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    In Folk: .' .' de de

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    Robert Ford
    The document discusses the origins and identity of Stacker Lee, a figure from American folklore. Several hypotheses are presented about who Stacker Lee was, including that he was a Confederate cavalry officer, the son of the Lee family that owned a steamship line, or a roustabout that worked on one of the Lee family's steamers. It is likely that there was a real Stacker Lee who was a member of the Lee steamboat family. The Lee family owned a successful steamship line called the Lee Line Steamers that operated between 1862 and 1926 along rivers in the southern United States. One of the Lee Line steamers was named the Stacker Lee.

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    In Folk: .' .' de de

    Uploaded by

    Robert Ford
    38 views1 page
    The document discusses the origins and identity of Stacker Lee, a figure from American folklore. Several hypotheses are presented about who Stacker Lee was, including that he was a Confederate cavalry officer, the son of the Lee family that owned a steamship line, or a roustabout that worked on one of the Lee family's steamers. It is likely that there was a real Stacker Lee who was a member of the Lee steamboat family. The Lee family owned a successful steamship line called the Lee Line Steamers that operated between 1862 and 1926 along rivers in the southern United States. One of the Lee Line steamers was named the Stacker Lee.

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    Keystone4

    Original Title

    188

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    The document discusses the origins and identity of Stacker Lee, a figure from American folklore. Several hypotheses are presented about who Stacker Lee was, including that he was a Confederate cavalry officer, the son of the Lee family that owned a steamship line, or a roustabout that worked on one of the Lee family's steamers. It is likely that there was a real Stacker Lee who was a member of the Lee steamboat family. The Lee family owned a successful steamship line called the Lee Line Steamers that operated between 1862 and 1926 along rivers in the southern United States. One of the Lee Line steamers was named the Stacker Lee.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    38 views1 page

    In Folk: .' .' de de

    Uploaded by

    Robert Ford
    The document discusses the origins and identity of Stacker Lee, a figure from American folklore. Several hypotheses are presented about who Stacker Lee was, including that he was a Confederate cavalry officer, the son of the Lee family that owned a steamship line, or a roustabout that worked on one of the Lee family's steamers. It is likely that there was a real Stacker Lee who was a member of the Lee steamboat family. The Lee family owned a successful steamship line called the Lee Line Steamers that operated between 1862 and 1926 along rivers in the southern United States. One of the Lee Line steamers was named the Stacker Lee.

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    of 1

    the name, Stacker Lee?

    Those persons who have dealt with the


    folklore materials concerning him seem to assume that there is a
    basis of fact out of which these traditions have grown, but no one
    has made a serious attempt to ascertain who the real Stacker Lee
    was, or what he did to make such an impression on the folk im
    agination. Shields Mcllwain, in his book, Memphis Down In Dixie,
    identifies Stacker Lee as a dashing Confederate cavalry officer.
    In their American Ballads and Folk Songs, John and Alan Lomax
    list, without documentation, a number of statements purporting
    to identify the real Stacker Lee. " 'His real name was Stacker
    Lee and he was the son of the Lee family of Memphis, who owned
    a large line of steamers that ran up and down the Mississippi. . . .'
    'He was a nigger what fired the engines of one of the Lee steam
    ers. . . .' 'They was a steamer running up an' down de Mississippi,
    name de Stacker Lee, an' he was one o' de roustabouts on dat
    steamer, So dey called him Stackerlee.' 'The origin of this ballad
    . . . was the shooting of Billy Lyons in a barroom on the Memphis

    Levee, by Stack Lee. . . .' 'The characters were prominently known


    in Memphis. . . . the unfortunate Stagalee belonging to the family
    of the owner of the Lee line of steamers which are known on the
    Mississippi from Cairo to the Gulf.' "9 Roger Abrahams says,
    "Best hypothesis yet — one of the Lees was nicknamed Stack and
    then a boat was named after him and then one of the bullies took
    his name from the boat."10

    Someof these hypotheses have an element of fact. Certainly


    there was a Stacker Lee, a member of the Lee steamboat family.
    His father, James Lee, Sr.
    . .started his river career in 1833 on the Cumberland River.
    .

    He started with a fleet of towboats, bringing iron ore to his


    father's furnaces at Dover, Tennessee. He prospered, saved
    his money, bought a small steamer and started a service from
    Nashville to the upper Cumberland.
    The Civil War cost Capt. Lee his furnaces and his fleet.
    Shortly after the war he . . . moved to Memphis and Pontetoc.
    ... He called his new enterprise the Lee Line Steamers.
    It grew to become a line through nine states, with Cincin
    nati the northern terminus. It owned and operated 36 steam
    ers between 1862 and 1926, when his grandchildren liquidated
    the line because of fast land competition.11
    Many of the Lee Line boats were named for members of the Lee
    family, and one of them was the Stacker Lee (hence the name of
    Miss Ferber's showboat). This boat was commissioned in 1906
    and went down in 1916.12

    188 Keystone Folklore Quarterly

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