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Biography
Captain John Lee
Captain John Lee (1703-1789) was born the son of Hancock Lee, Esq., (1653-1709) of Ditchley, Northumberland County, who was the son of Colonel Richard Lee the immigrant to Virginia. His mother, nee Sarah Allerton (1671-1731), was of distinguished and unique ancestry, being the granddaughter of Isaac Allerton, a passenger on the Mayflower, 1620 and of Ensign Thomas Willoughby (1601-1658) who came to Virginia in the Prosperous, 1610, and rose to council.
Although Captain John Lee was a resident of Overwharton Parish for over fifty years, the general index to the records of Stafford County are completely devoid of any reference to him. By inheritance, patent and purchase he was possessed of several thousand acres of land on Chapawasmic Creek in Overwharton Parish and also plantations in the adjoining counties of Prince William and Fauquier. The earliest reference I find to him is a Bill of Exchange dated August 27, 1724 and directed to George Randall, Merchant at Serene in Cork; this he signs in his characteristic manner: JN. Lee. In 1724 he was granted 245 acres on Chapawasmic Creek by the Proprietors of the Northern Neck of Virginia, and he appears frequently on the records of Prince William and Fauquier counties in various land transactions as John Lee, Gentleman, of Overwharton Parish, Stafford County.
On April 24, 1731 the Council of Virginia ordered that a new commission of the Peace be prepared and that John Lee, William Brent, Henry Washington, Robert Massey, James Carter and James Markham, Gentlemen, be added to the former justice for Stafford County.
Beginning in 1741 The Register of Overwharton Parish indicates that Captain John Lee had many slaves baptized but the only other parochial records I have found of him is the recording on the plaque at Aquia Church noting that he was a vestryman in 1757.
In 1754 he was one of the several gentlemen appointed to appraise the estate in Stafford County of Thomas Lee, Esquire of Stratford, President of Virginia. Colonel Lee died possessed of two handsome estates on Potomac Creek near Potomac Church to which his son Colonel Thomas Ludwell Lee (1730-1778) succeeded.
Philip Vickers Fithian, tutor in the family of Colonel Robert Carter of Nomini Hall in Westmoreland County, has left us an interesting bit in regard to Captain John Lee in his journal entry of January 21, 1774:
***” To Day about twelve came to Mr. Carter’s Captain John Lee, a Gentleman who seems to copy the Character of Addisons Will Wimble. When I was on my way to this place I saw him up at the country at Staffor
He was then just sallying out on his Winters Visit, & has got now so far as here, he stays, as I am told about eight or ten Weeks in the year at his own House, the remaining part he lives, with his waiting Man, on his Friends.”
On his journey from Princeton, New Jersey, to Colonel Carter’s, Fithian had stopped on October 25, 1773 at the tavern at Stafford court house and the next day he called at Bellevue, the seat of Colonel Thomas Ludwell Lee (1730-1778) which he notes was “only a few Rods from Stafford Tavern;” here he first met the visiting bachelor, Captain John Lee. On February 10, 1774 Captain John Lee was again at Nomini Hall, this time with his cousin Colonel Francis Lightfoot Lee (1734-1797) of Menokin in Richmond County and his lady, nee Rebecca Tayloe of Mount Airy. They had dinner, read in the Virginia Gazette of the Boston Teas Party, and drank several toasts to the King, the Queen, absent friends, the Governor of Virginia and his lady and success to American trade and commerce. The evening was gay and the company spent the night and continued their journey after breakfast.
Captain John Lee died August 11, 1789 in Orange County at the home of his nephew, Major John Lee (1743-1802). By his last will and testament dates December 8, 1787 and admitted to probate September 28, 1789 at Orange County court, he left various legacies to friends, but the bulk of his estate to his nephew Major John Lee with whom he spent his declining years. Major Lee’s wife, nee Elizabeth Bell, was a cousin of Captain John Lee, being a descendant of Charles Lee of Cobbs Hall. In 1790 Major John Lee was joined by Elizabeth, his wife, in conveying the 800 acre plantation of Captain John Lee in Stafford County to Susanna (Crump) Hewitt (1723-1797), widow of James Hewitt of King George County, and in 1792 they disposed of their real estate in Orange County and moved to Woodford County, Kentucky. Major John Lee was the son of Hancock Lee, Junior, (1709-1762) and Mary Willis, his wife, eldest child of Henry Willis (circa 1690-1740) of Fredericksburg, Virginia.