Anne Carter Lee

Other Events and Attributes:

• Married: 30 Jun 1831, Arlington, Arlington, Virginia, USA
• Residence: 1850, Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
• Residence: 1860, , Alexandria, Virginia, USA; Age: 53

Notes:

General Robert Edward Lee 1807-1870
Civil War Confederate General.

He is remembered for leading the Army of Northern Virginia to the brink of victory in the Civil War. Born to a Virginia family of nobility but little money, his father was Revolutionary War General, Virginia Governor, and Congressman Light Horse Harry Lee, his mother was Ann Hill Carter Lee of the distinguished Carter family, and his Lee collateral relatives included two signers of the Declaration of Independence.

By the time young Robert arrived his father's financial irresponsibility had reduced the family to poverty and after Harry spent 1809 in debtor's prison the Lees moved to a small house in Alexandria where they were reduced to living on family charity. Harry was injured in an 1812 Baltimore political political riot and abandoned his family; Lee studied in Fauquier County and at Alexandria Academy and was to develop both studious habits and strong Christian faith, though he was not confirmed in the Episcopal Church until age 46. He also developed an abiding shame over the actions of his father's later years; indeed it is said that Lee lived his own life in an attempt to atone for Light Horse Harry, and whether that be true or not he never named any of his own sons Henry or Harry.

In 1824 Lee received an appointment to West Point via the intervention of William Henry Fitzhugh, a relative who had often provided material aid. From the time he entered the Academy in 1825 he had an outstanding record, never being charged with a demerit and graduating second in the class of 1829 to Charles Mason, later a noted attorney but now remembered only as the answer to the trivia question "Who beat Robert E. Lee at West Point?". Following graduation he was assigned to the Corps of Engineers, the norm for students with good academic records, duty carrying prestige but little promotion opportunity. While he was on leave he experienced the trauma of having his mother die in his arms in August of 1829 but he was soon off to build forts on the the Georgia coast.

In 1831 Lee was transferred to Fort Monroe, Virginia, and soon married Mary Custis, great-granddaughter of Martha Washington, whom he had been courting since 1829. The wedding took place only after the Custis family relaxed their opposition to Mary's romance with the disgraced Light Horse Harry's son; the Lees were devoted to each other and the union produced seven children though it was in some ways an unhappy match that Lee never objected to temporarily escaping when sent on assignment. Duty at Fort Monroe proved an unpleasant experience marked by staff conflicts and in 1834 Lee was posted to the Washington office of the Chief of Engineers. In 1837 he was sent west where he distinguished himself by vastly improving Mississippi River navigation especially at St. Louis and at the Des Moines Rapids near Keokuk, Iowa.

Promoted to captain for his work along the Mississippi he was sent to Brooklyn in 1842 to become post engineer of Fort Hamilton where he worked on improving coastal defense. Lee made a number of structural improvements in the New York City area and earned praise but by 1846 he had 17 years in the Army and was still a captain with a family to support and little chance for advancement. Opportunity, however, was at hand and on August 19, 1846, Lee received his orders to report to General John Wool in preparation for service in Mexico. After traveling by ship to New Orleans, he then moved on to Texas where he joined up with General Wool. Lee and a Captain Fraser were in charge of road building on the advance into Mexico and did their jobs well, though progress was made easier by the lack of enemy contact.

On January 16, 1847, he was ordered to report to General Winfield Scott who was then preparing to assault Vera Cruz. When he arrived near Vera Cruz, Lee was made a part of Scott's inner circle of officers; working for him were Lieutenants P.G.T. Beauregard and George McClellan, while other staff officers with whom he had dealings included Joe Johnston, U.S. Grant, George Meade, and Gustavus Woodson Smith, all names that would become well known years hence. Lee participated in the battles of Vera Cruz, Contreras, and Churubusco, then was wounded at Chapultepec, his reconnaissance missions along the way proving essential to ultimate success. Along with Beauregard and McClellan, he assisted in preparing for General Scott's entry into Mexico City; at the end, though he had been acclaimed and had earned three brevet promotions for gallantry, he still held the permanent rank of captain. After the conflict, he was sent to Baltimore as chief engineer then in 1852 returned to West Point as Superintendent with the rank of Brevet Colonel. Lee proved a popular and able executive while gaining experience that was to prove valuable in the post-Civil War years. He had a reputation for interacting well with the students and was to be a particular influence on Cadet and future General J.E.B. Stuart.

In 1855 Lee was finally to achieve "real" promotion, a two-grade jump to Lieutenant Colonel, though at the price of leaving the Engineers, when he was posted to Texas as Executive Officer of the Second US Cavalry serving under Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston. Though he was happy and successful, he found himself recalled to Arlington upon the October 10, 1857, death of his father-in-law George Washington Parke Custis. As the health of Mary Lee had steadily declined, Lee was stuck with sorting out the problems of the estate. Mr. Custis had large holdings but even larger debts and further had left a poorly drawn holographic will making financial bequests which there was no money to pay.

Arlington Hall itself was left to Lee's eldest son George Washington Custis Lee, known as "Custis", who would one day serve as a Confederate Major General and who in 1882 would successfully sue the federal government and gain financial compensation for the taking of Arlington during the conflict. In the course of the settlement Lee was to make arrangements for the emancipation of Mr. Custis' slaves, though he was to also ensure that they would be able to support themselves once free.

In October of 1859 Lee received a message via Lieutenant J.E.B. Stuart calling him from Arlington to Washington to deal with the capture of the armory at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, by anti-slavery activists led by John Brown. Under orders from President Buchanan and taking with him J.E.B. and a detachment of US Marines commanded by Lieutenant Israel Green, Lee departed by train for Harper's Ferry. On the morning of October 18th J.E.B. delivered the final surrender demand then gave the signal for Green's men to take the engine house, which they accomplished rapidly. When Brown was hanged on December 2nd, the event was carried out by Virginia Militia led by David Addison Weisiger, later a minor Confederate Brigadier General, while security was provided by V.M.I. Cadets under the command of Mexican War veteran Major Thomas Jackson, then called behind his back 'Tom Fool' but one day to be written down in history as 'Stonewall'. Lee returned to his duties in Texas but storm clouds were brewing and after Texas seceeded from the Union and U.S. Army facilities were turned over to the Confederacy he was recalled by General Scott to Washington in February 1861, there to be promoted to Colonel and offered general's stars along with command of the Union Army. A staunch Unionist and not a defender of slavery, Lee wanted to see the nation preserved but he was unwilling to invade the South to accomplish that end.

Virginia seceeded on April 17, 1861; Lee resigned his commission on April 20th and was appointed Brigadier General in the Confederate Army on May 14th then the next month was named the third senior of the original five officers of four star rank. (The lineal list was Samuel Cooper, Albert Sidney Johnston, Lee, Joe Johnston, and Beauregard with Bragg, Kirby Smith, and Hood to follow later in the war). Initially tasked with training and arming Virginia troops, Lee conducted the essentially failed expedition into the western counties today called the West Virginia Campaign, then was sent to take charge of preparing coastal defenses in the lower southeast, doing a good enough job that his forts essentially held throughout the war. Returning to Richmond where he was already considered a failure after the western operation, he supervised the digging of trenches around the capital, earning himself the derisive title "King of Spades".

In February of 1862 he paid $200 for a gray gelding whom he named Traveller (using the British spelling) and rode for the rest of his life, though in periods of illness he sometimes used his smaller and tamer "other horse" Lucy Long, a gift from J.E.B. Stuart. Lee served as miliary advisor to President Davis until General Joe Johnston was wounded at the Battle of Seven Pines on May 31, 1862. Command of the Army of Northern Virginia devolved upon General Gustavus Woodson Smith who suffered a nervous breakdown within 12 hours, leading Davis to place Lee in the top spot. He had his work cut out for him; the Confederacy had suffered multiple defeats, the public held no confidence in him, and McClellan was about four miles east of Richmond (at roughly the present location of Richmond International Airport) with an Army far larger and better equipped than anything Lee could muster.

