Amasa Coleman Lee

Amasa Coleman Lee (July 19, 1880 – April 15, 1962) was an American politician and lawyer.

Family

Lee was the father of Harper Lee, author of the novel To Kill A Mockingbird. It is often said that Atticus Finch, one of the characters in the novel, is based, at least in part, on Amasa Coleman Lee.

Political and law career

Lee was born in Georgiana, Alabama. He lived on a farm in or near Chipley, Florida, and he worked variously as a teacher and as a bookkeeper at the Flat Creek Mill in Finchburg, Alabama, where he met and, on 22 June 1910, married Frances Finch, the daughter of the postmaster. In 1912 the Lees moved to Monroeville, Alabama. There Lee worked as the financial manager of a law firm, representing the firm's interests in the Manistee & Repton Railway, located in the nearby logging community of Manistee.[1] In 1915 he passed the Alabama bar exam and began to practice law, mainly in Monroe County.[2] From 1927 to 1939 he served as a member of the Alabama House of Representatives.[3] Lee also worked as the editor of the Monroe Journal from 1929 to 1947. He died in Monroeville.[4]

Notes

  1. ↑ I Am Scout: The Biography of Harper Lee - Charles J. Shields - Google Books. Books.google.com. Retrieved 2014-07-19.
  2. ↑ 'Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee,' Charles J. Shields, Macmillan: 2007, pg. 35-47
  3. ↑ Roster of the Alabama House of Representatives since 1922
  4. ↑ 'Harper Lee's Father Dies,' The Tuscaloosa News (Alabama), April 16, 1962, pg. 2

Sources