"Amos Lee" was born in 1841 in Iowa. He served as a member of Company M of the 3rd Colorado Calvary at the Battle of Sand Creek (also known as the Sand Creek Massacre) in Colorado in 1864. By the early 1890s he was in Idaho mining in the Neal District 15 miles east of Boise. He was one of the owners of the successful Hidden Treasure Mine. Amos came to Boise on occasion with gold to be assayed and stayed at the Overland Hotel. In July 1895 he and his wife Lelia were married and lived in the Neal District. They had two daughters, Eila and Lilah. In the first few years of the 1900s Amos and Lelia started buying property in Boise.

Lee and his wife Lelia bought and developed the Lee’s Addition in the present day River Street neighborhood. A 1901 notice in the Idaho Daily Statesman Amos Lee advised “To Whom it May Concern” that he would not be responsible for any of his wife’s debts. In January of 1904 Lelia filed for divorce on the charges of cruel and inhuman treatment which Amos contested. Lelia asked for equitable division of their property, alimony, custody of the children and a restraining order. By the time the divorce was final an agreement had been reached that Amos would receive all the property but would make payments to Lelia.

From 1906 to 1907 Amos lived in a house at 1115 Lee Street which had been built in 1904. In 1907 he moved to the Idaho Soldiers’ Home. He died there in 1909 and was interred in the Fort Boise Military Cemetery.

Ada County Book of Plats 2, 1903

References

“Hotel Arrivals.” Idaho Daily Statesman, 11 October 1892, p.2 “Hotel Arrivals.” Idaho Daily Statesman, 1 June 1893, p.5 “A Rich Strike.” Idaho Daily Statesman, 22 July 1894, p. 3 “Notice.” Idaho Daily Statesman, 29 November 1901, p. 6 “Past Week’s Sales.” Idaho Daily Statesman, 1 January 1903, p. 8 “Asks Divorce for Cruelty.” Idaho Daily Statesman, 1 January 1904, p.7 “Lee Case Settled.” Idaho Daily Statesman, 26 June 1904, p. 8 “Hicks Acquitted.” Idaho Daily Statesman, 23 December 1905, p.3