He organized the Seven Days Battle, a series of six late June engagements that only contained one clear cut victory, John Bell Hood's June 27th assault at Gaines' Mill, and cost numerous lives but ended with General McClellan bottled-up on the James River and no longer a danger to Richmond. Lee next turned his attention to Northern Virginia where from August 28th to 30th, with much help from Longstreet and Jackson, he routed General John Pope at Second Manassas; during this operation Lee fell and injured his hands, limiting his riding ability. The time of Second Manassas also marks the first recorded appearance of Lee's chest pains, then called "rheumatism", but in retrospect symptoms of the coronary artery disease that was to mark the rest of his life. Lee then moved into Maryland hoping to gather supplies, recruit new troops, and perhaps strike a blow into the northeast that would dampen the North's willingness to fight; his efforts were derailed by the famous Lost Order No. 191 which gave away his plans to McClellan; on September 17, 1862, the armies met at Sharpsburg in the Battle of Antietam which resulted in roughly 26,000 combined casualties, still the greatest one day loss of life in American history.

Withdrawing to Virginia after the drawn battle he organized his troops at Fredericksburg to meet the new Army of the Potomac commander Ambrose Burnside; on December 13, 1862, Union troops were sent up the side of Mayre's Heights into a fortified position held by James Longstreet, thus ending thousands of lives and Burnside's brief tenure in command. Longstreet was soon sent to Southside Virginia on a foraging expedition and thus as spring came Lee was missing a third of his Army. In late April he moved toward Cancellorsville, just west of Fredericksburg; between April 30th and May 6th Lee stopped Joe Hooker in the series of conflicts known collectively as the Battle of Chancellorsville, though at the cost of the May 2nd mortal wounding of Stonewall Jackson in a friendly fire incident. Lee next marched into Pennsylvania to meet the Union Army under its new commander George Meade. The entire operation which culminated in the Battle of Gettysburg was controversial at the time and will likely remain so forever, with whole books written about each day and questions asked as to whether he should have replaced Jackson with Richard Ewell, whether he should have followed Longstreet's suggestions, whether he should have ordered Pickett's Charge, and indeed whether he should have gone north in the first place.

In the aftermath Meade was unable to persue as the victorious army was in virtually as bad a condition as the defeated one. Once back in Virginia, Lee's health was poor, and knowing he bore the onus of failure, he offered to resign. The President, however, had nobody to replace him with. Interestingly, Gettysburg was not then seen as "final" in the way later generations viewed it thus Lee again reorganized and in the spring of 1864 staged the Wilderness Campaign, initially without Longstreet who after Gettysburg had been temporarily detached to General Braxton Bragg in Tennessee. Victories he won, albeit with the loss of men and supplies he could not replace; his main problem, however, was that the Union Army was now under the command of General U.S. Grant, thus denying to Lee the advantage of fighting the timid or incompetent. Forced into a nine month siege at Petersburg, he held out until finally compelled to retreat on April 2, 1865.

During the stalemate, Lee was named General-in-Chief of the Confederate States Army on January 31, 1865, and pushed for the integration of black soldiers into the Army. The Cause, however, was lost and Lee finally had to abandon the line at Petersburg. Over the next week as he moved west, he attempted to obtain food and supplies and to link up with what little was left of the Army of Tennessee, now under Joe Johnston in North Carolina. Finally on April 9, 1865, Lee was out of alternatives and surrendered to General Grant at the McLean House in Appomattox, Virginia. He delivered the surrender himself rather than send a subordinate as he knew of the sense of insult his father had felt when the British made their capitulation at Yorktown via the most junior officer present, and that only after a sergeant had been rejected by George Washington.

After the war, the men had to get back to whatever life they could salvage; the South had to be rebuilt, and Lee had to feed his family. His respect in the South was undiminished and though he faced the threat of legal action job offers came in, some of which could have made him wealthy. Desiring, however, to help restore the country's prosperity in October 1865 he accepted the presidency of the then-small Washington College in Lexington, Virginia. Revered by students, faculty, and the local populace, he proved an effective administrator; in 1868 a move was made to have him run as the Democratic candidate for Governor of Virginia. Lee knew he could win but he enjoyed his job and desired to remain where he was preparing a new generation. Further, he probably suspected that his heart was not up to the rigors of political office. He kept active when he could, walking and riding his horses, but as time went on it became obvious that Lee was aged beyond his years; he was able to travel some, going to Baltimore and visiting President Grant at the White House in the spring of 1869.

In late March of 1870 Lee undertook a two month trip thru the South during which he visited the graves of his father and of his daughter Annie and bade farewell to old friends. Upon his return he consulted with doctors in Richmond and Baltimore who did for him what little they could; he also spent time with Edmund Valentine who was in the process of creating the statue that would cover his tomb. The sculptor had wanted to meet with Lee in the fall, but apparently sensing that his final deployment was at hand the General instructed him not to wait. When the fall school term began Lee was at his post; during his years in Lexington he had worshipped and served as a vestryman at Grace Episcopal Church which was pastored by his old Chief of Artillery General William Nelson Pendleton.

On September 28th he was in his capacity as Senior Warden conducting a vestry meeting when he suffered a stroke. The General made it home on his own but was obviously quite ill; over the ensuing days he was cared for by physicians and seemed to rally at times, though at others he was unable to speak coherently. On October 12th Lee uttered the last words, "Strike the tent", and died. His wife Mary, in poor health for years, followed him to the grave in 1873, while at his death his son Custis became president of what would one day be Washington and Lee University. After the war Lee had taken the Oath of Allegiance and applied for his pardon, but for some reason his paperwork was lost and remained so until 1970; in 1975 his American Citizenship was posthumously restored by President Gerald Ford. Today Fort Lee, Virginia, carries his name, as does a multitude of counties, schools, towns, bridges, and city streets. Statues of him adorn his grave, Stone Mountain, Georgia, Monument Avenue in Richmond, and numerous other public places, while his image has been on a Virginia license plate, several US postage stamps, and continues to hang in thousands of homes. Lee has been the subject of countless biographies ranging from works for small children to those intended for academics, with the definitive being Douglas Southall Freeman's four volume "R.E. Lee" (1934-1935). For a quiet man General Lee left a large number of quotes and while no single one can define him perhaps this comes close: "Do your duty in all things...you cannot do more...you should never wish to do less".

Bio by: Bob Hufford

Robert married Mary Ann Randolph Custis on 30 Jun 1831 in Arlington House, Arlington, Virginia, USA. Mary (daughter of George Washington Parke Custis and Mary Lee Fitzhugh) was born on 1 Oct 1808 in Arlington, Arlington, Virginia, USA; died on 5 Nov 1873 in Alexandria, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA; was buried in Lexington, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Married: 30 Jun 1831, Arlington, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: 1801, , , Virginia, USA
• Residence: 1810, , Westmoreland, Virginia, USA

Notes:

Henry Lee III (29 January 1756 – 25 March 1818) was an early American patriot who served as the ninth Governor of Virginia and as the Virginia Representative to the United States Congress. During the American Revolution, Lee served as a cavalry officer in the Continental Army and earned the name Light Horse Harry. He was also the father of Confederate general Robert E. Lee.

Lee was born near Dumfries, Virginia, the son of Henry Lee II (1730–1787) of "Leesylvania" and Lucy Grymes (1734–1792) the "Lowland Beauty." His father was first cousin once removed to Richard Henry Lee, sixth President of the Continental Congress. His mother was an aunt of the wife of Virginia Governor Thomas Nelson Jr. His great-grandmother Mary Bland was a great-aunt of President Thomas Jefferson and he descended once from King John of England, twice from King Edward I of England, once from King Jean de Brienne of Jerusalem, twice from King Edward III of England and once from King Pedro I of Castile.

Lee graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1773, and began pursuing a legal career. With the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, he became a Captain in a Virginia dragoon detachment, which was attached to the 1st Continental Light Dragoons. In 1778, Lee was promoted to Major and given the command of a mixed corps of cavalry and infantry known as Lee's Legion, with which he won a great reputation as a leader of light troops. It was during his time as commander of the Legion that Lee earned the sobriquet of "Light Horse Harry" for his horsemanship. Lee was presented a gold medal–a reward given to no other officer below a general's rank– for the Legion's actions during the Battle of Paulus Hook in New Jersey, on 19 August 1779.

