Jonathan Lee was born 10 May 1817 to Thomas Lee, a labourer, and Anne Cooke his wife.[1] He was the 11th of 12 children, the family eventually having 6 girls and 6 boys. Although not all of his siblings lived to adulthood, of those that did many lived into their 80s. Within a month Jonathan was baptised at the local church.[2]
On 22 March 1836, at the age of 19, Jonathan married Sarah Holgate, who was the same age.[3]
On the 1841 census,[4] Jonathan and Sarah were living on Rawcliffe bridge with their children Thomas (1837)[5] and Mary (1839).[6] He was still living near his parents, who lived at Rawcliffe connections[7] (on the next page of the census) and was, like his father, working as a labourer. Sarah must have been pregnant at the time of the census as the couple had a daughter Anne later that year.[8] Unfortunately, the daughter lived only a few months.[9]
Canada – Wellesley
The amount of people that emigrated to Canada from England in 1842 was 28,086, and the newspaper noted that all who stayed in the Colony were able to find work.[10] This along with talks on the courthouse steps[11] by people such as John Roaf of Toronto holding forth on all the virtues of Canada and information that the Lieutenant-Governor was looking to induce persons to cultivate land by offering them land at a “trifling sum”[12] were all likely influences on the young family to make their move to Canada. And move they did. With their next child Jonathan (1843)[13] being born at sea, the family immigrated to Canada.
They first settled in Tecumseh, then called Rygate, moving to the Wellesley Township in 1844.[14]
Wellesley had been settled later than most of the area in Ontario as the whole township was part of the Clergy Reserves, which had originally be set aside for protestant ministers. The Wellesley historical information indicates that the Methodist church received compensation when the lands were opened up in the early 1840s and the Lees may have benefited from this as Jonathan was a Wesleyan Methodist.[15]
The 1851 census found them still in the Wellesley township [#1 in the map below] in Ontario with Jonathan’s younger brother Robert and his family. Both were living in log shanties at the time of the census, as were most of their neighbours.[16] By this time, they had added Robert (1845), Sarah Ann (1846), Ann (1849) and William (1851) to the family. Jane (1853) was also born there.
Minto
In the spring of 1854, Jonathan, Sarah and the children moved to Minto [#2 in the map above] where he took up 400 acres of land, lots 38 and 39, concession 2 and lots 37 and 38, concession 3. Jonathan and his family were only the second family to settle in the area.
Jonathan was the main promoter of the Salem Church there, donating the land both for it and the cemetery. He was a class leader in the Methodist Church.[17]
In the 1850s Jonathan build the first frame house in Minto for a man named Peter Fyfe. He was also a mechanic “of no mean order” and brought the first open cylinder threshing machine into Minto and is said to have owned the first team of horses in the township.[18]
Unfortunately, Sarah died shortly after the move to Minto and she was the first person buried in the cemetery.
On 12 August 1857, Jonathan, at the age of 34 with 8 children, married the 20-year-old Elizabeth Noble (who was the same age as his oldest son).
I was unable to find the Lees on the 1861 census. However, on the 1871 census there were still established at the homestead in Minto.[19] At that time, he and Elizabeth had added to the family with Joseph James Daniel (1858), George Henry (1859), Evangeline Priscilla (1860), John Nicol (1863), Keziah Elizabeth (1864), Charles Benjamin (1857), and David Nobel (1869).
Portage la Prairie
The History of Minto calls Jonathan a “professional pioneer” when discussing his migration to the prairies in 1879.[20] In that year, the family headed to Portage la Prairie. They traveled by train from Palmerston to Toronto, then through the US, from St Paul, Minnesota to Winnipeg by train. Apparently, they walked from Winnipeg to Portage la Prairie (about 50 miles / 80 km).[21] The map below [using Colton’s Railroad Map from Library of Congress] shows one of the many possible routes they could have taken by train – walking shown with pink dots.
In 1796, the Hudson Bay Company had built a fort on the south bank of the Assiniboine River. The called the fort “La Reine.” In 1832 they built a new fort across the river and the old fort location was used as a stopping off place by new settlers.[22]
HBC records show that in December of 1879 they sold the lot where La Reine was situated to Elizabeth Lee. Lot 23 (226 acres) was purchased for $7.00 per acre to be paid in eight annual installments. In 1886 the Lees bought the remaining 3.5 acres.[23] Jonathan most likely put it in Elizabeth’s name as he assumed he would be the first to go given their respective ages.
