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187. Mary (Mamie) Lee O'BRYAN
was born on 18 Dec 1873 in Puducah, KY. She The family deed: on 8 Feb 1883
in Henderson County, KY. Book 8 page 28
This indenture made and entered into this 8th of February 1883, between John
O'Bryan and H. A. O'Bryan his wife of the first part and Mary H. Lee of the second
part all of Henderson County, KY. Witnessed: That for and in consideration of
One Hundred Dallars Paid this day receipt of which is herby as knowledge the
said parties of the first part have bargained and sold and hereby convey with
General Warranty into said party of the second part the following lot to grained
in the City of Herdson, KY in Breakenridges enlargement to said City being lot
N. 52. started on North side of 2rd sheet and fronting 50 feet on said sheet
and running back to 3rd sheet 225 -2" none the lest and being some as conveyed
to John O'Bryan by Maria Breakenridges and James P. Breakenridges and recorder
in the Deed Book No 6. page 370 Witness and hands day and date above written.
John O'Bryan
M. A. O'Bryan
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Book 8 page 28
State of Kentucky Henderson County
I Geo W. Smith clerk of the Herderson County Court do certify that this Deed
from John O'Bryan and Mary A. Bryan his wife to wife to Mary M. Lee was in the
21st day of February 1883 acknowledged before me in my office by the said John
O'Bryan and M. O'Bryan act and deed and the same is with this certificate hereby
record in my office Witness my hand this 7th day of March 1883.
Geo W. Smith Office
By Thos H. Sevesby Dc.
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Book 20 Page 141
This Deed between the Herderson Building and Loan Association Grantor and M.
A. Lee Grant Witnessed that Grantor in consideration of ($950.00) Nine Hundred
and Fifty Dollars paid and to be paid as follows $300.00 each in hand paid and
$325.00 due and payable in August 1st 1895 with 6% interest for date until paid--evidenced
by Grantees promiser notes of even date herewith the except of which is hereby
acknowledged do hereby sell transfer and convey to Grantee his heirs and assign
the following--property___. A certain hours and lot in the City of Henderson,
Henderson County KY deserved or designate Fronting 50 feet on second Street running
back that with to third street same being a potion of lot conveyed to Henderson
building and Loan Asseration by John O'Bryan see Deed Book 8 page 506 Henderson
County clerks office.
I have and to hold the same withal apparentness hereon to Grantee his hers and
assigns forever with servant General Warranty Grantor relinquish all right of
homestead a line is retained for unpaid purchase price
Witness hands of Grantors this 28th day of July 1893
The Henderson B& L Associations.
by W. B. Johnson Prest
State of Kentucky
County of Henderson Sev.
I J. H. Hart, Clerk of the Henderson County Court do certify that the forgoing
Deed from Hendsons J. B & L. Associations. to M. A. Lee was this day before
me in my County acknowledged by W. S. Johnson Prest of Assn., to be his act
and deed and the act and the act and deed of said Association and same is with
this certificate truly recorded in my office Given under my hand this day
29th day of July 1893.
Jeff Hart Clerk
By D.B. Hart D. C.
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Book 20 Page 211
State of Kentucky
Henderson County Sev.
I J. H. Hart, Clerk of the Henderion County Court do cerfify that the forgioing
Deed from B H Gedhart & others to Wm Mehn and was on the 20 th day of July
1893 in my county before my legal deputy M. A. O'Brian acknowledged by G H Gebhart
and to be their act and deed as appears from a endorscment on said deed in the
proper handwriting of and said O'Brian in works and figures as forllows Vig Anknowledge
by C H Gedhart and his wife Mrs. Maggie Gebhart and Wm. Mehn and his wife Mrs.
Angesta Mehn to be their act and deed this July 20th 1893 J H Hart County Cleck
by M A O'Brain D C and same being this day lodged for record is with this certificate
truly recorded in my office Given under my hand the 4th day of September
1893
J H Hart Clerk
By D B Hart D C MEMORIES OF MY GRANDMOTHER
MRS. AMANDA P. DORSEY LEE -TURNER
BY MARY LEE O’BRYAN
Much of my early childhood was spent in the home of my grandmother, who at that
time lived near Smith Mills, Henderson County, Kentucky.
My grandmother, as I remember her best on Sunday when dressed for church, looked
like a figure just stepped out of a Godey Magazine pictures. She was very dainty
in appearance and when dressed for church, as I liked her best in her black satin
skirt, gray satin-brocaded polonaise and a little dress-bonnet tied on with a
big bow of ribbon under her chin, she looked the real lady that she was.
