The Lee family of the United States is a historically significant Virginia and Marylandpolitical family, whose many prominent members are known for their accomplishments in politics and the military. The family became prominent when Richard Lee I ("The Immigrant") immigrated to the English colony of Virginia in 1639 and made his fortune managing a tobacco plantation worked by enslaved Africans.
Most recently, family members have marked over two hundred years of political service in the United States, as Blair Lee III (1916–1985, served 1971–1979), a descendant of Richard Henry Lee, served as the second Lieutenant Governor of Maryland when the office was revived, from 1971 to 1979 and Acting Governor of Maryland from 1977 to 1979. Charles Carter Lee, a descendant of Henry Lee III and a Superior Court Judge in Los Angeles County, California was named the U.S. team's Chef de Mission by the United States Olympic Committee for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.
The Society of the Lees of Virginia, composed of descendants of Richard Lee I, was organised in 1921 and supports research on the family and preservation of associated historical sites.
History
Richard Lee I, founder of the family in North America
Richard Lee asserted descent from the Lees of Shropshire and bore a coat of arms which was confirmed in 1660/1 by John Gibbon, Bluemantle Pursuivant of the College of Arms. In 1988, a study by William Thorndale was published in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly,[1] asserting that Richard Lee I was actually the son of John Lee, a clothier, and his wife Jane Hancock; that Richard had been born not at Coton Hall in Shropshire, but in Worcester (some distance down the River Severn); and that several of their immediate relatives had been apprenticed as vintners. The question, then, has been 'how did Richard Lee descend from the family with whom he shared a coat of arms?' The book Collections for the Ancestry of Colonel Richard Lee, Virginia Emigrant, by English genealogist Alan Nicholls[2] presented evidence for the English ancestry of Colonel Richard Lee using contemporary documents, transcribing records left by Richard Lee, his family, and their associates. His research, using original source documents, has shown that some of William Thorndale's conclusions were likely based upon prior transcription errors. His work also looks at the records left by the Shropshire and Worcester Lee families. A great-uncle may have been Richard Lee, who was called 'Richard Lee, Gent' buried at Coton Hall's Alveley Parish in 1613.[3][4]
General Henry Lee III, "Light Horse Harry," Governor of Virginia
Thomas Lee[5] (1690–1750) married Hannah Harrison Ludwell:[6] their children, like the descendants of Thomas Lee's brother Henry Lee I (1691–1747), included a number of prominent Revolutionary War and pre-Revolution political figures.
Younger siblings included Alice Lee (1736–1818), who married American Chief Physician William Shippen, Jr.[7] and diplomats William Lee (b. 1739, d. 1795) and Arthur Lee (b. 1740, d. 1792).
Judge Charles Carter Lee, a direct descendant of Henry Lee III, was selected to represent the United States at the 2008 Olympic Games as the United States Olympic Committee's Chef de Mission. Judge Lee, a Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge since 1989, was also involved with the 1984 Summer Olympics as he headed a delegation sent to China after the Soviet Union announced a plan to boycott the Olympics in Los Angeles. These talks concluded with China's formal agreement in writing to participate in the 1984 Olympics. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's mother was born Janet Lee and claimed to be part of the family. It was later proven that she was not. [citation needed]
Gallery
Thomas Lee (1690–1750), Virginia colonist and cofounder of the Ohio Company
Richard Lucian Page, Brigadier General in the Confederate States Army
Samuel Phillips Lee, United States Navy Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral Willis A. Lee, Jr., USN; circa 1942.
The Society of the Lees of Virginia
The Society of the Lees of Virginia, organized in 1921, is composed of descendants of the Lee family's original Jamestown immigrants, Richard Lee I and his wife, Ann Constable. The Society is actively involved in many endeavors consistent with its ongoing mission, including:
Helping to coordinate and promote an up-to-date contextual understanding of the family derived from archeological, genealogical, and historical research;[12][13][14][15]
Thomas Lee (1690–1750), Governor of Virginia Colony 1749–1750. Father of Richard Henry Lee, Francis Lightfoot Lee, and Arthur Lee.
Richard Henry Lee (1732–1794), Delegate to the Continental Congress from Virginia 1774, member of the Virginia Legislature 1777, U.S. Senator from Virginia 1789–1792. Son of Thomas Lee.[19]
Francis Lightfoot Lee II (1782–1850), ∞ Jane Digges Fitzgerald (1789–1816).
