The Lee family of the United States is a historically significant

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

and

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

political family A political family (also referred to as political dynasty) is a family in which multiple members are involved in politics — particularly Election, electoral politics. Members may be related by consanguinity, blood or marriage; often several gene ...

, whose many prominent members are known for their accomplishments in politics and the military. The family became prominent in colonial

British America British America collectively refers to various British colonization of the Americas, colonies of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and its predecessors states in the Americas prior to the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War in 1 ...

when

Richard Lee I Richard Lee I ( – 1 March 1664) was an English-born merchant, planter and politician who was the first member of the Lee family to live in America. Poor when he arrived in the colony of Virginia in 1639, Lee may have been both the colony's w ...

("The Immigrant") immigrated to

Colonial Virginia The Colony of Virginia was a British Empire, British colonial settlement in North America from 1606 to 1776. The first effort to create an English settlement in the area was chartered in 1584 and established in 1585; the resulting Roanoke Colo ...

in 1639 and made his fortune managing a tobacco plantation worked by enslaved Africans. Members of the family include Thomas Lee (1690–1750), a founder of the

Ohio Company The Ohio Company, formally known as the Ohio Company of Virginia, was a land speculation company organized for the settlement by Virginians of the Ohio Country (approximately the present U.S. state of Ohio) and to trade with the Native Ameri ...

and a member of the Virginia

House of Burgesses The House of Burgesses () was the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly from 1619 to 1776. It existed during the colonial history of the United States in the Colony of Virginia in what was then British America. From 1642 to 1776, the Hou ...

; Francis Lightfoot Lee (1734–1797) and

Richard Henry Lee Richard Henry Lee (January 20, 1732June 19, 1794) was an American statesman and Founding Father from Virginia, best known for the June 1776 Lee Resolution, the motion in the Second Continental Congress calling for the colonies' independence fr ...

(1732–1794), signers of the

American Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America in the original printing, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the Second Continen ...

, with Richard Lee also serving as one of Virginia's inaugural U.S. Senators; Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee (1756–1818), lieutenant colonel in the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...

and

Governor of Virginia The governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia is the head of government of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. The Governor (United States), governor is head of the Government_of_Virginia#Executive_branch, executive branch ...

;

Thomas Sim Lee Thomas Sim Lee (October 29, 1745 – November 9, 1819) was an American planter, patriot and politician who served as Maryland Governor for five one-year terms (1779-1783 and 1792-1794), as well as in the Congress of the Confederation (1783–84) ...

(1745–1819),

Governor of Maryland The governor of the State of Maryland is the head of government of Maryland, and is the commander-in-chief of the state's National Guard units. The governor is the highest-ranking official in the state and has a broad range of appointive powers ...

and lastly, and most famous, General

Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a general officers in the Confederate States Army, Confederate general during the American Civil War, who was appointed the General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate ...

(1807–1870), commander of the

Army of Northern Virginia The Army of Northern Virginia was a field army of the Confederate States Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was also the primary command structure of the Department of Northern Virginia. It was most often arrayed agains ...

of the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), also known as the Confederate States (C.S.), the Confederacy, or Dixieland, was an List of historical unrecognized states and dependencies, unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United State ...

in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

(1861–1865). Twelfth President

Zachary Taylor Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) was an American military officer and politician who was the 12th president of the United States, serving from 1849 until his death in 1850. Taylor was a career officer in the United States ...

(1784–1850, served 1849–1850), and ninth Chief Justice

Edward Douglass White Edward Douglass White Jr. (November 3, 1845 – May 19, 1921) was an American politician and jurist. A native of Louisiana, White was a Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Supreme Court justice for 27 years, first as an Associate Justice of ...

