Jeremiah Lee was an African-American pioneer, prospector and mine owner in the mountains around Central City, Colorado.
He was born in 1829 in Martinsburg, Virginia (now West Virginia). When Jeremiah was 12 years old, his family moved to Illinois, and soon thereafter to Weston, Missouri.
When war broke out with Mexico in 1846, the 17-year-old Lee was recruited by Company G of the 1st Missouri Regiment to cook and handle the officers' horses. Under the leadership of Colonel Alexander Doniphan, the contingent marched from Leavenworth, Kansas, into New Mexico (then part of Mexico) and down the Rio Grande, winning the Battle of Brazito near El Paso and the Battle of the Sacramento River near Chihuahua, where Lee suffered permanent hearing damage from cannon fire.
After Doniphan's Expedition was complete, Lee returned to Weston to work on the family farm. In 1850 he followed the Gold Rush across plains and mountains to look for a bonanza in California. One obituary stated that his main mission was to earn the sum required to buy the freedom of his sweetheart, Emily. They wed in 1853 and Lee returned to farming while he and Emily started a family in Leavenworth.
In 1859 Lee was struck with gold fever once again. While Emily remained in Kansas with their three children, Jeremiah set out with a bull train for the mountains of Colorado, where placer gold had been discovered the year before. Lee worked the streams around Empire and Georgetown for four years, returning to Leavenworth every winter. In 1863 he brought his family back with him to Colorado and settled in Central City.
There were plenty of black prospectors in the Rockies. Lee partnered with several of them, including Lorenzo Bowman, Henry Poynter, and Washington Johnson, all of whom helped develop the Argentine Lode in Leavenworth Gulch and made more than enough money from the silver they found to live comfortably.
Jeremiah and Emily had six biological children, four of whom lived to adulthood, and they also adopted a son. The sons never married. The three Lee daughters did, but their husbands all died quite young, and as a result, Jeremiah and Emily had only one grandchild.
Jeremiah died in 1904 and Emily followed in 1907.
Their legacy in Central City is a stately brick house on West High Street which was completed in 1882. Although it was abandoned for a time after the Lees died, the house was eventually restored. Now sometimes called the Lee Mansion, it is considered a Central City landmark.
Shortly before Jeremiah died, one newspaperman wrote that "the story of his life would make a book of intense interest." If only he had written it!
He was born in 1829 in Martinsburg, Virginia (now West Virginia). When Jeremiah was 12 years old, his family moved to Illinois, and soon thereafter to Weston, Missouri.
When war broke out with Mexico in 1846, the 17-year-old Lee was recruited by Company G of the 1st Missouri Regiment to cook and handle the officers' horses. Under the leadership of Colonel Alexander Doniphan, the contingent marched from Leavenworth, Kansas, into New Mexico (then part of Mexico) and down the Rio Grande, winning the Battle of Brazito near El Paso and the Battle of the Sacramento River near Chihuahua, where Lee suffered permanent hearing damage from cannon fire.
After Doniphan's Expedition was complete, Lee returned to Weston to work on the family farm. In 1850 he followed the Gold Rush across plains and mountains to look for a bonanza in California. One obituary stated that his main mission was to earn the sum required to buy the freedom of his sweetheart, Emily. They wed in 1853 and Lee returned to farming while he and Emily started a family in Leavenworth.
In 1859 Lee was struck with gold fever once again. While Emily remained in Kansas with their three children, Jeremiah set out with a bull train for the mountains of Colorado, where placer gold had been discovered the year before. Lee worked the streams around Empire and Georgetown for four years, returning to Leavenworth every winter. In 1863 he brought his family back with him to Colorado and settled in Central City.
There were plenty of black prospectors in the Rockies. Lee partnered with several of them, including Lorenzo Bowman, Henry Poynter, and Washington Johnson, all of whom helped develop the Argentine Lode in Leavenworth Gulch and made more than enough money from the silver they found to live comfortably.
Jeremiah and Emily had six biological children, four of whom lived to adulthood, and they also adopted a son. The sons never married. The three Lee daughters did, but their husbands all died quite young, and as a result, Jeremiah and Emily had only one grandchild.
Jeremiah died in 1904 and Emily followed in 1907.
Their legacy in Central City is a stately brick house on West High Street which was completed in 1882. Although it was abandoned for a time after the Lees died, the house was eventually restored. Now sometimes called the Lee Mansion, it is considered a Central City landmark.
Shortly before Jeremiah died, one newspaperman wrote that "the story of his life would make a book of intense interest." If only he had written it!