Lee was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and was assigned with his Legion to the southern theater of war. Lee's forces served at the Battle of Guilford Court House, the Battle of Camden and the Battle of Eutaw Springs. He was present at Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown, but left the Army shortly after due to an illness. During the infamous Whiskey Rebellion, Lee commanded the 13,000 militiamen sent to quash the rebels.

Between 8-13 April 1782, at "Stratford Hall", Lee married his second cousin, Matilda Ludwell Lee (1764-1790), who was known as "The Divine Matilda". Matilda was the daughter of the Hon. Philip Ludwell Lee, Sr., Esq. and Elizabeth Steptoe. Matilda had three children before she died in 1790;
• Philip Lee (1784-1794)
• Lucy Lee (1786-1860)
• Henry Lee IV (28 May 1787 — 30 January 1837), was a historian and author who also served as a speech writer for both John C. Calhoun and presidential candidate Andrew Jackson, also helping the latter to write his inaugural address.

On 13 June 1793, Lee married the wealthy Anne Hill Carter (1773-1829) at Shirley Plantation. Anne was the daughter of Charles Carter, Esq., of Shirley, and his wife Ann Butler Moore. She was also a descendant of King Robert II of Scotland through the 2nd Earls of Crawford. They had six children, the eldest died unnamed in infancy in 1796;
• Unnamed Infant (1796-1796)
• Charles Carter Lee (1798-1871)
• Anne Kinloch Lee (1800-1864)
• Sydney Smith Lee (1802-1869)
• Robert Edward Lee (19 January 1807 — 12 October 1870), the fifth child of Henry and Anne, served as a Confederate general during the American Civil War.
• Mildred Lee (1811-1856)

From 1786 to 1788, Lee was a delegate to the Continental Congress, and in the last-named year in the Virginia convention, he favored the adoption of the United States Constitution. From 1789 to 1791, he served in the General Assembly and, from 1791 to 1794, was Governor of Virginia.
In 1794, Lee accompanied Washington to help the suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania. A new county of Virginia was named after him during his governorship. Henry Lee was a major general in the U.S. Army in 1798–1800. From 1799 to 1801, he served in the United States House of Representatives of the Congress. He famously eulogized Washington to a crowd of 4,000 at the first President's funeral on December 26, 1799 —"first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."
The Panic of 1796-1797 and bankruptcy of Robert Morris reduced Lee's fortune.

On 27 July 1812, Lee received grave injuries while helping to resist an attack on his friend, Alexander Contee Hanson, editor of the Baltimore newspaper, The Federal Republican. Hanson was attacked by Democratic-Republican mob because his paper opposed the War of 1812. Lee and Hanson and two dozen other Federalists had taken refuge in the offices of the paper. The group surrendered to Baltimore city officials the next day and were jailed. Laborer George Woolslager led a mob that forced its way into the jail and removed and beat the Federalists over the next three hours. One Federalist, James Lingan, died.
Lee suffered extensive internal injuries as well as head and face wounds, and even his speech was affected. Lee later sailed to the West Indies in an effort to recuperate from his injuries. He died on 25 March 1818, at Dungeness, on Cumberland Island, Georgia.
Lee was buried with full military honors provided by an American fleet stationed near St. Marys. In 1913 his remains were removed to the Lee family crypt at Lee Chapel, on the campus of Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia.

The Whiskey Rebellion
In the history of Southwestern Pennsylvania there have been many noteworthy personalities, but who are they and what did they do to catch our attention? One of them is Henry Lee III, who was born in Virginia on January 29, 1756 to Maj. Gen. Henry Lee II, and Lucy Grymes. Lee’s family tree includes links to America’s founding fathers and European royalty. He graduated from the College of New Jersey (Princeton) and when the Revolutionary War began, he was a Captain in a Virginia dragoon detachment. He was next given the rank of Major and the command of a corps of cavalry and infantry called “Lee’s Legion.” For his horsemanship he was known as “Light Horse Harry.” He was made Lt. Colonel and he served in three major southern battles, ending at the British surrender at Yorktown . Lee’s first marriage was to Matilda Ludwell and they had three children. She died in 1790. In 1793 he married Anne Hill Carter and she bore six children, the fifth child being Robert Edward Lee (1807-1878), who became a Confederate general in the Civil War. Lee served in the Continental Congress, where he favored the adoption of the United States Constitution. From 1791 to 1794 he was Governor of Virginia. In July, 1794, only 5 years after the United States Constitution was ratified, President Washington was truly called upon “to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Distraught farmers in Washington County, Pennsylvania organized themselves as rebels to repeal the federal law that they register their stills and pay an excise tax on whiskey. Washington tried to negotiate a peaceful solution, but when the radicals persisted, he would not let their treason, politics or bloodshed splinter the Constitutional unity of the United States. The President proclaimed on September 20 that military action was needed to remove the rebellious leaders. Some 13,000 men from four states quickly responded to his call to arms. By the end of September, the federal army’s march reached Carlisle, and on October 4 Washington joined them there. On October 11, the President went to Cumberland to review the troops coming from Maryland and Virginia . On the nineteenth, all met at Bedford. Here Washington turned the command of the troops over to General “Light Horse Harry ” Henry Lee. Lee, still the Governor of Virginia, was given executive orders “to suppress opposition to the law, by military force and judicial process.” The President then returned to Philadelphia , and the troops marched in two columns toward Parkinson’s Ferry, (Monongahela, in Washington County) which was the epicenter of the farmer’s rebellion. Lee led the southern column and by November 1, they arrived in Uniontown. Gen. John Neville and Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton were in this group. Col. Presley Neville was in the northern column. On November 8 Lee issued a proclamation that the troops were there because the people of the United States were determined to uphold the new government they had just constituted. Lee identified to Gen. William Irvine the leaders of the rebellion who were to be arrested, and on November 12, in what has been called “The Terrible Night” several score citizens were arrested. The march of eighteen insurgents to Philadelphia for trial soon followed. Violence was minimal so on November 17, John Neville and others began to reopen their tax offices. Lee ordered most of the troops to return to their own homes. To maintain peace in and around Pittsburgh, Gen. Daniel Morgan was placed in charge of small detachments of troops. On Christmas Day the 20 captured rebels arrived in Philadelphia for their court trial. Lee pardoned many local insurgents on November 29, except David Bradford from Washington County, who had earlier fled to New Orleans. President Washington pardoned those who had been tried in Philadelphia. The Whiskey Rebellion was now over. The excise law was rescinded in 1802 by President Jefferson. After the Whiskey Rebellion, Lee became a member of the United States House of Representatives where he wrote the phrase “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen” in his oration on Washington at the President’s death. In the financial panic of 1796, Lee was reduced to poverty and he was temporarily placed in debtor’s prison. In 1812 Lee was beaten while helping to defend the editor of a Baltimore newspaper from a mob because the paper opposed the War of 1812. Lee suffered internal and head injuries. He went to the West Indies in an attempt to heal the wounds. He died on March 25, 1818 and he is buried in the Lee crypt in the Lee Chapel, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia.

References:
The Whiskey Rebellion: Southwestern Pennsylvania’s Frontier People Test the American Constitution,” Jerry A. Clouse, PHMC. 1994 Historical Magazine of Monongahela, 1909 Art sketch: J. Howard Iams “The Terrible Night”

Family of Light-horse Harry Lee
Between April 8 and 13, 1782, at Stratford Hall, Lee married his second cousin, Matilda Ludwell Lee (1764–1790), who was known as "the Divine Matilda". She was the daughter of Philip Ludwell Lee, Sr., and Elizabeth Steptoe. Matilda had three children before she died in 1790:

Philip Ludwell Lee (1784–1794)
Lucy Grymes Lee (1786–1860)
Henry Lee IV (May 28, 1787 – January 30, 1837), was a historian and author who also served as a speech writer for both John C Calhoun and presidential candidate Andrew Jackson, also helping the latter to write his inaugural address.

