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Richard Lee. RICHARD (3), second son of Richard 2, (Richard 1), born about 1678–9. About 1710 he went to London and settled there as a Virginia merchant in partnership with his mother’s brother, Thomas Corbin. He heired his father’s estate, for, on November 5th, 1716, “Richard Lee, of London, son of Richard Lee, of Cople Parish in Virginia,” leased to Reubin Welch, Thomas Lee and Henry Lee the 2,600 acres whereupon his father had lived (Mount Pleasant), “yielding and paying therefore the yearly rent of one pepper corn only on the feast day of the birth of our Lord God.” He married in England an heiress by the name of Martha Silk, and had by her one son and two daughters, all of whom went to Virginia and settled. II—Lettice (4), born in London about 1715. She married about 1737, Col. John Corbin, of Essex county, Virginia, and died Jan. 15, 1768. III— Martha, born in London about 1716, and married first, Major George Turberville, of Hickory Hill, Westmoreland county. After his death in 1742, she married Captain William Fitzhugh, of Maryland. Philip Lee. Philip (3), third son of Richard 2, (Richard 1), born in Westmoreland about 1681, and moved to Maryland in 1700, was a member of the Council then a Justice of the Peace. He lived at “Blenheim,” Prince George County, Md., and died in April, 1744. He married Sarah, daughter of Hon. Thomas Brooks. They had probably eight children: 1—Richard (4) After her death, in 1724, he married Elizabeth, the widow of Henry Sewell, and had nine children: 9—Hannah (4)
Thomas (3), the fifth son of Richard 2, (Richard 1) was born at “Mount Pleasant,” Westmoreland County, in 1690, died at Stratford in the same county, November 14, 1750. With but a “common Virginia education, yet having strong natural parts, long after he was a man he learned the languages without any assistance but his own genius, and became a tolerable adept in Greek and Latin. . . . This Thomas, by his Industry and Parts, acquired a considerable fortune, for, being a younger, with many children, his paternal estate was very small. He was also appointed of the Council, and though he had very few acquaintances in England, he was so well known by reputation that upon his receiving a loss by fire, the late Queen Caroline sent him over a bountiful present out of her own Privy Purse. Upon the late Sir William Gooch being recalled, who had been Governor of Virginia, Thomas Lee became President and Commander-in-Chief over the Colony, in which station he continued for some time, till the King thought proper to appoint him Governor of the Colony, but he died in 1750, before his commission got over to him.” The fire above referred to did not take place at Stratford, as many suppose, as no record has ever been found of any fire there; but in an old manuscript we find that the eldest son of the immigrant (which was John,) moved to “Westmoreland and established himself at Mount Pleasant, on the River Potomack. The large brick house, largely enclosed by a brick wall, was burned down, and another was built on the surrounding heights of the Potomac.” This fire must have occurred between 1716 and 1730. Thomas Lee obtained a lease of “Mount Pleasant” in 1716, and lived there until he built the Stratford mansion, and we find frequent mention of the burnt house field, evidently showing that the fire had been so serious that the field had been named as a record of the disaster. Thomas Lee was, for years, a Burgess from Westmoreland County, a member of the Council and, later, its President, and from September 5th, 1749 until his death, Acting Governor of the Colony. In May, 1744, he was appointed one of a commission to treat with the Iroquois Indians for the settlement of lands west of the Allegheny Mountains. The conferences with the Indians were begun at Lancaster, Pa., June 22d, 1744. A record of the meeting states that wine and punch, as well as the customary pipe, were handed around. After the Indians had partaken, the conference was opened by a speech from the Governor of Pennsylvania. During these conferences, one of the Indian chiefs (showing they were not behind their pale face brother in liking “the fire water”) said: “You tell us you beat the French, if so, you must have taken a great deal of Rum from them, and can better spare us some of that liquor to make us rejoice with you in the Victory.” “The Governor and Commissioners ordered a Dram of Rum to be given to each in a SMALL Glass, calling it A FRENCH GLASS.” The next day the Indians demanded more of the rum, this time in LARGE ENGLISH GLASSES. “The Indians gave, in their Order, five Yo-bahs; and the honorable Governor and Commissioners calling