Richard Lee I (1618 – 1 March 1664) (later nicknamed "The Immigrant") was the first member of the Lee family to live in America (although he also considered himself an English gentleman). Poor when he arrived in Virginia in 1639 on a ship with the colony's newly reappointed governor and the woman who became his future wife, by the time of his death, Lee may have been both the Virginia Colony's wealthiest inhabitant as well as its largest landholder (owning 15,000 acres in Virginia and Maryland). Lee had a varied career, for in addition to several important government and military posts, he became a merchant, planter and politician who served one term in the Virginia House of Burgesses as well as managed to negotiate several major political upheavals—both successfully and to his (and his children's) economic advantage.
Born |
1613
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Died |
1664 (aged 50)
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Zodiac | |
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