Laetitia Corbin Lee (August 25, 1657 – October 6, 1706) was an American colonist. She was the daughter of Henry Corbin, one of the most powerful and influential political leaders in the

Colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia, chartered in 1606 and settled in 1607, was the first enduring English colonial empire, English colony in North America, following failed attempts at settlement on Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey GilbertG ...

. In 1674 she married the politician Richard Lee II, and joined the prominent Lee family of Virginia. The Maryland branch of the Lee family descends from her through her son, Philip Lee of

Blenheim Plantation Blenheim ( ) is the English name of Blindheim, a village in Bavaria, Germany, which was the site of the Battle of Blenheim in 1704. Almost all places and other things called Blenheim are named directly or indirectly in honour of the battle. Place ...

. Another of her sons,

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

, built Stratford Hall, the future

family seat A family seat or sometimes just called seat is the principal residence of the landed gentry and aristocracy. The residence usually denotes the social, economic, political, or historic connection of the family within a given area. Some families to ...

of the Lees.

Early life

Born Laetitia Corbin on August 25, 1657, to Henry Corbin, an English-born Virginia merchant and planter, and his wife, the former Alice Eltonhead Burnham. She was one of eight children, and had relatives in many of what became the First Families of Virginia and

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. Through her father, she was a granddaughter of Sir Thomas Corbin and a great-granddaughter of Sir Gawen de Sutton Grosvenor. Her sister, Anne Corbin, married the planter William Tayloe. After her father's death in 1675, Lee's mother married Captain Henry Creyke.

Career

In 1660, although she was an infant, her father deeded her 2,000 acres of land in what was then Stafford County, which later became Prince William County, Virginia. In 1674, having reached legal age for her gender, she married Richard Lee II, a military officer, planter, and member of the prominent Lee family of Virginia. The land that she brought to the marriage would become Leesylvania, the home of a branch of the Lee family for generations, and now a

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...

. Letitia bore eight children during the marriage, including

Philip Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...

, and Henry. A granddaughter, Laetitia, was named after her. Shortly after her marriage, Lee's husband was elected to the

Virginia House of Burgesses The House of Burgesses was the elected representative element of the Virginia General Assembly, the legislative body of the Colony of Virginia. With the creation of the House of Burgesses in 1642, the General Assembly, which had been established ...

and later served as a member of the Virginia Governor's Council. She and her husband maintained one of the largest libraries in the

at Machodoc, their

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

along the

Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augus ...

in Westmoreland County, Virginia.

Death and legacy

She died on October 6, 1706, at Machodoc and was buried at the Burnt House Cemetery near Mount Pleasant.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Corbin Lee, Laetitia 1657 births 1706 deaths American people of English descent Colonial American women Laetitia Laetitia Spouses of British politicians Spouses of Virginia politicians Virginia colonial people