Anne Carter Lee
Anne Hill Carter Lee
b. 1773 · d. 1829
Mother of Robert E. Lee. After her husband’s financial ruin and departure for the West Indies, she moved her children to rented quarters in Alexandria, where Robert spent his formative years.
Anne Hill Carter was born at Shirley Plantation in 1773, the daughter of Charles Carter, and married Henry “Light-Horse Harry” Lee in 1793. After Harry Lee’s finances collapsed and he fled creditors and a Baltimore mob, Anne relocated the family to Alexandria around 1812, occupying houses at 611 Cameron Street and later the widely known address at 607 Oronoco Street [1] Powell, History of Old Alexandria, 1928 Book .
Anne Lee raised five children in straitened circumstances in Alexandria and was, by the accounts of her children and contemporaries, an exacting and devout household head. She died in 1829 at Ravensworth, a family property in Fairfax County [2] Miller, Artisans and Merchants, 1991 Book . The household held enslaved persons while resident in Alexandria; the 1820 census records a small number of enslaved people in her household.
Associated places
- 1812–1820
Anne Hill Carter Lee rented the house and raised her children there after her husband's departure.
- 1812–1820
Anne Carter Lee and her children were intermittent guests at the Fendall house, which stood a few doors from their rented home.
Sources
- 1.
Mary G. Powell, The History of Old Alexandria, Virginia, from July 13, 1749 to May 24, 1861, Richmond: William Byrd Press, 1928.
Book
- 2.
T. Michael Miller, Artisans and Merchants of Alexandria, Virginia 1780-1820, Heritage Books, 1991.
Book
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