Richard Lee I, the Emigrant: Founder of the Lees of Virginia
About this episode
The episode explores the life and legacy of Richard Lee I, the founder of the Lee Family of Virginia, detailing his rise to prominence and impact on American history.
This is the story of the dynast who founded the Lee Family of Virginia: Richard Lee I, also known as Richard Lee the Emigrant. In it we tell the story of his rise in Virginia, from his start as a Clerk of the Quarter Court and Indian trader to his time as great landed proprietor and Secretary of State of Virginia. We discuss his marriage to Anne Constable, how he accumulated landed wealth on a massive scale, and how he survived the Commonwealth and the Restoration. It's an exciting tale of frontier adventure, family triumph, and a great man whose bravery shaped America more than perhaps any other, through his descendants. 0:00 Arrival in Jamestown 3:23 The Lee Family: Cavaliers, Merchants, or Both? 8:13 Richard Lee Becomes a Merchant, and Heads to Virginia 11:53 How Richard Lee Got Ahead: Governor Francis Wyatt 15:31 Richard Marries Anne Constable 17:51 Lee Becomes a Leader of Virginia 25:33 Tobacco, Trade, and Indentures: How Richard Lee Built the Lee Family Fortune, Despite Indian Attacks 35:27 Richard Lee's Royal Mission to Breda 40:16 How Lee the Cavalier Survived the Commonwealth and Quietly Built a Fortune 45:00 The Stuart Restoration, and Lee Returns to Virginia 48:36 How…
More episodes of The Old World with Will Tanner
- The Merchant Diplomat: William Lee's Secret Dutch Treaty and the Victory at Yorktown
- Arthur Lee: The Forgotten Founder, Spy, and Diplomat Who Armed the Revolution
- The Virginia Gentry: America's Only Aristocracy and What We can Learn from Them
- The Conway Cabal: Did Richard Henry Lee Betray George Washington?
- The First and Forgotten Founding Father: Richard Henry Lee's Creation of America
- Founding Brothers: How One Generation of Lees Won the Revolution and Built America
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