Thanks to
the research skills and work of Toni Langlais, we now have been able to
track down the Lee Family of Lee's Ranch. We don't have much
historic data yet on the ranch itself, other than what's written in
The Little
Colonel in Arizona,
some mentions in subsequent books, and a
letter we have from Annie Fellows Johnston written from the ranch.
And of course the pictures on this page that were all in a small photo
album sent to us by P. K. Noland in Arizona.
From all
these sources we know that the ranch, located just east of Phoenix
in the early 1900s, took in boarders suffering from pulmonary conditions
such as tuberculosis, which was the ailment of her son John, the model for
Jack in the later Little Colonel books.
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"Mr. Lee" |
As for the
Lee's,
The Little Colonel in Arizona
mentions Mrs. Lee and two children, George and Hazel ("She's
the knowingest little thing I ever saw for a child of five.").
We know from the
letter
that Annie Fellows Johnston did not change the Lee family names for her
novel, as was her usual custom. So now we find them in the 1900
Census for Maricopa County (Phoenix), a whole family: William Lee,
the father, age 44 and a schoolteacher, Mrs. Sarah L. Lee, his
Canadian-born wife, age 33, along with their two children George C., age
7, and Hazel, age 2, both born in Arizona. (census for
Township 2 N Range 3 E).
Phoenix in
those days only had a population of around 5,500 so it's unlikely there
could be another Lee family in the area that so closely matches the family
of the stories.
Looking at
later census records, (1910, 1920, 1930) we can tell some more of the
story. In 1910, Mrs. Lee has re-married, and is living in Phoenix on
Adams Street. Her new husband is John Price (46), and only Hazel, of
her two children, is still living. By 1920, we find the daughter
Hazel Lee still living with her now widowed stepfather in
Heard precinct, Maricopa County. She is working
as a bookkeeper. Obviously, her mother has passed away.
In 1930, "Mrs. Lee's" former husband
John Price is living on Roeser Road, Heard pct. Maricopa County.
Next door, is James W. Cardwell, age 38, his wife Hazel B., age 32
(Hazel Lee) and their children, William P. age
8, Jean, age 7 and Sarah I. age 3.
The 1900 census
gives no street names for the area in which the
Lees were living. But we
could see that all their neighbors were farmers. Following two of
those neighbors to the 1910 census, we find them both
on the same street, which is McDowell.
Other streets in the area from that census that still exist today include
Indian School Rd, Thomas Rd. and Camelback Rd..
From this we can deduce
that
the Ware family and the
Lee's, thus Lee's Ranch as well, were around
what is now East McDowell Road in Phoenix,
possibly near the 5300 block which today is in the vicinity of the
Phoenix Military Reservation and Papago Park.
Another interesting connection is that Papago Park (a bit southwest of
where we think Lee's Ranch was located) is the site of
Hole-in-Rock. (See our Camelback
Mountain, Hole in Rock page)
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