(1845–1921, served 1894–1921) were also descendants of

. Confederate President

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States of America, president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the Unite ...

married Sarah Knox Taylor, daughter of

. Most recently, family members have marked over two hundred years of political service in the United States, as Blair Lee III (1916–1985, served 1971–1979), a descendant of Richard Henry Lee, served as the second

Lieutenant Governor of Maryland The lieutenant governor of Maryland is the second highest-ranking official in the executive branch of the Government of Maryland, state government of Maryland in the United States. The officeholder is elected on the same ticket as the governor of ...

when the office was revived, from 1971 to 1979 and Acting

from 1977 to 1979. Charles Carter Lee, a descendant of Henry Lee III and a Superior Court Judge in

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

was named the U.S. team's Chef de Mission by the

United States Olympic Committee The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee (NOC) and the National Paralympic Committee (NPC) for the United States. It was founded in 1895 and is headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado ...

for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. The Society of the Lees of Virginia, organized in 1921, is composed of descendants of the Lee family's original Jamestown immigrants,

and his wife, Ann Constable. The Society is actively involved in many endeavors consistent with its ongoing mission, including: * Helping to coordinate and promote an up-to-date contextual understanding of the family derived from archeological, genealogical, and historical research; * Curating the Lee Family Digital Archive, a central repository of Lee family papers and secondary sources; *Preserving and interpreting sites of historical importance such as gravesites, Stratford Hall and the Lee–Fendell House; *Reuniting family members through its annual meeting and other events.

History

Charles Willson Peale - Richard Henry Lee - NPG

Richard Lee asserted descent from the Lees of

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

and bore a coat of arms which was confirmed in 1660/1 by

John Gibbon John Gibbon (April 20, 1827 – February 6, 1896) was a career United States Army officer who fought in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. Early life Gibbon was born in the Holmesburg, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Holmesburg section ...

Bluemantle Pursuivant Bluemantle Pursuivant of Arms in Ordinary is a junior Officer of Arms, officer of arms of the College of Arms in London. The office is reputed to have been created by Henry V of England, Henry V to serve the Order of the Garter, but there is no ...

of the

College of Arms The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional Officer of Arms, officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the ...

. In 1988, a study by William Thorndale was published in the ''National Genealogical Society Quarterly,'' asserting that

was actually the son of John Lee, a clothier, and his wife Jane Hancock; that Richard had been born ''not'' at Coton Hall in Shropshire, but in

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

(some distance down the

River Severn The River Severn (, ), at long, is the longest river in Great Britain. It is also the river with the most voluminous flow of water by far in all of England and Wales, with an average flow rate of at Apperley, Gloucestershire. It rises in t ...

); and that several of their immediate relatives had been apprenticed as vintners. The question, then, has been 'how did Richard Lee descend from the family with whom he shared a coat of arms?' The book ''Collections for the Ancestry of Colonel Richard Lee, Virginia Emigrant'', by English genealogist Alan Nicholls presented evidence for the English ancestry of Colonel Richard Lee using contemporary documents, transcribing records left by Richard Lee, his family, and their associates. His research, using original source documents, has shown that some of William Thorndale's conclusions were likely based upon prior transcription errors. His work also looks at the records left by the Shropshire and Worcester Lee families. A great-uncle may have been Richard Lee, who was called 'Richard Lee, Gent' buried at Coton Hall's Alveley Parish in 1613.

Colonial Virginia

In the

Thirteen Colonies The Thirteen Colonies were the British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America which broke away from the British Crown in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), and joined to form the United States of America. The Thirteen C ...

destined to declare independence from

British North America British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then further south at Roanoke and Jamestown, ...

and become the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, the family began when

immigrated to the

Colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia was a British Empire, British colonial settlement in North America from 1606 to 1776. The first effort to create an English settlement in the area was chartered in 1584 and established in 1585; the resulting Roanoke Colo ...

and made his fortune in the cultivation of tobacco. His son Richard Lee II married Laetitia Corbin, daughter of The Hon.

Henry Corbin Henry Corbin (14 April 1903 – 7 October 1978) was a French philosopher, theologian, and Iranologist, professor of Islamic studies at the École pratique des hautes études. He was influential in extending the modern study of traditional Islami ...

of Rappahannock County, was a member of the

and later King's Council. His son, Richard Lee III, was a cotton broker in London for the family and leased to his brothers Thomas and Henry the plantation he inherited from his father, "Machodoc," for "an annual rent of one peppercorn only, payable on Christmas Day". The Lees first gained wider significance with the aforementioned Thomas Lee (1690–1750). He became a member of the

and later went on to found the

, and was the co-executor of his uncle, John Tayloe I's, estate, what became Mount Airy.

