A Guide to the Henry Lee Papers, 1794-1818
A Collection in
the Library of Virginia
Accession Number 22396
Library of Virginia
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© 2006 By The Library of Virginia. All Rights Reserved.
Processed by: Trenton Hizer
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
Collection is open to research.
Use Restrictions
There are no restrictions.
Preferred Citation
Henry Lee Papers, 1794-1813. Accession 22396. Personal Papers Collection. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
Acquisition Information
Purchased 7 May 1945 from Goodspeed's Book Shop, Inc., Boston, Massachusetts.
Biographical Information
Henry Lee was born 29 January 1756 in Prince William County, Virginia to Henry Lee (1729-1787) and Lucy Grymes Lee. Lee graduated from Princeton College in 1773. After graduation, he handled business affairs for his absent father and considered travelling to England to study law. However, with the outbreak of the American Revolution, he entered the military. An excellent leader, he earned the nickname "Lighthorse Harry." After the Revolution, Lee served as a representative to the Continental Congress (1785-1788), Governor of Virginia (1791-1794), member from Westmoreland County in the House of Delegates (1785-1786, 1789-1791, 1795-1799), and as an United States Congressman (1799-1801). He also served in the federal ratifying convention in 1788. Lee proved less adept at business than at war or politics, and descended into debt in the early 1800s. After serving time in prison for debt, Lee left his family to travel to the West Indies to recover his health in 1813 and died upon returning to the United States in 1818. Lee married 1st, Matilda Lee (d. 1790) in April 1782, and they had 2 children. He married 2nd, Ann Hill Carter (1773-1829) 18 June 1793, and they had 6 children, including Robert E. Lee (1807-1870). Henry Lee died 25 March 1818 at Cumberland Island, Georgia, and originally was buried there. He since has been reinterred in the Lee family vault in the Lee Chapel at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia.
Scope and Content
Papers, 1794-1813, of Henry Lee (1756-1818) of Westmoreland and Spotsylvania Counties, Virginia, consisting of deeds, 1796-1809, for property in Montgomery and Patrick Counties, Virginia, to and from Lee; letters, 1808-1813, concerning Lee's ownership of the Montgomery and Patrick Counties land, his transfer of this land to Bernard M. Carter of Fauquier County, Virginia, Lee's debts, and his health; a promissory note, 17 January 1794, from Wilson Cary Nicholas (1761-1820) of Albemarle County, Virginia, to Lee; a plat, 21 July 1794, for property in Montgomery and Henry Counties, Virginia, owned by George Nicholas (1754-1799); and an answer, 1811, of Bernard M. Carter to a bill of complaint against him by William McClurry in the Superior Court of Chancery in the Richmond District.