Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/296

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290 LEE RICHARD HENRY LEE wool, 753,149 of butter, 56,840 of cheese, and 57,506 tons of hay. There were 12,159 horses, 12,825 milch cows, 19,295 other cattle, 12,239 sheep, and 25.366 swine; 3 manufactories of agricultural implements, 8 of carriages, 2 of cooperage, 2 of dressed flax, 1 of iron castings, 5 of saddlery and harness, 1 of scales and bal- ances, 1 of woollen goods, and 3 flour mills. Capital, Dixon. VIII. The S. E. county of Iowa, bounded N. E. by Skunk river, S. E. by the Mississippi, which separates it from Illinois, and S. W. by the Des Moines, which divides it from Missouri ; area, 476 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 37,210. Coal and limestone are abundant. The surface is diversified by woods and prairies, and the soil is extremely fertile. The Des Moines Valley railroad and the Burlington and Keokuk division of the Chicago and Burling- ton and Quincy pass through it. The chief productions in 1870 were 260,812 bushels of wheat, 96,553 of rye, 1,187,322 of Indian corn, 272,134 of oats, 132,176 of potatoes, 93,039 Ibs. of wool, 451,724 of butter, 110,092 of cheese, and 24,060 tons of hay. There were 8,993 horses, 970 mules and asses, 7,959 milch cows, 12,360 other cattle, 21,446 sheep, and 24,938 swine. There are numerous manufac- turing establishments, chiefly in Keokuk and the county seat, Fort Madison. LEE, a town of Berkshire co., Massachusetts, on the Housatonic river and railroad, 110 m. W. of Boston, and 115 m. N. by E. of New York ; pop. in 1870, 3,866. The town is hand- somely situated, and there are many points of interest in the vicinity. It owes its prosperity chiefly to its extensive paper mills, and it is celebrated for its white marble, which was ex- tensively used in the construction of the capitol at Washington. There are a national bank, 16 public schools, including a high school, a weekly newspaper, and eight churches. The town was settled in 1760. LEE, the name of a family of Virginia, de- scended from an old cavalier family in Eng- land. Richard Lee emigrated to Virginia in the reign of Charles I., bringing with him a numerous household, and settled in the county of Northumberland, between the Rappahan- nock and Potomac rivers, a region known then and now by the name of the " Northern Neck." This gentleman was a devoted adherent of the Stuarts, and, in conjunction with the royal governor Sir William Berkeley, placed the col- ony in that attitude of resistance to Cromwell which caused the protector to send a fleet for its reduction under the commonwealth. The party of Lee and Berkeley displayed such de- termination, however, that the commander of the squadron was compelled to ratify a treaty with the rebellious colony, which was styled an "independent dominion." It is said that Richard Lee soon afterward hired a ship, and visited Charles IT. in Flanders, offering to erect his standard in Virginia if assured of adequate support. The plan was not then carried out, but it has been stated that on the death of Cromwell, Charles II., by the exertions of Lee and Berkeley, was proclaimed in Virginia "king of England, France, Scotland, Ireland, and Virginia," nearly two years before his triumphal entry into London. The king ex- hibited his gratitude for this espousal of his cause, it is also said, by ordering the arms of Virginia to be quartered on those of Great Britain, with the motto : En dat Virginia quartam. Richard, the son of Richard Lee, was a member of the council ; and Thomas, third son of the second Richard, succeeded his father, and became president. He died at the moment when his commission of governor of the colony had just been made out. He mar- ried Hannah, daughter of Col. Philip Ludwell, an associate in the council ; and from this union sprang five sons who rose to distinction, of whom the following are the principal. I. Riehard Henry, an American statesman, born at Stratford, Westmoreland co., Va., Jan. 20, 1732, died at Chantilly in the same county, June 19, 1794. After a course of private tui- tion at Stratford, he was sent to Wakefield academy, Yorkshire, England, where he be- came a proficient in Latin and Greek, and laid the foundation of the extensive knowledge of the classics which afterward added so much to the effect of his oratory. Leaving school at about the age of 18, he made a tour through England, visited London, and returned in his 20th year to Virginia. His father had died . two years before, and the young man found himself in possession of a competent estate. He applied himself with ardor to study in the diverse departments of law, politics, theology, science, history, and belles-lettres. At the age of 23, when Braddock came to Virginia, Lee raised a company of volunteers in West- moreland, was chosen captain, and marched to Alexandria. The general, however, de- clined his services with an ill-concealed ex- pression of contempt for "provincials," and Lee was compelled to march home again. In his 25th year he was appointed a justice of the peace, a class of officers then con- stituting the county courts; and notwith- standing his youth, a number of his brother magistrates petitioned the governor and coun- cil that Mr. Lee's commission might be ante- dated in such a manner as to give him legal precedence, and enable him to act as president of the court. He was soon after chosen a member of the house of burgesses from West- moreland, but did not speak for one or two sessions, when he made a brief and striking but diffident speech strongly opposing the in- stitution of slavery, and advocating the impo- sition of a tax so heavy as to amount to a prohibition of further importations. In 1764 he took an unhappy step, the effects of which clung to him in a measure throughout life, and dimmed the light of his greatest public ser- vices. In a thoughtless moment, and at the instigation of a friend, he wrote to England making application for the post of collector