The 1881 census finds them well established in Portage la Prairie and indicates they had added more children to their family [24] including Richard Alexander (1871), Rebecca Harriet Lily (1872), William Edward (1875) and Frederick Arthur (1879)[25].
In case you counting, that’s a total of 20 children for Jonathan with two wives. The families of the Lees tend to run large. One of his daughters (Jane) had 18 children with two husbands. His grand-daughter Eliza had 15 with one husband, including my grandmother Fairy.
Jonathan grew wheat at the Old Fort.[26] In 1888 his wheat was considered to be “as fine a field of wheat as can be seen anywhere.”[27]
On the 1891 census, there were still five of the children living on the farm at Old Fort with them.[28] Family stories indicate that the children had only First Nations children to play with and that they all spoke fluent Cree.[29]
Later that year, on 30 December 1891, Elizabeth died of cancer.[30] Jonathan was wrong, despite their ages, he did outlive her.
Jonathan must have decided he still needed a wife. On 01 February 1894, Jonathan became the oldest man to be married in Portage la Prairie, when at the age of 76 he married 51-year-old widow Susan Watters (nee Thompson).[31]
To keep everything in family, in 1901 Susan’s daughter Sarah Jane married Jonathan’s son Frederick Arthur. He died in 1933 and 11 years after he passed, she married his older brother Richard who was also widowed by that time.
On the 1891 census, Jonathan and Susan were still living in Portage la Prairie with his son Frederick Arthur.[32]
On 08 August 1903 at the age of 86 Jonathan died in Portage la Prairie.[33] A long life for this 5-foot-tall Yorkshireman who maintained his strong English accent, and a love of potatoes, until the end.[34] He left a large family of adult children to mourn him.
Link to Jonathan Lee in Genealogy.
[1] Baptisms (PR) England. Rawcliffe, Yorkshire (West Riding). 8 June 1817. LEE, Jonathan. Doncaster Archives. Yorkshire Baptisms. P60-1-A3, p 28. http://www.findmypast.co.uk : accessed 1 January 2019.
[2] Baptisms (PR) England. Rawcliffe, Yorkshire (West Riding). 8 June 1817. LEE, Jonathan. Doncaster Archives. Yorkshire Baptisms. P60-1-A3, p 28. http://www.findmypast.co.uk : accessed 1 January 2019.
[3] Banns (PR) England. Snaith, Yorkshire (West Riding). 4 Marche 1836. LEE, Jonathan and HOLDGATE, Sarah. Doncaster Archives. Yorkshire Banns. http://www.findmypast.co.uk : accessed 31 December
2018.
[4] Census Records. 1841. England. Rawcliffe Bridge, Snaith, Goole, Yorkshire & Yorkshire (West Riding). 06 June 1841. LEE, Jonathan [head]. HO107/1307. b18, f 43, p5. http://www.findmypast.co.uk : accessed 12 December 2018.
[5] Baptisms (PR) England. Rawcliffe, Yorkshire (West Riding). 7 May 1837. LEE, Thomas. Doncaster Archives. Yorkshire Baptisms. P60-1-A4, p 91. http://www.findmypast.co.uk : accessed 1 January 2019.
[6] Baptisms (PR) England. Rawcliffe, Yorkshire (West Riding). 13 October 1839. LEE, Mary. Borthwick Institute for Archives. Baptisms, marriages and burials 1631-1878. p 110 & 11. http://www.findmypast.co.uk : accessed 1 January 2019.
[7] Census Records. England. Rawcliffe Connections, Snaith, Yorkshire. 06 June 1841. LEE, Thomas [head]. HO 107/1307/18 p 45. http://www.findmypast.co.uk : accessed 21 December 2025.
[8] Baptisms (PR) England. Rawcliffe, Yorkshire (West Riding). 25 August 1841. LEE, Ann. Doncaster Archive. Yorkshire Baptisms. P 60 1 G 2. http://www.findmypast.co.uk : accessed 1 January 2019.
[9] Burials (PR) England. St John the Baptist, Knaresborough, Yorkshire (West Riding). 27 March 1842. LEE, Ann. North Yorkshire County Record Office. PR/KN 1/25, p 68. http://www.findmypast.co.uk : accessed 1 January 2019.
[10] Yorkshire Gazette (1842). Emigration to Canada. 01 October. p 3b. http://www.findmypast.co.uk : accessed 21 December 2025.
[11] Leeds Times (1842) Lecture on emigration. 30 July. p 7d. http://www.findmypast.co.uk : accessed 21 December 2025.
