Figure of the Week

James Oscar Lee (1847-1908) was the son of William Lee (1814-1879) and Sarah H. Rowe (c.1821-1896).  A native of King George County, Virginia, James was born at White Hall and moved when a child to Willow Dale in lower Stafford County.  In 1873, he married Lucy A. Luck (1854-1931), the daughter of John M. Luck (1827-1888) and Mary Ann Rowe (1824-1902).  In 1870, James was Collector of Taxes for the Falmouth Township.  He served on the Stafford County Board of Supervisors from 1881 until his death in 1908 and was chairman for much of that time.  According to one obituary, James O. Lee was an “active and influential member of the Old School Baptist Church.”  His wife had another obituary published in the Baptist newspaper, Gospel Messenger, in which she stated that she and her husband had been baptized together at White Oak Church in April of 1879 by Elder John Clark (1804-1882).  Clark also preached at Chappawamsic Baptist Church in northern Stafford and at Union Church in Falmouth.  James O. Lee served as clerk of White Oak Church for the last 25 years of his life.  On Sept. 28, 1908, a rainy  morning, he went to harness his horse to go to the courthouse and fell from a ladder in the hay barn, breaking his back.  He never recovered and died in his sleep on October 11.  He was buried in the family cemetery at Willow Dale.