USA > Virginia > Old churches, ministers and families of Virginia, Vol. II > Part 15
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estate he had in England, (I think near Stratford-by-Bow in Middlesex,) at that time worth eight hundred or nine hundred pounds per annum, to be sold and the money to be divided among his children. He died and was buried in Virginia, leaving a numerous progeny, whose names I have chiefly forgot. His eldest son then living was Richard, who spent almost his whole life in study, and usually wrote his notes in Greek, Hebrew, or Latin,-many of which are now in Virginia; so that he neither im- proved nor diminished his paternal estate, though at that time he might with case have acquired what would at this day produce a princely reve- nue. He was of the Council in Virginia, and also in other offices of honour and profit, though they yielded little to him. He married a Corbin or Corbyne, I think of Staffordshire : from this marriage he had and left behind him when he died in Virginia-which was some time after the Revolution [in England under William and Mary]-five sons,-Richard, Philip, Francis, Thomas, and Henry, and one daughter .* Richard settled in London as a Virginia merchant, in partnership with one Thomas Corbin, a brother of his mother : he married an heiress in England of the name of Silk, and by her left one son, George, and two daughters, Lettuce and Martha. All these three children went to Virginia and settled. George married a Wormly there, who died leaving one daughter ; then he married a Fairfax-nearly related to Lord Fairfax, of Yorkshire-and died, leaving by his last marriage three sons that are now minors and are at school in England under the care of Mr. James Russul. Lettuce mar- ried a Corbin, and her sister married a Turberville : their eldest children intermarried, from which union George Lee Turberville, now at school at Winton College, is the eldest issue. Philip, the second son, went to Maryland, where he married and settled. He was of the Proprietor's Council, and died leaving a very numerous family, that are now branched out largely over the whole Province, and are in plentiful circumstances. The eldest son, Richard, is now a member of the Proprietor's Council. Francis, the third son, died a bachelor. Thomas, the fourth son, though with none but a common Virginia education, yet, having strong natural parts, long after he was a man he learned the languages without any as- sistance but his own genius, and became a tolerable adept in the Greek and Latin. . He married a Ludwell, of whose genealogy I must give a short account, being maternally interested therein. The Ludwells, though the name is now extinct, are an old and honourable family of Somerset- shire, England, the original of them many ages since coming from Ger- many. Philip Ludwell and John Ludwell, being brothers, and sons of a Miss Cottington, who was heiress of James Cottington, the next brother and heir to the famous Lord Francis Cottington, of whom a pretty full account may be seen in Lord Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, were in court favour after the restoration of Charles II. John was appointed Secretary, and was one of the Council in Virginia, where, I believe, he died without issue. Philip, the eldest brother, went to America Governor of Carolina, from whence he went to Virginia, and married the widow of Sir William Berkeley, by whom he had a daughter, (that married Colonel Parke, who was afterward the Governor of the Leeward Islands, in the
The daughter married Mr. William Fitzhugh, of Eagle's Nest, King George county,-son of the first William Fitzhugh, -and was the mother of the late William Fitzhugh, of Chatham.
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West Indies, and died in Antigua, the seat of his government,) and one son named Philip.
" After some time old Philip Ludwell returned to England, and died here. He was buried in Bow Church, near Stratford: his son Philip remained in Virginia, where his father had acquired a considerable estate, and married a Harrison, by whom he had two daughters,-Lucy, the eldest, married a Colonel Grymes, who was of the Council in Virginia, and Hannah, who married the before-mentioned Thomas Lee,-and one son, Philip. This Philip was, as his father had been, of the Council of Vir- ginia. He married a Grymes, by whom he had several children,-most of whom died in their infancy ; and in the year 1753 his wife died ; in 1760 he came over to England for his health, and in the year 1767 he died here, when the male line of Ludwell became extinct. He left heiresses three daughters,-Hannah Philippa, Frances, and Lucy : the second is since dead unmarried. This Thomas Lee by his industry and parts acquired a considerable fortune ; for, being a younger brother, 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 his 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's being recalled, who had been some time Governor of Virginia, he became President and Commander-in- chief in the Colony, in which station he continued for some time, until the King thought proper to appoint him Governor of the Colony ; but he died before his commission got to him. He left by his marriage with Miss Ludwell six sons,-Philip Ludwell, Thomas Ludwell, Richard Henry, Francis Lightfoot, William, and Arthur,-and two daughters, all well pro- vided for in point of fortune.