for some Rum and some middle size Wine Glasses, drank health to the Great King of England and the Six Nations and put an end to the Treaty by three loud Huzzas, in which all the Company joined.” Mr. Whitham Marshe, Secretary for the Maryland Commissioners, wrote an account of these conferences (at Lancaster on the 28th of June, 1744,) stating: “The Commissioners of Virginia had a private treaty with the Chiefs, in the Court house, and Col. Lee made them a speech.” An account of the proceedings and the treaty were printed by Benjamin Franklin, Philadelphia, 1744; from which rare work the following copy of Thomas Lee’s address has been taken: The Commissioners of Virginia desired the Interpreter to let the Indians know that their Brother Assaragoa was now going to give his reply to their answer to his first speech, delivered the day before in the forenoon.Sachims and Warriors of the Six United Nations, As a result of this conference, a Treaty was made by which the Indians, in consideration of 400 pounds stirling paid and a promise of further payments, granted the Virginians the right to settle the land west of the mountains to the Ohio River. The two following letters from Thomas Lee, then acting as Governor of the Colony, to Governor Hamilton, of Pennsylvania, are in relation to the settling of these lands:
The grant referred to was that of 500,000 acres situated in the present counties of Jefferson and Columbiana in Ohio, and in Brooke county, West Virginia. This was probably the first effort of the English to settle any of the territory “Westward of the Mountains.” It is said that Thomas Lee was the originator of the project; he was certainly the first president of the company. At his death, he was succeeded by Lawrence Washington. Though Thomas Lee may have been a person of some influence in his day, he is known rather for his many distinguished sons than for his own individual merit, for it has seldom fallen to the lot of any man to rear six sons who took an active and patriotic part in the service of their country, at least four of whom were distinguished for their unselfish patriotism during the Revolutionary struggle. Of these sons Mr. Campbell has written: As Westmoreland, their native county, is distinguished above all others in Virginia as the birthplace of genius, so perhaps no other Virginian could boast of so many distinguished sons as President Lee. President John Adams (who was not usually lavish in his praise of any one) wrote in after years to Richard Bland Lee:
Where Thomas Lee lived during the first years of his married life is a matter of some doubt. It seems most probable that his first home was at “Mt. Pleasant,” and that the loss by fire, of which his son William wrote, was the destruction of that mansion. It is certain that the house at “Mt. Pleasant” was burned early in the last century, but there is no evidence of a fire ever having occurred at Stratford. If Queen Caroline gave Thomas Lee a “bountiful present out of her own privy purse,” while she was Queen, she must have given it between 1727 and 1737, as she became Queen in the former year and died in the latter. As Princess of Wales, she would hardly have possessed sufficient means to make a large present. It seems, therefore, highly probable that the Stratford house was erected about 1725–30, hardly later, as i t is said that all of Thomas Lee’s sons were born in that mansion. An old mansion has been declared to be a history in itself; its rooms being the chapters; its stories, volumes; its furniture, illustrations, and its inmates the characters. Such a mansion is certainly an illustration of the customs, habits, and mode of life of the period in which it was built and inhabited. And this thought seems to be applicable to Stratford for many reasons. Since it was erected upon the historic banks of the Potomac, American history has been made, and some prominent actors in its history were born under its roof. At the time of its building, the American Colonies were few in number, and weak in strength, hardly able to defend their homes from the marauding Indian. Spotswood and his daring followers had only recently crossed “the Great Mountains,” and looked upon the beautiful valley of Virginia. The imagination of to-day can hardly realize that there was ever a time when such a trip could be considered a daring venture, and the suggestion of such an idea seems a joke. “Early in his administration,” writes Howe, “Spotswood, at the head of a troop of horse, effected a passage over the Blue Ridge, which had previously been considered an impenetrable barrier to the ambition of the whites, and discovered the beautiful valley which lies beyond; In commemoration of