| Notes |
- Richard Lee, Col. b. 1647, Paradise, Gloucester Co., VA, d. 12 Mar
1714, Mt. Pleasant, Westmoreland Co., VA, m. 1674, Laetitia Corbin b.
1656/57, Westmoreland Co., VA, d. 6 Oct 1706, Machodoc, Westmoreland
Co., VA, (daughter of Henry and Alice (Eltonhead) Corbin). Mt.
Pleasant, an estate consisting of about 2,600 acres, had been
bequeathed by the Immigrant to his eldest son John, and was inherited
by Richard as heir-at-law to their father. The large brick house,
largely inclosed by a brick wall, was burned down and another was
built on the surrounding heights of the Potomac. This written by
William Lee. The date of the fire is not known, but must have occurred
between 1716 and 1730. Thomas Lee obtained a lease of this estate in
1716, and apparently lived there until he built the Stratford mansion.
It seems likely that the loss by fire, mentioned by William Lee,
occurred at Mt. Pleasant, not at Stratford, as has been generally
supposed. There is no record of a fire ever having occurred at the
latter place; while frequent mention has been made of burnt house
fields, at the former, evidently showing that a fire there had been
so serious that the field had been named as a record of the disaster.
The new house, built further back from the river and upon higher
ground, was probably erected by George Lee when he came from England
to settle in Virginia. It, too, has been burned. Richard Lee was
educated at Oxford. He was a member of the Council in 1676,
1680-83-88, 1692-98. A Burgess in 1677, and probably earlier. Governor
Spotswood described Richard Lee as, a gentleman of as fair character
as any in the country for his exact justice, honesty and unexceptional
loyalty. In all the stations wherein he has served in this government,
he has behaved himself with great integrity and sufficiency; and when
his advanced age would no longer permit him to execute to his won
satisfaction the duty of Naval Officer of the same district, I thought
I could not better reward his merit than by bestowing that employment
on his son. [I Spotswood, 178]. Richard and Laetitias tombstone is
still to be seen at Mt. Pleasant, it is a very large slab of hard
white marble. The inscription was written in Latin, and translated, it
reads: Here lieth the body of Richard Lee, Esq., born in Virginia,
son of Richard Lee, Gentleman, descended of an ancient family of
Merton-Regis, in Shropshire. While he exercised the office of
magistrate he was a zealous promoter of the public good. He was very
skillful in the Greek and Latin languages and other parts of polite
learning. He quietly resigned his soul to God, whom he always devoutly
worshiped, on the 12th day of March, in the year 1714, in the 68th
year of his age. Near by interred the body of Laetitia, his faithful
wife, daughter of Henry Corbyn, Gentleman. A most affectionate mother,
she was also distinguished by piety toward God, charity to the poor,
and kindness to all. She died on the 6th day of October, 1706, in the
49th year of her age. It is supposed that Thomas Lee in 1749, Arthur
Lee in 1792, and Richard Henry Lee in 1794 were buried there as well.
Richard Lees will, dated 3 Mar 1714, probated in Westmoreland Co., VA
on 27 Apr 1715.
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1647 - 1714 (67 years)