On June 18, 1793, Lee married the wealthy Anne Hill Carter (1773–1829) at Shirley Plantation. Anne was the daughter of Charles Carter, Esq., of Shirley, and his wife Ann Butler Moore. They had six children:

Algernon Sidney Lee (April 2, 1795 – August 9, 1796), died at Sully Plantation, buried there in an unmarked grave.
Charles Carter Lee (1798–1871)
Anne Kinloch Lee (1800–1864)
Sydney Smith Lee (1802–1869)
Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870), the fifth child of Henry and Anne, served as Confederate general-in-chief during the American Civil War.
Mildred Lee (1811–1856)

Henry married Anne Hill Carter on 18 Jun 1793 in , , Virginia, USA. Anne (daughter of Charles Hill Carter, Sr, Esq and Annie Butler Moore) was born on 26 Mar 1773 in Shirley Plantation, Charles City, Virginia, USA; died on 26 Jun 1829 in Ravensworth, Fairfax, Virginia, USA; was buried in Lexington, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: 1840, Alexandria, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA
• Residence: 1850, Alexandria, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA

Notes:

Born at Mount Airy, Maryland, to John Parke Custis and Eleanor Calvert Custis. He was the grandson of Martha Washington by her first marriage to Daniel Parke Custis. After his natural father John Parke Custis died in 1781, he and his sister Eleanor were unofficially adopted by General and Mrs. Washington and raised at Mt. Vernon. Known by the childhood nickname Tub, Custis became very attached to his step-grandfather, George Washington. Under Washington’s counsel he pursued studies at St. John's College and Princeton. Upon Washington’s death he devoted himself to literary and agricultural pursuits. In 1799 Custis was commissioned as a colonel in the Army and aide-de-camp to General Charles Pickney. Custis also volunteered in the defense of Washington, D.C. during the the War of 1812. In 1802, he began the construction of Arlington House on land he had inherited from his natural father. He married Mary Lee Fitzhugh in 1804, and they had four children, but only one, Mary Anna Randolph Custis, survived. His income derived from his inherited estates though he was a generally a poor manager and his properties were not very profitable. He devoted most of his time to painting, playwriting, music, oratory, and promoting the improvement of American agriculture. None of his endeavors were marked by great or lasting success. Regarding himself as the heir to the Washington tradition, Custis collected and displayed a large number of Mt. Vernon relics at Arlington House. He began writing a series of 'Recollections of Washington' in the ‘U.S. Gazette’ in 1826, and they were published in book form in 1860. His first play, ‘The Indian Prophecy’, was performed in the Chestnut Street Theater, Philadelphia, in 1830. He also wrote: ‘The Railroad’ and ‘Pocahontas’ in 1830; ‘North Point of Baltimore Defended’ in 1833; and ‘Eighth of January’ in 1834. Custis gave his daughter away at her wedding to Lt. Robert E. Lee, Sr. at Arlington House in 1831. Custis increasingly relied on his son-in-law, to handle his tangled business affairs. Until his death, Custis retained his rooms in the north wing of Arlington House which had also become home to his daughter’s family. He died there after a short illness in October 1857.

George married Mary Lee Fitzhugh on 7 Jul 1804 in Alexandria, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA. Mary (daughter of William Debnam Fitzhugh and Mary Anne Bolling Randolph) was born on 22 Apr 1788 in Arlington, Arlington, Virginia, USA; died on 23 Apr 1853 in Arlington, Arlington, Virginia, USA; was buried in Arlington, Arlington, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Henry married Lucy Grymes on 1 Dec 1750 in , Gloucester, Virginia, USA. Lucy was born on 26 Apr 1734 in Richmond, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA; died in 1792 in Leesylvania, Westmoreland, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: 1779, , Stafford, Virginia, USA
• Residence: 1803, Shirley Plantation, Charles City, Virginia, USA
• Probate: 20 Nov 1805, , Charles City, Virginia, USA

Notes:

Charles Carter
Birth: 1732
Death: Jun. 24, 1806 Charles City County Virginia, USA
During the first War for American Independence (1776-1783) Shirley Plantation and the Carter's of Shirley played a vital role in the forming of the new nation. Charles Carter, fifth generation owner of Shirley, was a loyal member of the House of Burgesses. He was member of the House representing two localities, Lancaster and Charles City County, from 1758 until 1774. The reasons this membership ceased was due to the Declaration of Independence being signed and the House of Burgesses was dissolved by Governor Lord Dunmore. Charles then served as a member of Virginia Convention of March and December, 1775. He then served in Charles City County Militia during the Revolutionary War, but records do not indicate that he saw any action. Charles allowed his James River home of Shirley to serve as a supply depot for the Continental Army towards the end of the war. This action allowed the Marquis de Lafayette to supply his army with the munitions and armaments needed to besiege Yorktown, ultimately resulting in General Lord Cornwallis' surrender and the United States of America becoming an independent and sovereign nation.

Charles Carter's will of 1803 reads: "That is to say I commend my body to the Earth to be decently laid near my honored parents as soon after my decease as may be convenient, without any funeral pomp and nothing but the burial service to be read over my grave by the parson of the Parish (should we be so fortunate as to have one among us) for which trouble, I desire he may be amply paid: And when this my departure may happen, I earnestly request of my family and friends that they do not go into mourning or wear black clothes; and this whim I expect they will gratify me in, as I always thought the custom absurd and extravagant answering no good purpose that I know of."

Parents:
John Carter (1690 - 1742)
Elizabeth Hill Carter Cocke (1703 - 1771)
Spouse:
Anne Butler Moore Carter (1750 - 1809)
Children:
Robert Hill Carter (1774 - 1806)
Bernard Carter (1776 - 1776)
John Carter (1777 - 1784)
Catherine Spotswood Carter Berkeley (1778 - 1809)
Anne Hill Carter Lee (1779 - 1829)
Bernard Moore Carter (1780 - 1843)
Butler Carter (1784 - 1786)
Infant Daughter Carter (1792 - 1792)
Infant Carter (1794 - 1794)
Calphemia Carter (1796 - 1797)

Burial: Shirley Plantation, Shirley, Charles City County, Virginia, USA

Charles married Annie Butler Moore in 1771 in , Lancaster, Virginia, USA. Annie (daughter of Bernard Moore Sr and Anne Catherine Spotswood) was born in 1756 in , Westmoreland, Virginia, USA; died on 16 Apr 1809 in Shirley Plantation, Charles City, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Eltham
Eltham was situated in New Kent County, Virginia. The property was owned by the Bassett family. Captain William Bassett was reportedly the first of the family to come to Virginia. He died in 1672 and was succeeded by his son, William Bassett, who died in 1673. This second William Bassett was a member of the Virginia Council. There was a third William Bassett, who inherited the place and was a member of the House of Burgesses. The son of the third Bassett, William Burwell, became owner of Eltham and also a Burgess.

The mansion was said to have been built as early at the 1660's. It was constructed of brick. The house was considered by many architects to have been one of the finest examples of Georgian architecture in the South.

The illustration of Eltham above was made from a drawing done by a member of the Bassett family. One description of the house reads, "There was a central portion of the house two-and-one-half stories high with dormer windows in the well-designed roof. Through passages on each side one reached the low wings to the house." Another description says, "The house presented an imposing front, one hundred and fifty feet from wing to wing; the entire building, with peaked roof and gable front, rising above them like the keep of a castle. Over the red English bricks of its walls, time and clinging tribes of lichens had thrown a soft tinting of purple and gray, while a stately avenue of Lombardy poplars led away from the mossy stone steps of the entrance, adding grandeur to the picturesqueness of the place. Many times during the siege of York were the leading spirits of the Revolution gathered at Eltham (which was not far from Yorktown) as guests of Colonel Burwell Bassett, who was a brother-in-law of General Washington and of Governor Harrison, having married the sister of Mrs. Washington [Anna Maria Dandridge; they married on May 2, 1757]."

One reason that there is interest in Eltham is that General and Mrs. Washington often visited the Bassets at Eltham, and Burwell Basset was one of the agents who had charge of Washington's business affairs while he was in command of the army during the American Revolution. In one of his letters to Bassett, written from Cambridge, Massachusetts, in February 1776, he says: "I thank you heartily for the attention you have kindly paid to my landed affairs on the Ohio; my interest in which I shall be more than ever careful of, as in the worst event they may serve for an asylum." This letter was owned by Herbert A. Claiborne of Richmond.

Another visitor of note was Andrew Burnaby, who wrote, "May 26, 1760. Having procured three horses, for myself, servant, and baggage, I departed from Williamsburg, and travelled that night to Eltham; twenty-five miles. . . . May 27. I ferried over Pamunky river . . . . " Burnaby wrote Travels Through North America, a popular book which went through three editions in the 1700's.