this event, he received from the king the honor of knighthood, and was presented with a minature golden horse-shoe, on which was inscribed the motto, SIC JURAT TRANSCENDERE M0NTESL—‘Thus he swears to cross the mountains.’” Since that time a new nation has been born and grown to manhood; from infantile dimensions, a narrow strip of inhabited land, hugging the Atlantic as if afraid to loosen its hold on the mother country, its inhabitants have extended from ocean to ocean, from the great lakes to the gulf. The war of the Revolution, with its heroes and patriots, has come and gone. All these changes has Stratford witnessed, yet it remains to-day solid and strong, a monument of the past age in which it was erected, and had it no other claim to distinction, it might surely rank as one of America’s historic mansions. But it possesses much greater claims than mere age: as the birthplace of two signers of the Declaration of Independence, and of two others who represented their country at the courts of Europe, during the earlier years of that struggle, it is hallowed by memories which no other mansion in America can share. There, too, on the 19th of January, 1807, was born Robert E. Lee, an event well worthy of being the last act in the great drama, of which Stratford has been the stage. Bishop Meade wrote many years ago: Some mournful thoughts will force themselves upon us when considering the ruins of churches, of mansions, and of cemeteries, in Westmoreland. By reason of the worth, talents, and patriotism which once adorned it, it was called the Athens of Virginia. But how few of the descendants of those who once were its ornaments are now to be found in it! Chantilly, Mt. Pleasant, Wakefield are no more. Stratford alone remains. Where now are the venerable churches? Pope’s Creek, Round Hill, Nomini, Leeds, where are they? Yecomico only survives the general wreck. Stratford house, with its solid walls and massive, rough-hewn timbers, seems rather to represent strength and solidity than elegance or comfort. Its large rooms, with numerous doors and windows, heated only by the large open fireplaces, would today scarcely be considered habitable. Nor would the modem housewife care to have her kitchen placed out in the yard some fifty or sixty feet from her dining room. The house was built in the shape of the letter H, the cross line being a large hall room of some twenty-five or thirty feet, serving as the connecting link between the two wings, these wings being about thirty feet wide and sixty deep. The house contains some eighteen large rooms, exclusive of the hall. The view given here represents the rear, but the front is practically the same, the small stairway leads up to the rear door of the hall room. The room to the right, as one faces the picture, is the bed room in which tradition states that Richard Henry Lee and his brothers were born; also, Gen. Robert E. Lee. The hall room was, in those days, used as the library and general sitting room, especially in summer, being large, airy, well lighted and ventilated. The ceiling is very high, dome shaped, the walls are panelled in oak, with the book cases set in them; back and front are doors, leading into the garden, flanked on either side by windows, as shown in the illustration. On the other two sides of this hall, between the book cases, are two doors, opening into the wings, Outside, at the four corners of the house, are four out-houses, used as servants quarters, laundry, kitchen, and such like purposes. At the corner of the house, to the right of the picture given here, but too far off to be seen, was the kitchen, with its immense fireplace, which by actual measurement was found to be twelve feet wide, six high, and five deep, evidently capable of roasting a fair-sized ox. Lying on the grass, there is seen a large, old-fashioned shell or cannon ball, which tradition says was once fired at the house by an English warship. The portions of the stable yet remaining show it to have been very large; the kitchen garden was surrounded by the usual brick wall, much remaining at the present time. At the foot of the kitchen garden are the remains of the large brick burial vault, of which Bishop Meade wrote: “I have been assured by Mrs. Eliza Turner, who was there at the time, that it was built by General Henry Lee. The cemetery (vault) is much larger than any other in the Northern Neck, consisting of several apartments or alcoves for different branches of the family. Instead of an arch over them there is a brick house, perhaps twenty feet square, covered in. A floor covers the cemetery. In the centre is a trap door, through which you descend to the apartments below.” This brick house having