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Cherokee County Biographies
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R. E. Lea
R.
E. LEA, of Rick Township, is an American by adoption, having been born
in England, November 28, 1852. He is a son of Joseph and
Prudence
(Mitchell) Lea, also natives of England. Joseph Lea took to
the
sea, and spent the greater part of his life on the water. He advanced
until he became captain of his ship, and when R. E. was one month old
he was taken on board the vessel which was his home until he was nine
years old; he then left the ship, and worked on a farm until he was
fourteen years old, when he returned to the water, and
staid until
he was twenty years of age. After leaving the sea the last
time
he was employed by a railroad company in Manchester, England.
In
April, 1875, he left England, his home and friends, and crossed the
water to America, locating in Will County, Illinois, where he worked on
a farm for six years. In 1881 he removed to Cherokee County,
Iowa
and bought eighty acres of land in Rock Township, and the indications
are that prosperity has attended his efforts.
Mr. Lea was
united in marriage March 26, 1885 to Miss Ida A. Kinney, daughter of
E.D. and Cynthia M. (Towne) Kinney. Mrs. Lea was born in
Vermont
August 21, 1852 and removed with her parents to Wisconsin, where they
remained seven years; thence they went to Lake City, Minnesota, and
resided there until 1873; in the meantime she graduated from the Winona
State Normal School, and taught in the public schools a number of
years. Her family removed to Cherokee County in 1876.
Two
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Lea, Jessie and Florence.
In politics Mr. Lea affiliates with the Republican party.
He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, while his wife
belongs
to the Baptist. He is a mar frank and cordial in his manners,
is
honorable in his business and is one of the representative farmers of
Rock Township.Biographical History of Cherokee
County, IA, W. W. Dunbar & Co Publishers, 1889
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