Members of the Virginia Lee Family Who Were in the Revolutionary War

Early Life

Lee was born on Oct fourteen, 1734, at Stratford Hall plantation in Westmoreland County. He was the fourth surviving son of Thomas Lee and Hannah Harrison Ludwell Lee. Afterward Lee's parents died in 1750, he was left under the guardianship of his oldest blood brother, Philip Ludwell Lee. Philip Lee decided that Francis Lee was best suited for the life of a farmer and ended his formal teaching. Consequently, Lee was not educated in England, as his older brothers had been; his schooling never progressed beyond that caused under the tutelage of a Reverend Craig, who lived at Stratford Hall in the mid-1740s.

The relationship between Lee and his oldest brother steadily worsened over the next few years. In 1754 Lee and his siblings brought suit confronting Philip Lee for not immediately dividing Thomas Lee'southward estate co-ordinate to his will. The lawsuit failed—Philip Lee had wanted to settle his father's debts before dividing upwards his holding—merely Francis Lee and his younger siblings did successfully petition the courtroom to have their cousin Henry Lee appointed as their guardian. When the familial discord threatened to undermine the Lees' social and political position in colonial Virginia, Francis Lee ready aside his differences with his oldest brother and focused on restoring the family's rank in the colony. Although Lee'southward relationship with his oldest brother remained strained, he developed a close bond with his other siblings, brothers Thomas Ludwell Lee, Richard Henry Lee, William Lee, and Arthur Lee, and sisters Hannah Lee and Alice Lee. When Philip Lee finally gave Frank Lee the land he had inherited in far-off Loudoun Canton, he eagerly took upward residence in that location and was soon called to public service.

Political Life

In July 1758, subsequently Lee had established his residency in Loudoun County, he won election to the House of Burgesses. Lee joined his brothers Thomas Lee and Richard Henry Lee and his cousins Richard "Squire" Lee and Henry Lee to create a powerful voting bloc in the House. Lee himself, even so, initiated little or no legislation other than items that specifically concerned his constituents—for example, he helped draft a bill that allowed Loudoun County residents to pay their taxes in money or commodities. He served, along with his brothers, on the Committee of Propositions and Grievances, and in 1766 was appointed to the Committee of Privileges and Elections. The most meaning political evolution during Lee's service as Loudoun County representative was the Stamp Act crisis of 1765 and 1766, during which he maintained an inconspicuous role other than to join the Westmoreland Association, formed to protest the act, and sign the Westmoreland Resolves, which outlined the clan's major arguments against the Stamp Act. Lee continued to represent Loudoun County until 1768.

In 1769, Lee married Rebecca Tayloe, the sixteen-year-erstwhile daughter of John Tayloe, of Mount Airy. He soon began overseeing the construction of a new residence, Menokin, on a tract of land in Richmond County that he had received as a wedding gift from his father-in-law. That same twelvemonth, residents of Richmond Canton elected him as their representative in the Business firm of Burgesses; one time again, he maintained an inactive function and attended sessions sporadically. He also served the county every bit a justice of the peace for Richmond County from 1770 until the collapse of Virginia's colonial government in 1774, and, for a brief time in 1771, was justice of the peace for both Richmond and Loudoun counties.

Lee left Virginia for Philadelphia in 1775, after accepting an date to serve in the Second Continental Congress. There, he and Rebecca Tayloe Lee lived for a cursory time with his sister Alice Lee Shippen and her husband, Dr. William Shippen, earlier leasing a house. As a member of Congress, Lee connected to scout with increasing business organisation the activities of Virginia'south royal governor, John Murray, earl of Dunmore. When Lord Dunmore placed the colony under martial constabulary and offered slaves and indentured servants their freedom in substitution for service to Rex George 3, Lee moved more decisively in favor of declaring independence from Uk. As his first term in Congress came to a close, delegates to the Virginia Convention appointed Lee to a second one-year term in Congress, which he accepted in June 1776.

During his second term in Congress, Lee witnessed the passage of Virginia's motion to declare independence, introduced by his blood brother Richard Henry Lee, and signed the Declaration of Independence. He also witnessed a serial of attacks on his family by a cabal who wished to lessen the Lees' influence in Congress. In spite of these controversies, Lee served on the Lath of War and participated in the debates culminating in the adoption of the Articles of Confederation on Nov 15, 1777.

