Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-10

his compatriots. He was also a Gov
ernor Of Virginia.
Among other sons of Thomas Lee,
builder of Stratford. born OF the estate
there were six in all-was Arthur
Lee. He represented the infant republic
at the French and British courts, re-
~spectively; was a member of the COM
mission headed by Franklin to nego-
tate with France the treaty of alliance.
amity and commerce, and other treaties
with nations on the Continent.
A third of these sol was Francis
Lightfoot Lee, also Revolutionary pa
triot. He was a delegate to the Con-
tinental Congress Q775-79) and a
signer with his brother, Richard Henry,
of the Declaration of independence.
A further distinction is his, that of
| drafter of the Articles of Confedera-
ton, the first bond of the free colonies.
william Lee, Thomas Ludwell Lee
and Philip Ludwell Lee, the three re-
manning sons of Thomas, the builder
of Stratford, served their State and
country with distinction. William
served at the court of st. James,. his
two brothers their native State.
y X X 4
OF the Lee family, among whom were
signers of the Declaration of In
dependence, two United States repre-
sentatives abroad, four members Of the
Council of State, and IL members OF the
Virginia House of Burgesses, Washing
ton, ever an intimate friend of the
family, said: II know Of no county that
can produce a family all distinguished
as clever men as u Lees"
Through so many generations, on the
Underwater of Old Virginia, Stratford
Hall, gift of a queen, glories in a past
unmatched for romance and history in
America. It was built in 1725 by
Thomas Lee, grandson Of Richard Lee
of England, and named after the Eng
lish ancestral home, STANDARDIZATION.
The land on which Stratford stands was
patented In 1850 by the original Lee.
Stratford replaced Mount Pleasant,
burned, the tradition runs, by convict
slaves.
In early Virginia days the ~colonists
had a penchant for building their homes
in the shape of letters. T, e, L and H
anor were the fashion of the time.
And. following the fashion, Thomas Lee,
when he came to build for his bride,
chose the letter H for his home. Per-
haps it was because, to him, 1t meant
everything-Home, High and Heaven.
For Stratford crowns a high bluff of
the Potomac and lies buried IN a 1orest
of oak and sycamore.
AS the year 1725 moved slowly to a
close, the new manor lifted its massive
head to the world, darkies singing as
tney labored with hands of glistening
ebony over the brick in the home
fashioned kiln, and pushed the mortar
back and forth in its crude box. mortar
to bind in Flemish bond the great
foundation stones,
At last, in that wilderness to which
the stout-hearted Of the Old World had
come to lay the foundation of the New,
! Stratford Hall reared itself proudly on
its eminence of beauty, the only house
in all the land Joined by a personal
tie to the royal house OF England. For
Caroline, conscrt of King George II OF
England, because of his great standing
in the colony and services rendered the
British government by him, had given
to Thomas Lee 500 pounds for its build
ing. British merchants, business
friends and associates of his, also on
tributed to its building.
Sixteen rooms in all stood the manor
when completed. 1t stood facing the
south, with the sweep of the Potomac In
the distance between the wild and ma.
tive aisles Of greenery. The cross-bar
OF the letter u formed the library OF
"a. 9tAp%%e aA-~Vrps