Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1885-12-05
THE FAITHFUL STEWARD.

A Strange Tale of Shipwreck and the
Ancestors of Gen. II. Il. Lee.
New Yerk correspondent Of the Phila-
delphia Times writes the following story:
Homer Lee is a tall young man with black
Burnside whiskers and genial face. Per-
sons meeting aim usually express wonder at
dndlHg him so youthful. He came here from
OHIO about fifteen years ago as an engravsr.
bis success has been due to hard work. The
Lee families of the country are all allied
mere or less closely with the Lees of Vir-
gluia. Ao@sr Lee. who has taste for the
accumulation of cid and curious antiquities.
showed me . few days ago a letter written to
him by his uncle, ths result Of which on its
reception by him was to bring to light long
hidden chapter in the history of tho
Lees quote from the letter, which is signed
by Robert Lee. 1t contains a glimpse of the
Confederate leader which is interesting. 81
met Gen. Robert Z. Lee in Philadslphia at
the outbreak Of the Mexican war. de was q
young officer. found him q very pleasant
and intelligent gentleman, who had the gem
ealogy of the Lee family to q marked de-
gree. He said that during some of the wars
revolutions in England portion of the
Lee family left England and settled in
ireland, and that many OF their dascend-
ants, both from England and Ireland,
enigratsd to this country, but all were
descendants Of an original ancestry. His mar
rativs was very interesting, but has nearly
faded from my recollection. He told me Of
the loss of the Faithful Steward, which
also heard from my grandfather. A large
number of tina family engaged passage to
this country on said ship; among the num-
Der was nay grandfather, Thomas Les, with
his family, but when they arrived at port
the ship was 80 crowded they could not Rsb
passage aRd were compelled to wait for the
next ship that sailed for PHILADELPHIA. The
Faithful Steward was = new ship, insured for
mere than its real value. Somewhere in the
bay the captain ran che ship upon a rock and
wrecked her to pieces. The passengers,
alarmed, pleaded with the Captaia to shun
the rock, but ne .wore hs would drive the
ship through or sink her to hell, and such
was tbs terrible result. The Captain, his
officers ana sailors manned their boats, lefs
for shore and left the passengers to perish.
Among tia number lost were forty-eight OK
the Lee family, uncles, aunts and cousins Of
my father, Robert Lee, aud among that
number was one young lady Of wonderful
beauty and accomplishments, called the
Irish beauty. Many of the passengers Sc
cured pieces of she wreck and hoped 70 roach
this shore, bus were carried cut by the tide
and lost
The narrative ia continued in the letter as
follows; Three men (not Of the Lee fAm-
iY) held On to the wreck until the going-in
tide. Then each put two or three guineas in
their mouth and swan TO shore. One OF
these men visited my father when was .
small boy and gave an account of the whole
scene, and how he felt after reaching the
shers in q strange land, without friends and
entirely nude, and there was q general cry
ing scene in the family during the narrative.
A few days after the loss OF the Faithful
Steward the ship which brought grandfather
and family to this country arrived in port.
When they heard of the loss of the Faithful
Steward and heir friends grandfather
arued himself and hunted some days for the
CaptaiR 10 sill hira, which he would have
done bad he fog1d him, for ne was o spirited
ITishnaa, but the Captain had hsd frem ths
country, TIE ship was new and heavily i'm
surel.h
The reception of this letter melted Hemcx
Lee to meke inquiries in England as 20 ths
record of the Faithful Steward. He wrote
to Sir Thomas FsrFsr, who caused an inves-
tigatioa of the Old hooks and documents Of
ths Public Record Office. These three mem-
oraGda were all that could be found in
Lloyd's list, aud are extracts from the dates
named;
April l2, I7s5.-Lendonderry. Arrived.
Mcfarland"
s'August 30, 17s5.-Capt. Castle, Of the
Ashley, arrived in tho river FROM Jamaica.
On the Las insr spoke the Faithful Steward,
McCaslipg, from Londonderry 70 Philadel-
phia, in Lat. ~ NJ, Long. about SO e. All
weli.'
''Eov. es. I7sE.-Ths Faithful Steward,
McCsusland, fTom Londonderry 70 Phtledel-
phia, is Totally lost ia the Delaware aud 200
people drowned"
IL was = curious coincidence that just one
hundred years from the date OF this laEs
fatal rscord Mr.. Lee should yesterday be-
come possessed OK it ana exhibits TO me with
his uncls's letter.