The Bassetts intermarried with many prominent Virginia families, including the Dandridges, the Lewises, the Claibornes, the Burwells and others. John Parke Custis, son of Martha Washington (and stepson of George Washington), died at Eltham, the home of his uncle. Martha and George adopted his two children. According to George Washington Parke Custis (John Parke Custis' biological son and George and Martha's adopted son), John Parke Custis "sickened while on duty as extra aide to the commander-in-chief in the trenches before Yorktown. Aware that his disease (the camp-fever), would be mortal, the sufferer had yet one last lingering wish to be gratified, and he would die content. It was to behold the surrender of the sword of Cornwallis. He was supported to the ground, and witnessed the admired spectacle, and was then removed to Eltham, a distance of thirty miles from camp."

The house burned in the 1870's, but the massive foundations could still be seen in the early 1900's.

The information in this article was compiled from information in Frances Archer Christian and Susanne Massie, editors, Homes and Gardens in Old Virginia, Garrett and Massie, Incorporated, Richmond, VA, 1931; Robert A. Lancaster, Jr., Historic Virginia Homes and Churches, J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1915; Ella B. Washington, "The Harrisons in History," The Magazine of American History, 1889; Recollections and Private Memoirs of Washington, By His Adopted Son, George Washingto Parke Custis, with A Memoir of the Author, by His Daughter; and Illustrative and Explanatory Notes, by Benson J. Lossing, Derby & Jackson, New York, 1860.

John married Eleanor Calvert on 3 Feb 1774 in Mount Airy Plantation, Prince Georges, Maryland, USA. Eleanor (daughter of Benedict Swinegate Calvert and Elizabeth Butler Calvert) was born on 3 Feb 1754 in Mount Airy Plantation, Prince Georges, Maryland, USA; died on 28 Sep 1811 in Croom, Prince Georges, Maryland, USA; was buried in Croom, Prince Georges, Maryland, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: 1782, , Fairfax, Virginia, USA

William married Mary Anne Bolling Randolph on 2 Apr 1763 in , , Virginia, USA. Mary (daughter of Peter Randolph and Lucy Bolling) was born on 13 May 1747 in Chatsworth, Henrico, Virginia, USA; died on 10 Aug 1805 in Ravensworth, Fairfax, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Lieutenant Colonel Richard Henry Lee I

Henry married Mary Elizabeth Bland in 1723 in , Prince William, Virginia, USA. Mary was born on 21 Aug 1704 in Jordans Point, Prince George, Virginia, USA; died on 29 May 1764 in Lee Hall, Westmoreland, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Mary Ann Sarah Bland

Notes:

Shirley Plantation
Shirley Plantation is Virginia's first plantation (1613) and one of the first economic engines of the new world. Only six years after John Smith's settlement at Jamestown, the crown grant carving Shirley Plantation out of the Virginia frontier was established. The chronicle of Shirley Plantation best exemplifies the period in our nation's history between the settlement at Jamestown in 1607 and the movement towards American independence from Great Britain in 1776. During its long history and under the leadership of one family, Shirley Plantation has survived the Indian Uprising, Bacon's Rebellion, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and the Great Depression.

Shirley Plantation is the oldest family-owned business in North America dating back to 1638. Construction of the present mansion began in 1723 when Elizabeth Hill, great-granddaughter of the first Hill, married John Carter, eldest son of Robert "King" Carter. Completed in 1738, the mansion, referred to as the “Great House,” is largely in its original state and is owned, operated, and lived in by direct descendants of Edward Hill.

The guided tour of the Great House highlights original family furnishings, portraits, silver, and hand-carved woodwork as well as stories of the Hill-Carter family, eye witnesses to eleven generations of American history. As one architectural historian contends," Shirley Plantation is the most intact 18th century estate in Virginia". Several features such as the "Flying Staircase" and the Queen Anne Forecourt are the only remaining examples in America of this architectural style.

John married Elizabeth Hill on 6 Oct 1723 in Shirley Plantation, Charles City, Virginia, USA. Elizabeth (daughter of Colonel Edward Hill, II and Mary Aston) was born on 23 Apr 1667 in Shirley Plantation, Charles City, Virginia, USA; died on 4 Jan 1761 in Shirley Plantation, Charles City, Virginia, USA; was buried in Shirley Plantation, Charles City, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Bernard married Anne Catherine Spotswood in 1742 in King William Parish, Goochland, Virginia, USA. Anne was born on 19 Oct 1728 in Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Virginia, USA; died on 9 Feb 1801 in Chelsea, King William, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Daniel married Martha Dandridge in 1749. Martha (daughter of John Dandridge and Frances Orlando Jones) was born on 21 Jun 1731 in Chestnut Grove, New Kent, Virginia, USA; died on 22 May 1802 in Mount Vernon, Fairfax, Virginia, USA; was buried in Mount Vernon, Fairfax, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

02 Jun 1731 - May 22 1802

First Lady, 30 Apr 1789 - 04 Mar 1797

On 31 Dec 1799, shortly after her husband's death, Martha Washing responded to the congressional request that he be buried in "Washington City," the new American capital. "I must consent to the request made by congress," she wrote, "...and in doing this I need not---I cannot say what a sacrifice of individual feeling I make to a sense of public duty." That principle governed her conduct throughout her 40-year marriage to George Washington. She was raised to be a southern belle and a plantation mistress. She delighted in domesticity, describing herself at Mt. Vernon as "fairly settled downn to the pleasant duties of an old fashioned Virginia house-keeper, steady as a clock, busy as a bee, and as cheerful as a cricket." Yet in the public interest she repeatedly left the home she loved to share with her husband the hardships, discomforts, and dangers of his winter headquarters during the seven years that the American Revolution dragged on. After that war both the Washingtons hoped to spend the rest of their lives in the tranquility of Mt. Vernon. But George Washington bowed to the public will that he serve as the nation's first president and Martha Washington moved with him to New York and then to Philadelphia. Willinly and almost without complaint, she endured her separation from the relative and friends she loved best to undertake the repososibilities of a "very dull life" in which she felt "more like a state prisoner than anything else."

Martha Dandridge was born at Chestnut Grove, a modest 500-acre plantation on the pamunkey River in New Kent County, VA, on 02 Jun 1731. Her father, John Dandridge, came to North America from England when he was at years old with his older brother William. Starting out as merchants, they both rapidly acquired land and status. Her mother, Frances Jones, was the granddaughter of an Oxford-educated Anglican rector. Like most well-off girls of her time, Martha was probably tuaght domestic arts and household management by her mother and the three Rs by her parents and grandparents, an itinerant tutor, or an indentured servant. She learned to dance, perhaps to play an instrument a little, and to ride horseback expertly. She attended church regularly. Her social life and her affections centered in her relations with her seven siblings and the gentry of the countryside. She was slim and petite, just under five feet tall, with brown hair and hazel eyes.

When Martha was 17, she attracted the attention of Daniel Parke Custis, like her father a vestryman in her church. The 39-year-old Custis was a man eager to marry but still under the thumb of his wealthy, eccentric, and irascible father. The elder Custis did not allow Daniel to manage and eventually own one of his estates, White House, until he was far into his maturity. No young woman, the father seemed to think, was worthy of his oly son---or, perhaps more important, of iheriting the considerable Custis fortune. Martha's marriage to Daniel was delayed until she was 19, when in a sudden about-face Custis snior declared he was "as much enamored with her character as you (Daniel) are with her person, and this is owing chiefly to a prudent speech of her own."

They were married at her home and settled down at White House to raise a family. Custis indulged his young bride with fine clothes ordered from London. In the next seven years she bore four babies, two boys and two girls. But the infant deaths so commonplace in the 18th century soon claimed the first two. In 1757 her husband died suddenly, leaving her with her two small children: Martha Parke "Patsy" Custis, born 1754; and John Parke "Jacky" custis, born in 1755. He also left her perhaps the wealthiest widow in Virginia.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Illegitimate son of Charles Calvert, 5th Lord Baltimore and Melusina von der Schulenberg.

