Thomas Lee (Virginia colonist)

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Thomas Lee
Governor Burgess Governor's Councillor
House of Burgesses
In office 1723 – 1733
Council of State of Virginia
In office 1733 – 1750
Governor of Virginia
In office 1749 – 1750
Preceded by	William Gooch
Succeeded by	Robert Dinwiddie
Born	1690 Mount Pleasant at Machodoc River, in Westmoreland County, Virginia
Died	November 14, 1750 Stratford Hall in Westmoreland County, Virginia
Spouse	Hannah Harrison Ludwell
Children	Philip Ludwell Lee, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Ludwell Lee, Francis Lightfoot Lee, William and Arthur Lee
Residence	Machodoc River, later Stratford Hall Plantation

Thomas Lee (c. 1690 – November 14, 1750) was a leading political figure of colonial Virginia. He was a member of the Lee family, a political dynasty which included many figures from the pre-Revolutionary War era until the late 20th century. Lee became involved in politics in 1710 and he became the resident manager of the Northern Neck Proprietary for Lady Catherine Fairfax. After his father died he inherited land in Northumberland and Charles County. Lee later acquired vast holdings in what are now Arlington, Fairfax, Fauquier, Prince William and Loudoun Counties.

When Lee married Hannah Harrison Ludwell in 1722, he also associated himself with the already established Harrison family. A year later he would become a member of the House of Burgesses. After Lee's home was burnt down by criminals, he lost almost all of his possessions and a fair sum of money. With monetary donations he received from Caroline of Ansbach and English Commissioners, he built his new home on the Potomac River], naming it Stratford Hall. Four years later in 1733, he was appointed to the Governor's Council of the House of Burgesses. In 1747, he founded the Ohio Company of Virginia with fellow Virginian colonists who wished to expand Virginia's territory into the Ohio River Valley. For a period of less than a year, in 1749, he became the de facto Governor of Virginia in place of the absent William Gooch. George II was going to officially appoint him governor however Lee died in 1750, before the appointment occurred.

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Thomas Lee was born around 1690 at Mount Pleasant, on the Machodoc River in Westmoreland County, Virginia. His parents were Richard Lee II, “the scholar” and Laetitia Corbin. His ancestors had immigrated from Coton, Shropshire, England to Virginia in 1642.^[1][2] Lee was the fourth son of the couple and would not receive as large an inheritance as his older brothers. This however did not prevent him from becoming successful in politics. Lee attended college at The College of William and Mary around 1700.^[3] Lee's education was referred to as a "common Virginia education".^[4] He soon became interested in the working of the tobacco industry. He left home to work with his uncle Thomas Corbin in the tobacco business.

[edit] Political career

Lee Family Coat of Arms

Lee's political career began in 1710. His first office was Naval Officer of the Potomac River. The position was previously held by his father and upon his resignation, Lee became the new Naval Officer. In 1711, Lee's uncle, Thomas Corbin, helped him gain the position of Virginia agent for the Northern Neck Proprietary. As a result he was appointed by Catherine (Culpeper) Fairfax, Lady Fairfax who was living in England, as her agent and resident manager for the Northern Neck Proprietary which she had inherited from her father, Governor Thomas Colepeper, 2nd Baron Colepeper. Catherine was the wife of Thomas Fairfax, 5th Baron Fairfax. This property which consisted of approximately six million acres (24,000 km²), included all the land between the Potomac and Rappahnnock Rivers.

At one time the head of this agency was another one of Lee's uncles, Edmund Jenings. While Jenings was in England, the offices of the agency were located at the plantation at Machodoc and under Lee's supervision.^[5] The agency was later taken from Jenings and given to Governor Robert "King" Carter in 1720. This was due to poor management after Jenings assumed power of the agency in 1715.^[6] This event led to animosity between the Lee and Carter families.^[7] The members of the families refused to marry each other until Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee married Anne Hill Carter. Their most notable child was Robert E. Lee.

