Richard Henry Lee

A person wearing a red shirt is holding a blue cup.
A painted portrait of a man in profile, wearing historical clothing with a powdered wig, set against a dark background and framed in an oval gold frame.

BORN - January 20, 1732, and grew up at Stratford Hall in Westmoreland County, VA.  Parents (English ancestry) - Thomas Lee (b1690-d1750) and Hannah Harrison Ludwell Lee (1701-1749).  Children – Philip Ludwell Lee, Sr. (b1727–d1775), who inherited Stratford Hall, Hannah Ludwell Lee (b1728-d1782), John Lee (b1728-d1729, as infant), Lucinda Lee (b1730-d1750), Richard Henry Lee (1732-1790), Eleanor Lee (b1730-___), Thomas Ludwell Lee, Sr. (b1730-d1778), Francis Lightfoot (Frank) Lee (b1734–d1797), Alice Lee (b1736-d1817), Lucy Lee (b1737-___), William Lee (b1738–d1808), James Lee (b1739-d1739, as infant), Arthur Lee (b1740–d1792).  Richard was probably called Richard Henry to help distinguish him from the three other Richards and four other Henrys in the extended family.

DIED - June 19, 1794(1794-06-19) (aged 62), at his home, Chantilly, Westmoreland County, VA.  Religion – Anglican / Episcopalian.  Buried – Lee Family Burnt House Field Cemetery, 20 miles east of Stratford at Mount Pleasant near Hague, Westmoreland County, VA.  His tomb reads – “Here was Buried RICHARD HENRY LEE of Virginia 1732 – 1794, Author of the Westmoreland Resolutions of 1766, Mover of the Resolution for Independence, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, President of the Continental Congress, United States Senator from Virginia. ‘We cannot do without you”

APPEARANCE - The picture above is the portrait of Richard Henry Lee (age 52) painted by Charles Wilson Peale in 1784.  Six feet tall, slim with reddish hair, comfortable with speaking his opinion to the public.  Described as a “formidable persuader with his graceful gestures, his pleasing voice, and his eloquence.”  While hunting on his property in 1768, Lee's rifle exploded in his arms, costing him all four fingers on his left hand.  For the rest of his life, Lee wore a black silk glove in public to conceal the injury. 

FAMILY – Married - Anne Aylett (b1738–d1768) in 1757.  Six Children (four surviving to adulthood) - Elizabeth Virginia Lee (b1755, died as infant), Thomas Lee (b1758-d1805), Ludwell Lee (b1760-d1836), Mary Lee Washington (b1764-d1795), Hannah Lee (b1766-d1802), Marybelle Lee (b1768, died as infant).  Wife Anne died in 1768.  Married - Anne Gaskins Pinckard (b1738-d1796) in 1769, a widow with two children.  Seven Children (five surviving to adulthood) – Anne Lee (b1770–d1804), Henrietta Lee Tuberville (b1773–d1803), Sarah Caldwell (Sally) Lee Lee (b1775-d1837), Cassius Lee (b1779–d1850), Francis Lightfoot Lee II (b1782–d1850), Infant Lee (b1784, died as infant), Infant Lee (b1786, died as infant).

OCCUPATION – LAWYER, PLANTER, LEGISLATOR, U.S. SENATOR.   Completed his formal education at Wakefield Academy in Yorkshire, England.  Author of the Leedstown (Westmoreland) Resolutions of 1766.  Member of the Continental Congress representing Virginia from 1774 to 1779, 1784 to 1785 (President), and 1887.  U.S. Senator from Virginia from 1789 to 1792. 

AT SIGNING – Age 44 at signing.  Richard Henry and Francis Lightfoot Lee were the only brothers to be signers of the Declaration.  On June 7, 1776, Lee introduced three resolutions in the Continental Congress to declare Independence from Great Britain, which led to the Declaration of Independence approved on July 4, 1776.  It read – “Resolved: (1) That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.  (2) That it is expedient forthwith to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances, and (3) That a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted to the respective Colonies for their consideration and approbation.”     

AFTER SIGNING – Continued to serve in Congress in Philadelphia, on and off, until 1785.  Served as a Colonel in the Westmoreland Militia protecting the plantations along the Potomac River from the British. 

HISTORIC SITES                                                                                                                                             

Stratford – Stratford Hall Plantation, Stratford (1730’s).  Located at 483 Great House Road, Stratford, VA 22558, Phone 804-493-8038, Website www.stratfordhall.org.  Birthplace and boyhood home of Richard Henry and his brother and fellow Signer, Francis Lightfoot Lee.                    

Chantilly – Chantilly-on-the-Potomac Manor House, Westmoreland County, VA.  The site was located three miles east of Stratford Hall.  Home of Richard Henry as an adult and location where he died.                                                                                                                                             

Gravesite - Lee Family Burnt House Field Cemetery, 20 miles east of Stratford at Mount Pleasant near Hague, Westmoreland County, VA.  The roadside historical marker reads – “THE BURNT HOUSE FIELD - A mile and a half to the north is the Burnt House Field, a Lee family graveyard in which were buried Richard Lee of “Machotick,” Thomas Lee of “Stratford,” Richard Henry Lee of “Chantilly,” their wives, and others. These burials were in the garden of the Lees’ “Machotick” plantation house, which burned down in 1729.”

Church – Old Yeocomico Episcopal Church, Tucker Hill, VA (1706).  Located on state route 606, Tucker Hill, VA.   Richard Henry Lee was a member of Cople Parrish, which consists of three churches Yeocomico, Nomini and St. James. 

A historic brick building with two prominent chimneys, small windows, and stairs leading to a central door, set against a clear blue sky with green grass in front.

Boyhood Home of Richard Henry Lee and Francis Lightfoot Lee, Stratford Hall Plantation, Stratford, VA (1730s). 

Located at 483 Great House Road, Stratford, VA 22558, Phone 804-493-8038, Website www.stratfordhall.org.

Stratford Hall was the home of four generations of the Lee family of Virginia, including two signers of the Declaration of Independence – Richard Henry Lee and Francis Lightfoot Lee.  Colonel Thomas Lee purchased the land in 1717 and began construction of the Great House in the 1730s.  Today the house, gardens and outbuildings are a museum and open to the public along with overnight sleeping accommodations.