Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 06.djvu/418

 LEE

LEE

OLP STATE HOUSE, ^

AT AAJA/APOL15. 1783 -1784-.

of Dr. Patrick and Mary (Brooke) Sim, and a descendant of Col. Eicliard and Anne Lee. He was married Oct. 27, 1771, to Mary, daughter of Ignatius and Eliza (Parkman) Digges, of Prince George's county, Md. In 1777 he entered pub- lic life as a member of the provin- cial council of Mary- land. He was gover- nor of Mary- land, 1779-83 and 1792-94, and in 1798 declined a third elec- tion. He was a delegate to the Conti- nental congress, 1783-84 ; was elected a delegate to the constitutional convention of 1787, but refused to attend ; and was a delegate to the state convention that met to ratify the Federal constitution. He was also elected to the senate in 1794, but refused to serve. He died at Need- wood, Md., Oct. 9, 1819.

LEE, William, diplomatist, was born at "Stratford," Va., in 1737; fifth son of Thomas and Hannah (Ludvvell) Lee. He was educated at Eton and engaged in commercial business in London, acting for a time as agent for Virginia. He resided in Middlesex and was sheriff of the county, and in 1775 became an alderman of Lon- don. He gave up a lucrative business and went to France with his brother Arthur in 1776 and was appointed by the Continental congress, com- mercial agent at Nantes. He was U.S. commis- sioner to the Hague and to Berlin and Vienna, but was not allowed to take up his residence in either of these cities. Holland, Prussia and Aus- tria not having recognized the United States government, desired to maintain a neutral posi- tion and not offend England, and his negotiations were tlierefore conducted from Paris. In 1778, by permission of the Holland government, he met Jan de Neufville, an Amsterdam merchant, at Aix-la-Chapelle, to complete the negotiations of a loan for the American colonies. The two com- missioners drew lip a commercial treaty to be adopted by their respective governments and it was signed by Neufville and Van Berckel, burgo- master of Amsterdam, and entrusted to Henry Laurens to be carried to America for the ap- proval of the Continental congress. By the cap- ture of Laurens, when on his way from America to the Hague to obtain the loan, the paper fell into the hands of the British ministry and was

made the pretext for declaring war against Hol- land. In the difficulties between Arthur Lee and the two other American commissioners to Paris. William Lee took part in the quarrel and in 1779 with his brother was ordered by congress to re- port in America, but no action was taken after their arrival. He married his cousin, Hannah Philippa Ludwell, who brought him the Green Spring Manor-house, near Williamsburg, where he died, June 27, 1795.

LEE, William, publisher, was born in Boston, Mass., April 17,1826; son of John and Laura William (Jones) Lee, of Manchester, Eng., grand- son of Owen and Elizabeth (Lambert) Jones of Boston, Mass., and a descendant on the maternal lines of colonial families. He attended the pub- lic schools in Boston until 1837, and was in the employ of Samuel G. Drake, a bookseller, 1837-40. He attended school at Sturbridge, Mass., 1840-42, and then returned to the book trade with O. L. Perkins, 1842-45. He was a clerk in the employ of Phillips, Sampson & Co., in Boston, 1845-50, and held an interest in the business, 1850-57 ; and travelled in Europe, 1857-59. He was a member of the firm of Crosby, Nichols, Lee & Co. of Bos- ton, 1860-61; and on Feb. 1, 1861, estabhshed with Charles A. B. Shepard, the publishing firm of Lee& Shepard. Mr. Shepard died in 1889 and Mr. Lee remained at the head of the business until 1898, when he retired. He was twice married : first, Oct. 29, 1861, to Anna M., daughter of Thomas Leavett of Hampton, N.H. ; she died Sept. 19, 1883 ; and secondly, Nov. 26, 1888, to Mrs. Sara White Saunders, daughter of James Wells and Catherine Reed (Garner) White of New York city.

LEE, William Henry Fitzhugh, soldier, was born at Arlington House, Va., May 31, 1837 ; son of Robert Edward and Mary Randolph (Custis) Lee. He entered Harvard college, but left in 1857 to accept a second lieutenancy in the 6th U.S. infan- try. He served in the Utah campaign under Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston and while stationed in California in 1859, he resigned from the army in order to de- vote his time to the care of the White House estate in Vir- ginia, inherited by ^ his mother. He raised a cavalry company early in 1861 for the service of his native state and as captain and major in the 9th Virginia

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