Jeremiah Lee was an African-American pioneer, prospector and mine owner in the mountains around Central City, Colorado.
He was born in 1829 in Martinsburg, Virginia (now West Virginia). When Jeremiah was 12 years old, his family moved to Illinois, and soon thereafter to Weston, Missouri.
When war broke out with Mexico in 1846, the 17-year-old Lee was recruited by Company G of the 1st Missouri Regiment to cook and handle the officers' horses. Under the leadership of Colonel Alexander Doniphan, the contingent marched from Leavenworth, Kansas, into New Mexico (then part of Mexico) and down the Rio Grande, winning the Battle of Brazito near El Paso and the Battle of the Sacramento River near Chihuahua, where Lee suffered permanent hearing damage from cannon fire.
After Doniphan's Expedition was complete, Lee returned to Weston to work on the family farm. In 1850 he followed the Gold Rush across plains and mountains to look for a bonanza in California. One obituary stated that his main mission was to earn the sum required to buy the freedom of his sweetheart, Emily. They wed in 1853 and Lee returned to farming while he and Emily started a family in Leavenworth.
In 1859 Lee was struck with gold fever once again. While Emily remained in Kansas with their three children, Jeremiah set out with a bull train for the mountains of Colorado, where placer gold had been discovered the year before. Lee worked the streams around Empire and Georgetown for four years, returning to Leavenworth every winter. In 1863 he brought his family back with him to Colorado and settled in Central City.
There were plenty of black prospectors in the Rockies. Lee partnered with several of them, including Lorenzo Bowman, Henry Poynter, and Washington Johnson, all of whom helped develop the Argentine Lode in Leavenworth Gulch and made more than enough money from the silver they found to live comfortably.
Jeremiah and Emily had six biological children, four of whom lived to adulthood, and they also adopted a son. The sons never married. The three Lee daughters did, but their husbands all died quite young, and as a result, Jeremiah and Emily had only one grandchild.
Jeremiah died in 1904 and Emily followed in 1907.
Their legacy in Central City is a stately brick house on West High Street which was completed in 1882. Although it was abandoned for a time after the Lees died, the house was eventually restored. Now sometimes called the Lee Mansion, it is considered a Central City landmark.
Shortly before Jeremiah died, one newspaperman wrote that "the story of his life would make a book of intense interest." If only he had written it!
He was born in 1829 in Martinsburg, Virginia (now West Virginia). When Jeremiah was 12 years old, his family moved to Illinois, and soon thereafter to Weston, Missouri.
When war broke out with Mexico in 1846, the 17-year-old Lee was recruited by Company G of the 1st Missouri Regiment to cook and handle the officers' horses. Under the leadership of Colonel Alexander Doniphan, the contingent marched from Leavenworth, Kansas, into New Mexico (then part of Mexico) and down the Rio Grande, winning the Battle of Brazito near El Paso and the Battle of the Sacramento River near Chihuahua, where Lee suffered permanent hearing damage from cannon fire.
After Doniphan's Expedition was complete, Lee returned to Weston to work on the family farm. In 1850 he followed the Gold Rush across plains and mountains to look for a bonanza in California. One obituary stated that his main mission was to earn the sum required to buy the freedom of his sweetheart, Emily. They wed in 1853 and Lee returned to farming while he and Emily started a family in Leavenworth.
In 1859 Lee was struck with gold fever once again. While Emily remained in Kansas with their three children, Jeremiah set out with a bull train for the mountains of Colorado, where placer gold had been discovered the year before. Lee worked the streams around Empire and Georgetown for four years, returning to Leavenworth every winter. In 1863 he brought his family back with him to Colorado and settled in Central City.
There were plenty of black prospectors in the Rockies. Lee partnered with several of them, including Lorenzo Bowman, Henry Poynter, and Washington Johnson, all of whom helped develop the Argentine Lode in Leavenworth Gulch and made more than enough money from the silver they found to live comfortably.
Jeremiah and Emily had six biological children, four of whom lived to adulthood, and they also adopted a son. The sons never married. The three Lee daughters did, but their husbands all died quite young, and as a result, Jeremiah and Emily had only one grandchild.
Jeremiah died in 1904 and Emily followed in 1907.
Their legacy in Central City is a stately brick house on West High Street which was completed in 1882. Although it was abandoned for a time after the Lees died, the house was eventually restored. Now sometimes called the Lee Mansion, it is considered a Central City landmark.
Shortly before Jeremiah died, one newspaperman wrote that "the story of his life would make a book of intense interest." If only he had written it!
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