A Guide to the Custis-Lee-Mason Family Papers, 1756-1863 Custis-Lee-Mason Family Papers, 1756-1863 20975

A Guide to the Custis-Lee-Mason Family Papers, 1756-1863

A Collection in
the Library of Virginia
Accession Number 20975


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© 2004 By the Library of Virginia. All rights reserved.

Processed by: Trenton Hizer

Repository
Library of Virginia
Accession number
20975
Title
Custis-Lee-Mason Family Papers, 1756-1863
Physical Characteristics
.1 cubic feet
Language
English

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Custis-Lee-Mason Family. Papers, 1756-1863. Accession 20975, Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Douglas Southall Freeman, Richmond, Virginia, 16 May 1935.

Biographical Information

Mary Lee Fitzhugh Custis was born 22 April 1788 to William Fitzhugh (1741-1809) and Ann Randolph Fitzhugh (1747-1805). She married George Washington Parke Custis (1781-1857) in 1806, and they were the parents of Mary Randolph Custis (1808-1873) who married Robert E. Lee (1807-1870). Mary Fitzhugh Custis died 23 April 1853 at Arlington in Alexandria County, Virginia, and was buried there. George Washington Parke Custis was the son of John Parke Custis (1755-1781), and the grandson of Daniel Parke Custis (1711-1757) and Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (1731-1802).

Mary Randolph Custis Lee was born 1 October 1808 at Annedale, Clarke County, Virginia to George Washington Parke Custis (1781-1857), the grandson of Martha Washington, and Mary Lee Fitzhugh (1788-1853). She married Robert E. Lee (1807-1870) at Arlington House 30 June 1831, where they lived off and on for many years before the Civil War began. Mary Custis Lee died 5 November 1873 in Lexington, Virginia. She was buried in the Lee Chapel at Washington and Lee University, Lexington. The Lees had seven children including George Washington Custis Lee (1832-1913).

James Murray Mason was born 3 November 1798 in Georgetown, District of Columbia, to John Mason and Anna Maria Murray. Educated at schools in Georgetown, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1818. Mason studied law at the College of William and Mary, then moved to Winchester, Virginia, in 1820 to practice law. Mason served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1826 to 1831, except for 1827-1828. Elected to Congress, he served from 1837 to 1839. The Virginia state senate sent Mason to the United States Senate in 1847, and he became chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations and Finance Committees. When the Civil War began, Mason left the Senate and offered his services to the Confederate States of America. He was appointed the Confederate diplomatic commissioner to Great Britain. Taken from the British ship Trent, Mason spent a brief time in U.S. custody before being released. He went to Great Britain to carry out his duties. After the Civil War, Mason moved to Canada where he stayed before returning to Virginia in 1868. Mason died near Alexandria, Virginia, 28 April 1871, and was buried at Christ Episcopal Church. He married Elizabeth Margaretta Chew (1798-1874) 25 July 1822, and they had eight children.

Scope and Content

Papers, 1756-1863, of the Custis, Lee, and Mason families of Virginia, consisting of correspondence to and from members of these families. Collection is divided into three series: Series I: Custis Family Papers, 1756-1844. Series II: Lee Family Correspondence, 1832-1863. Series III: Mason Family Papers, 1822-1846.

Custis family correspondence, 1756-1844, contain mainly correspondence to Mary Lee Fitzhugh Custis (1788-1853) of Alexandria County, District of Columbia and Virginia. Letters deal mainly with social, family, and personal news of her correspondents, who include her daughter Mary Custis Lee (1808-1873), Robert Randolph, Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis, T. James, Anna Maria Fitzhugh, S. E. Goldsboro, M. Meade, Lucy Jane Randolph, Rosalie Eugenia Stuart Webster, and William W. Meade. Many of the letters from Mary Custis Lee portray life as the wife of a military officer in the United States army during the 19th century. Of particular interest are: a) a letter, 27 May 1756, from Daniel Parke Custis of New Kent County, Virginia, to Robert Cary and Company, merchants of London, England, concerning his tobacco crop; b) a letter, n.d., from Mary Fitzhugh Lee Custis at Old Point Comfort, Virginia, to her husband George Washington Parke Custis, at Arlington, in Alexandria County, District of Columbia, concerning the status of one of their slaves; and c) a letter, n.d., from William W. Meade to Mary Lee Fitzhugh Custis concerning a contribution to the American Colonization Society.

Lee family correspondence, 1832-1863, containly mainly correspondence to Mary Randolph Custis Lee (1808-1873) of Alexandria County, District of Columbia and Virginia, containing social, family, and personal news of her correspondents, who include: A. T. Hale, Mary B. Carter, Henrietta Dimmock, Julia C. Stuart, M. F. Powell, Robert E. Lee, Lloyd N. Rogers, Anna Maria Fitzhugh, S. E. Goldsboro, E. C. Huger, Mary C. Goldsboro, and George Washington Parke Custis. There are three letters, one from Mary Lee Fitzhugh Custis and two from Mary Randolph Custis Lee, to George Washington Custis Lee while he was a cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Letter, 12 July 1837, from Robert E. Lee (1807-1870) to his wife Mary Randolph Custis Lee describes an exhibit on George Washington at a Baltimore museum, for which her father George Washington Parke Custis had lent items. Also included letter, 1 March 1863, from T. G. B. to Mary describing a family's life during the Civil War.

Mason family correspondence, 1822-1846, containing mainly correspondence to James Murray Mason (1798-1871) concerning the estate of his father-in-law, Benjamin Chew (d. 1844), including the dispute surrounding ownership of the Chew home, "Cliveden," Germantown, Pennsylvania, and other legal matters involving the estate of Chew, for whom Mason was an administrator. Also includes letters concerning Elizabeth Chew (1798-1874), Mason's future wife; one, 6 March [1819], possibly from Elizabeth's sister Anne Chew regarding Elizabeth's health and her relationship with Mason; and one, 9 July 1822, from Elizabeth's father Benjamin Chew to Mason regarding Mason's upcoming marriage to Elizabeth. Also includes the answer, n.d., of Benjamin Grayson, John W. Grayson, and George M. Grayson to a bill in chancery in the Superior Court of Chancery, Winchester District, and addressed to the honorable Henry St. George Tucker (1780-1848).

Arrangement

Collection is organized into three series. Series I: Custis Family Correspondence, 1756-1844. Series II: Lee Family Correspondence, 1832-1863. Series III: Mason Family Papers, 1822-1846

Arranged chronologically in each series.

Contents List

Folder 1
Custis Family Correspondence, 1756-1844, n.d.
Folder 2
Lee Family Correspondence, 1832-1863.
Folder 3
Mason Family Correspondence, 1822-1846.