Because I had no children playmates in the home I must have tagged around after
my grandmother and plagued her with questions. I liked to listen to her tell
about her own childhood and her childhood home, how her father and mother came
overland from the north side of Chesapeake Bay in Maryland to Kentucky, locating
first at or near Louisville, KY and later coming to Henderson county. Later
the town of Cordon, KY was built partly on this farm.
Grandmother told me about her Grandmother Hall, her mother’s, Mother, who
came to Kentucky with her mother from her home in Maryland and made her home
with them. Her Grandmother Hall always used thee and thou in talking. (was
probably of the Friend Society) and did not like to see her granddaughters wear
ribbons in their hair, lace or ribbon-trim on their dress, or dress in anyway
that expressed vanity.
My grandmother, as a young girl, had her own maid, a young colored girl, a daughter
of one of her father’s slaves and who was only a few years older than grandmother.
Her name was Liza, and as long as Liza lived she was devoted to my grandmother,
and faithful to her many years after the slaves were freed. Grandmother used
to take me with her on her visits to Corydon, KY to visit her brother Dr. Nicholas
Dorsey and her sister, my great-aunt Mary Ann Walton. We would drive old Henry,
grandmother’s old bay horse to a light buggy and always before we left town
we would drive around to see Liza, the colored slave maid who owned her own home
in Corydon, KY a little cottage with a yard full of bright flowers. Liza would
run out to meet us with her arms thrown up, saying "If it aint Miss Mandy"
Grandmother said she knew nothing about cooking, washing or ironing as a girl
as her parents had slaves who did all such work, but she and her sisters were
not idle, they spun and wove linens and cloth and sewed. They not only make
their own clothes the slaves wore. My grandmother sewed beautifully, I well
remember the beautiful lace she would make, knitted lace of very fine thread
and a lace worked on net, that she trimmed my little clothes with. After the
slaves were freed she learned to be a good cook, but she never mastered the art
of washing and ironing.
My grandfather Lee, my father’s father, whose name was Washington Lee, died
quite young leaving my grandmother a widow at the age of twenty-eight and with
five little children. At the time I make my home with her she was living with
her second husband, Squire Harvey Turner, who she married after all her children
were grown and married. This grandfather Turner was very kind tone always but
he did not live many years after he and grandmother were married.
Grandmother must have been very devoted to my grandfather Lee, she liked to talk
to me about him and often while talking of him she would wipe a few tears from
her eyes. She told me his parents came to Kentucky from Virginia just south
of the Chesapeake Bay about the time her parents left Maryland for Kentucky,
and they also settled at or near Louisville, Kentucky. Grandmother did not talk
much about grandfather Lee’s family, I don't believe she knew them very
well, they must have always lived some distance from her. She told me Grandfather
Lee had a twin sister, named Mary, who had visited her coming down from Louisville,
and was Married to a man by the name of Neal, or Neel, and that she had named
her youngest daughter Mary, after this twin sister of Grandfather’s. (I
was named Mary after my father’s sister Mary, the third Mary Lee.)
It seems that this Aunt Mary Neal, the twin sister of Grandfather Washington
Lee, kept in touch with grandmother and her children after grandfather Lee’s
death for grandmother told me that at the beginning of the Civil War. Aunt Mary
Neal wrote my father’s oldest brother, my Uncle Samuel Dorsey Lee, and told
him of his relationship to General Robert E. Lee, but unfortunately, I do not
remember her telling me just what the relationship was. (Since writing this
I find my father and General Robert Edward Lee were third cousins).
Grandmother’s description of grandfather Lee was that he was a very tall,
straight man and she could stand under his arm when he extended it. He was a
devout Methodist and taught a Sunday School Class, he always want with his family
to Sunday School and church. He was a carpenter contractor and built homes.
She told me of their home in Princeton, Indiana, where most of her memories
of grandfather’s life seemed to be. Grandfather Lee died while they were
living at Princeton, Ind. and was buried there. After his death grandmother
brought her children back to Corydon, KY. And made her home with her mother,
Grandmother Nancy Ann Dorsey.
Grandmother’s oldest brother, Dr. Nicholas Dorsey, graduated in medicine
with the first class from the Kentucky medical College, at Louisville, KY. And
settled near his father’s home to practice medicine. He married a girl
who lived in Corydon, Indiana.