Revolutionary War era

Thomas Lee (1690–1750) married Hannah Harrison Ludwell: their children, like the descendants of Thomas Lee's brother Henry Lee I (1691–1747), included a number of prominent Revolutionary War and pre-Revolution political figures. Thomas and Hannah Lee's two eldest children were Philip Ludwell Lee (1726–1775) and Hannah Lee (1728–1782).

Thomas Ludwell Lee Thomas Ludwell Lee, Sr. (December 13, 1730 – April 13, 1778) was a Virginia planter and politician who served in the House of Burgesses and later the Virginia Senate, and may be best known as one of the editors of the Virginia Declaration of ...

(1730–1778) was a member of the Virginia Delegates and a major editor of

George Mason George Mason (October 7, 1792) was an American planter, politician, Founding Father, and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, where he was one of three delegates who refused to sign the Constitution. His wr ...

Virginia Declaration of Rights The Virginia Declaration of Rights was drafted in 1776 to proclaim the inherent rights of men, including the right to reform or abolish "inadequate" government. It influenced a number of later documents, including the United States Declaratio ...

(1776), a precursor to the

United States Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America in the original printing, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the Second Continen ...

, which was signed by his brothers

(1732–1794) and Francis Lightfoot Lee (1734–1797). Richard Henry Lee was a delegate to

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislature, legislative bodies, with some executive function, for the Thirteen Colonies of British America, Great Britain in North America, and the newly declared United States before, during, and after ...

from Virginia and president of that body, 1774, later serving as

president of the Continental Congress The president of the United States in Congress Assembled, known unofficially as the president of the Continental Congress and later as president of the Congress of the Confederation, was the presiding officer of the Continental Congress, the con ...

under the

Articles of Confederation The Articles of Confederation, officially the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was an agreement and early body of law in the Thirteen Colonies, which served as the nation's first Constitution, frame of government during the Ameri ...

, and

United States Senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

from Virginia (1789–1792) under the new

United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally includi ...

. Younger siblings included Alice Lee (1736–1818), who married American Chief Physician William Shippen, Jr. and diplomats William Lee (b. 1739, d. 1795) and Arthur Lee (b. 1740, d. 1792). Henry Lee's grandson,

Henry Lee III Henry Lee III (January 29, 1756 – March 25, 1818) was an early American Patriot (American Revolution), Patriot and politician who served as the ninth Governor of Virginia and as the Virginia United States House of Representatives, Representa ...

(1756–1818), known as "Light Horse Harry," was a

Princeton Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the Unit ...

graduate who served with great distinction under General

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

, and was the only officer below the rank of General to receive the "Gold Medal," awarded for his leadership at the Battle of Paulus Hook in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, on 19 August 1779. He was

from 1791 to 1794. Among his nine children was Robert Edward Lee, later the famed

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

general during the

. Henry Lee III's brothers were the noted Richard Bland Lee, a three-term U.S. Congressman from Virginia, and Charles Lee (1758–1815),

Attorney General of the United States The United States attorney general is the head of the United States Department of Justice and serves as the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government. The attorney general acts as the principal legal advisor to the president of the ...

from 1795 to 1801.

, a second cousin of Henry Lee III, was elected

in 1779 and 1792 and declined a third term in 1798. Born in the

Province of Maryland The Province of Maryland was an Kingdom of England, English and later British colonization of the Americas, British colony in North America from 1634 until 1776, when the province was one of the Thirteen Colonies that joined in supporting the A ...

in 1745, he played an important part in the birth of

as a

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

and in the birth of the

United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...

as a nation. A great-grandson of Thomas Sim Lee was

John Lee Carroll John Lee Carroll (September 30, 1830 – February 27, 1911), a member of the United States Democratic Party, was the 37th Governor of Maryland from 1876 to 1880. Early life and education Carroll was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on September 3 ...

