Shelby Museum - Authors - Edward Edson Lee


Shelby Ohio Authors
Edward Edson Lee
The background photos are endpapers from Poppy Ott & Jerry Todd books.


Edward Edson Lee had a difficult childhood. He was bn 1884 in Meriden, LaSalle County, Illinois and within a year, his father, Eugene Lee passed away leaving Edward alone to be raised by his mother Mary. Probably for this reason, Edward dropped out of school early and worked as a machinist. In 1909 Edward married Gladys Eveline Tuttle, bn 1889, and in 1912, their only child, Eugene was born (probably named after Edward's father). Edward's mother Mary died in 1913, leaving Edward with few ties to Illinois. (See 1, for more family info)

In 1915 Edward, who had been writing stories for his own pleasure, took a job in Detroit with the Burroughs Adding Machine Company. He began working in the advertising department and that two year experience somehow led to June, 1917 when the following article appeared in the Shelby Daily Globe:
"Mrs Edward Lee and children of Detroit, Mich. arrived in Shelby today and joined Mr. Lee who is the publicity manager of the Autocall company. They will occupy the Jelenek property on the Boulevard".
(While living in Shelby, the Lee family also lived on West Main St.,
15 Sharon St., and 14 Marvin Ave.)

The July 23, 1917 issue of the Shelby Daily Globe, included an article:
"How The Autocallers Picnicked by Edward Lee.
"Honest I don't know why they picked on me to write this story. I can see right off the bat that it isn't going to be an easy job, because Miss Prickett, Miss Wilkerson, and Miss Aumend have appointed themselves a censoring committee of three to see that I give out any 'embarrassing' information. They won't let me write about the things that would put real 'pop' into this story. For instance, I could give a very interesting account of how three of our young ladies went out boat riding and got stuck in the weeds. They thought at first that the anchor was dragging, but the trouble was that Miss Wilkinson and Miss Ervin were both sitting in the same end of the boat. "
He continued with many more humerous stories of his fellow Autocallers on this picnic outing and that began a series of columns that provided human interest stories enjoyed by the Shelby community.

The Daily Globe of August 10, 1918 included:
"Edward Lee went to Detroit Wednesday to make preliminary plans with the agency handling the Autocall advertising account for the 1919 Autocall advertising. The plans for the coming year are comprehensive in every way and a great deal of effort will be put forth in carrying the gospel of Autocall time-saving to the business world"
Also there was this article:
"Peggy Shaw: The Saturday before the picnic Edward Lee went swimming with a bunch of us fellows at Walker's Lake - Henry Van Horn, Howard Ellery and myself. The day we were at Gatton's Rock, Lee didn't have a bathing suit along so this Saturday he took three. (you know, 'Safety First') On our return trip we stopped at Hawk's for a little swim and then we started toward home. Just about the time we got to the cemetery, he discovered he had left his Sunday coat at the swimming hole and he had to use another gallon of gasoline to go back after it."
Edward had became involved with the local Boy Scout troop and
volunteered his time with their meetings,projects and outings.
The above article was written by one of those scouts.

Then in March, 1920 The Daily Globe published the following:
"Announcement"

"Serial Story by Shelby Author, With Local Characters, Will Soon Appear in The Globe - The Story is Entitled
'The Cruise of the Sally Ann.'
The Daily Globe has secured first publishing rights, and while the story may appear later in book form, it will be first presented to the people of Shelby in the pages of the Daily Globe. The story deals with Shelby life, features Shelby people and was written by Edward Edson Lee, advertising manager of the Autocall Company. Mr. Lee at different times has contributed a number of human interest articles for the Daily Globe and having established friendly relations with the management, kindly consented to his story appearing in serial form in this paper. It is the story of four Shelby boys, 'Scoop' Ellery, 'Peggy' Shaw, 'Red' Myers, and 'Jerry' Morse. 'Jerry' Morse is the only fictitious character - the other three boys are well known to Shelby people and it will be interesting to follow them through their adventures."
The "boys" mentioned in the above article were:
'Scoop' Elllery was Howard Ellery, bn 1901, a son of Albert and Lina
Delong Ellery .'Peggy' Shaw was David Shaw, bn 1901, a son of William
and Emma Olive Berg Shaw. 'Red' Myers was Donald L. Myers, bn 1908,
a son of Granville Leroy and Minnie Hill Myers.

"The Cruise of the Sally Ann" (published in book form in 1925 as 'Jerry Todd and the Oak Island Treasure') would be the start of a writing career that spanned over 20 years and produced nearly 40 books, short stories, and articles oriented primarily at the children and adolescent age group. Edward Edson Lee used the pen name Leo Edwards and his books consist of five series of stories: Andy Blake, Jerry Todd, Poppy Ott, Trigger Berg, and Tuffy Bean. The following is a list of those books:

ANDY BLAKE SERIES

Andy Blake in Advertising - 1922
Andy Blake (the above) republished - 1928
Andy Blake's Comet Coaster - 1928 - typical cover w/o dust jacket
Andy Blake's Secret Service - 1929 - typical cover w/o dust jacket
Andy Blake and the Pot of Gold - 1930

JERRY TODD SERIES


Jerry Todd and the Whispering Mummy - 1923
Jerry Todd and the Rose-Colored Cat - 1924
Jerry Todd and the Oak Island Treasure - 1925
(was originally The Cruise of the Sally Ann) - 1920
Jerry Todd and the Waltzing Hen - 1924
Jerry Todd and the Talking Frog - 1925
Jerry Todd and the Purring Egg - 1925
Jerry Todd in the Whispering Cave - 1927
Jerry Todd, Pirate - 1928
Jerry Todd and the Bob-Tailed Elephant - 1929
Jerry Todd, Editor-In-Grief - 1930
Jerry Todd, Caveman - 1932
Jerry Todd and the Flying Flapdoodle - 1934
Jerry Todd and the Buffalo Bill Bathtub - 1936
Jerry Todd's Up-The-Ladder Club - 1937
Jerry Todd's Poodle Parlor - 1938
Jerry Todd's Cuckoo Camp - 1940
The end papers of some Jerry Todd Series books

