TOWNLEY FAMILY TREE

HUSBAND      Major  General  Henry (Lighthorse  Harry)  LEE
Born                  19 Jan 1756                in     Dumfries;  Prince William;  VA   
Married             18 Jun 1793               in     Stratford Hall;  Westmoreland;  VA
Died                  25 Mar 1818              in     Cumberland Island;  Camden;  GA
Burial                
Father               Henry  LEE
Mother             Lucy  Ludwell  GRYMES

WIFE               Ann  Hill  CARTER
Born                Oct 1773                      in     Shirley Plantation;  James River;  VA
Died                26 Jul  1829                 in     Ravensworth Plantation;  Fairfax;  VA
Burial               
Father             
Mother            

CHILDREN
1  Male             Algeron  Sidney  LEE
Born                 1795                          in     VA
Married                                              in     
Died                 1796                          in     VA
Burial        
Spouse          

2  Male           Charles  Carter  LEE
Born                1798                           in     VA
Married                                               in     
Died                                                     in     
Burial        
Spouse           

3  Female       Anne  Kinloch  LEE
Born                1800                          in     VA
Married                                               in     
Died                                                    in     
Burial        
Spouse           

4  Male            Sidney  Smith  LEE
Born                 1802                          in     VA
Married                                                in     
Died                                                     in     
Burial        
Spouse          

5  Male            General  Robert  Edward  LEE
Born                19 Jan 1807                in     Stratford Hall;  Westmoreland;  VA
Married                                                in     
Died                12 Oct 1870               in     Lexington;  Albemarle;  VA
Burial               Lee Chapel Museum  -  Lexington;  Albemarle;  VA
Spouse           Mary  Ann  CUSTIS

6  Female       Catherine  Mildred  LEE
Born                 27 Feb 1811                  in     
Married            1831                              in     
Died                 1856                             in     Paris;  France
Burial        
Spouse           Edward  Vernon  CHILDE

NOTES     
Henry Lee was born near Dumfries, Virginia on the 29th of Jan 1756.  The home was a plantation with over 200 slaves later called Stratford Hall Plantation.  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. With a view to a legal career, he graduated (1773) from The College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), but, soon afterwards, on the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, he became a general in the revolutionary forces.  In 1776, he was promoted to captain of a Virginia dragoon detachment, which was attached to the 1st Continental Light Dragoons; and, in 1778, he was promoted to major and given the command of a small irregular corps, with which he won a great reputation as a leader of light troops.  From the start Lee drew attention for his coolness and for a certain dash that set him apart as an officer. He took noticeable trouble to care for his men and horses, spending a good deal of his personal wealth outfitting his troops.  Lee used his men as special forces, scouting, harassing the enemy, and conducting some critical foraging for the bleak winter encampments at Morristown and Valley Forge.  The small horse corps was so agile that Lee gained the nickname "Light-Horse Harry".  His greatest exploit was the brilliant surprise at the Battle of Paulus Hook in New Jersey, on August 19, 1779; for this feat he received a gold medal, a reward given to no other officer below a general's rank in the entire war.  He was promoted to lieutenant colonel with a picked corps of dragoons (Lee's Legion) to the southern theater of war.  Here he rendered invaluable services in victory and defeat, notably at Guilford Court House, Camden and Eutaw Springs.  He was present at Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown, and afterwards left the army owing to ill health.  During the infamous Whiskey Rebellion, Lee commanded the 13,000 militiamen sent to quash the rebels.  However, this command existed more on paper than in actuality, as President George Washington and Alexander Hamilton, military men both, accompanied him.

He married his second-cousin, Matilda Ludwell Lee (1766–1790), who was known as "The Divine Matilda".  Matilda was the daughter of Hon. Philip Ludwell Lee, Sr., Esq.  Matilda's mother later married Philip Richard Fendall I, Esq. (1734–1805).  Philip would eventually marry three wives, all Lee women.  Thus, he was a cousin, brother-in-law, and stepfather-in-law to Light Horse Harry Lee.

On 13 June 1793, Henry Lee married the wealthy Anne Hill Carter (17 years his junior) at Shirley Plantation.  They had six children, one of whom died in infancy in 1796.  Their fifth child, Robert Edward Lee would later gain fame as a Confederate general during the American Civil War.

Unfortunately for Lee and his family, he invested large sums in numerous, highly speculative schemes, including partnerships with Aaron Burr and merchant Robert Morris.  Although financial speculation was not rare among the Founding Fathers, Lee's handling of his personal finances was notably incompetent, and subjected his family to financial hardship.  In 1810, to meet the demands of his creditors and be released from debtor’s prison, Lee was forced to sell all of his possessions.  In 1785, he presented George Washington with twelve horse chestnut saplings as a token of friendship.  Washington later gave two of these to his friend and aide, General Robert Brown.  Washington planted his ten saplings on his estate at Mt. Vernon.  Brown planted his two at his home in Bath, Pennsylvania, near East Allen Township; the sole surviving tree managed to last 136 years until lightning damaged it beyond repair in 1921.  In 1928, 876 of its seeds were distributed to all of the 48 state universities at the time and various nations around the world.  This symbol of outward friendship led to the recognition of Brown's Horse-chestnut as America's Friendship Tree.

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 in 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 wrote the famous phrase used by John Marshall in the address to Congress on the death of George Washington—"first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.".

On 27 July 1812, in Baltimore, while helping to resist the attack of a Democratic-Republican mob on his friend, Alexander Contee Hanson, editor of the Baltimore Federal Republican, which had opposed the War of 1812, Lee received grave injuries from which he never recovered.