Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-14
PASSES AWAY IN 18th YEAR
OF HER AGE.
Member of Prominent Mary
land Family and Widow of
Rear Admiral S. P. Lee
Demise Occurred Yes
terday Afternoon.

Mrs Elizabeth Blair Lee, widow of
Rear Admiral S. P. Lee passed away at
her home at Silver Spring Md, about $40
o'clock yesterday afternoon, in her eighty
ninth year Her only son, State Senator
Blair Lee of Montgomery county. Nd,
survives her. Mrs. Lee was the last to sur
vive of the family of Francis p. Blair,
whose close personal and political relation
ship to President Andrew Jackson and long
and active participation in public affairs
gave him an important place In history.
Mrs Lees mother was Miss Gist, daugh-
ter of Nathaniel Gist and the granddaugh-
ter of Christopher Gist, the early Kentucky
explorer who informed Daniel Boone of
the great possibilities of that country. On
her mothers side, Mrs. Blair, ST.. was de-
scendant from the Towards of Maryland
and Careys of Virginia
Funeral services will be held at the Lee
home at Silver Spring at 9:l5 o'clock to-
morrow morning, after which the cortege
will proceed to st. Johns Episcopal Church.
where the funeral sermon will be delivered
by Rev. E. Slater Dunlap 'Interment,
which will be private, will be made in Ar
lington cemetery, beside the remains Of
Mrs. Lees husband the late Admiral Lee.
The pallbearers have not been selected
Mrs. Lee was a sister of the late Mont
gomery Blair. formerly judge in ST. Louis,
Mo-. and afterward Postmaster General
in President Lincolns cabinet. Another
brother was James L. Blair a lieutenant in
the United States navy who resigned his
position, went to California and placed the
first steamboat on the Sacramento river
and laid the foundations of good fortune,
but who died at the age of thirty-five years
from the result of exposure occasioned by
the Wiks antarctic expedition. Her
youngest brother was the late Francis =.
Blair. jr.. the free soil leader of Missouri,
who was also member of Congress, gen.
eral commanding the 18th Corps of Sher-
mans army and afterward democratic
nominee for Vice President on the Seymour
ticket
Member of st. Johns Church.
Mrs. Lee was a lifelong member of ST.
Johns Church. when young sing ng in the
choir and working for the new organ"
which has been supplanted by a second
new organ these many years. Frequently
in passing from her house opposite the
War. Department to ST. Johns Church by
the Mills statue of Gen. Jackson in Lafay-
cite Park would she comment upon the err
rors of history and pictures and monu-
ments. setting forth the viewpoint of the
author, painter or sculptor, rather than the
Gen. Jackson. she said. was an admi-er of
a quiet thoroughbred horse, and de;ested
anything like a prancing percheron, upon
which the sculptor Mills has fixed him in
bronze. This horse, she thought. is as far
from the real taste in horses of Gen. jack
son as the personal character the wings
and many subsequent historians have at
tributed to him. with fondness for oaths
and truculent conceit. is from the real Jack
son-courageous leader, firm soldier de-
fender of the republic and lover faithful to
one woman and her memory. She main
tanned that the dignity of his character
was the outgrowth and was ever equal to
ale courage and honesty which his political
adversaries could never deny. In this con-
nection she often commented on it's being
a singular fact that the historians who az
tackled the reputation of Gen. Jackson in
his executive acts, especially his warfare
upon the Bank of the United States sell
dom mention the true democratic objects
as they seemed to him and his supporters,
which he had in view
She active in the organization of
many local charities. now well established,
such the Children's Hospital and the
Columbia Hospital but her chief labor
and lifelong devotion was given to the
Washington City Orphan Asylum, founded
by Mrs. Madison and Mrs. Van Ness to
provide shelter for the orphans of the war
of 1872. OF this institution. Mrs. Lee has
been a manager for ffty-seven years, and
the first directress for forty-four wears.
during which time it has cared for thous-
ands of orphan children from the District
of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. pro-
. viding during the civil war for many a
soldiers child. both north and south.
Continuous Interest Manifested.
From 1862. when she became first d.
rectoress. until compelled by age and blind
ness to give up work, about eight years
ago, Mrs. Lee labored constantly for the
home. During this period the institution
passed from dependence upon irregular con-
tributions to an assured income from accu-
mutation and endowments
When the present home. 14th and S
streets. was first built they could not af-
ford to furnish or 1--we in 1t, but the man.
ayers succeeded in renting il to Mr.. Sew
ard for the State Department. The rent
was good and the ladies were delighted,
but the clerks and diplomatic corps, who