Otis Lee

In Highland Cemetery there is a family plot with four square headstones standing in a row. These are the graves of Otis H. Lee and his three wifes. Mr. Lee was born in Dudley, Massachusetts inn 1802. He moved to Ypsilanti in 1838, and with the exception of four years residence in Janesville, Wisconsin, lived in Ypsilanti the rest of his life. He was engaged in the dry goods and grocery trade.

A member of the Whig party he occupied leading positions in the community. Lee was appointed postmaster at Ypsilanti by President Zachary Taylor in 1849, and held the office until the election of President Pierce in 1853. He would alos hold offive on the school board and was a trustee of the Presbyterian Church.

His first wife Lucy died in 1847 and his second wife Phebe died in 1850. He married his third wife Nancy in 1852, and she survived him. His wife Nancy died in 1877. Otis Lee had no childern.

"His life has been a peculiarly chequered one," noted The Ypsilanti Commercial in its obituary published November 14, 1874, "marked by misfortune and loss of property. His virtues many, his frailties few, and over these we throw the mantly of charity."

Otis H. Lee died at Ypsilanti on November 8, 1874 of delirium tremens.