Biography - Arthur G. Lee
ARTHUR G. LEE. The name at the head of this sketch is that of a man who
enjoys to the utmost, the confidence of the people in the community in which he
lives. This is shown by the fact that from among the best financial men in the
place, he has been elected to the responsible position of President of the
Commercial State Bank of Windsor, Shelby County. Our subject was born in Oshawa,
Ontario, July 7, 1865. He was reared on a farm until about fourteen years of
age, and in the calm pursuits of agriculture the mental fibre of his mind
developed. Unrestrained by fine-spun theories, he saw life as it was and this
practical view and keen insight into affairs has ever characterized his business
dealings and has carried him on to the success which he so eminently merits.
Arthur Lee received the foundation of his education in the common schools of his
native place after which he attended the High School from which he was
graduated. He then began life for himself and was employed for a period of two
years with Steel Brothers & Company, merchants in Toronto, Canada, as clerk. In
1886, he came to the States, and resided in Chicago until July, 1889. He was
employed as manager and had charge of the seed department for H. Sibley & Co. In
July, 1889 he came to Windsor and organized the Commercial Bank, and November
14, of the same year it was re-organized as a Commercial State Bank, under the
State law. On its first organization, he was Cashier of the bank and since its
re-organization under the State law, he has been its President. Our subject's
brother, Sidney J. Lee, holds the position of Cashier in the bank. The
institution transacts a good banking business, and its one that was greatly
needed in the community, now affording an opportunity for commercial exchange
with much less trouble and expense than before its organization.
The parents of our subject are George and Lucy (Curry) Lee. They were born in
Canada. The father died a victim of typhoid fever, October 9, 1882, in Ontario.
He was a farmer by occupation but had retired from the active pursuits of his
calling at the time of his decease. They had three children, of whom our subject
was the eldest. Mr. Lee was married in Windsor June 9, 1890 to Miss Minnie
Shaffer, who is a native of this county and they have a very pleasant home
located on the principal residence street in Windsor. His charming young wife
attracts the best social element of the place. They have one child, an infant
son. Our subject, though yet less than thirty years of age; has won the entire
confidence of the community by his devotion to his business, and his broad-laid
and carefully-executed plans. He is a natural financier and has a peculiar
faculty for seeing where investments can be made with the greatest prospects of
large returns. In his political views, Mr. Lee favors the Democratic party. In
his religious views he is a Liberal. Socially, he of whom we write is a member
of the Knights of Pythias, and has been a member of the Odd Fellows since about
1886. He is one of the leading member's and occupies a prominent position.
It is not out of place to say something of the ancestors of our subject at this
point The life of a good man who leaves an exemplary example is always worth
reading. The paternal grandfather of our subject was George Lee. He was drowned
in the Straits of Belle Isle, being caught there in a field of ice. He was not
addicted to the use of any form of intoxicants or tobacco and was a Methodist
minister. Our subject's maternal grandfather was James Curry, who was also a
Methodist clergyman. He died at the age of eighty-five years.
Extracted 29 May 2017 by Norma Hass from 1891 Portrait and Biographical Record of Shelby and Moultrie Counties Illinois, pages 272-273.