Thomas held this position until 1722. In 1713, Thomas succeeded his father as Naval Officer in charge of collecting customs for the south side of the Potomac.^[6] The following year, upon his fathers death, he inherited lands in Northumberland County near Dividing Creek, as well as land in Maryland adjoining his brother Philip Lee, Sr. of “Blenheim”. Thomas leased the estate “Machodoc” from his brother Richard Lee III who was in London. That same year Thomas visited England, remaining for about a year.

Lee thought that marriage was not only important between two individuals but by the families that they were from. A nephew of his later said, "Our Late Hon[ora]ble & worthy Unkle Presid[ent] Lee said that the first fall & ruin of families and estates was mostly Occasioned by Imprudent Matches to Imbeggar families and estates & to beget a race of beggars."^[8] He was engaged to Jenny Wilson in 1716 and went to England to formalize the lease to the plantation before he was married. Jenny Wilson had found another husband, James Roscoe, and Lee learned this from William Byrd.^[6] Lee and his brother Henry had managed to receive a lease for 99 years on the plantation. During his stay in England, Lee had decided to buy some property on the Potomac River called the "Clifts Plantation" in Westmoreland County. At the time, the property was owned by Nathaniel Pope, Jr., a mariner, of London. Another reason he bought it was because he predicted that when Virginia gained its independence that the capital would be located on the Potomac River.^[9] He would later rename it Stratford. Thomas purchased his fathers old estate “Machodoc”, from his sister-in-law, Martha Silk , the former wife of his older brother, Richard Lee III. "Machodoc", was later known as "Mount Pleasant".

[edit] Marriage and family

Portrait of Lee's wife Hannah

In May 1722, Thomas Lee married a member of the Harrison family, Hannah Harrison Ludwell at "Greenspring", James City County, Virginia ^[10]. The marriage lasted his entire lifetime and brought wealth and status to Lee. Hannah was the daughter of Philip Ludwell II of "Greenspring", and Hannah Harrison.

In 1723, the same year they were married, the couple had their first child, Richard Lee who died at an early age.^[11] In 1727, Lee had his first child who would survive into adulthood, Philip Ludwell Lee. Lee would have another child before 1729.

1729 was a tragic year for Lee and his family. In January, thieves broke into the house stealing the Lee family plate, jewelry, and other articles of value, and upon leaving set fire to the plantation house at Machodoc. The fire destroyed the entire plantation, including Thomas' office, the barns and outhouses. Almost all of the Lees' possessions were destroyed and up to 10,000 pounds in cash.^[12] The house quickly burned and Hannah Lee, being pregnant with her fourth child, had to be thrown from her chamber window on the second floor. The only person who was injured was a servant girl. Virginia Governor William Gooch blamed transported convicts for the crime. It is said that Col. Lee's loss was not less than 50,000 pounds. English Commissioners later gave Lee 300 pounds as compensation and Queen Caroline also gave him money from her private purse to help with rebuilding.^[13][14] The convicts and an accomplice were later found guilty. Their punishment is unknown because the trial records were destroyed. Two months later Hannah Lee gave birth to a son John. He died the same day due the injuries that Hannah Lee received during her jumping escape from a window of the burning plantation.^[6] When construction began on their new home, the Lee family stayed with Thomas's brother Henry at Lee Hall. The "Machodoc" estate was then sold to Richard Lee III's only son, George Lee, who was the builder of "Mount Pleasant".