Benedict married Elizabeth Butler Calvert on 21 Apr 1748 in St. Anne's Episcopal Church, Church Circle, Annapolis, Maryland, USA. Elizabeth was born on 24 Feb 1730 in St Annes Parish, Prince Georges, Maryland, USA; died on 7 Jul 1798 in Mount Airy Plantation, Prince Georges, Maryland, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: 2 Aug 1790, , Prince Georges, Maryland, USA

Notes:

Married:
Anne Arundel Circuit of The Methodist Episcopal Church, Anne Arundel, Maryland.

Colonel married Lucy Carter on 28 Jul 1730 in Corotoman Plantation, Lancaster, Virginia, USA. Lucy (daughter of Robert "King" Carter and Elizabeth Landon) was born on 24 Aug 1715 in Corotoman Plantation, Lancaster, Virginia, USA; died on 10 Feb 1763 in Eagles Nest, Stafford, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Peter married Lucy Bolling in 1733. Lucy (daughter of Robert Bolling, Jr and Anne Cocke) was born on 3 May 1719 in Petersburg, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA; died on 8 Jul 1767 in Chatsworth, Henrico, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Richard married Laetitia Corbin in 1674 in , Westmoreland, Virginia, USA. Laetitia was born on 25 Aug 1657 in Christ Church, Middlesex, Virginia, USA; died on 6 Oct 1706 in Mt Pleasant, Westmoreland, Virginia, USA; was buried in Coles Point, Westmoreland, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Robert King Carter son of John Carter and Sarah Ludlow

Robert King Carter married 1680 Virginia, to Judith Armistead.
From the "ENCYCLOPEDIA of VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY" Under the Editorial Supervision of Lyon Gardiner Tyler, LL. D., VOLUME V, 1915, pages 848-849

The epitaph on his tomb in Christ Church, records his virtues and achievements. Translated from the Latin, it says:
Here lies Robert Carter an honorable man who by noble endowments and pure morals gave luster to his gentle birth. Rector of William and Mary College, he sustained that institution and its most trying times. And he was Speaker of the House of Burgesses and Treasurer under the most serene princes, William, Ann, George I. and George II. Elected by
the House of Burgesses its Speaker six years and Governor of the Colony for more than a year he upheld equally the regal dignity and the public freedom. Possessed of ample wealth, blameless acquired, he built and endowed this sacred edifice, a signal monument of his piety towards God. He furnished it richly. Entertaining his friends kindly, he was neither a prodigal nor a parsimonious host.

His first wife was Judith, daughter of John Armistead, Esq. His second, Betty, a descendant of the noble house of Landon. By these wives he had many children and whose education he expended large sums of money. At length, full of honors and of years, when he had well performed all the duties of an exemplary life he departed from this world on the 4th of August, 1732, in the 69th year of his age.

This man's grandson had Washington himself as neighbor, and Robert E. Lee's mother was the great granddaughter of his grandfather, Robert "King" Carter. "It was 230 years ago that Robert Carter III, the patriarch of one of the wealthiest families in Virginia, quietly walked into a Northumberland County courthouse and delivered an airtight legal document announcing his intention to free, or manumit, more than 500 slaves.

He titled it the "deed of gift." It was, by far, experts say, the largest liberation of Black people before President Abraham Lincoln signed the District of Columbia Emancipation Act and Emancipation Proclamation more than seven decades later.

Ancestor of William Henry Harrison - 9th US President.

Robert Carter was born 4 August 1663 at Corotoman plantation, Lancaster County, Virginia, a son of John Carter and Sarah Ludlow.[3] His father died when Robert was a young boy, in 1669. So his half-brother, Lt. Col. John Carter (15 years older than Robert), took on the parental role.[3] Per their father's specific instructions, Robert was educated well in England. He had a tutor for English and Latin, and lived with Arthur Bailey who was a family friend and merchant.[3]

He married 1) in 1688 at Heese, Lancaster, Virginia to Judith Armistead (died 1699).[4] She died in 1699.
He married 2) in 1701 to Elizabeth (Landon) Willis (marriage contract written April 9, 1701), widow of Richard Willis, and daughter of Thomas Landon.[3]
Robert "King" married in 1688 to Judith Armistead, daughter of John Armistead of "Hesse," Gloucester County. Their children were:[4]

John, born ca 1689, died 1742; mar Elizabeth Hill of Shirley
Elizabeth born 1692; mar Nathaniel Burwell
Judith died in infancy,
Sarah died at age 15
Judith born 1695 (the second named Judith); mar Mann Page[3]
Note: Some sources, including the Foundation for Historic Christ Church, place the birth date of John Carter III at 1696,[4]while others place it at 1689/90.[5][3]

Little is known about the intimate family life of Robert and Judith during these years.[3] Judith died February 23, 1699, and only three of her children survived to adulthood.[5]

Robert's second wife was Elizabeth Landon Willis, (mother of ten of Robert Carter's children) married in 1701:[4]

Anne Carter (1702–1743) married Benjamin Harrison IV; (parents of Benjamin Harrison V and grandparents of President William Henry Harrison).
Robert Carter II (1704–1734) married Priscilla Churchill.
Sarah Carter (~1705–1705)
Betty Carter (~1705–1706)
Charles Carter (1707–1764) married Anne Byrd, daughter of Col. William Byrd II.
Ludlow Carter (born ~1709)
Landon Carter (1710–1778) married Maria Byrd, daughter of Col. William Byrd II.
Mary Carter (1712–1736) married George Braxton; (parents of Carter Braxton).
Lucy Carter (1715–1763) married Henry Fitzhugh
George Carter (1718–1742)[3]

The first actual land grant found on record in the Northern Neck section of Virginia is to Col. Robert "King" Carter, as the agent of Lord Fairfax and to his sons and grandsons. As the agent of Lord Fairfax, the Proprietor of the Northern Neck of VA, Col. Carter handled vast bodies of land and by his will left over 300,000 acres of land to his children.[6]
Robert was known as "King" Carter due to his immense wealth. He had a remarkable reputation as a Colonial Official and an agent for Lord Fairfax, V. At the age of 28, Robert entered the Assembly as a Burgess from Lancaster County, serving five consecutive years. In 1726 he served as acting governor of Virginia after the death of Governor Drysdale. He served two terms as agent for the Fairfax proprietary of the Northern Neck of Virginia, the first being, 1702-1711, and the second term, 1722-32. During his first term, he began to acquire large tracts of land for himself in the Rappahannock region of Virginia. After acquiring some 20,000 acres for himself, he was succeeded by Edmund Jennings. When he became representative of Fairfax's interests again in 1722, he succeeded in securing for his children and grandchildren some 110,000 acres in the Northern Neck. He also had additional acquisitions beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. Robert's gifted and productive life centered around the original Christ Church, a smaller wooden structure. His parents were buried within the chancel of the church. A historic marker outside of the Church reads: "Christ Church was built in 1732, on the site of an older Church by Robert ("King") Carter, who reserved one quarter of it for seating his tenants and servants. It is one of the very few colonial churches in America that have never been altered, a typical early eighteenth-century structure.[7]

Robert owned many slaves. An inventory of his slaves, apparently made as part of the inventory of his estate, was taken in 1733.[8] There are 345 slaves listed with names like: Old Crabb, Old Gumby, and Old Fortune a Woman past Labour.[8]

Robert left quite a list of property, including the slaves above-mentioned. He held numerous plantations in eight different counties of Virginia:

INVENTORY, [1733] November ?, of the estate of Robert Carter comprising a detailed list of agricultural equipment, blacksmith tools, books, coaches, furniture, glassware, horses and other livestock, milling tools, silverware and utensils, and slaves at Carter's estates in
Caroline (Pewmond's End),
King George (Falls and Richland quarters),
Lancaster (Brick House Quarter, Changilins Quarter, Corotoman, Corotoman Quarter, Gibson's Plantation, Great Mill, Hills Quarter, Indian Town Quarter, Little Mill, Morattico Quarter, Office Quarter, Old House Quarter, Poplar Neck Quarter, and Wolf House Quarter),
Northumberland County (Blough Point Quarter, Feilding's Plantation, Jones's Plantation, and Old Plantation),
Prince William (Bull Run, Frying Pan Quarter, Lodge Quarter, Range Quarter, and Red Oak Quarter,),
Richmond (Brick House Quarter, Bridge Quarter, Dickinson's Mill, Fork Quarter, Thomas Glascock's, Gumfield's Quarter, Hickory Thickett, Hinson's Quarter, Old Quarter, and Totuskey Quarter),
Spotsylvania (Mount Quarter and Norman's Ford), Stafford (Hamstead Quarter, Hinson's Quarter, Park Quarter, and Poplar Quarter), and
Westmoreland (Brent's Quarter, Coles Point, Dick's Quarter, Forrest Quarter, Head of the River, Medcalf's Plantation, Moon's Plantation, The Narrows, Old Ordinary, and Pantico Quarter), counties, Virginia[9]

