LEE, Colonel Richard II

1647 - 1714  (66 years)  Submit Photo / Document

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• Name	LEE, Richard
  Prefix	Colonel
  Suffix	II
  Birth	21 May 1647	Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland, Virginia, British Colonial America
  Gender	Male
  Burial	Mar 1714	Burnt House Fields Cemetery, Mount Pleasant Plantation, Coles Point, Westmoreland, Virginia, United States
  Death	12 Mar 1714	Machodoc Plantation, Westmoreland, Virginia, United States
  WAC	5 May 1930	SLAKE
  _TAG	Reviewed on FS
  Headstones	Submit Headstone Photo
  Person ID	I42706	Joseph Smith Sr and Lucy Mack Smith
  Last Modified	19 Aug 2021

  
  

  Father	LEE, Colonel Richard I ,   b. 22 Mar 1613, Coton Hall, Nordley Regis Manor, Shropshire, England Coton Hall, Nordley Regis Manor, Shropshire, Englandd. 1 Mar 1664, Dividing Creek, Northumberland, Virginia, Colonial America (Age 50 years)
  Mother	CONSTABLE, Anne Owen ,   b. 21 Feb 1621, England Englandd. 6 Oct 1666, Chesapeake, Northampton, Virginia, British Colonial America (Age 45 years)
  Marriage	Abt 1640	Jamestown, James City, Virginia, British Colonial America
  Family ID	F22784	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	CORBIN, Laetitia ,   b. 25 Aug 1657, Church Point, Middlesex, Virginia, British Colonial America Church Point, Middlesex, Virginia, British Colonial Americad. 6 Oct 1706, Mt. Pleasant, Westmoreland, Virginia, British Colonial America (Age 49 years)
  Marriage	1674	Westmoreland, Virginia, United States
  Family ID	F22753	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	24 Jan 2022

  
  

• Photos		At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.
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• Notes