, the 37th

Civil War era

(1807–1870) was the son of Henry Lee III, and probably the most famous member of the Lee family. He served as

general in the

United States Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), which was formed in 1861 by states that had seceded ...

and later as President of

Washington and Lee University Washington and Lee University (Washington and Lee or W&L) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Lexington, Virginia, United States. Established in 1749 as Augusta Academy, it is among ...

, which was named for him and for

. Washington and Lee University houses Lee Chapel, burial site of several members of the Lee family. Stratford Hall, a Lee family estate and birthplace of Robert E. Lee, houses the Lee Family Digital Archive. He was married to Mary Anna Randolph Custis, who was a granddaughter of

Martha Washington Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (June 2, 1731 Old Style, O.S. – May 22, 1802) was the wife of George Washington, who was the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, she served as the ...

and also was Lee's third cousin once removed through Richard Lee II, fourth cousin through

William Randolph William Randolph I (bapt. 7 November 1650 – 21 April 1711) was an English-born planter, merchant and politician in Colony of Virginia, colonial Virginia who played an important role in the development of the colony. Born in Moreton Morrell, W ...

, and third cousin through

Robert Carter I Robert Carter I ( – 4 August 1732) was an American planter, merchant, and colonial administrator who served as the acting governor of Virginia from 1726 to 1727. An agent for the Northern Neck Proprietary, Carter emerged as the wealthiest sett ...

. R. E. Lee's children were

George Washington Custis Lee George Washington Custis Lee (September 16, 1832 – February 18, 1913), also known as Custis Lee, was the eldest son of Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee. His grandfather, George Washington Parke Custis was the grandson of Marth ...

Mary Custis Lee Mary Custis Lee (July 12, 1835 – November 22, 1918) was an American heiress and the eldest daughter of Confederate States Army General Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Custis Lee. Throughout the American Civil War and Reconstruction era, she rem ...

Robert E. Lee Jr. Robert Edward Lee Jr. (October 27, 1843 – October 19, 1914) was the sixth of seven children of Confederate General Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Randolph Custis. He became a soldier during the American Civil War, and later was a planter, bus ...

Anne Carter Lee Anne Carter Lee (June 18, 1839 – October 20, 1862) was the fourth child and second daughter of General Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Custis Lee. She grew up at Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial, Arlington House on her family's plantati ...

Mildred Childe Lee Mildred Childe Lee (February 10, 1846 – March 27, 1905) was an American society hostess and the youngest child of Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Custis Lee. She was the last member of the Lee family to be born at Arlington Plantation and had a pr ...

Eleanor Agnes Lee Eleanor Agnes Lee (February 27, 1841 – October 15, 1873) was an American diarist and poet. The fifth child of General Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Custis Lee, she was a member of the prominent Lee family of Virginia and was affectionately calle ...

, and William H. Fitzhugh Lee. RLPage

Other Lee relations who were general officers during the Civil War were

Fitzhugh Lee Fitzhugh "Fitz" Lee (November 19, 1835 – April 28, 1905) was a Confederate cavalry general in the American Civil War, the 40th Governor of Virginia, diplomat, and United States Army general in the Spanish–American War. He was the son of S ...

(C.S.A.), Samuel Phillips Lee (U.S. Navy); Richard Lucian Page (Confederate States ''and'' Navy); Edwin Gray Lee (C.S.A.) and Richard L. T. Beale (C.S.A.). Indirect relations of R.E.Lee who were Confederate general officers included William N. Pendleton and

Virginia Military Institute The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is a public senior military college in Lexington, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1839 as America's first state military college and is the oldest public senior military college in the U.S. In k ...

graduate William H. F. Payne. Two other civil war generals who were related to Lee were George B. Crittenden (C.S.A.) and Thomas Leonidas Crittenden (U.S.); their sister was the author Ann Mary Butler Crittenden Coleman; and their mother was Sarah O. Lee a great-great-granddaughter of Richard Lee I "the Founder". A son of Thomas L. Crittenden, John Jordan Crittenden III, died at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876. Another distant Lee relation was U.S. Admiral Willis A. Lee of Kentucky. "Bedford", the Jefferson County home of his cousin Edmund J. Lee Jr. (1797–1877), son of Edmund Jennings Lee I, was burned in July 1864, along with others of Confederate sympathizers in what became the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia.

