Henry David Lee was the founder of the HD Lee Mercantile Company, inventors of Lee Jeans

Lee (Jeans)

Lee is a brand of denim jeans, first produced in 1889 in Salina, Kansas. The company is owned by VF Corporation, the largest apparel company in the world. Its headquarters is currently in Merriam, Kansas, just outside of Kansas City, Missouri...

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He was born in 1849 in Vermont and attended school in South Tunbridge

Tunbridge, Vermont

Tunbridge is a town in Orange County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 1,309. The town consists of three village centers, all situated on Vermont Route 110 in the valley of the first branch of the White River...

, he moved to Galion, Ohio

Galion, Ohio

Settlers arrived in the area as early as 1817. The location was at the crossroads of a north-south road from Columbus to Portland , and the east-west route that later became the Lincoln Highway and subsequently the Harding Highway....

, in 1862 where he worked as an hotel clerk and parlayed livery and real estate investments into the purchase of Central Oil Co. of Galion.

Early successes in the oil industry coupled with advice from his doctor (he was tubercular) to head west, Lee moved on to Salina Kansas in 1889 and setup the H.D. Lee Mercantile Co. soon becoming the major food distributor between Kansas City and Denver. Later the product range was expanded to include Sales of notions, furnishings, stationery and school supplies. Later the H.D. Lee Mercantile Co. would solve workwear supply problems by taking matters into its own factory and hence the Lee Jeans brand was born.