Harriet Frances “Hattie” Eaton

Harriet "Hattie" Eaton was born in about 1865 in Burlington, Kane County, Illinois, the daughter of Festus Morgan Eaton and Huldah Seward. She grew up on the Eaton family farm, along with her younger siblings. She had many members of her extended family living nearby in Kane County, as both her parents' families had migrated to Illinois from New York state in the mid-1800s. When she was about 19 years old, in June of 1883, she married Lyman John Lee (a.k.a. John Lyman Lee) in Kane County, Illinois. Her husband and his family also came from New York state originally, having migrated to Kane County in the 1860s. Hattie and Lyman moved about the state of Illinois, living at times in Kane, DeKalb, and Winnebago Counties. Lyman was primarily involved with farming or other manual labor as a livelihood, and Hattie was busy caring for their young family - no mean feat in the days before automobiles, supermarkets, electricity and indoor plumbing! Clothing was sewn by hand, fires had to be tended, food constantly gathered and stored, water pumped and hauled and heated, and children watched over and cared for. The couple had four children who survived into adulthood, and one other child is known to have been born but died in infancy in about 1900. It is said by some that Hattie and Lyman also had a child named Levie Lee born in 1888, and one named Dora Lee born in 1892, who both died very young. It is believed that Hattie was a loving mother, for she was certainly loved by her children who lost her far too early in their young lives. Sadly, by 1900, the Lee family was in acute crisis: a baby had been born and died, and Hattie was in a completely debilitated state of health. It is believed that the family was also destitute at this point, and it came to the attention of members of their community that Hattie and the children were not receiving adequate care. Hattie was hospitalized in Illinois Northern Hospital For The Insane in Elgin, Kane, Illinois, and according to a newspaper report in a local paper, she subsequently died there. The exact date of her death and place of her burial are unknown at this time. Hattie and Lyman's living children - Frederick, Delmer, Margaret, and Lydia - were split up at the time of their mother's hospitalization, and lived in different places. Happily, when the children grew old enough to look for one another they were reunited again, and maintained contact in adulthood, passing Hattie's story down to the next generation. Biography written by Auralie Jones, a great-great-granddaughter of Hattie Eaton Lee.