[12] Sheffield Iris (1842) Canada. 08 February. p 2f. http://www.findmypast.co.uk : accessed 21 December 2025.
[13] (1906) Historical atlas of the County of Wellington Ontario : compiled, drawn and published from personal examinations and surveys. Toronto: Historical Atlas Publishing Co. p 40.
[14] Lloyd, Frank P. (1906) Historical atlas of the County of Wellington Ontario : compiled, drawn and published from personal examinations and surveys. Toronto: Historical Atlas Publishing Co. p 40. https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.9_08476/1 : accessed 22 December 2025.
[15] Lloyd, Frank P. (1906) Historical atlas of the County of Wellington Ontario : compiled, drawn and published from personal examinations and surveys. Toronto: Historical Atlas Publishing Co. p 40. https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.9_08476/1 : accessed 22 December 2025.
[16] Census Records. Canada. Waterloo County, Canada West (Ontario). 12 January 1852. LEE, Jonathan (head). Roll C-11755, p 127. https://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 12 December 2019.
[17] Lloyd, Frank P. (1906) Historical atlas of the County of Wellington Ontario : compiled, drawn and published from personal examinations and surveys. Toronto: Historical Atlas Publishing Co. p 40. https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.9_08476/1 : accessed 22 December 2025.
[18] Lloyd, Frank P. (1906) Historical atlas of the County of Wellington Ontario : compiled, drawn and published from personal examinations and surveys. Toronto: Historical Atlas Publishing Co. p 40. https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.9_08476/1 : accessed 22 December 2025.
[19] Census Records. Canada. Minto, Wellington North, Ontario. 02 April 1871. LEE, Jonathan (head) Roll C-9949, p 26. https://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 12 December 2018.
[20] Harrison, Clifford M. (1978) The way it was : a history of Minto Township. Monto, Ontario: Township of Minto. https://digitalcollections.lib.umanitoba.ca/islandora/object/uofm%3A3120359#page/1/mode/2up : access 22 December 2025.
[21] Page, Barbara Lee. (1990) The Lee tree : Johnathan Lee (1817-1903) and his descendants. Self-published.
[22] Collier, Anne M. (1970). A History of Portage la Prairie and surrounding district. Altona, Manitoba: D.W. Friesen & Sons Ltd. https://digitalcollections.lib.umanitoba.ca/islandora/object/uofm%3A2222546#page/2/mode/2up : accessed 22 December 2025.
[23] Page, Barbara Lee. (1990) The Lee tree : Johnathan Lee (1817-1903) and his descendants. Self-published.
[24] Census Records. 1881. Canada. Portage la Prairie, Marquette, Manitoba. 04 April 1881. LEE, Jonathan (head) Roll C_13282, p 47. https://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 12 December 2018.
[25] Census Records. 1881. Canada. Portage la Prairie, Marquette, Manitoba. 04 April 1881. LEE, Jonathan (head) Roll C_13282, p 47. https://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 12 December 2018.
[26] Manitoba Weekly Free Press. (1884) Items of Interest from our correspondents and rural exchanges. 21 August. p 10f. https://www.newspapers.com : accessed : accessed 22 December 2025.
[27] Manitoba Weekly Free Press. (1888). Cutting the golden : Binders on the Portage Plains at work – warm weather ripening the crops. 23 August. p 8a. https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 22 December 2025.
[28] Census Records. Canada. Portage la Prairie, Marquette, Manitoba. 06 April 1891. LEE, Jonathan (head) Roll T-6294. https://www.ancestry.ca accessed 12 December 2018.
[29] Page, Barbara Lee. (1990) The Lee tree : Johnathan Lee (1817-1903) and his descendants. Self-published.
[30] Deaths (CR) Canada. Portage La Prairie. Manitoba. 30 December 1891. LEE, Elizabeth. No. 249.
[31] Manitoba Free Press. (1894). At Portage la Prairie. 08 February. p 5c. https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 22 December 2025.
[32] Census Records. Canada. Portage la Prairie, MacDonald, Manitoba. 31 March 1901. LEE, Jonathan (head) D8, SD8. https://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 12 December 2018.
[33] Death Announcements. 1903. Winnipeg Tribune. 10 August. LEE, Jonathan. p 4, c 5. http://www.findmypast.co.uk : accessed 8 February 2019.
[34] Page, Barbara Lee. (1990) The Lee tree : Johnathan Lee (1817-1903) and his descendants. Self-published.