POPPY OTT SERIES

Poppy Ott and the Stuttering Parrot - 1926
Poppy Ott's Seven-League Stilts - 1926
Poppy Ott and the Galloping Snail - 1927
Poppy Ott's Pedigreed Pickles - 1927
Poppy Ott and the Freckled Goldfish - 1928
Poppy Ott and the Tittering Totem - 1929
Poppy Ott and the Prancing Pancake - 1930
Poppy Ott Hits The Trail - 1933
Poppy Ott & Co., Inferior Decorators - 1937
The Monkey's Paw - 1938
The Hidden Dwarf - 1939
The end papers of some Poppy Ott Series books

TRIGGER BERG SERIES

Trigger Berg and the Treasure Tree - 1930 Trigger Berg and His 700 Mousetraps - 1930 w/o dust jacket Trigger Berg and the Sacred Pig - 1931 Trigger Berg and the Cock-Eyed Ghost - 1933

TUFFY BEAN SERIES

Tuffy Bean's Puppy Days - 1931 Tuffy Bean's One-Ring Circus - 1931 Tuffy Bean At Funny Bone Farm - 1931 Tuffy Bean At Funny Bone Farm - 1931 w/o dust jacket Tuffy Bean and the Lost Fortune - 1932

More Edward Edson Lee (Leo Edwards) info and memorabilia

Edward Lee remained in Shelby for several years following the publication of "The Cruise of the Sally Ann", but soon gave up his Autocall position as advertising manager and returned to Wisconsin and began to write the first of the Jerry Todd, Andy Blake, and Poppy Ott books. "Andy Blake in Advertising" stressed the art of selling and promoting. This was true of many of his early books and using his humor and applying his salesman-ship to juvenile novels, Edward continued the work that he did so well while employed in Shelby.

In December, 1929, The Daily Globe reported a visit by the now famous author:
EDWARD E. LEE VISITS SHELBY
Formerly Connected With the Autocall Co., Now Writer of Juvenile Books.

Edward Edson Lee, widely known writer of juvenile books for boys, who for a number of years was connected with the Autocall Company of Shelby, and Mrs. Lee are guests at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Roy Van Wagner on East Main Street. It has been nine years since they have paid Shelby a visit. They have been spending their summers on the Lake in Wisconsin and their winters in
St. Petersburg, Florida. They are now enroute to Florida and stopped over in Shelby for a visit with Mr. and Mrs. Van Wagner. Their son Eugene is continuing his high school studies in Wisconsin.

Mr. Lee who writes under the name of Leo Edwards is the author of 22 books which have met with enormous sale through-out the country. He has a contract with the same publishers to produce 50 books for them and is facing the task of completing 28 more. Two of his books Poppott and Jerry Todd are on sale at Harper's News Stand and have local characters in the stories. While in Shelby Mr. Lee wrote a continued story for the Globe, "The Sally Ann," which will be remembered by many of our people. Some of the boy characters in that story are now grown to manhood, married and have children of their own. Howard Ellery was one of the principal characters in "The Sally Ann" story and was given the name of "Scoop" Ellery.

In one of his books in a humorous way detailed the trails and hardships of a newspaper in a small community, Mr. Lee carried the name of the Daily Globe through the story. Mr. Lee paid the Globe office a pleasant call this morning and we were glad to welcome him back to Shelby.




Edward died in 1944 in Rockford, Winnebago County, Illinois and is buried in the Oakwood Cemetery. Edward's wife Gladys passed on in 1970 in Beilot, Rock County, Wisconsin and is buried along with her husband in the Oakwood Cemetery.


Edward Edson Lee
(Leo Edwards)
(Often included in any communication with his "pals".)


1 . Dwight Freelove Lee bn 1825 in Connecticut and Lavina Shipman bn 1816 in New York, both having moved to Illinois, married in 1851 in Utica, LaSalle County, Illinois. They would have two children, Ordella, bn 1852 and Eugene Henry, bn 1854 before Lavina died in late 1854. Dwight remarried and the two children were left to be raised by Lavina's younger brother Lysander, and his first wife Amanda. Amanda died in 1865 and Lysander married Lydia Smith and continued to help raise the two Lee children to adulthood.

Lysander died in 1875 and the following year Eugene Henry Lee, aged 22, married Mary E. Cannon, aged 25, and they began a family consisting of Clara Belle, bn 1875; Clyde, bn 1880; and Edward Edson was bn 1884 in Meriden, LaSalle County, Illinois. Eugene died in 1885, long before Edward Edson would have formed any memories of his father. Clara Belle married Charles Morse, a machinist, in 1892, and moved to Beloit, Rock County, Wisconsin. In the 1900 census, brother Clyde had passed away (1890) and Edward Edson was living with his mother Mary also in Beloit, Wisconsin. Edward had dropped out of school was employed as a machinist, possibly with the help of his brother-in-law Charles.

In 1909 Edward married Gladys Eveline Tuttle, bn 1889, and continued work as a machinist, now in Winnebago County, Ill. In 1912 their only child Eugene Edward was born. He was named after Edward's father Eugene. Edward's mother Mary passed away May, 1913 and left Edward with no family ties. He moved to Detroit and then Shelby . . . .
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