Thursday 31 March 2011

Me and Cousin Bobby Lee

Once or twice when I was a child, I heard family members say that we were related to Robert E. Lee.  I suppose, when I thought about it, I just took it as a given. Surely, all us southerners were related to Robert E. Lee?

Well, now that I’m a good bit older and a lot more interested in genealogy (especially where it concerns the Civil War) I decided to do a little research and see if it was true.   I began my search by asking my father. He said he believed we were connected to Lee through Col. William Randolph & Mary Isham. This early colonial couple are sometimes known as the ‘Adam and Eve of Virginia’ due to the number of their offspring, and it is through them that many of the old lines of the south are connected. Thanks to the work of those that came before me, I could easily chart my descent from them.
As it turned out, thanks to the power of the internet, it only took about an hour to connect Robert E. Lee to this family as well. When the dust finally cleared and I had charted all the lines, I was able to say that Robert E. Lee is my 3rd Cousin, 7 times removed.
For those that don’t know the system, that means that Robert E. Lee and I are connected through Lee’s Great-Great-Grandfather and my Great (x9)-Grandfather. Or put another way, we are third cousins who are 7 generations removed from one another in time. Okay, it’s not a close relationship, but it is still pretty cool.

As an added bonus, this all means that I am also 2nd Cousin, 8 times removed with Henry Lee III, better known as ‘Light Horse Harry’ Lee. This Revolutionary War hero fought at the battle of Guilford Courthouse in the town where I grew up!

5 comments:

  1. Great stuff! I'm jealous!

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  2. Ha! We're never going to hear the end of this, are we?

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  3. Being related to Lee in any way is pretty impressive

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  4. You know, after I thought about it- I'm loosely related to Ulysses S. Grant.. (My Brother's ex-Wifes' Great-Great-Great Uncle) So I may be obligated to stop following your blog! (Unless I maintain that I am spying on the enemy!)

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  5. We'll, we're not exactly 'brother against brother', but most people during the war didn't mind a little correspondence between the lines.

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