  Richard Lee II was second the son of Richard and Anne Lee "Mount Pleasant" Westmoreland Co., Virginia. Richard was born at "Paradise" in Northumberland County, Virginia in 1647. He was educated at Oxford , England. He was later nicknamed "The Scholar." Richard married Laetitia Corbin (b.1657, d.1706), daughter of Richard's neighbor, Henry Corbin, Sr. and Alice (Eltonhead) Burnham of Buckingham House" Middlesex Co., Va. He served as Col. of Horse of Westmoreland, Northumbeland and Stafford Co.s of the Kings's Council. Soon after his marriage, Richard was elected to the House of Burgess. In 1676 he became a member of the King's Council and served in this capacity off and on until 1698. He was a supporter of "Established Church". Richard died on 12 March 1714 at "Machodoc", the family estate, in Westmoreland County, Virginia. His will was probated on 27 April 1715. He was buried at the "Burnt House Fields," located near "Mount Pleasant." Find a Grave, below added 16 April 2018, see below: The inscription on Richard and Laetitia's tomb stone is 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." Richard Henry Lee II Col. Richard Henry Lee II, Esq. (1647-1715), Colonel, planter, member of the Upper House and the King's Council.Richard Henry II, was termed "Richard the Scholar". Richard was the son of Col. Richard Lee I, Esq., "the Immigrant" (1618-1664) and Anne Constable (ca. 1621-1666) [1].Richard was born at "Paradise", in Northumberland Co., Virginia, the estate he inherited from his father when he died in 1664. This estate consisted of 1,350 acres, and was later part of Gloucester County. He was educated at Oxford in England and may have studied law at the London “Inns”. He seemed destined for a career in the church, but he elected rather to return to the life of a Virginia gentleman, residing at “Paradise”. In 1673, when his older brother John died unmarried, Richard inherited the estate, “Machodoc”. Richard left “Paradise” to overseers and removed to his new estate.Richard married Laetitia Corbin (ca. 1657-1706), daughter of Richard’s neighbor and, Councillor, Hon. Henry Corbin, Sr. (1629-1676) and Alice (Eltonhead) Burnham (ca. 1627-1684) [2].Soon after his marriage, Richard was elected to the House of Burgesses. In 1676 Richard became a member of the King’s Council and he served in this capacity off and on until 1698. On one such absence in 1690 he had lost his seat because of his refusal to take the oath of allegiance to William III, King of England “William of Orange” (1650-1702). However, he was reinstated within a year. Richard was forced to retire from this position because of ill health. The Council was a body that served as the Governor’s privy council, the Upper House of the Colonial Legislature, and the Colonial Supreme Court. As early as 1680 he was Colonel of Horse in the counties of Westmoreland, Northumberland and Stafford. He was appointed by Sir Gov. Edmund Andros (1637-1714) to be “Naval Officer and Receiver of Virginia Dutys for the River Potomac”. Richard II, had one of the largest libraries in the Colony. He spent almost his whole life in study, and usually wrote his notes in Greek, Hebrew, or Latin. It was because of this that he was termed “the scholar”. Richard was a supporter of the Established Church.Richard died March 12, 1714 at “Machodoc”, Westmoreland County. His will was probated on April 27, 1715. He was buried at the old “Burnt House Fields”, located near “Mount Pleasant”. Laetitia died on October 6, 1706 at “Machodoc”, and her tombstone can still be seen at “Mount Pleasant”.Richard established his residence at the “Machodoc” plantation, which was located on the Potomac River, near the town of Hague, in Westmoreland County. This was a large brick house, largely inclosed by a brick wall. The estate was inherited by his son Hon. Richard Lee III (1679-1718) who was at the time residing in London as a tobacco merchant with his family. Richard III leased his estate in Virginia to his brothers, Col. Thomas Lee, Hon. (1690-1750) and Capt. Henry Lee I (1691-1747), for “an annual rent of one peppercorn only, payable on Christmas Day”. After Richard’s death in 1718, the estate was sold by his wife Martha Silk (d.ca. 1734), who sold it to her brother-in-law, Col. Thomas Lee, Hon. (1690-1750). Thomas resided here until it burned down January 29, 1729, and removed to his newly built “Stratford Hall”. The fire was so serious that the field near the old mansion at “Machodoc” where the Lee burial ground became was forever named the old “Burnt House Fields”. The land was sold to Richard Lee III’s only son Col. George Lee (1714-1761), who had come over from England. A new plantation was built by George who called his new estate “Mount Pleasant”. The new house was built further back from the river and upon higher ground. This house also burned down.Children1. John Lee (1670-1671), who died in infancy.2. Hon. Richard Lee III (1679-1718), who married Martha Silk (1680-ca. 1734).3. Francis Lee (1680-aft. 1754), who married Mary Barnell (1687-?)4. Capt. Philip Lee, Sr., Hon., Esq. (1681-1744) of "Blenheim", who married 1) Sarah (Brooke) Dent (1683-1724), widow of her uncle, Col. William Dent, Sr., Gent. (1660-1705). Sarah was the daughter of Col. Thomas Brooke, Jr., Hon. (1660-1730) and Barbara Dent (1676-1754). 2)5. Ann Lee (1683-1732), who married 1) Capt. Daniel McCarthy, Sr., Esq. (1679-1724), son of Dennis (MacCartee) McCarthy, Sr. (d. 1694) and Elizabeth Billington. 2) Hon. William Fitzhugh, Jr. (1679-1713) of "Eagle's Nest", King George Co., Virginia.6. Col. Thomas Lee, Hon. (1690-1750) of "Stratford Hall", Westmoreland Co., Virginia. Thomas married Hannah Harrison Ludwell (1701-1750), daughter of Col. Philip Ludwell II (1672-1726) of "Greenspring", and Hannah Harrison (1679-1731).7. Capt. Henry Lee I (1691-1747) of "Lee Hall", Westmoreland Co., Virginia. Henry married Mary Bland (1704-1764), daughter of Hon. Richard Bland, Sr. (1665-1720) and his second wife, Elizabeth Randolph (d. 1719).8. Arthur Lee (1693-1756), who married an unknown SherradAncestryRichard II, was the son of Col. Richard Lee I, Esq., "the immigrant" (1618-1664) and Anne Constable (ca. 1621-1666). Anne was the daughter of Thomas Constable and a ward of Sir John Thoroughgood. ReferencesFendall, Douglas Allen. The Descendants of Governor Josias Fendall. 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 Laetitia’s 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 Lee’s will, dated 3 Mar 1714, probated in Westmoreland Co., VA on 27 Apr 1715 Submitted by Ken Verdine Added by Ken Verdine