Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/329

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

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genitor of the family, came to \'irginia dur- ing the reign of Charles the First and lo- cated in that part of York county which subsequently became a part of Gloucester. The region was then unsettled and he be- came the owner of a large tract of land. He settled man}- of the servants he had brought with him on tracts of land, but subsequent- ly sold out his interests and returned to England. He lived there several years, but eventually returned to Virginia, with an- other jjand of settlers, and founded the fam- ily that became famous in that and other colonies. He and his wife Anne had several children, among them Richard.

The second Richard Lee was educated at Oxford and came to America with his father. He founded what became known as the Stratford branch of the family. He married Letitia Corbin, of Virginia, and the line was continued through their son Henry.

Henry Lee married Mary Bland, a de- scendant of Sir Thomas Bland, of England. Their son, Colonel Henry Lee, married Lucy Grymes, who was known as the "Low- land Beauty," according to tradition, and it was said that George Washington was at one time her suitor. Their son was General Henry Lee. the third of that name.

Alajor-General Henry Lee graduated from Princeton College in 1773, and in 1776 was appointed by Patrick Henry, governor of \'irginia, as captain of a company of cav- alry commanded by Colonel Theodorick Bland. Later he served under General Greene, who said of him "No man in the progress of the caniDaign had equal merit." He served three years as governor of Vir- ginia. By his second wife, Anna Carter (Hill) Lee, he had a son Robert Edward.

General Robert Edward Lee was born January 19, 1807. and died October 12, 1870. He graduated with high honors from West Point and served honorably in the Mexican war. He was much opposed to secession, but felt that his highest devotion was due his native state and when it became a ques- tion of fighting for or against Virginia, re- signed his commission in the Federal army and offered his sword and services to \'ir- ginia, feeling it his duty to do so at what- ever cost, as a loval citizen. He advised his son to be guided by his own conscience in whatever action he might take and pre- tended to advise no one to follow his ex- ample. His brilliant cnreer as a general and statesman are too well known to need an

cxtensi\e mention here. After the war he became president of a college at Lexing- ton, \'irginia, where his gentle, manly and upright spirit was an inspiration to the } oung men who were under his charge. His life was saddened by the fact that the sol- diers who fought under him, or their fami- lies, were often left in poor circumstances and in other ways suffered because the cause of the South was lost, and it is said that his grief over this condition helped to bring on the illness which finally caused his death. On June 30, 1831, Robert E. Lee married Mary .Anne Randolph Custis, only living daughter of George Washington Parke Custis, adopted son of General Washington and grandson of I\Irs. Wash- ington. The American progenitor of the Custis family, John Custis, of Irish birth, came from Rotterdam to Virginia as early as 1640. and his descendant, Daniel Parke Custis, married Martha Dandridge and died in 1757. his widow Ijecoming the wife of George Washington in 1759. Her son, John Parke Custis, the only child to leave issue, married, in 1774, Eleanor, daughter of Bene- dict Calvert, son of Charles Calvert, of Maryland, the sixth Lord Baltimore. Their son, George \\'ashington Parke Custis. born in April. 1781, six months before the death of his father, was adopted bv General Wash- ington, who said he would take charge of the two younger children as his own, and took them to his home at Mount Vernon. .After the death of Airs. Washington, in 1802. George W. P. Custis removed to Ar- linsrton and built a fine house there. In 1806 he married Alary Lee, daughter of Colonel William and .Anne (Randobih) Fitzhugh. and the daughter of this marriage, Alarv .Anne Randolph Custis. became the wife of Robert E. Lee, as mentioned above. Their marriage took place at Arlington, her birthplace. She died in Lexington in 1873 and was buried in the college chapel beside her husband.

William Henry Fitzhugh Lee, second son of Robert E. Lee, was born at Arlington, Mav 31, 1837, and died at "Ravensworth," Fairfax countv, A^irginia, October is, 1891. He entered Harvard College in 1854. his lineage making him an honored guest in pome of the best families of Boston and Cambridge. In 1857 he was appointed a lieutenant in the army, at the request of General Scott, and spent a few vears in service in the west, but tiring- of this life he