Robert Carter died 4 Aug 1732 at Corotoman, Lancaster, Virginia and was buried at Christ Church.[4] "(see tombstone inscription and pictures). At his death in 1732, his obituary in Gentleman's Magazine described his estate to be "about 300,000 acres of land, about 1000 Negroes, 10,000 pounds in money." The tombstones of Robert and his two wives were placed at the east end of the old Christ Church.
The tombstones have been replaced by the church, and the inscription on his tombstone (taken from the original):

"Here lies buried Robert Carter, Esq., an honourable man, who by noble endowments and pure morals gave lustre to his gentle birth. Rector of William and Mary, he sustained that institution in its most trying times. He was Speaker of the House of Burgesses, and Treasurer under the most serene Princes William, Anne George I and II. Elected by the House its Speaker six years, and Governor of the Colony for more than a year, he upheld equally the regal dignity and the public freedom. Possessed of ample wealth, blamelessly acquired, he built and endowed, at his own expense, this sacred edifice - a signal monument of his piety toward God. He furnished it richly. Entertaining his friends kindly, he was neither a prodigal nor a parsimonious host. His first wife was Judith, daughter of John Armistead, Esq.; his second Betty, a descendant of the noble family of Landons. By these wives he had many children, on whose education he expended large sums of money. At length, full of honours and of years, when he had performed all the duties of an exemplary life, he departed from this world on the 4th day of August, in the 69th year of his age. The unhappy lament their lost comforter, the widows their lost protector, and the orphans their lost father."

Robert married Judith Armistead in 1678 in Hesse, Mathews, Virginia, USA. Judith (daughter of Lt Colonel John Armistead and Judith Bowles Hone Robinson) was born on 23 Feb 1665 in Hesse, Gloucester, Virginia, USA; died on 23 Feb 1699 in Corotoman Plantation, Lancaster, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

John Custis (August 1678–after 14 November 1749) was a member of the Governor's Council in the British colony of Virginia. Often he is designated as John Custis IV or John Custis, of Williamsburg, to distinguish him from his grandfather, father, and other relatives of the same name. The son of John Custis (ca. 1654–1714) (usually designated John Custis III or John Custis, of Wilsonia), who was also a Council member, and Margaret Michael Custis, Custis was born in Northampton County, Virginia. On 4 May 1706 he married Frances Parke, the elder daughter and heiress of Daniel Parke, governor of the Leeward Islands.

Custis had moved to Williamsburg, Virginia by 1717. There he created a magnificent 4-acre (16,000 m2) garden and corresponded with many celebrated horticulturists and naturalists, including John Bartram, Mark Catesby, and Peter Collinson. Custis served on the governor's Council from 1727 until increasingly ill health forced him to request to be suspended in August 1749. In 1744, John Custis took the extraordinary step of petitioning the Governor and Council to set a slave child free. The petition stated the boy was "Christened John but commonly called Jack, born of the body of his Negro wench, Alice."[1]

He died soon after completing his will on 14 November 1749. At his request, he was buried on the Eastern Shore of Virginia at the Arlington plantation. In his will Custis instructed his son, on pain of being cut off with only one shilling, to place on his marble tomb the wording that Custis had "Yet lived but Seven years which was the Space of time he kept a Batchelors [sic] House at Arlington on the Eastern Shoar [sic] of Virginia. This Inscription put on this Stone by his own positive Orders."

His only surviving son, Daniel Parke Custis, was the first husband of Martha Washington.

References

Will in Prerogative Court of Canterbury Registered Wills, Searle 287, Principal Probate Registry, London, England.
Kneebone, John T., et al., eds. Dictionary of Virginia Biography (Richmond: Library of Virginia, 1998- ), 3:636-639. ISBN 0-88490-206-4.
Zuppan, Jo. "John Custis of Williamsburg, 1678-1749," Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 90 (1982): 177-197.
Custis, John (2005) Zuppan, Josephine Little ed. The letterbook of John Custis IV of Williamsburg, 1717-1742 Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. ISBN 094561280X, 9780945612803 http://books.google.com/books?id=EkKUjMmxVS0C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false
^ Wiencek, Henry (2004). 'An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America', p. 73. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 0374529515

"John Custis’s marriage was famously miserable."
In an apocryphal story, he once drove a carriage bearing him and his wife Frances Parke right into the Chesapeake Bay. The following exchange is said to have taken place:

“Where are you going, Mr. Custis?” Frances asked, with the water swirling around them.

“To hell, madam.” Came the reply.

“Drive on,” said Frances, “any place is better than Arlington.”

Source: Wiencek, Henry. An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America. Farrar, New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003, pg. 72.

John married Frances Custis. Frances was born in 1687 in Williamsburg, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA; died on 14 Mar 1714 in Williamsburg, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA; was buried in Williamsburg, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Frances Orlando Jones. Frances was born on 6 Aug 1710 in St Peters Parish, New Kent, Virginia, USA; died on 9 Apr 1785 in New Kent, New Kent, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Lord married Petronilla Melusina Von Der Schulenberg, Countess of Walsingham. Petronilla was born on 13 Apr 1693 in Ramstedt, Schleswig Holstein, Germany; died on 16 Sep 1778 in Isleworth, London Borough of Hounslow, Greater London, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Petronilla Melusine von der Schulenburg, Countess of Walsingham (1 April 1693 – 16 September 1778) was the natural daughter of King George I of Great Britain and his longtime mistress, Melusine von der Schulenburg, Duchess of Kendal.

In 1722, Melusina was created Baroness Aldborough and Countess of Walsingham as a life peer.

In Isleworth, Middlesex, on 5 September 1733 she married Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, a leading Whig politician.

The couple had no children, but it is possible that she may have been the mother, through an intimacy with Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, of Benedict Swingate Calvert. Calvert was born in England in around 1730-32, the illegitimate son of Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore. His mother's identity is not completely clear but some sources suggest that she was Melusina von der Schulenburg.

William married Ann Mary Lee in 1705 in Machodoc, Westmoreland, Virginia, USA. Ann (daughter of Colonel Richard Henry Lee, II and Laetitia Corbin) was born on 5 Jan 1683 in Mt Pleasant, Westmoreland, Virginia, USA; died on 12 Jan 1732 in Eagles Nest, King George, Virginia, USA; was buried in , King George, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Anne McCarty

Notes:

Robert King Carter son of John Carter and Sarah Ludlow

Robert King Carter married 1680 Virginia, to Judith Armistead.
From the "ENCYCLOPEDIA of VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY" Under the Editorial Supervision of Lyon Gardiner Tyler, LL. D., VOLUME V, 1915, pages 848-849

The epitaph on his tomb in Christ Church, records his virtues and achievements. Translated from the Latin, it says:
Here lies Robert Carter an honorable man who by noble endowments and pure morals gave luster to his gentle birth. Rector of William and Mary College, he sustained that institution and its most trying times. And he was Speaker of the House of Burgesses and Treasurer under the most serene princes, William, Ann, George I. and George II. Elected by
the House of Burgesses its Speaker six years and Governor of the Colony for more than a year he upheld equally the regal dignity and the public freedom. Possessed of ample wealth, blameless acquired, he built and endowed this sacred edifice, a signal monument of his piety towards God. He furnished it richly. Entertaining his friends kindly, he was neither a prodigal nor a parsimonious host.

His first wife was Judith, daughter of John Armistead, Esq. His second, Betty, a descendant of the noble house of Landon. By these wives he had many children and whose education he expended large sums of money. At length, full of honors and of years, when he had well performed all the duties of an exemplary life he departed from this world on the 4th of August, 1732, in the 69th year of his age.