Here ends the manuscript of Mr. William Lee, of London; but we are enabled by another document to proceed further, though not justified by the bounds prescribed to our notices to pursue it in its details. Of the six sons of Thomas Lee, of Stratford, some- thing must be said, or we should be justly condemned.
Philip Ludwell, the eldest, succeeded his father at Stratford, in Westmoreland. He married a Miss Steptoe, and left two daugh- ters. Matilda, the eldest, married General Henry Lee, of the Revo- lution ; and Flora married Mr. Ludwell Lee, of Loudoun. Thomas Ludwell settled in Stafford, and married a Miss Aylett. Richard Henry was educated in England, and returned in the nineteenth year of his age, and married first a Miss Aylett, and next a Mrs. Pinkard, who was a Miss Gaskins or Gascoigne. He took an active part in the Revolution. His life has been written by his grandson, Richard Henry Lee. Francis Lightfoot Lee also participated largely in the events of the Revolution, and was regarded as one of the ablest orators and statesmen of that period. He married a Miss Rebecca Tayloe, daughter of Colonel John Tay- loe, of Richmond county. Of the fifth son, William, the sheriff and alderman of London, we have already given some account. Arthur,
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the sixth and youngest, as a scholar, a writer, a philosopher, a poli- tician and diplomatist, was surpassed by none and equalled by few of his contemporaries. He studied physic in Edinburgh, where he took his degrees ; but, disliking the profession, he studied law, and distinguished himself as a lawyer in England. The services ren- dered by him to his country as her minister at foreign courts were most valuable.
In the English document immediately preceding, nothing is said of one branch of the family,-viz .: Henry Lee, one of the bro- thers of Thomas Lee, of Stratford, and grandson of the first Lee. He married a Bland, and had several children. His son Richard was Squire Lee, of Lee Hall. His only daughter married a Fitz- hugh. 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. A numerous posterity has descended from these, among whom are some bright ornaments of the Church, the State, and the army. Mention is made in our English document of one of the family at an early period moving to Maryland and having numerous and influential descendants in that Province. I have reason to believe, from recent examinations into the records of different courts in the Northern Neck, that some of that branch returned to Virginia, and were for a long series of years clerks in the county of Essex. The following extract from a communication sent me by a competent person establishes the fact. "John Lee, clerk of Essex county, who succeeded Captain William Beverley, came from Maryland. His nephew, John Lee, who was a member of the House of Burgesses, succeeded him. At his death, his son Hancock Lee succeeded to the office. At the death of Hancock Lee, his son John Lee succeeded to it." Thus four of the name held the office of clerk in Essex in succession.
The family of Lees, in all its branches, so far as I know and believe, have always been Episcopal. I know of scarce an excep- tion. I have been intimately acquainted with some most excellent specimens of true piety among them,-too many to be specified and dwelt upon. If tradition and history and published documents are to be relied on, the patriotic, laborious, self-sacrificing, and eloquent Richard Henry Lee, of the Revolution, must have deeply sympa- thized with Washington, and Peyton Randolph, and Pendleton, and Nicholas, and Henry, in their religious character and sentiments.
