The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1914-12-20
Random Sketches
Lee county's Name.

There Is one peculiar feature in the
history of Lee county, that, although
the question has been much discuss
ed and by pioneers, newspaper writer's
and historians. 1t never has been defin-
itely settled how the name of Lee was
given to the county. There have been
many reasons presented for the orig
lin Of the name which were strnu-
ously presented and made to appear
plausible, but the correstness of each
theory has been met and as plausibly
exploded by the advocates on the OPP
|posite side.
There appeared something plausible
in the claim that the county was
named for the late General R. E. Lee,
commander of the confederate forces
In the war of the rebellion, ieuten-
ant in the regular army when the
county was named, not having been
I in or near this region until 1887, from
which time he was in charge of the
improvements Of the Mississippi .riv-
Ter until 1884,. and 1T. is concluded by
lone historical writer on the subject,
there Is not even as-emote probability
that he had ever been heard of at
Belmont when Lee county was created
land named" in December, 1886.
It is said that there was land
Spectator here from New York cper-
ating in the Half Breed Tract. whose
name was Charles Lee. about the
time the county was created, and it
has been supposed that the county
might have been named for him, but
AS he was private citizen from New
York, it is not any more reasonable to
be expected that he should have been
known In Belmont than an army Of
ticer acting in an official capacity in
this region, and writer who inyesti-
gated the subject is lead to conclude;
There is no evidence to substantiate
this superstition that the county
was named for him.
Then there was Lieutenant Albert
M. Lea, who had in 1885, descended
the Des Moines river in charge as
engineer of an exploring party making
a survey Of its course and rapids. He
surveyed and mapped the shore OF the
Mississippi river in Lee county and
above, in the same year. He was an
officer in General Kearney's command
at old Fort Des Moines, located where
Montrose now stands In 1886 he be-
came extensively known as the author
of book and map of the iowa dis
trict" This publication made his
name familiar to the people Of the
BLACK Hawk Purchase" the year. that
Lee county was named. 1t is said
that many of the prominent citizens
|of pioneer times understood and be
Ilieved the county was named for Al
bert M Lea who gave the name of
Iowa" to the region which after
wards became the state Of Iowa.
1t might be well to write incidental
Lieutenant Lea referred to above
was Notes on the District Of Wiscon-
SIM" which 3 believed the first time
the name Of iowa" was applied to
the country which two years later be-
came the territory Of Iowa and after
wards of the state
One thing against the absolute GER
tainty Of this claim is that the man
for whom the claim Is made spelled
his name Lea, while the county at its
naming was designated Lee, though
the difference in spelling cannot be
taken as fatal to the claim when we
remember that in those early days,
many mistakes Of the kind, though
such errors always leave doubt and
uncertainty in the succeeding years.