Later generations

Francis Preston Blair Lee (1857–1944) was a Democratic member of the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

, representing the

State of Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

from 1914 to 1917. He was also the great-grandson of American patriot

, father of E. Brooke Lee comptroller of Maryland and "Father of Silver Spring" and grandfather of Blair Lee III,

from 1971 to 1979 and Acting Governor of Maryland from 1977 to 1979.. Willis Augustus Lee a Vice Admiral and member of the Kentucky Branch of the Lee family won the Naval Battle of Gaudalcanal in 1942. Judge Charles Carter Lee, a direct descendant of

, was selected to represent the United States at the 2008 Olympic Games as the

's Chef de Mission. Judge Lee, a Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge since 1989, was also involved with the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

as he headed a delegation sent to China after the Soviet Union announced a plan to boycott the Olympics in Los Angeles. These talks concluded with China's formal agreement in writing to participate in the 1984 Olympics.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American writer, book editor, and socialite who served as the first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A popular f ...

's mother was born

Janet Lee Janet Lee ( zh, 李慧芝, born October 22, 1976) is a Taiwanese-American retired tennis player. She won three doubles titles during her professional career on the WTA Tour. She competed in all four Grand Slam tournaments in both singles and d ...

and claimed to be part of the family. It was later proven that she was not.

Family tree

Below is a list of notable members of the Lee family, beginning with Virginia Governor Thomas Lee and Henry Lee: * Richard Lee II (1647–1714), ** Henry Lee I (1691–1747), ∞ 1722 : Mary Bland (1704–1764) *** Richard Lee (1726–1795), ∞ 1786 : Sarah Bland Poythress (1768–1828) *** Henry Giles Lee II (1730–1787), ∞ 1753 : Lucy Ludwell Grymes (1734–1792) **** Henry Lee III, 9th Governor of Virginia (1756–1818), ∞ 1782 : Matilda Ludwell Lee (1764–1790); ∞ 1793 : Anne Hill Carter (1773–1829) ***** Lucy Grymes Lee (1786–1860), ∞ 1802 : Bernard Moore Carter (1780–1842) ****** Charles Henry Carter (1804–1872), ∞ 1830 : Rosalie Eugenia Calvert (1806–1845) ******* Alice Carter (born 1832), ∞ 1851 : Oden Bowie, 34th Governor of Maryland (1826–1894) ******** Annette Carter Bowie (born 1863), ∞ 1884 : Eugene Roberts (born 1859) ********* Eugene Bowie Roberts (1898–1983), ∞ 1933 : Countess Cornelia Széchényi (1908–1958) ********** Cornelia Carter Roberts (1936–1982), ∞ 1969 : Count Hans-Heinrich Richard Gerolf Karl Urban Maria Omnes Sancti von Coudenhove-Kalergi (1926–2004) *********** Count Dominik Cornelius Valentin Gerolf Eugene von Coudenhove-Kalergi (b 1973), ∞ 2009 : Princess Adelheid Marie Beatrice Zita von Liechtenstein (born 1981) ******* Bernard Carter (1834–1912), ∞ 1858 : Mary Buckner Ridgely (1834–1894) ******** John Ridgely Carter (1864–1944), ∞ 1887 : Alice Morgan (1865–1933) ********* Caroline Mildred Carter (1888–1965), ∞ 1910 (div 1928) : Archibald Charles Montagu Brabazon Acheson, 5th Earl of Gosford (1877–1954) ********** Archibald Alexander John Stanley Acheson, 6th Earl of Gosford (1911–1966), ∞ 1935 (div 1960) : Francesca Augusta Maria Cagiati (1912–2009); ∞ 1960 : Cynthia Margaret Cave (1911–2015) *********** Charles David Alexander John Sparrow Acheson, 7th Earl of Gosford (born 1942) ********** Lady Mildred Camilla Nichola Acheson (1917–1988), ∞ 1937 (div 1949) : Hans-Christoph Schenk Freiherr von Stauffenberg (1911–2005); ∞ 1950 : Axel Ernst-August Clamor Franz Albrecht Erich Leo Freiherr von dem Bussche-Streithorst (1919–1993) ********** Lady Mary Virginia Shirley Acheson (1919–1996), ∞ 1941 : Fernando Corcuera y Mier (1914–1978) *********** Jaime Corcuera y Acheson (born 1955), ∞ 1983 : Archduchess Myriam of Austria (born 1959) ***** Henry Lee IV (1787–1837), ∞ 1817 : Anne Robinson McCarty (1798–1840) ***** Sydney Smith Lee (1802–1869), ∞ 1834 : Anna Maria Mason (1811–1898) ****** Fitzhugh Lee, 40th Governor of Virginia (1835–1905) ***** Robert Edward Lee (1807–1870), ∞ 1831 : Mary Anna Randolph Custis (1808–1873) ******