Blair Lee I (1857–1944), Maryland State Senator 1906–1912, candidate for Governor of Maryland 1911, U.S. Senator from Maryland 1914–1917, delegate to the Democratic National Convention 1916. Great-grandson of Richard Henry Lee.[20]
E. Brooke Lee, Comptroller of Maryland 1919–1923, Maryland Secretary of State 1923, delegate to the Democratic National Convention 1924 1940, Maryland House Delegate 1927, candidate for U.S. Representative from Maryland 1942. Son of Blair Lee.[21]
Blair Lee III (1916–1985), delegate to the Democratic National Convention 1948 1960 1964 1972, Maryland House Delegate 1955–1962, Maryland State Senator 1967–1969, Maryland Secretary of State 1969–1971, Lieutenant Governor of Maryland 1971–1979, Governor of Maryland 1977–1979. Son of E. Brooke Lee.[22]
E. Brooke Lee, Jr., delegate to the Democratic National Convention 1944. Son of E. Brooke Lee.[23]
Francis Lightfoot Lee (1734–1797), Delegate to the Continental Congress from Virginia 1775, Virginia State Senator 1778, member of the Virginia Legislature 1780. Son of Thomas Lee.
Arthur Lee (1740–1792), member of the Virginia Legislature 1781, Delegate to the Continental Congress from Virginia 1782. Son of Thomas Lee.
Richard Taylor (1744–1829), ∞ 1779: Sarah Dabney Strother
Zachary Taylor (1784–1850), President of the United States 1849–1850. Second cousin once removed of Richard Henry Lee.[24]
Sarah Knox Taylor (1814–1835), ∞ 1835: Jefferson Davis (1808–1889), candidate for Mississippi State Representative 1843, U.S. Representative from Mississippi 1845–1846, U.S. Senator from Mississippi 1847-1851 1857–1861, candidate for Governor of Mississippi 1851, U.S. Secretary of War 1853–1857, President of the Confederate States 1861–1865.[25]
Edmund H. Taylor, Jr. (1830–1923), Mayor of Frankfort, Kentucky 1871-1877 1881–1890; Kentucky State Senator 1902–1904. Grandnephew of Zachary Taylor.[27]
N. Taylor
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Elliot Woolfolk Major (1864–1949), Missouri State Senator 1897–1901, Attorney General of Missouri 1909–1913, Governor of Missouri 1913–1917. First cousin thrice removed of Zachary Taylor[28] and Second cousin thrice removed of James Madison.[29]
N. N.
Edgar Bailey Woolfolk (1865–1956), member of the Missouri Legislature 1899–1901, Missouri State Court Judge 1913–1943. First cousin thrice removed of Zachary Taylor[30] and Second cousin thrice removed of James Madison.[29]
U.S. Representative David Dreier also has stated that he is a distant relative of Richard Bland Lee.[citation needed] Zachary Taylor was also nephew by marriage of Maryland House Delegates Benjamin Mackall IV[31] and Thomas Mackall.[32]
↑William Thorndale, "The Parents of Colonel Richard Lee of Virginia," National Genealogical Society Quarterly 76 (December 1988): 253–68
↑Alan James Nicholls, "Collections for the Ancestry of Colonel Richard Lee, Virginia Emigrant", published at LULU.COM (June 2011)
↑Harrison Dwight Cavanagh, Colonial Chesapeake Families: British Origins and Descendants, Vol. 2 (Dallas, Tex.: p. p., 2014), 118-125, esp. 119.
↑Richard Bland Lee 5th (1930–2012), "[Lee Family Genealogical Research]" (2009–2013); folder: "Lee: Virginia," vertical files; R. Stanton Avery Special Collections, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston.
↑A possible relation was Colonel William R. Lee of the 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry who was descended from Henry Lee who died 1675 in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Possibly Henry Lee was descended either from Sir Henry Lee of Ditchley or possibly related to Colonel Richard Lee of Virginia .p.3-but no proof either way
↑Bushong, Millard Kessler (1941). A History of Jefferson County, West Virginia, 1719–1940 pp. 231-232.
Nagel, Paul C., The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Family, Oxford University Press, reprinted 1992, ISBN0-19-507478-5.
Lee, Edmund Jennings (editor), Lee of Virginia, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, Maryland. reprinted 1983, ISBN0-8063-0604-1
Burton J. Hendrick (author), "The Lees of Virginia", Halcyon House Editions, published and distributed by Blue Ribbon Books, Inc., 386 Fourth Avenue, New York, New York. Hardcover, copyright 1935, ASIN: B000NWSC4Q
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