John Lees married Jane Lowrie in Scotland in 1887. They had four children: Mary, died at the age of seven, and a baby son named Matthew both died the same year in 1901. The census lists John as being a coal miner hewer.
They decided to follow his sister, Catherine Lees Ward, to Butte, Montana, where she would marry Arthur Jackson, in 1905. It was customary for the men to travel first, secure a home and a job, then send for their families.... And that's exactly what they did.
In 1907, John's wife, Jane, left Scotland with their two remaining children, Catherine and John Joseph and joined her husband. They entered through the port at Quebec, Montreal, Canada on the S. S. Sicilian.
Although the Lees family was from Scotland, they were of Irish Catholic descent. The story goes that my maternal grandmother's grandfather, John O'Neill, left Sligo, Ireland, and went to Scotland probably near the time of the Great Potato Famine, married, had a son, Matthew, and then changed his surname to Lees. He married Catherine Martin and there they had several children until his wife's death on January 1, 1874, after the birth of their son, Peter. Wife, Jane, died in Butte in 1917. Their daughter, Catherine Lees McLaughlin also died that very year in childbirth. John married Mary M. Martin Dooris and she had 8 children with Mr. Dooris.
Most of this side of the family, the Lees, Ward, Robinson, and Dooris' families, left Butte about the time of the Spanish Influenza. Death was everywhere as times were very tough living in Butte as the city had it's own standards for keeping the city from socializing and it was not enforced as it was throughout the rest of the county. This is why there were even more deaths in the region. They went to Seattle, WA, and I was told the men all traveled like hobos under the trains. They found jobs, then they sent for their families to meet them.
He was buried August 30, 1941
They decided to follow his sister, Catherine Lees Ward, to Butte, Montana, where she would marry Arthur Jackson, in 1905. It was customary for the men to travel first, secure a home and a job, then send for their families.... And that's exactly what they did.
In 1907, John's wife, Jane, left Scotland with their two remaining children, Catherine and John Joseph and joined her husband. They entered through the port at Quebec, Montreal, Canada on the S. S. Sicilian.
Although the Lees family was from Scotland, they were of Irish Catholic descent. The story goes that my maternal grandmother's grandfather, John O'Neill, left Sligo, Ireland, and went to Scotland probably near the time of the Great Potato Famine, married, had a son, Matthew, and then changed his surname to Lees. He married Catherine Martin and there they had several children until his wife's death on January 1, 1874, after the birth of their son, Peter. Wife, Jane, died in Butte in 1917. Their daughter, Catherine Lees McLaughlin also died that very year in childbirth. John married Mary M. Martin Dooris and she had 8 children with Mr. Dooris.
Most of this side of the family, the Lees, Ward, Robinson, and Dooris' families, left Butte about the time of the Spanish Influenza. Death was everywhere as times were very tough living in Butte as the city had it's own standards for keeping the city from socializing and it was not enforced as it was throughout the rest of the county. This is why there were even more deaths in the region. They went to Seattle, WA, and I was told the men all traveled like hobos under the trains. They found jobs, then they sent for their families to meet them.
He was buried August 30, 1941
John Lees married Jane Lowrie in Scotland in 1887. They had four children: Mary, died at the age of seven, and a baby son named Matthew both died the same year in 1901. The census lists John as being a coal miner hewer.
They decided to follow his sister, Catherine Lees Ward, to Butte, Montana, where she would marry Arthur Jackson, in 1905. It was customary for the men to travel first, secure a home and a job, then send for their families.... And that's exactly what they did.
In 1907, John's wife, Jane, left Scotland with their two remaining children, Catherine and John Joseph and joined her husband. They entered through the port at Quebec, Montreal, Canada on the S. S. Sicilian.
Although the Lees family was from Scotland, they were of Irish Catholic descent. The story goes that my maternal grandmother's grandfather, John O'Neill, left Sligo, Ireland, and went to Scotland probably near the time of the Great Potato Famine, married, had a son, Matthew, and then changed his surname to Lees. He married Catherine Martin and there they had several children until his wife's death on January 1, 1874, after the birth of their son, Peter. Wife, Jane, died in Butte in 1917. Their daughter, Catherine Lees McLaughlin also died that very year in childbirth. John married Mary M. Martin Dooris and she had 8 children with Mr. Dooris.
Most of this side of the family, the Lees, Ward, Robinson, and Dooris' families, left Butte about the time of the Spanish Influenza. Death was everywhere as times were very tough living in Butte as the city had it's own standards for keeping the city from socializing and it was not enforced as it was throughout the rest of the county. This is why there were even more deaths in the region. They went to Seattle, WA, and I was told the men all traveled like hobos under the trains. They found jobs, then they sent for their families to meet them.
He was buried August 30, 1941
They decided to follow his sister, Catherine Lees Ward, to Butte, Montana, where she would marry Arthur Jackson, in 1905. It was customary for the men to travel first, secure a home and a job, then send for their families.... And that's exactly what they did.
In 1907, John's wife, Jane, left Scotland with their two remaining children, Catherine and John Joseph and joined her husband. They entered through the port at Quebec, Montreal, Canada on the S. S. Sicilian.
Although the Lees family was from Scotland, they were of Irish Catholic descent. The story goes that my maternal grandmother's grandfather, John O'Neill, left Sligo, Ireland, and went to Scotland probably near the time of the Great Potato Famine, married, had a son, Matthew, and then changed his surname to Lees. He married Catherine Martin and there they had several children until his wife's death on January 1, 1874, after the birth of their son, Peter. Wife, Jane, died in Butte in 1917. Their daughter, Catherine Lees McLaughlin also died that very year in childbirth. John married Mary M. Martin Dooris and she had 8 children with Mr. Dooris.
Most of this side of the family, the Lees, Ward, Robinson, and Dooris' families, left Butte about the time of the Spanish Influenza. Death was everywhere as times were very tough living in Butte as the city had it's own standards for keeping the city from socializing and it was not enforced as it was throughout the rest of the county. This is why there were even more deaths in the region. They went to Seattle, WA, and I was told the men all traveled like hobos under the trains. They found jobs, then they sent for their families to meet them.
He was buried August 30, 1941
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