(1832–1913) ******

William Henry Fitzhugh Lee William Henry Fitzhugh Lee (May 31, 1837 – October 15, 1891), known as Rooney Lee (often spelled "Roony" among friends and family) or W. H. F. Lee, was the second son of General Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Custis. He was a planter, a Confe ...

(1837–1891), ∞ 1859 : Charlotte Georgiana Wickham (1841–1863); ∞ 1867 : Mary Tabb Bolling (1846–1924) ****** Robert Edward Lee, Jr. (1843–1914), ∞ 1871 : Charlotte Haxall (1848–1872); ∞ 1894 : Juliet Carter (1860–1915) **** Charles Lee (1758–1815), ∞ 1789 : Anne Lee (1770–1804); ∞ 1809 : Margaret Christian Scott (1783–1843) **** Richard Bland Lee I (1761–1827), ∞ 1794 : Elizabeth Collins (1768–1858), owner of Sully ***** Ann Matilda Lee (1799–1880), ∞ : Bailey Washington III (1787–1854) ****** Euphan Wallace Washington (1831–1918), ∞ 1856 : Pierson Barton Reading (1816–1868) ****** Anna Louisa Washington (1836–1885), ∞ 1862 : Walter Dorsey Davidge (1823–1901) ******* William Fendall Davidge (1871–1941), ∞ 1896 : Estelle Courtenay Washington (1875–1942) ******** Courtenay Washington Davidge (1896–1960), ∞ 1922 : Lamont Waltman Marvin (1896–1971) *********

Lee Marvin Lee Marvin (February 19, 1924August 29, 1987) was an American film and television actor. Known for his bass voice and prematurely white hair, he is best remembered for playing hardboiled "tough guy" characters. Although initially typecast as th ...

(1924–1987), actor ***** Zaccheus Collins Lee (1805–1859), ∞ 1837 : Martha Ann Jenkins (1819–1864) **** Mary Lee (1764–1827), ∞ 1791 : Philip Richard Fendall I (1734–1805), owner of Lee-Fendall House ***** Philip Richard Fendall II (1794–1868), ∞ 1827 : Elizabeth Mary Young (1804–1859) ****** Philip Richard Fendall III (1832–1879), ∞ : Anne Catherine Tredick (born 1836) ******* Marian Fendall (1870–1949), ∞ 1895 : Jacob Wendell III (1869–1911) ******** Anne Catherine Tredick Wendell (1900–1977), ∞ 1922 (div 1936) :

Henry George Alfred Marius Victor Francis Herbert, 6th Earl of Carnarvon Earl of Carnarvon is a title that has been created three times in British history. The current holder is George Herbert, 8th Earl of Carnarvon. The town and county in Wales to which the title refers are historically spelled Caernarfon, having be ...

