Richard Lee I, the Emigrant: Founder of the Lees of Virginia

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 Richard Lee I Ensured the Lees Would Become Famous Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Nagel, Paul C.: The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Dynasty, https://amzn.to/4uCI6o9 Hendrick, Burton J.: The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4uCN4BF Lee, Cazenove G. Jr.: Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4vGzbDe Evans, Emory G.: A "Topping People": The Rise and Decline of Virginia's Old Political Elite, 1680-1790, https://amzn.to/4xs9gRt Dowdey, Clifford: The Virginia Dynasties, https://amzn.to/4vlqoqN Dowdey, Clifford: The Golden Age, https://amzn.to/3QbGNi4 Dowdey, Clifford: The Great Plantation, https://amzn.to/4gdOxKR Fischer, David Hackett: Albion's Seed,  https://amzn.to/4gayayG Wright, Louis B.: The First Gentlemen of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ekuR5z  Image credits: Coton Hall north of Birdsgreen in Shropshire by Roger  D Kidd, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Glasshouse using elements by Sodacan, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons