1869  -  ?

Great Uncle of  W.P. 'Bill' Richardson

The fifth child of Matthew Lee, a coal miner, and his wife Catherine (nee Walton), Matthew was born at Crook in the first quarter of 1869.

Matthew was baptised on 16th February 1869 and his baptism was recorded in the Methodist Brancepeth & Others Register. The family lived at Roddymoor and Matthew's father was a miner.

He was recorded on the 1871 census aged 2, at Sunnside, Crook & Billy Row, Co. Durham along with his parents, sister Mary and two brothers John and Thomas.

The 1881 census recorded the family living in Gladstone Terrace, Crook and Billy Row. Matthew was 12 and was listed as a scholar. In addition to the brothers and sister that were on the previous census, he  had two other younger sisters, Sarah and Ada Isabel.

In the 1891 census, Matthew was not listed in the family home. I have been unable to find him on either the 1891 or the 1901 England census returns.

There is a strong possibility that Matthew emigrated to America.

The evidence is a bit convoluted, but Matthew's sister worked at a school in Crook and the school log book of 1890 recorded that she had time off as her brother was emigrating and her mother was so distressed she could not leave her. There is a record of an M. Lee, a 21 year old miner who sailed for the US on the S.S. Teutonic on 6th August 1890, which could well be him, though I have yet to find anything to pin it down. I will keep looking though.