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2002 (c) Peninsula Community Access Newspaper Inc
Family reunion has special guest
About 150 descendants of three Lee brothers assembled for a reunion in the Woy Woy Community Centre on June 9.
The guest of honour was Annie Elizabeth Leggett (nee Lee), of Umina, a granddaughter of Aaron, who celebrated her 100th birthday on June 20.
John and Mary Lee, married 16 March 1833, had eight children and all were born in Ogbourne St. George, Wiltshire, England.
Three brothers, Samuel (born 1834), Edwin (born 1839) and Aaron (born 1841) migrated to Australia.
Three sisters remained in England.
Two other sons died early in life.
Samuel migrated in 1855 and married Eliza King MacMillan at Boorook in northern New South Wales in 1878.
They eventually settled at Upper Tooloom on the upper reaches of the Clarence River.
They had six sons and a daughter.
The daughter died aged one.
Edwin married Rebecca Bessant in Presute, Wiltshire, on May 21, 1859.
They had four daughters and two sons.
Rebecca died in London and Edwin married Martha Whitbread at Hackney in 1879.
They migrated to Cooktown in 1884 and settled in Townsville.
The eldest daughter remained in England.
A son was born to Martha on the voyage to Australia but he died when 12 weeks old and she had no other surviving children.
Aaron migrated via Melbourne to Sydney in late 1883.
He had married Sarah Weston (March quarter 1862) in Camberwell, London.
His wife died shortly after giving birth to one son in 1864.
A relative reared this child.
Aaron eventually settled in Mortlake and sponsored this son, his wife and child who arrived in 1886.
Samuel Lee's descendants are now mainly in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales, southern Queensland and Sydney region.
Edwin's are predominantly in North Queensland and up to 12 months ago, were not aware of the extent of other family members in Australia.
Aaron's one son had descendants from Hobart to Queensland who attended.
Eric Leggett, Woy Woy