The pedigree of the Lee family.
The Charlottesville
Chronicle publishes the pedigree of the family of
General Lee.
Like everything else which says anything of the great chieftain, it is very interesting.
It is from an old manuscript which has been shown to the editor.
The
Chronicle says:
‘
This venerable manuscript, which bears date 1750, was received by
Mr. Mead (who is a gentleman of intelligence and character) from his mother,
Mrs. Mead, (widow of
Rev. Zachariah Mead, formerly of
Richmond.)
Mrs. Mead received it from her father, who received it from his father,
General Hull.
It consists of several large sheets, and is written partly in Latin and partly in
English.
Accompanying the pedigree are some mutilated deeds, which, although much injured, exhibit the descending rights and titles to various lands.
These deeds are in Latin, and written on the old stamped paper of
England, and, to the antiquarian, are a rare object of curiosity and interest.
’
The genealogy of the
Lee's, of
Virginia, from 1666--just where this pedigree breaks off — is well known, and may be found in
Bishop Meade's well-known work on "The
Old Churches and Families of
Virginia."
The manuscript commences abruptly with the name of "
Hugo de Lega, or de Le," without date.
The first name with date is that of
John de Lee, Miles, to whom
Hugo de Hinton gave the lands, as by the old chart.
Opposite this name is the date 1333.
The father of
John de Lee was
Thomas de la Lee. The simple name of
Lee occurs first as
Ricardus Lee, of
Langly, about the year 1500.--The first name of Robert is
Robertus de la Lee, son of
John de la Lee; he married Margarita, daughter and heir of
Thomas Astly, of Nordly, about 1400.--The first name written in English is
Thomas Lee, of Cotton, in
King's Nordley, in the Parish of Alvely, who was the son of
Johannes Lee.
There are several coats of arms on the manuscript.
That of
Ricardus Lee, of the direct line, is as follows: A shield with a crescent of a squirrel sejant, eating a nut or flower; a lion in rampant guardant in sinister chief; a star in precise middle chief; dexter chief, a blood-red field with embattled bars of blue and yellow.
The dexter base, a black cross on white field, with a lion's head, crowned, in one corner.
The middle precise base is a chevron of white, on a red field, a white bar, the fesse point on a green field.
The sinister base the same as the dexter chief.
The Lancelot arms are a shield with crescent squirrel — dexter chief red field, with blue and yellow embattled bars.
Sinister chief, a star on blue field.
Dexter base same as sinister chief, and sinister base same as dexter chief.
There are no middle divisions on this shield.
The prevailing white indicates Royalty; the
Star, grandeur; the
Lion, courage; the
Red, war; the Cross, religion, and, with the crowned lion, denotes the Church of England.
The pedigree was extracted from the
London Tower, and is certified by
Charles Townley,
York, and
John Pomfret, Rouge
Croix, August 1st, 1750.
Richard Lee, who came to
Virginia in the reign of Charles I., was of a good family,
Shropshire; and his son,
William Lee, speaks of his picture being (as he is told) "at
Cotton, in
Shropshire, near Bridgeworth, the seat of
Lancelot Lee,
Esq. " He came to the colony of
Virginia as
Secretary and one of the
King's Privy Council.
He settled permanently in
Virginia, and exercised great influence.
It was he who, with the assistance of
Sir William Berkeley, on the death of
Cromwell, had
Virginia (which was
independent under the Protectorate,) re-united with
England — having Charles H. proclaimed
King of
England,
Scotland,
France,
Ireland and
Virginia--two years before the Restoration.
It was in consequence of this step that the ancient motto of the Virginians was "
En dat Virginia quintam. "
This
Richard Lee had several children: John and Richard the two eldest.
Richard was a great scholar, devoting his whole life to study, and a member of the Council of
Virginia.
He married a Corbin, and had five sons — Richard, Philip, Francis,
Thomas,
Henry — and one daughter (who married
William Fitzhugh, of King George). Richard settled in
London as a Virginia merchant.
His children came back to
Virginia.
George married a Wormly — then a Fairfax.
One daughter married a Corbin; another, a Turberville: Philip, the second son of
Richard Lee, settled in
Maryland.
Francis, the third son, died a bachelor.
Thomas, the fourth son, married a Ludwell--one of the most influential families in the Colony.
The issue of this marriage was six sons.--
Philip Ludwell,
Thomas Ludwell,
Richard Henry,
Francis Lightfoot, William and
Arthur — and two daughters.
Philip Ludwell Lee married a Miss.
Stepton. He succeeded his father on the estate of
Stratford, in
Westmoreland.
He left two daughters.
Matilda, the eldest, married
General Henry Lee, of the Revolution; and
Flora married
Mr. Ludwell Lee, of
Loudoun.
Thomas Ludwell Lee settled in
Stafford, and married a Miss.
Aylett.
Richard Henry Lee was educated in
England.
He married, first, a
Miss Aylett, and then a
Miss Pinkard.
Francis Lightfoot Lee was almost as distinguished in the Revolutionary period as an orator and a statesman as his brother.
He married the daughter of
Colonel John Tayloe, of
Richmond county.
The fifth son, William, was sheriff and alderman of the city of
London.
Arthur, the sixth and youngest son, as a scholar, writer, philosopher and diplomatist, was one of the first men of his day.
Henry Lee, the fifth son of
Richard Lee, married a Bland.
This is the ancestor of our
General Lee.
His son Richard was
Squire Lee, of Lee Hall.--His only daughter married a Fitzhugh.
Henry, the third son, married a
Miss Grymes, and left five sons and three daughters, viz:
Henry, who was colonel in the Revolution; Charles,
Richard Bland, Theodoric and Edmund; also, Mary, Lucy and Anne.
General Henry Lee married twice; first, with Matilda, daughter of
Philip Ludwell Lee, by whom he had a son (
Henry) and a daughter (Lucy); and afterwards with Ann, daughter of
Charles Carter, of
Shirley, by whom he had three sons
Charles Carter,
Robert Edmund and
Sidney Smith, and two daughters, Ann and
Mildred.
General Henry Lee resided at
Stratford.
Henry Lee, the son of the first wife, was a major in the war of 1812, and wrote the "Strictures on the Writings of
Jefferson"; also, a Life of
Napoleon Bonaparte.
Sidney Smith Lee was a commodore in the old United States navy, and is now chief of the
Bureau of Orders and Detail, Navy Department, in
Richmond.
He commanded at
Drewry's Bluff for a long time.
Robert Edmund Lee is at
Petersburg — the
General Lee of this day.
He married
Miss Custis, of
Arlington, in
Alexandria county, the daughter and heiress of
George Washington Parke Custis, the adopted son of
General Washington, who married
Mrs. Custis, his mother.
General Lee has three sons--
Brigadier-General G. W. Custis Lee, aid-decamp to the
President (he passed No. 1 at
West Point);
Major-General W. H. F. Lee, commanding a division of cavalry in the Army of Northern Virginia, and
Robert Edmund Lee, who entered the army, at the instance of his father, as a private in the Rockbridge artillery.
He is now on the staff of
General Fitzhugh Lee.
Besides these children,
General Lee had four daughters — Mary, Anne, Agnes and
Mildred — all of them unmarried, and one of whom (Anne) has died died during the war.
General W. H. F. Lee married a
Miss Wickham, who died a year or two since.
General Fitzhugh Lee, of the cavalry, is the son of
Commodore Lee.