(1898–1987); ∞ : Geoffrey Seymour Grenfell (1898–1940) ********* Henry George Reginald Molyneux Herbert, 7th Earl of Carnarvon (1924–2001), ∞ 1956 : Jean Margaret Wallop, owner of

Highclere Castle Highclere Castle is a Listed building#Categories of listed building, Grade I listed country house built in 1679 and largely renovated in the 1840s, with a park designed by Capability Brown in the 18th century. The estate is in Highclere in ...

********** George Reginald Oliver Molyneux Herbert, 8th Earl of Carnarvon (born 1956), ∞ 1989 (div 1998) : Jayne Wilby; ∞ 1999 : Fiona Aitken, owner of

******** Philippa Fendall Wendell (1905–1974), ∞ 1924 : Randolph Algernon Ronald Stewart, 12th Earl of Galloway (1892–1978) ********* Antonia Marian Amy Isabel Stewart (1925–1971), ∞ : Charles Mark Dalrymple, 3rd Baronet (1915–1971) ********* Randolph Keith Reginald Stewart, 13th Earl of Galloway (1928–2020), ∞ 1975 : Lily May Budge (died 1999) **** Edmund Jennings Lee I (1772–1843), ∞ 1796 : Sarah Caldwell Lee (1775–1837) ***** Edmund Jennings Lee II (1797–1877), ∞ : Henrietta Bedinger (1810–1898) ****** Edmund Jennings Lee III (1845–1896), ∞ 1876 : Rebecca Lawrence (died 1882) ******* Edmund Jennings Lee IV (1877–1962), ∞ 1911 : Lucy Chaplin (1884–1971) ******** Duncan Chaplin Lee (1913–1988) ***** Anne Harriotte Lee (1799–1863), ∞ 1820 : John Lloyd (1775–1854) ****** Anne Harriotte Lloyd (1826–1888), ∞ : John Stearns (1812–1864) ******* John Lloyd Stearns (born 1852), ∞ 1878 : Ella Powell (born 1856) ******** Robert Lawrence Stearns (1892–1977), ∞ 1920 : Amy Pitkin (1897–1985) ********* Marion Lloyd Stearns (1921–2009), ∞ 1946 : Byron Raymond White (1917–2002) ********** Nancy Pitkin White (born 1958), ∞ 1985 : Peter Maxwell Lippe **** Anne Lee (1776–1857), ∞ 1793 : William Byrd Page (1773–1818) ***** Richard Lucian Page (1807–1901) ** Thomas Lee (1690–1750), Governor of

Virginia Colony The Colony of Virginia was a British colonial settlement in North America from 1606 to 1776. The first effort to create an English settlement in the area was chartered in 1584 and established in 1585; the resulting Roanoke Colony lasted for t ...

1749–1750. Father of Richard Henry Lee, Francis Lightfoot Lee, and Arthur Lee. ***

(1732–1794), Delegate to the Continental Congress from

1774, member of the Virginia Legislature 1777, U.S. Senator from Virginia 1789–1792. Son of Thomas Lee. **** Francis Lightfoot Lee II (1782–1850), ∞ Jane Digges Fitzgerald (1789–1816). ***** Samuel Phillips Lee (1812–1897), ∞

Elizabeth Blair Lee Elizabeth Blair Lee (June 20, 1818 – September 13, 1906) was an American woman who lived through the American Civil War and wrote hundreds of letters describing the events of the times to her husband, Samuel Phillips Lee. She played a pivotal r ...