Lee's political career required him to make trips to Williamsburg, which meant that Lee had to be away from his family for a good amount of time. Despite the trips, Lee managed to make the eight mile journey to his family and to be with his wife at the birth of all their children:^[15] Thomas Ludwell, Richard Henry, Francis Lightfoot, Alice, William, and Arthur. These children were high ranking political figures who were active in Revolutionary war and post-Revolution politics. His second son Thomas Ludwell Lee was a member of the Virginia Delegates and editor of the Virginia Declaration of Rights.^[16] Thomas Lee's other sons Richard Henry Lee and Francis Lightfoot Lee were signers of the United States Declaration of Independence.^[17][18] Richard Henry was a sentator from Virginia to the United States Senate and Francis Lightfoot was in the Virginia Senate. Lee's youngest sons William Lee and Arthur Lee were diplomats to various European countries.^[19] William along with Jan de Neufville drafted an unofficial treaty between the United States and the Netherlands which Great Britain used as a reason for the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War.^[20]

Lee later became a vestryman for Copole Parish and Justice of the Peace in Westmoreland County.^[21] In 1723, Lee became a member of the House of Burgesses. He held this office until he was appointed to the Governor's Council in the Virginia General Assembly in 1733. This position was a lifetime appointment. The Council was made up of twelve appointees who were selected by the Governor of Virginia and was the upper half of the Virginia General Assembly. The lower half was made up of the House of Burgesses. This position also gave Lee the rank of Colonel, a military rank that was second only to the governor.^[6] Members of the Council were advisors to the governor and judges in the General Court of the colony. Their work led them to spend about a third of the year in the capital Williamsburg, Virginia.^[6]

When Governor William Gooch was recalled to England in 1749, Lee was named President of the King's Council of Virginia and Commander-in-Chief of the colony. He was going to be appointed Governor of Virginia by King George II but died before the appointment could happen.^[22][23]

[edit] Ohio Company

Lee was appointed commissioner to negotiate with the Six Nations of the Iroquois at the Lancaster, Pennsylvania Conference along with William Beverley in 1744. ^[24] A treaty was made with the Iroquois body for 400 pounds in return for the right for Virginians to settle in Ohio.^[25] In 1747, Lee co-founded the Ohio Company of Virginia along with Lawrence Washington, Augustine Washington, Jr., the Duke of Bedford, and John Hanbury. The Ohio Company was a land speculation venture which helped colonize the Ohio Country. Lee's influence as a member of the Governor's Council helped lead to the success of the Ohio Company and within seven years the company had 100 families living in Ohio. He was also the first president of the Company and after Lee died, was succeeded by Lawrence Washington.

[edit] Stratford Hall

Main article: Stratford Hall Plantation

Stratford Hall Plantation, built by Thomas Lee.

With Lee's higher rank in society and wealth he decided he needed to build a mansion to secure his position as one of the gentry in Virginia.^[6] The location that Lee had chosen for his new home was the "Clifts" which he had owned since the mid 1710s. Lee decided on this land because it was located in Westmoreland County, the county in which he was born, and also because it was located on the Potomac River. The land was sufficient for having many construction laborers live there. Hannah had an influential say in the design and planning of the interior of the house. Philip, the couple's eldest son, had said, "See what it is to be ruled by a woman. I should have been now living in a house like this ... had not my father been persuaded by his wife to put up this very inferior dwelling, now over my head"^[26] The actual building date of the house is unknown but it is estimated that construction began around 1725-30, as all of Lee's sons were born at Stratford. Workers on the plantation were free people, indentured servants and slaves.^[27]

Between 1719 and 1746, Lee acquired vast holdings in what are now Arlington, Fairfax, Fauquier, Prince William and Loudoun Counties. The town of Leesburg, was named in his honor as recommended by his two sons, who were the founders and trustees. Hannah Harrison died at “Stratford” on January 25, 1749, after having been the mother of eleven children.^[6] Hannah was buried in the old family burying ground, called the “Burnt House Fields”, at “Mount Pleasant”. However, her tombstone was removed to “Stratford Hall”, probably by Henry Lee, who built the new vault at that place. On November 14, 1750, Thomas Lee died at age sixty and was buried in the old “Burnt House Fields”, at “Mount Pleasant”. According to his will, he wished to be buried in between his wife and his mother.^[6] The plantation at Machodoc was to go to his nephew, George Lee, and Stratford Hall to his eldest son, Philip Ludwell.^[6]

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Stratford Hall - Home of Thomas Lee

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