Grandmother died at the home of her youngest daughter, my Aunt Mary Lee Denton,
and is buried in the Dorsey cemetery at Corydon, KY.
Copy Mrs. Bates letter of May 5, 1927
In reading thru the family book. I see Ezra had a son Owen who had a son Thomas
Henry, Dallas, Texas. Now living.
Mrs. Herndon, I have given you all I thought you might be interested in, however,
if at any time you desire to know of any of the other members of this family
and I find I am able to assist you. I will only be too glad to do so; do not
hesitate to call upon me at any time.
I also want to thank you for sending them to those other persons names and addresses
and I will write them I get to feeling better. If you happen to find in your
library at any time anything concerning Hendersons and Calloway's, that is the
birth dates, ect., I will consider you have done me a great favor by sending
them to me.
My father, John B. Dorsey the son of Martha Cannon (Estill) Dorsey, the daughter
of Eudocia (Henderson) Estill, the daughter of Samuel Henderson and Betsy Calloway,
is the relation I bear to Betsy Calloway
Sincerely,
Mrs. William B. Bates
(Lee Mary Estell Dorsey)
1508 Westheimer Rd.
Houston, Texas
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This is to certify that I, Mary D. Lee O'Bryan of 1607 Madison St., Paducagm
Ky., lived at different times with my grandmother, Mr.s Amanda P. Dorsey, Lee,
Turner at Smith Mills, Henderson county, Kentucky, and often, with her visited
her brother Dr. John N. Dorsey, of Corydon, Henderson County, Kentucky. I know
that he was her brother.
This November 28, 1942
Mary D. Lee O'Bryan
(The above copy of paper sworn to for Mrs. Charlotte D. Schroth to us in making
application for membership in the D.A.R.
Mary O'Bryan work long and hard on the Lee, Hall, Dorsey, and Ward genealogy
line.
She was married to Jon W. O'BRYAN on 26 Jan 1915 in Paducah KY. Miss Lee
and Mr. O'Bryan Marry
Mr. J. W. O'Bryan and Miss Mary Lee left this morning for St. Lours, MO., where
they will be married this evening at 6 o'clock by the Rev. Grant A. Robbins,
pastor of the Union Methodist Episcopal church From St. Louis they will leave
for a wedding trip to New Orleans, Jacksonville and other southern points. After
February 10, they will be at the home at 950 Trimble street.
Miss Lee is the second daughter of Mrs. Mattie E. Lee, of this city and is a
talented and accomplished young woman with a wide circle of friends. Mr. O'Bryan
is a well know and popular traveling electrician for the Illinois Central rail
road on the southern lines and has a host of friends in Paducah.
Jon W. O'BRYAN was born on 3 Aug 1864 in Hoper County. He died
on 16 Jan 1919 in Paducah KY. J. W. O'Brain, 53 years of aged died at Riverside
hospital at 9:55 Thursday night. His death resulted from intestinal trouble.
Mr. O'Brain was born and reared in Dawson Springs, KY, but had made his home
in Paducah for a number of years. He resided at 1607 Madison Street. Mr. O'Bryin
survived by his wife and two children, Miss Louise O'Brien, of Louisville and
Leech O'Bryin of Fulton. He is also survived by two sisters. Mrs. Dixon Henson,
of Madisonville and Mrs. James D. Meadows of Dawson Springs; and by three brothers
T. H. O'Brien, of Dawson Spring , H. J. O'Brain, of East St. Louis and William
O'Brain, of Madisonville.
The funeral services will be held from the residence on Sunday afternoon at 1:15
o'clock. The Rev. H. W. Broods, of the Fountain Avenue Methodist Church, will
conduct the service. The pall bearers will be: J.W. Frakes, J.M. Rouse, G.Z.
Umbaugh, of Union. Encampment NO. 70; S. f. Bucharian, G. F. Fields, W. H. Householder,
of Ingleside I. O. O. F. No. 195.
J.W. O'Brien, 53 years of age died at 9:45 o'clock last night of Riverside hospital,
Mr. O'Brien had made his home at 1607 Madison street for some time. He is survived
by his wife: by three brothers, T.H. O'Brien, of Dawson Spring, H. J. O'Brien
of East St. Louis and William O'Brien of Madisonville, KY. by one son, Leach
O'Brien, of Fulton: and by one daughter, Miss Louis O'Brien, of Louisville.
The funeral arrangement have not been announced.