As his third term in Congress drew to a close, Lee could see that he would be appointed to a fourth. Before accepting it, however, he requested and received a five-month leave of absence in 1778. When he returned to Philadelphia, Lee institute his family unit caught up in another congressional controversy: Silas Deane, who had served as an American diplomat in France alongside Benjamin Franklin and Arthur Lee, led an attack on the Lee family unit that involved accusations of abuse and treason. The so-called Lee-Deane controversy embroiled Congress for much of 1778 and 1779. Defending his brothers against their political opponents took a heavy toll on Frank Lee, and he and Richard Henry Lee tendered their resignations from Congress constructive May 31, 1779. Lee served in the Virginia Senate from 1778 to 1782; subsequently the British surrender at Yorktown and the offset of peace negotiations with Swell United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland, Lee brought his political career to a permanent cease.

Later Years

Although Frank and Rebecca Lee never had children of their own, they did welcome his blood brother William Lee'southward two young daughters into their dwelling house at Menokin in 1785. William Lee had returned from diplomatic service overseas in September 1783 with plans to move his family into an older estate in Westmoreland, chosen Green Bound, which belonged to the Ludwell family. Before this could happen, William Lee'due south married woman—still residing in Ostend, Belgium—died suddenly. William Lee then enrolled his ten-yr-old son, William Ludwell, in a private schoolhouse in Williamsburg and asked Frank and Rebecca Lee to care for his daughters, Portia (then 8 years quondam) and Cornelia (v). Not long after, William Lee's health began to decline, and, in 1789, William Lee named Rebecca Lee as his daughters' guardian in his last will and testament.

Although Frank Lee did not hold another political function, he remained interested and agile in public concerns. Richard Henry Lee kept him apprised of developing situations as the Philadelphia Convention began drafting a new constitution for the United states of america, and he followed the ratification debates. He played a small-scale office in these events, and this proved to exist his last political action. Following the ratification of the United States Constitution, Lee devoted his full interest to Menokin and Rebecca Lee.

By the time he retired from politics in 1782 Lee had already survived his 2 oldest brothers, Philip Lee and Thomas Ludwell Lee, and his oldest sister, Hannah Lee Corbin. Every bit he focused on his life as a farmer, his wife, and his two nieces, he watched his other brothers pass. Arthur Lee died in 1792, Richard Henry Lee died in 1794, and William Lee died in 1795. In the winter of 1796–1797, at the historic period of lx-two, Lee suffered a series of illnesses brought on by the severe weather. On January vii, 1797, Rebecca Lee died, and he followed her just x days later. They were cached next in the Tayloe family cemetery at Mount Airy.

TIMELINE

October fourteen, 1734

Francis Lightfoot Lee is built-in to Thomas Lee and Hannah Ludwell Lee at Stratford Hall plantation in Westmoreland County.

ca. 1740

Construction on Stratford Hall, Thomas Lee's estate in the Northern Neck of Virginia, is completed, and Lee and his family move into the new residence.

January 25, 1750

Hannah Ludwell Lee, wife of Thomas Lee, dies.

November 14, 1750

Thomas Lee, acting governor of Virginia, dies.

1754

The children of Thomas Lee and Hannah Ludwell Lee bring a arrange against their oldest brother, Philip Ludwell Lee, for non immediately dividing their begetter's estate in the style described in his will. The suit fails.

1757

Francis Lightfoot Lee leaves Stratford Hall in Westmoreland Canton and settles on land in Loudoun County that he inherited from his begetter, Thomas Lee.

1757

Philip Lee is appointed to the governor'due south Council, leaving an open seat for the House of Burgesses in Westmoreland County. Richard Henry Lee is elected to that office. Thomas Ludwell Lee and Francis Lightfoot Lee are elected to the House from Stafford and Loudoun counties, respectively.

September xiv, 1758

Francis Lightfoot Lee takes his seat in the Business firm of Burgesses.