fallen into ruin, a late proprietor of Stratford had it torn down and the bricks heaped up into a mound, which, covered with earth and surmounted by the tombstone of Thomas Lee, would serve as a fitting mark for the unknown dead reposing underneath. Thomas Lee’s will was dated Feb. 22nd, 1749, and probated in Westmoreland July 30th, 1751. There has been some uncertainty as to the burial place of both Thomas Lee and his son, Richard Henry; the former has always been thought to have been buried at Old Pope’s Creek Church, and the latter at Chantilly, but an examination of their wills and other data proves most conclusively that both of them were buried in the “Old Burnt House Fields,” at “Mt. Pleasant.” It requires no proof to show that Richard Lee and Laetitia Corbin, his wife were buried at this place, as their tombstone is still to be seen there. Thomas Lee’s wife died about a year before her husband, and of course had been duly buried; in his will he desired to be “buried between my Late Dearest wife and my Honored Mother, and that the bricks on the side next my wife may be moved and my coffin Placed as near hers as is possible, without moving or disturbing the remains of my Mother.” This request proves that his wife had been buried very near the grave of his mother. There can be no doubt that Thomas Lee was buried, as he desired, beside his wife, for ONE SLAB covered the two graves, and has on it the following inscription, recently copied. The slab, now at Stratford, is in perfect condition, and the inscription as legible as when first cut: Here lies Buried the Hon’ble Col. Thomas Lee, Who dyed 14 November, 1750; Aged 60 years; and his beloved wife, Mrs. Hannah Lee. She departed this life 25 January, 1749–50. Their monument is erected in the lower church of Washington Parish, in this County; five miles above their Country Seat, Stratford Hall. As Old Pope’s Creek church stood about five miles above Stratford, and was THE lower church of Washington parish, it was evidently the one alluded to in the above quoted inscription. The tombstone states that “their monument is erected in the lower church of Washington Parish in this County, five miles above their Country Seat, Stratford Hall.” Fortunately, a copy of the inscription once on this monument has been preserved, in the writing of Richard Henry Lee; but, unfortunately, a part of the inscription is torn, so that the name of the “family burying place” is lost. This Monument is erected to the Memory of the Honourable Col. Thomas Lee, Commander-in-chief and President of His Majesties Council for this Colony, descended from the very ancient and Honourable Family of Lees in Shropshire in England, who dyed November 14, 1750, aged 60 years; and of the Hon’ble Mrs. Hannah Lee, his Wife, by Philip Ludwell Lee, their eldest son, as a just and dutyfull Tribute to so excellent a Father and Mother, Patterns of Conjugal Virtue. They are buried eighteen miles from this in the family burying place, called the old . . . in Cople Parish, in this County. (This slab cannot be found, but it is rumored that when the church was destroyed, some one unknown used it with the reverse side up for a hearth stone before an open fire place and may some day be discovered.)—Ed. No one can well doubt that the “family burying place” was in the old Burnt House Fields, at “Mt. Pleasant.” This was the “one acre where my Hon’d Father is Buryed” that Thomas Lee, in his will desired should not “be disposed of upon any pretense whatsoever.”
Thomas and Hannah (Ludwell) Lee had the following issue: names and dates were copied from the family Bible of Richard Henry Lee, who stated that he had copied from that of his father at Stratford: I. Richard (4), born June 17,1723, probably at Mt. Pleasant, died unmarried, before his father. Henry Lee. Henry (3), sixth son of Richard 2, (Richard 1), born about 1691, lived at “Lee Hall” on the Potomac. About 1724–25, he married Mary, daughter of Col. Richard Bland. On June 2, 1737, he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the Westmoreland County Militia. He died at “Lee Hall” in 1747. It is not my purpose to include the collateral branches, but it is necessary in this case as this branch leads directly back to Stratford Hall. Henry and Mary (Bland) Lee left four children: I. John (4), born at “Lee Hall” about 1724, settled in Essex County and was clerk of the courts there as early as 1745, and held the office until 1761. He represented Essex County as Burgess in 1762-63-64-65. On December 20, 1749, he married Mrs. Mary (Smith) Ball. He returned to Westmoreland County and lived at “Cabin Point” on the Potomac River where he died in 1767. Return to Stratford Hall and the Lees |
