First Name: Alternate Last Name:
No widow pension card found
No other family pension card found
Pension File Information
Pension File:
Pensioners:
Pensioner County: Marion Pensioner State: IN
Number of Pages:
Pension Notes:
Although Charles R. Lee’s invalid pension card provides no details regarding his disability, at the time of his death in Indianapolis, Indiana, on March 7, 1896, newspapers reported that Lee had been nearly blind for many years and unable to find work. His spouse, Fannie Lee, died about eight months later on December 28, 1896, and does not appear to have applied for widow’s benefits prior to her death.
Freedman’s Bank/Freedmen’s Bureau Information
No Freedman’s Bank information found
No Freedmen’s Bureau Documents found
Family Information
Mother First Name: Mother Maiden Name:
Father First Name: Father Last Name:
Siblings:
Wife #1 First Name: Fannie Maiden Name:
Wife #2 First Name: Maiden Name:
Wife #3 First Name: Maiden Name:
Children: Mary Lee 1851
Sarah Lee 1854
Annie Lee 1859
Family Notes:
According to newspaper reports, Charles R. Lee drowned in Pleasant Run, a stream that flowed through his neighborhood on the southeast side of downtown Indianapolis. On March 7, 1896, Lee was found lying face down in shallow water. His death was ruled a suicide. Charles R. Lee was about 73 years old and nearly blind at the time of his death. Indianapolis newspapers reported that, at the time of his death, Charles was distraught over his recent estrangement from Fannie Lee, his wife of more than 40 years. It was thought that Fannie left Charles because she perceived that he could no longer support her financially. It was a tragic situation. Fannie Lee died later that year from what was described as “senile debility.” Although more research is needed to confirm this assumption, it appears that only one the Lees’ three daughters, their youngest, Annie Lee, moved with her parents from Louisville to Indianapolis. After 1870, no further records were located for their other two daughters, Mary Lee and Sarah Lee. Annie Lee married Robert Martin in Indianapolis in 1884, and lived there until her death in 1924. Annie Lee Smith and Robert Martin had no children.
Family Tree: View
View Family Tree on Ancestry.com Please note: this requires a paid Ancestry.com account to view
1870 Census
1870 Census Link: View
1870 Profession: Baker
1870 Live with/near former enslaver? No
1870 Real Estate Value: 0 1870 Personal Estate Value: 0
1870 Ability to Read? Cannot read Ability to Write? Cannot write
1870 Census Notes:
1880 Census
1880 Census Link: View
1880 Profession: Whitewasher
1880 Live with/near former enslaver? No
1880 Ability to Read? Can read Ability to Write? Can write
1880 Census Notes:
1890 Census
1890 Census information not found
1900 Census
1900 Census Link: View
1900 Profession: None
1900 Ability to Read? Can read Ability to Write? Can write
1900 Own/Rent: Own 1900 Home Free/Mortgage: Mortgage 1900 Farm/House: House
1900 Census Notes:
1910 Census
1910 Census Link: View
1910 Profession: None
1910 Ability to Read? Can read Ability to Write? Can write
1910 Own/Rent: Own 1910 Home Free/Mortgage: Mortgage 1910 Farm/House: House
1910 Census Notes:
1920 Census
1920 Census Link: View
1920 Profession: None
1920 Ability to Read? Can read Ability to Write? Can write
1920 Own/Rent: Own 1920 Home Free/Mortgage: Mortgage 1920 Farm/House: House
1920 Census Notes:
In 1870, Charles R. Lee and family (spouse Fannie Lee, and daughters Mary Lee, Sarah, Lee, and Annie Lee) lived in Louisville, Kentucky. Lee, along with his spouse Fannie and daughter Annie, moved from Louisville to Indianapolis sometime between 1870 and 1880. It is unclear if daughters Mary and Sarah Lee moved with them to Indianapolis or remained behind in Louisville. Charles Lee and Fannie Lee died in 1896. Their only known survivor, youngest daughter Annie Lee Martin, lived in Indianapolis until her death in 1924.
Enslaver Information
Name: John Alexander Grant Location: Frankfort, Kentucky
Previous Enslaver:
Enslaver Notes:
John Alexander Grant (“Alex” Grant) was born in Garrard County, Kentucky around 1830. Shortly after his birth, his parents moved the family to Covington, Kentucky (Kenton County). By the mid-1840s, both of Grant’s parents were deceased (father Moses V. Grant died of dysentery in Texas during the Mexican-American War), and Alex and his four siblings (one brother and three sisters)scattered across Kentucky and southern Indiana. Alex Grant was not found in the 1850 Census, but his brother, William Letcher Grant (1820-1882), a lawyer, lived with his family in Covington, Kentucky. William L. Grant had a distinguished career as an attorney and politician. He served as a city councilman in Covington, and as a Kentucky State Senator in Frankfort. William and his brother Alex Grant appear to have had little in common. They were on opposite sides of the Civil War–William was a staunch supporter of the Union, while Alex served as an officer in the Confederate cavalry. Immediately after the Civil War, William L. Grant advocated for African American education in Covington. He was the driving force behind education for African Americans, and donated the land upon which the first school was built. He was the namesake of Covington’s “William Grant School” and later for the consolidated “Lincoln-Grant High School.” In 1997, a Kentucky Historical Society marker was installed at the site of former Lincoln-Grant High School. Unlike his brother, Alex Grant did little in the way of philanthropy or civil rights. His post-Civil War career was marked by a series politically appointed governmental positions and periods of unemployment. Alex Grant’s wisest decision appears to be his 1852 marriage to Catherine Scott Davis (1833-1913), a member of a wealthy Frankfort family. In fact, it is possible that Charles R. Lee was originally enslaved by a member of wife’s Davis family, rather than the Grant family. Catherine Scott Davis Grant had family roots in Nelson County (where soldier Charles R. Lee was born), but Alex Grant did not. Catherine’s father, William Milton Davis (1808-1836) was from Nelson County, and was buried there along with his parents and other family members. In 1860, Catherine’s twice-widowed and wealthy mother, Arabella Scott Davis Welch (1811-1878), enslaved 16 persons (to Grant’s three). Alex Grant died in early December 1908 at the home of his daughter in Annapolis, Maryland. He is buried in the Frankfort Cemetery, in Frankfort, Kentucky.
1850 Enslaver Census
1850 Census Link: View
1850 Number of Enslaved:
1860 Enslaver Census
1860 Census Link: View
1860 Real Estate Value: 0 1860 Personal Estate Value: $2,500
1860 Slave Schedule Link: View
1860 Number of Enslaved: 2
1870 Enslaver Census
1870 Census Link: View
1870 Real Estate Value: 0 1870 Personal Estate Value: 0
1880 Enslaver Census
Compensation Information
Compensation Application not found