(1818–1906). ****** Blair Lee I (1857–1944),

State Senator 1906–1912, candidate for Governor of Maryland 1911, U.S. Senator from Maryland 1914–1917, delegate to the Democratic National Convention 1916. Great-grandson of Richard Henry Lee. ******* E. Brooke Lee, Comptroller of Maryland 1919–1923, Maryland Secretary of State 1923, delegate to the Democratic National Convention 1924 1940, Maryland House Delegate 1927, candidate for U.S. Representative from Maryland 1942. Son of Blair Lee. ******** Blair Lee III (1916–1985), delegate to the Democratic National Convention 1948 1960 1964 1972, Maryland House Delegate 1955–1962, Maryland State Senator 1967–1969, Maryland Secretary of State 1969–1971, Lieutenant Governor of Maryland 1971–1979, Governor of Maryland 1977–1979. Son of E. Brooke Lee. ******** E. Brooke Lee, Jr., delegate to the Democratic National Convention 1944. Son of E. Brooke Lee. *** Francis Lightfoot Lee (1734–1797), Delegate to the Continental Congress from Virginia 1775, Virginia State Senator 1778, member of the Virginia Legislature 1780. Son of Thomas Lee. *** Arthur Lee (1740–1792), member of the Virginia Legislature 1781, Delegate to the Continental Congress from Virginia 1782. Son of Thomas Lee. * Hancock Lee ∞ Sarah Allerton ** Elizabeth Lee ∞ Zachary Taylor *** Richard Taylor (1744–1829), ∞ 1779 : Sarah Dabney Strother ****

(1784–1850), President of the United States 1849–1850. Second cousin once removed of Richard Henry Lee. ***** Sarah Knox Taylor (1814–1835), ∞ 1835 :

(1808–1889), candidate for

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

State Representative 1843, U.S. Representative from Mississippi 1845–1846, U.S. Senator from Mississippi 1847-1851 1857–1861, candidate for Governor of Mississippi 1851, U.S. Secretary of War 1853–1857, President of the

Confederate States The Confederate States of America (CSA), also known as the Confederate States (C.S.), the Confederacy, or Dixieland, was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States from 1861 to 1865. It comprised eleven U.S. states th ...

1861–1865. ***** Mary Elizabeth Bliss (1824–1909), ∞ 1848:

William Wallace Smith Bliss William Wallace Smith Bliss (August 17, 1815 – August 5, 1853) was a United States Army officer and mathematics professor. A gifted mathematician, he taught at West Point and also served as a line officer. In December 1848 Bliss married ...

(1815–1863),

Secretary to the President of the United States The Secretary to the President is a long-standing position in the United States government, known by many different titles during its history. In the 19th- and early 20th-century it was a White House position that carried out all the tasks now sp ...

***** Richard Taylor (1826–1879), general ***** N. Taylor ****** N. N. ******* N. N. ******** N. N. ********* Victor Crist (1957-),

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

State Representative 1993–present. Descendant of Zachary Taylor. **** Joseph Pannell Taylor (1796–1864), general ***** Sarah Taylor, ∞ David Rumph Jones (1825–1863), general **** N. Taylor ***** N. Taylor ****** Edmund H. Taylor, Jr. (1830–1923), Mayor of

Frankfort, Kentucky Frankfort is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule-class city and the county seat, seat of Franklin County, Kentucky, Franklin County in the Upland Sou ...

1871-1877 1881–1890;

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

State Senator 1902–1904. Grandnephew of Zachary Taylor. *** N. Taylor **** N. N. ***** N. N. ****** N. N. ******* Elliot Woolfolk Major (1864–1949),

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

State Senator 1897–1901, Attorney General of Missouri 1909–1913, Governor of Missouri 1913–1917. First cousin thrice removed of Zachary Taylor and Second cousin thrice removed of

James Madison James Madison (June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison was popularly acclaimed as the ...

. ****** N. N. ******* Edgar Bailey Woolfolk (1865–1956), member of the Missouri Legislature 1899–1901, Missouri State Court Judge 1913–1943. First cousin thrice removed of Zachary Taylor and Second cousin thrice removed of James Madison. U.S. Representative David Dreier also has stated that he is a distant relative of Richard Bland Lee. Zachary Taylor was also nephew by marriage of Maryland House Delegates Benjamin Mackall IV and Thomas Mackall.

References

External links

Straford Hall, home of the Lees of Virginia

BBC on Shropshire Lees

Society of the Lees of Virginia

Lees of Virginia

Lee Family papers
at the

University of Maryland libraries The University of Maryland Libraries is the largest university library system in the Washington D.C.–Baltimore area. The system includes eight libraries: six are located on the University of Maryland, College Park, College Park campus, while ...

{{portal bar, Politics, United States Political families of the United States American people of English descent American families of English ancestry First Families of Virginia