In looking over the two volumes containing the life and corre- spondence of Richard Henry Lee, of Chantilly, in Westmoreland,
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the reader cannot fail to ask himself the question, "Was there a man in the Union who did more in his own county and State and country, by action at home and correspondence abroad, to prepare the people of the United States for opposition to English usurpa- tion, and the assertion of American independence? Was there a man in America who toiled and endured more than he, both in body and mind, in the American cause ? Was there a man in the Legisla- ture of Virginia, and in the Congress of the Union, who had the pen of a ready writer so continually in his hand, and to which so many public papers may be justly ascribed, and by whom so much hard work in committee-rooms was performed?" To him most justly was assigned the honourable but perilous duty of first moving in our American Congress "that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States." Nor is it at all won- derful that one who was conversant with the plans and intentions of the English ministry should have declared that, in the event of the reduction of the Colonies, the delivery of General Wash- ington and Richard Henry Lee would be demanded, in order to their execution as rebels. Although the great principles of morality and religion rest on infinitely higher ground than the opinion of the greatest and best of men, yet it is most gratifying to find them sustained in the writings and actions of such a man as Richard Henry Lee. Mr. Lee advocated private education as being better calculated for impressing the minds of the young "with a love of religion and virtue." His biographer says that he had early studied the evidences of the Christian religion, and had through life avowed his belief in its divine origin. He was a member of the Episcopal Church in full communion, and took a deep interest in its welfare. He proved the sincerity of what has been quoted from him, in favour of private education, by having a minister or can- didate for the ministry in his family as private tutor. Mr. Bal- maine was sent over to him by his brother Arthur, from London, as both a staunch friend of America and a pious man. I have often heard Mr. Balmaine speak in the highest terms of Mr. Lee
as a Christian and a patriotic statesman. His attachment to the Church of his fathers was evinced by the interest he took in seek- ing to obtain consecration for our Bishops, immediately after the war, and when he was President of Congress. Twice were thanks returned to him by our General Convention for his services. Mr. Lee was a decided advocate of the appointment of public acts of supplication and thanksgiving to Almighty God in times of adver- sity and prosperity. When all was dark and lowering in our
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political horizon, and when it was proposed that, as one means of propitiating the favour of God, it should be recommended to the different States to take the most effectual means for the encou- raging of religion and good morals, and for suppressing "theatrical entertainments, horse-racing, gaming, and such other diversions as are productive of idleness, dissipation, and a general depravity of manners," while some voted against the measure, Mr. Lee was found in company with the most pious men of the land in favour of it, and it was carried by a large majority. Again, when by the capture of Burgoyne's army the hearts of Americans were cheered, we find Mr. Lee one of a committee drafting a preamble and reso- lution, which is believed to be from his own pen, in the following pious strain :- “ Forasmuch as it is the indispensable duty of all men to adore the superintending providence of Almighty God, to acknow- ledge with gratitude their obligation to him for benefits received, and to implore such further blessings as they stand in need of; and it having pleased him, in his abundant mercy, not only to continue to us the innumerable bounties of his common providence, but also to smile upon us in the prosecution of a just and necessary war for the independence and establishment of our unalienable rights and liberties ; particularly in that he hath been pleased in so great a measure to prosper the means used for the support of our arms, and crown them with the most signal success: it is therefore re- commended to the Legislature and executive powers of these States, to set apart Thursday, the eighteenth of December next, for solemn thanksgiving and praise; that with one heart and one voice the people may express the feelings of their hearts, and consecrate themselves to the service of their Divine Benefactor; and, together with their sincere acknowledgments and offerings, they may join the penitent confession of their manifold sins, whereby they have forfeited every favour, and their earnest and humble supplication that it may please God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, merci- fully to forgive and blot them out of remembrance; that it may please God," &c.
Mr. Lee, though entirely opposed to any Church establishment, was, together with Henry, an advocate for a proposition to make every man contribute to the support of the Christian religion, as the only sure basis of private and public morality. In this, how- ever, they failed. When the question about paying debts in depre- ciated currency came on, Mr. Lee evinced his high and honourable sense of morality in the earnest and eloquent opposition rade to it. He declared that nothing so deeply distressed him as a pro- position which he regarded as a violation of honesty and good faith
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among men, and said that it "would have been better to have re- mained the honest slaves of Britain, than dishonest freemen."*
- Of the descendants of so great and good a man, I cannot refrain from adding something. His oldest son was Thomas Lee, whose daughter Eleanor married Girard Alexander. His second son was Mr. Ludwell Lee, of Loudoun county, who was a worthy member of our Church, and left children and grandchildren who have fol- lowed his example. His daughter Mary married Colonel William Augustin Washington, but died childless. His daughter Hannah married Mr. Corbin Washington, many of whose descendants have been or are zealous members of the Church. His daughter Harriet married twice,-first Mr. George Turberville, and then the Rev. Mr. Maffit, of the Presbyterian Church. Many of their descendants, whether of the Episcopal or Presbyterian Church, are characterized by exemplary piety. Sally married Edmund I. Lee, of Alexandria, and has left a numerous posterity of children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren, who belong to and love the Church of their ancestors. The Rev. William F. Lee was one of her sons.
