William Lea was a member of a prominent flour milling family in Wilmington, Delaware

Wilmington, Delaware

Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...

, who was largely responsible for the development of the Brandywine Mills to their place of importance.

Lea was born to Thomas Lea (1757-1794) and Sarah Tatnall (eldest daughter of Joseph Tatnall) in a house at 1901 Market Street in Wilmington. He was a descendant of John Lea, a prominent Quaker

Religious Society of Friends

The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...

 minister from England, who came to America with William Penn on his second voyage. He was the father of Preston Lea

Preston Lea

Preston Lea was an American businessman and politician from Wilmington, in New Castle County, Delaware. He was a member of the Republican Party who served as Governor of Delaware.-Early life and family:...

, Governor of Delaware from 1905 to 1908.

Lea was first employed with his father in the firm of Tatnall and Lea, founded in the 1760s on the north bank on the Brandywine Creek by his father and grandfather, and then at Manayunk, Pennsylvania, New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...

, and Terre Haute, Indiana

Terre Haute, Indiana

Terre Haute is a city and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, near the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a population of 170,943. The city is the county seat of Vigo County and...

. He was married to Jane Scott Lovett on the October 18, 1836. The returned to his old home in Wilmington in 1837 and he became one of the proprietors of the Brandywine Mills. The couple had eleven children together, William (b. 1834), Esther (b. 1837), Henry (b. 1839), Preston (b. 1841), Mary (b. 1846), Sarah (1848-1848), Anna (b. 1849), Edward (1852-1867), Alice (1854-1857), Thomas (1856-1859), and Jane (b. 1860). In 1864, the firm became William Lea and Sons when Lea brought his sons, Henry and Preston, into the business.

Besides operating the flour mills, Lea was for many years a director in the Union National Bank of Wilmington, and was also a director in the Wilmington and Brandywine Cemetery Company. He was greatly interested in the improvement of Brandywine Village, in which he lived, and favored its annexation to the city of Wilmington as the Ninth Ward.

The Superfine Lane Condominiums (named for the grade of flour produced by the Quaker millers) were built in 1984 and incorporated the foundations of the old William Lea and Sons flour mills, which continued to operate 1923.