Olive Sprouts

Natalie --------, Government Homework due 8/22/2003

The Life of Francis Lightfoot Lee
The Lee family and Virginia are inescapably intertwined and woven into the American fabric. The first Lee to sail across the Atlantic to a wild new land was Richard Lee, who became secretary of the colony under the royal governor, and later became acting governor. His great grandson was Francis Lightfoot Lee, signer of the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation. Richard Lee’s great-great-grandson Robert E. Lee was descended from Francis Lightfoot Lee’s uncle. Some have claimed to trace the Lee family back to Robert the Bruce.

Francis Lightfoot Lee was born October 14th, 1734 in the same room Richard Henry Lee, Sydney Smith Lee (a famous member of our fledgling navy), and Robert E Lee had been or would be born in. His parents were Thomas and Hannah Lee. Young Francis was called Frank as a child, and unlike his older brothers, who were sent to private schools in England, he was taught at home by a tutor, who imparted a love of reading to his charge. Depending on which source you believe, he was the fourth son, the youngest of eight, or the fifth of eight, and wedded Miss Rebecca Tayloe, a Williamsburg belle, in either 1772 or 1769. His mother died when he was twenty one, and his father died the year after.

In December 1757, he was appointed "First Justice" of the initial 13-man county court, and was in charge of the Loudoun militia as county lieutenant. His first political office was in 1765, serving as a member of the house of burgesses of Loudon County. He strongly opposed the Stamp Act. He was reelected annually, but soon after his marriage he moved to Richmond County, VA. In 1773 we are told that he helped to organize Virginia's Committee of Correspondence. In 1775 he was sent to Congress. Apparently in Congress he was quiet, yet impressed companions with his vote and private conversations.

It is said that in Congress Francis Lightfoot voted for freedom without fear, saying, “Let us, my dear friend, do the best we can for the good of our country, and leave the event to fate.” No doubt it was with that attitude he signed the Declaration of Independence, scorning the personal risk that was connected to national failure. After signing, Francis Lightfoot continued to serve his state in congress until 1779, when he tried to retire. He was then elected to the Virginia legislature, then the senate. Francis Lightfoot participated in the debates over the treaty of peace with Britain, insisting on our rights in Newfoundland fisheries and the Mississippi River. He died on either January 11th or April 3rd, 1797, at the age of 63.

Since the Francis Lightfoot Lee’s had no children, the estate passed after their deaths to a nephew, Ludwell Lee, son of Richard Henry Lee, who also had signed the Declaration of Independence. Francis and Rebecca Lee’s home, Menokin, located in Warsaw, Virginia, a “2-story structure...of stuccoed local stone” is now in ruins but can be seen. The finely-detailed interior wood paneling has been removed and put into storage for protection.