Anne, the other daughter of R. H. Lee, married Charles Lee. Her daughter Ann married General Walter Jones, and was the mother of a numerous family of children, who love the religion and Church of their ancestors. Her daughter Catherine is one of our missionaries in China.
NORTHUMBERLAND HOUSE.
On the Potomac, and within sight of the bay, are the remains of an old graveyard, belonging to what has always gone by the name of the "Northumberland House." The place was originally settled and a house built on it by a Mr. Presley, one of the earliest settlers, who was murdered in it by his own servants. It was afterward owned by Mr. Presley Thornton, who lies buried there. The following extract from the letter of a friend is worthy of in- sertion :-
"I have also, according to promise, visited the graveyard of old North- umberland House, and found the remains of but one tombstone. This, although erected of the heaviest materials, has been so much mutilated by lightning and the waste of time, that nothing more can be deciphered than that it was erected to the memory of Presley Thornton, who was elected in early life to the House of Burgesses from the county of North- umberland, which office he held until 1760, when he was appointed one of the Council of State for this Colony; and that he filled both offices with great credit to himself and to the public emolument. He departed
* I have ascertained, beyond a doubt, that he was buried at Chantilly, in the yard or garden.
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this life on the 8th of December, 1769, in the forty-eighth year of his age, having enjoyed all the chief honours of his country."
To this I add that, in the absence of the vestry-books and court- records, I find that at an early period the Lees, Presleys, Poy- thresses, Kenners, Thorntons, Newtons, &c. were the leading per- sons in Northumberland.
The assertion by Mr. Lee that Charles II. was proclaimed King in Virginia before he was received as such in England is a matter of dispute among historians. Beverley, our earliest, who published his work in 1705,-about forty-five years after the event is said to have occurred,-affirms it as a fact. Robertson, the historian, and Chalmers, another writer of that day, repeat the same. Burke, who published in 1805, agrees with the foregoing so far as to think that something of the kind took place, though not in a regular way. Dr. Hawks agrees with Beverley and his followers. Mr. Henning, in his Statutes at Large, compiled by order of the Virginia Assem- bly, and commenced in 1809, is of opinion that there is no founda- tion for any such supposition, and appeals to the entire absence of all notice of such proceeding in the documents of that period. Mr. Bancroft and Mr. Charles Campbell adopt the opinion of Mr. Henning. Of course, if it was an irregular, partial, or tumultuous act of individuals, as Mr. Burke supposes, we could not expect to see it among the recorded Acts of Assembly, as we do see the later and more formal acknowledgment of Charles II. It is not, how- ever, a matter of sufficient importance to produce a Trojan war. It is scarcely probable that Mr. Lee is mistaken in the tradition that his ancestor was a zealous loyalist, and did, on his return to England, visit Charles at Breda and hold communion with him on the subject of his acknowledgment by Virginia, then having so many staunch Cavaliers in it, whatever uncertainty may rest upon the subsequent proceedings.
Since the foregoing article was written, I have received some further information concerning the first of the Lee family and his children, which is worthy of insertion. The will of the first Richard Lee, dated 1663, may be seen in Mr. Charles Campbell's History of Virginia, p. 157. . From it I extract the following :- "I, Colonel Richard Lee, of Virginia, and lately of Stratford-Langton, in the county of Essex, Esquire, being bound out upon a voyage to Vir- ginia aforesaid, and not knowing how it may please God to dispose of me in so long a voyage," &c. "First, I give and bequeath my soul to that good and gracious God that gave it me, and to my blessed Redeemer Jesus Christ, assuredly trusting in and by his meritorious
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death and passion to receive salvation, and my body to be disposed of, whether by sea or land, according to the opportunity of the place, not doubting but at the last day both body and soul shall be united and glorified." Here again we see the faith and the divinity of that day. He then directs that his wife and children, who it seems had not yet been to Virginia, should be sent there, except Francis, to whose option it was left. To his wife Anna he left Stratford-on-the-Potowmacke (to which he had removed from Cobbs) and Mock Necke, together with servants black and white, and other property during her life. To his son John he leaves his plantation called Matholic, with servants, &c. This is now the Mount Pleasant farm owned by Mr. Willowby Newton. To his son Richard he leaves his plantation called Paradise, and the servants there. To his son Francis he leaves his plantations called Paper-Maker's Neck and War Captain's Neck, with servants black and white. To his five younger children, William, Hancock, Betsy, Anne, and Charles, he leaves a plantation, including Bishop's Neck on the Potomac, four thousand acres on the Potomac, together with Strat- ford and Mock Neck at the death of their mother. To William he leaves his lands on the Maryland side; to Francis an interest in his two ships. He also leaves a fund for the better education in England of his two oldest sons, John and Richard.