This man's grandson had Washington himself as neighbor, and Robert E. Lee's mother was the great granddaughter of his grandfather, Robert "King" Carter. "It was 230 years ago that Robert Carter III, the patriarch of one of the wealthiest families in Virginia, quietly walked into a Northumberland County courthouse and delivered an airtight legal document announcing his intention to free, or manumit, more than 500 slaves.

He titled it the "deed of gift." It was, by far, experts say, the largest liberation of Black people before President Abraham Lincoln signed the District of Columbia Emancipation Act and Emancipation Proclamation more than seven decades later.

Ancestor of William Henry Harrison - 9th US President.

Robert Carter was born 4 August 1663 at Corotoman plantation, Lancaster County, Virginia, a son of John Carter and Sarah Ludlow.[3] His father died when Robert was a young boy, in 1669. So his half-brother, Lt. Col. John Carter (15 years older than Robert), took on the parental role.[3] Per their father's specific instructions, Robert was educated well in England. He had a tutor for English and Latin, and lived with Arthur Bailey who was a family friend and merchant.[3]

He married 1) in 1688 at Heese, Lancaster, Virginia to Judith Armistead (died 1699).[4] She died in 1699.
He married 2) in 1701 to Elizabeth (Landon) Willis (marriage contract written April 9, 1701), widow of Richard Willis, and daughter of Thomas Landon.[3]
Robert "King" married in 1688 to Judith Armistead, daughter of John Armistead of "Hesse," Gloucester County. Their children were:[4]

John, born ca 1689, died 1742; mar Elizabeth Hill of Shirley
Elizabeth born 1692; mar Nathaniel Burwell
Judith died in infancy,
Sarah died at age 15
Judith born 1695 (the second named Judith); mar Mann Page[3]
Note: Some sources, including the Foundation for Historic Christ Church, place the birth date of John Carter III at 1696,[4]while others place it at 1689/90.[5][3]

Little is known about the intimate family life of Robert and Judith during these years.[3] Judith died February 23, 1699, and only three of her children survived to adulthood.[5]

Robert's second wife was Elizabeth Landon Willis, (mother of ten of Robert Carter's children) married in 1701:[4]

Anne Carter (1702–1743) married Benjamin Harrison IV; (parents of Benjamin Harrison V and grandparents of President William Henry Harrison).
Robert Carter II (1704–1734) married Priscilla Churchill.
Sarah Carter (~1705–1705)
Betty Carter (~1705–1706)
Charles Carter (1707–1764) married Anne Byrd, daughter of Col. William Byrd II.
Ludlow Carter (born ~1709)
Landon Carter (1710–1778) married Maria Byrd, daughter of Col. William Byrd II.
Mary Carter (1712–1736) married George Braxton; (parents of Carter Braxton).
Lucy Carter (1715–1763) married Henry Fitzhugh
George Carter (1718–1742)[3]

The first actual land grant found on record in the Northern Neck section of Virginia is to Col. Robert "King" Carter, as the agent of Lord Fairfax and to his sons and grandsons. As the agent of Lord Fairfax, the Proprietor of the Northern Neck of VA, Col. Carter handled vast bodies of land and by his will left over 300,000 acres of land to his children.[6]
Robert was known as "King" Carter due to his immense wealth. He had a remarkable reputation as a Colonial Official and an agent for Lord Fairfax, V. At the age of 28, Robert entered the Assembly as a Burgess from Lancaster County, serving five consecutive years. In 1726 he served as acting governor of Virginia after the death of Governor Drysdale. He served two terms as agent for the Fairfax proprietary of the Northern Neck of Virginia, the first being, 1702-1711, and the second term, 1722-32. During his first term, he began to acquire large tracts of land for himself in the Rappahannock region of Virginia. After acquiring some 20,000 acres for himself, he was succeeded by Edmund Jennings. When he became representative of Fairfax's interests again in 1722, he succeeded in securing for his children and grandchildren some 110,000 acres in the Northern Neck. He also had additional acquisitions beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. Robert's gifted and productive life centered around the original Christ Church, a smaller wooden structure. His parents were buried within the chancel of the church. A historic marker outside of the Church reads: "Christ Church was built in 1732, on the site of an older Church by Robert ("King") Carter, who reserved one quarter of it for seating his tenants and servants. It is one of the very few colonial churches in America that have never been altered, a typical early eighteenth-century structure.[7]

Robert owned many slaves. An inventory of his slaves, apparently made as part of the inventory of his estate, was taken in 1733.[8] There are 345 slaves listed with names like: Old Crabb, Old Gumby, and Old Fortune a Woman past Labour.[8]

Robert left quite a list of property, including the slaves above-mentioned. He held numerous plantations in eight different counties of Virginia:

INVENTORY, [1733] November ?, of the estate of Robert Carter comprising a detailed list of agricultural equipment, blacksmith tools, books, coaches, furniture, glassware, horses and other livestock, milling tools, silverware and utensils, and slaves at Carter's estates in
Caroline (Pewmond's End),
King George (Falls and Richland quarters),
Lancaster (Brick House Quarter, Changilins Quarter, Corotoman, Corotoman Quarter, Gibson's Plantation, Great Mill, Hills Quarter, Indian Town Quarter, Little Mill, Morattico Quarter, Office Quarter, Old House Quarter, Poplar Neck Quarter, and Wolf House Quarter),
Northumberland County (Blough Point Quarter, Feilding's Plantation, Jones's Plantation, and Old Plantation),
Prince William (Bull Run, Frying Pan Quarter, Lodge Quarter, Range Quarter, and Red Oak Quarter,),
Richmond (Brick House Quarter, Bridge Quarter, Dickinson's Mill, Fork Quarter, Thomas Glascock's, Gumfield's Quarter, Hickory Thickett, Hinson's Quarter, Old Quarter, and Totuskey Quarter),
Spotsylvania (Mount Quarter and Norman's Ford), Stafford (Hamstead Quarter, Hinson's Quarter, Park Quarter, and Poplar Quarter), and
Westmoreland (Brent's Quarter, Coles Point, Dick's Quarter, Forrest Quarter, Head of the River, Medcalf's Plantation, Moon's Plantation, The Narrows, Old Ordinary, and Pantico Quarter), counties, Virginia[9]

Robert Carter died 4 Aug 1732 at Corotoman, Lancaster, Virginia and was buried at Christ Church.[4] "(see tombstone inscription and pictures). At his death in 1732, his obituary in Gentleman's Magazine described his estate to be "about 300,000 acres of land, about 1000 Negroes, 10,000 pounds in money." The tombstones of Robert and his two wives were placed at the east end of the old Christ Church.
The tombstones have been replaced by the church, and the inscription on his tombstone (taken from the original):

"Here lies buried Robert Carter, Esq., an honourable man, who by noble endowments and pure morals gave lustre to his gentle birth. Rector of William and Mary, he sustained that institution in its most trying times. He was Speaker of the House of Burgesses, and Treasurer under the most serene Princes William, Anne George I and II. Elected by the House its Speaker six years, and Governor of the Colony for more than a year, he upheld equally the regal dignity and the public freedom. Possessed of ample wealth, blamelessly acquired, he built and endowed, at his own expense, this sacred edifice - a signal monument of his piety toward God. He furnished it richly. Entertaining his friends kindly, he was neither a prodigal nor a parsimonious host. His first wife was Judith, daughter of John Armistead, Esq.; his second Betty, a descendant of the noble family of Landons. By these wives he had many children, on whose education he expended large sums of money. At length, full of honours and of years, when he had performed all the duties of an exemplary life, he departed from this world on the 4th day of August, in the 69th year of his age. The unhappy lament their lost comforter, the widows their lost protector, and the orphans their lost father."

Robert married Elizabeth Landon on 9 Apr 1701 in , , Virginia, USA. Elizabeth was born in 1683 in Credenhill, Hereford, England; died on 3 Jul 1719 in Williamsburg, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

William married Elizabeth Peyton Beverley Randolph on 22 Jun 1705 in , Henrico, Virginia, USA. Elizabeth was born on 1 Jan 1691 in Gloucester, Gloucester, Virginia, USA; died on 26 Dec 1723 in , Henrico, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]