George “Chicken George” Lea (1806 - 1890).
He was Alex Haley’s great-great grandfather.

George was born in 1806 in Caswell, North Carolina, U.S.
He is the son of Thomas Jarnigan Lea and Kizzy (Waller) Kinte
It is not known if he had sibling(s).
He was the husband of Mathilda McGreggor (Murray) Lea — they were married [date and location unknown]
George was the father of Virgil Lea and Tom Lea Murray
George Died 1890 in Henning, Lauderdale, Tennessee, U.S.
----
NOTE: From the website we obtained this information from, they state misalignments with years of birth for some of Alex Haley's ancestors.
We at (The G.C. and Frances Hawley Museum® - I Remember Our History®) do not agree nor disagree with the information, we are simply providing what we have located. We would have to do our own searches into this genealogy, to verify the statements on this web site.--End Note.
-----
"Alex Haley called his novel ROOTS, "faction" and acknowledged most of the dialogue and incidents were fictional.
However, he claimed and had proof of tracing his family lineage back to Kunta Kinte, an African taken from the village of Juffure in what is now The Gambia. Haley was at pains to explain that the core story was all true."
-----
George Lea was prominently featured as "Chicken George" in author Alex Haley's critically acclaimed book "Roots" (1976). In the 1977 TV miniseries he was portrayed by actor Ben Vereen.

Note that there are errors in the genealogy listed in Roots, and that it is unlikely that Tom Lea is George Lea's father.[1]

Kizzy Waller may have been George Lea's Mother but, Historians and Genealogist have found that Kizzy Waller was born 5 years after her Father Kunta Kinte (Toby) died.

In 1880, George Lea, age 74 was working as a servant for the Posey family in Lauderdale, Tennessee.[2]

Was buried in Bethlehem Cemetery, Henning, Lauderdale County, Tennessee.[3]

SOURCES:
Find a Grave: George Lea
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/K8CY-X18

↑ Roots Revisited

↑ "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MD7L-D5Z : 15 July 2017), George Lea in household of Wm P Posey, District 3, Lauderdale, Tennessee, United States; citing enumeration district ED 80, sheet 94A, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm 1,255,266.

↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 08 November 2020), memorial page for George Lea (1806–1890), Find a Grave Memorial no. 9686941, citing Bethlehem Cemetery, Henning, Lauderdale County, Tennessee, USA

Maintained by Find A Grave .

Roots Revisited
Roots Wiki [1]

Source for this information in our post about Mr. George Lea-"Chicken George"
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Lea-857#_note-0

HERE is a link to the Alex Haley Museum & Interpretive Center
535 Haley Avenue- Henning, TN 38041

https://www.alexhaleymuseum.org/