Since writing the account of the marriages of Richard Henry, as given by his brother William Lee, I have received two commu- nications, stating that one of his wives was a Miss Gaskins, so that, unless he was married three times, there must have been a mistake as to the name of one of those before mentioned.
THE CORBIN FAMILY.
The following account of the Corbin family may very properly be added to that of the Lees, on account of their early connection by marriage.
· The vestry-books of Middlesex and King and Queen counties doubtless speak of some of the same persons mentioned in this genealogy.
Henry Corbin settled in the parish of Stratton Major, King and Queen, about the year 1650. One Nicholas Jernew obtained a patent for Peekatone, in the county of Westmoreland, dated 18th October, 1650, which he transferred to Henry Corbin, who had another patent issued in his own name, dated 26th of March, 1664. Henry Corbin had three children, of whom mention is made in the old papers in my possession. Thomas Corbin, one of his sons, VOL. II .- 10
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must have died without male issue, as his brother Gawin Corbin, by his will, devises to his son Gawin Corbin "the land of my brother, the late Mr. Thomas Corbin." His eldest daughter, Letitia, married Richard Lee, second son of Colonel Richard Lee. Gawin Corbin, the other son of Henry Corbin, and once President of the Council, married a daughter of William Bassett, and left seven children,-three sons and four daughters. Jenny, one of his daughters, married a Mr. Bushrod; Joanna married Major Robert Tucker; Alice married Benjamin Needler, and the other a Mr. Allerton. His sons were-1st, Richard Corbin of Laneville, who married Miss Betty Tayloe, daughter of Colonel John Taylor, ' (Carter Braxton married their oldest daughter;) 2d, John Corbin, of whose history I am ignorant, (the lands devised to him were chiefly in Maryland;) 3d, Gawin Corbin, once a member of the Council, and who married Hannah Lee, sister of Richard Henry Lee. Gawin Corbin, third grandson of Henry Corbin, left an only daughter, Martha, who married George Turberville. George Turberville left two sons,-viz .: Gawin Corbin Turberville, and Richard Lee Turberville. Gawin Corbin Turberville married a daughter of Colonel John Dangerfield, and left an only daughter, Mary, who married William F. Taliafero.
A friend has sent me the following record, which shows at how early a period that kind of dissipation which proved so destructive to Virginia made its appearance in the Northern Neck. "John Lee, Henry Corbin, Thomas Gerrard, and Isaac Allerton, en- tered into a compact, dated 30th of March, 1670, (recorded 27th March, 1774,) to build a banqueting-house at or near the corner of their respective lands."
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ARTICLE LX.
Cople Parish, Westmoreland County.
WESTMORELAND county was cut off from Northumberland county in 1653, and extended along the Potomac as high as the Falls above Georgetown. In the years 1661-62 the two counties were tempo- rarily reunited, because, by the removal of some leading persons, there was not a suitable number of civil and military gentlemen to constitute a proper commission in either of them alone. After some time Stafford was taken from Westmoreland, leaving it a small, narrow county lying on the Potomac, and only extending half-way across the neck toward the Rappahannock River. First Lancaster, then Rappahannock, and then Richmond counties, divided what is now Westmoreland. In time, all the land lying between the rivers was given to Westmoreland, and Cople parish occupied the lower part of the county and Washington the upper. We will begin with Cople parish.
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