The Maryland-Indiana Lee Family Branch - Teresa Gallagher

I am descended from the Maryland branch of the Lee family, which traces it's roots back to the immigrant Richard Lee of Virginia (around 1640). The following information comes from my grandmother, Elenor Lee Kubin Clark. I have not tried to verify any of the information.  Please don't ask me for more information - this is all I have! 

Family Tree according to Elenor Lee Kubin Clark

Thomas Lee of Maryland, b. Dec. 1, 1807; d. 1870; on Jan. 11, 1853 married Lydia Tucker, b. Oct. 9, 1826(?) from North Carolina.

Letters from my Grandmother, Elenor Lee Kubin Clark....

"As for the Lee family, the info I have is that Charles Lee (my grandfather) was from an English plantation owner in Virginia, or one of that family, who moved to Maryland and owned a plantation at the time Maryland was opened to non-Catholics (sometime before the revolution). The Maryland Lees were as active in State politics as were the Virginia Lees....

"Thomas Lee -- my gr. grandfather, left Maryland and went to the frontier in Indiana. He was born in 1807 and told his son Charles (my grandfather) about a memory of visiting a Virginia plantation. The mother and children and servants (slaves) traveled for a month's stay. They also entertained at home. Thomas' wife was from New York State and died after having 3 children. Thomas married a young, poorly educated girl from a neighboring farm and moved to Iowa to homestead. There were 6 more children by this marriage and Charles was the second oldest. "

"Richard Henry Lee was born in Virginia in 1732. His son 'Light Horse Harry' Lee was a hero of the Revolutionary War and later was elected to Congress from Virginia and was elected to write and present the eulogy to Washington when the first president died (first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of this countrymen).

"Richard Henry Lee was a delegate from Virginia to the first Continental Congress and was the outspoken protestor against the British monarchy encrouchments on the American colonies. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independance.

"Henry 'Light Horse Harry' was the father of Robert Edward Lee, who was born in 1807, the last child of Henry Lee's second family. Altogether Henry had about a dozen children, by two wives.

"The Maryland Lees belonged to the same Lee family, probably moving from Virginia to Maryland in early colonial days when Maryland was chartered by the King of England and was being settled by Catholics. The nearby state of Virgina had denied the Catholic Lord Baltimore residence, so he had asked for land from the King and started his own colony. The Protestants in Virginia and other colonies quickly started settling in Maryland in order to prevent a Catholic dominated colony from existing, and in 1689 had brought about a revolt, that established Maryland as free from church domination.

"Probably Richard Henry Lee's uncles were the ones who moved to Maryland because the Lee family ties were strong during the Revolutionary period. In one of the history books, an account of the battle of Monmouth states that Washington's army would have sharply defeated the british if it hadn't been for the "treachery of one of his officers, General Charles Lee. Nevertheless the battle had the effect of a victory" since there was no more fighting in the area for a long enough period for Washington to reinforce his supplies. What kind of treachery was not noted or what happened to the general.

"The story that Emma Lee heard from her father Charles was that when Thomas Lee was a child, his family went to a plantation in Virginia where Robert's [Robert E. Lee's] family lived. The families visited each other, usually staying for a month. The parents of Thomas apparently also had a plantation in Maryland."

- Elenor Lee Kubin Clark

On Charles A. Lee (b. 1855):

"The Rev. Charles A. Lee was pastor of the United Brethern Church in Esbon, Kansas, 1896 to 1899. His three youngest children were in grade school during those years -- two older girls were past school age but still with the family. One of the stories that was told to me by my Mother, Emma Lee, concerned her two brothers and herself, Raymond, age 9, and Earl, age 6. the brothers gathered discarded whiskey bottles from the gutters and ditches around town and eight year old Emma cleaned them with water and sand. The boys took the clean bottles and sold them to the saloon for a few pennies each for reuse. The enterprise did not last very long becuse Rev. Lee was stopped on the street by a member of his congregation. "Rev. Lee, I'm sure you are not aware that your three youngest children have been picking up empty whiskey bottles and selling them to the saloon for a few cents, and I'm sure you will want to put a stop to it." Rev. Lee had been noted for his fight against "demon rum" because he had made many efforts to close saloons in towns where he had churches. Saloons at that time were illegal in Kansas. The Attorney General of The State had told him that it was the county's work to keep the saloons closed, and the Sheriffs of the various counties had said it was the job of the State.

"It was also during their stay in Esbon that Emma planted wild flowers around the Parsonage and kept them growing -- the beginning of a life long love affair with gardening."

-Elenor Lee Kubin Clark