|
Anglican who converted to Catholicism after his
marriage to a Catholic; in a premarital agree-
ment, he promised his future father-in-law to ed-
ucate his children as Catholics and to allow any
slaves that his wife might bring to the marriage
the freedom of Catholic worship. In his will, Lee
left $1,000 to build a "Roman Catholic Church
in the vicinity of my farm Needwood," and $1,000
to support said church (now St. Mary's Church,
Petersville, Frederick County). SOCIAL STATUS
AND ACTIVITIES: Gent., by 1767; Esq., by 1786.
OCCUPATIONAL PROFILE: officeholder; planter; one
of the directors of the Potomac Company in 1785,
which was formed to open navigation on the Po-
tomac River; land speculator in Georgetown, D.C.,
after his retirement from public office in 1794;
developed an interest during his retirement years
in agriculture and raising livestock, becoming a
judge of sheep and fleece. PUBLIC CAREER. LEG-
ISLATIVE SERVICE Conventions, Prince George's
County, 4th, 1775, 5th, 1775, 9th, 1776 (election
voided on August 15, 1776, because the freemen
of Prince George's County illegally appointed
election judges after the ones officially appointed
failed to act); Lower House, Frederick County,
1787-1788 (elected, but did not attend; resigned
on May 17, 1788); Senate, Western Shore, Term
of 1791-1796: 1794 (elected on November 21,
1794, to fill vacancy; declined to serve on De-
cember 11, 1794). OTHER STATE OFFICES: Exec-
utive Council, 1777 (elected on March 26, 1777,
to fill vacancy), 1777-1778, 1778-1779; gover-
nor, 1779-1782, 1792-1794, 1798 (elected on
November 12, 1798; declined to accept on No-
vember 14, 1798); Maryland Senate elector,
Frederick County, 1786; Constitution Ratifica-
tion Convention, Frederick County, 1788. LOCAL
OFFICES: clerk, Court of Oyer, Terminer, and Gaol
Delivery, Prince George's County, 1766-1772;
clerk, Prince George's County Court, 1767-1776;
chairman of a large public meeting in Frederick
Town on February 14, 1787, which passed reso-
lutions opposing the emission of paper money by
the State of Maryland. MILITARY SERVICE: or-
ganized a local militia unit in Prince George's
County and served as its colonel at the beginning
of the Revolution; continued as colonel of the
Lower Battalion of Militia in Prince George's
County until his election to the governor's Coun-
cil, OUT OF STATE SERVICE: delegate. Continental
Congress, 1782-1783 (elected in November 1782,
but did not attend until March 1783); delegate.
Federal Convention which framed the Constitu-
tion. 1787 (elected, but declined to serve); pres-
|
idential elector on the Federalist ticket of Wash-
ington and Adams, 1792. STANDS ON PUBLIC/
PRIVATE ISSUES: his home in Georgetown, D.C.,
became the gathering place of leaders of the Fed-
eralist Party, 1795; manumitted a female slave
and her children in Frederick County in 1818 so
that she could be with her husband who was a
slave in Washington, D.C.; manumitted 10 more
slaves in his will; contributed to the founding of
Georgetown Academy (later College); directed
in his will that $100.00 be distributed among the
poor of the neighborhood. WEALTH DURING LIFE-
TIME. PERSONAL PROPERTY: assessed Value
£610.0.0, including 29 slaves in Montgomery
County, 1793; assessed value £1,370.0.0, includ-
ing 51 slaves, 2 carpenters, and 174 oz. plate in
Montgomery County and D.C., 1798; assessed
value $6,726.00 in Frederick County, 1815. LAND
AT FIRST ELECTION: 1,835 acres in Prince George's
and Frederick counties, plus a lot in Upper Marl-
boro containing a tobacco inspection house (pur-
chased 395 acres in Prince George's County, which
he probably leased out, and 1,440 acres in Fred-
erick County, called the "Maryland tract"). He
also purchased 2 parcels of land in Upper Marl-
boro which he sold before his election. SIGNIFI-
CANT CHANGES IN LAND BETWEEN FIRST ELEC-
TION AND DEATH, sold the 395 acres in Prince
George's County in 1776, and the lot in Upper
Marlboro in 1779; purchased 2,141 acres in Fred-
erick and Montgomery counties between 1776 and
1799, as well as 70 acres in Montgomery County
jointly with four friends in 1787; acquired 91 acres
in Charles County, date unknown, which he sold
in 1802; his wife Mary inherited 953 acres in Charles
and Prince George's counties, ca. 1785; sold 41
acres in Charles County in 1787; sold his remain-
ing 912 acres in Prince George's County in 1802;
sold at least 1,400 acres of the "Maryland tract"
in individual lots beginning in 1786, but mostly
from 1804 to 1811; by 1798 he had purchased at
least 30 lots in Georgetown, D.C., as a specu-
lative venture, and had doubled that number by
1819. WEALTH AT DEATH. DIED: on October 9, 1819,
at "Needwood," his farm in Middletown Valley,
Frederick County. He was buried at "Melwood
Park" in Prince George's County, but was re-
moved in 1888 to Mt. Carmel Roman Catholic
Cemetery near Upper Marlboro. PERSONAL
PROPERTY. TEV, at least $13,325.79 (including
109 slaves and books); FB, estate overpaid
$1,672.20. LAND: ca. 2,100 acres in Frederick and
Montgomery counties, plus at least 61 lots in
Georgetown, D.C.
530
|