1768

Francis Lightfoot Lee steps downwardly from his seat representing Loudoun County in the House of Burgesses.

1769

Francis Lightfoot Lee marries Rebecca Plater Tayloe, of Mount Airy, in Richmond County. He begins overseeing the structure of Menokin, his new home built on country he received from his new father-in-police in Richmond County. In this twelvemonth Lee is elected to the House of Burgesses from Richmond County.

1770

Francis Lightfoot Lee is elected by the residents of Richmond County to serve as a justice of the peace.

1771

For a brief menstruum of time, Francis Lightfoot Lee serves every bit a justice of the peace for both Richmond and Loudoun counties.

1774—1775

Francis Lightfoot Lee serves every bit a member of Virginia'southward Revolutionary Conventions.

May x, 1775

The 2nd Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Representing Virginia throughout the Congress are Richard Bland, Benjamin Harrison, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, Francis Lightfoot Lee, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Nelson Jr., Edmund Pendleton, Peyton Randolph, George Washington, and George Wythe.

June twenty, 1776

The House of Delegates elects members to serve equally part of the land'southward delegation to the 1776—1777 session of the Continental Congress. Richard Henry Lee, Francis Lightfoot Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Nelson, and George Wythe are elected.

July 1—2, 1776

The Second Continental Congress debates and and so passes Richard Henry Lee'due south motion to declare independence from Britain.

July four, 1776

The Second Continental Congress issues the Proclamation of Independence, which labels King George 3 a tyrant and calls him "unfit to exist the ruler of a gratis people."

August ii, 1776

Delegates to the 2nd Continental Congress sign the Declaration of Independence, including Carter Braxton, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Francis Lightfoot Lee, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Nelson Jr., and George Wythe.

1777

Francis Lightfoot Lee is appointed to his 3rd one-year term in the Continental Congress, serves equally a fellow member of the Lath of State of war, and participates in the debates over the Articles of Confederation.

1778

Francis Lightfoot Lee is appointed to a fourth one-year term in the Continental Congress; he requests and receives a five-month leave of absence.

1778—1782

Francis Lightfoot Lee serves as member of the Senate of Virginia.

May 31, 1779

Francis Lightfoot Lee tenders his resignation to the Continental Congress.

Tardily 1785

Portia and Cornelia Lee, the daughters of William Lee and his recently deceased wife, Hannah Ludwell Lee, enter the care of their aunt and uncle, Rebecca Lee and Francis Lightfoot Lee.

Jan 7, 1797

Rebecca Tayloe Lee, the wife of Francis Lightfoot Lee, dies.

January 17, 1797

Francis Lightfoot Lee dies at his home, Menokin, in Richmond County.

FURTHER READING

• Armes, Ethel. Stratford Hall: The Great Business firm of the Lees. Richmond, Virginia: Garrett and Massie, 1936.
• Dill, Alonzo Thomas. Francis Lightfoot Lee: The Incomparable Signer. Williamsburg, Virginia: Virginia Independence Bicentennial Commission, 1977.
• Hendrick, Burton J. The Lees of Virginia: A Biography of a Family unit. Boston, Massachusetts: Little, Dark-brown, 1935.
• Lee, Cazenove Gardner, Jr. Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees of Virginia. New York: Vantage Press, 1957.
• Lee, Edmund Jennings. Lee of Virginia, 1642–1892: Biographical and Genealogical Sketches of the Descendants of Colonel Richard Lee. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Frankling Printing Company, 1895.
• Nagel, Paul C. The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Family unit. New York: Oxford Academy Printing, 1990.
• Twain, Mark. "Francis Lightfoot Lee." The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. ane, no. iii (1877): 343–345.

CITE THIS ENTRY

APA Citation:

McGaughy, J.. Francis Lightfoot Lee (1734–1797). (2021, December 22). In Encyclopedia Virginia. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/lee-francis-lightfoot-1734-1797.

MLA Citation:

McGaughy, J.. "Francis Lightfoot Lee (1734–1797)" Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Humanities, (22 December. 2021). Web. 04 Mar. 2022

Members of the Virginia Lee Family Who Were in the Revolutionary War

Source: https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/lee-francis-lightfoot-1734-1797/

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