History of Dorchester County
The following is an excerpt from the "History of Dorchester County Maryland". By Elias Jones. Published in 1902 by Williams & Wilkins Company Press, Baltimore.
Below is an excerpt from pages 102 through 105.
LAND IN FORK DISTRICT OWNED BY CAPT. JOHN LEE AND OTHERS OF THAT FAMILY.
"Rehoboth, 2350 acres, surveyed for Capt. John Lee, March 31,1673;
patented to him June 24, 1673, situate, lying and being on the East side
of Chesapeake Bay, in a River called Nanticoke, on the North side of the
said River, in the first North-West forke of the said river." (See Land
Office Records, Annapolis, Md.)
In the fall of 1673, Capt. John Lee died, and this land was heired by
his brother, Richard Lee (Col. Richard Lee), of "Mount Pleasant,"
Virginia, a very distinguished man, who "was educated at Oxford, and
spent almost his whole life in study, and usually wrote his notes in
Greek, Hebrew or Latin," and was appointed to numerous offices. He died
on the 12th day of March, 1714, in the 68th year of his age. His will
was probated in Westmoreland County, April 27, 1714, and by it devised
many thousands of acres of land in Virginia and Maryland, as well as
many slaves, to his heirs. The land in Dorchester that he heired
from his brother, Capt. John Lee, he willed as follows:
"Item, I give to my son Phillip and his heirs forever a tract of land in
Dorchester County on the Eastern Shoar in Maryland and on the North West
fork of Nanticoke river containing 1300 acres more or less and bounded
as follows. Beginning at the upper corner of a larger dividend of land I
have there, at a marked hickory and read oak upon the side of said fork
of Nanticoke * * * thence W. by S. 214 poles to the river or fork side
which line divides my now seated plantation in two parts.
Item, I give to my son Thomas and his heirs forever the residue of all
my lands in the North West fork of the Nanticoke river in Dorchester
County in the Province of Maryland.
[If then his seated plantation some of his family occupied it, evidently
shown by the following bequests.]
Item, I give to my son Philip these negroes, * * * with Carpenter Jack
and Ralph at the Eastern Shoar
Item, I give to my son Henry these following negros (vig't.) Betty Phill
Harry and Sarah Beck's children Prue Betty's and Ned all at home Sharp
at the Eastern Shoar."
Philip Lee (3), who lived in Prince George's County, Maryland, died in
1744; he willed his part of "Rehoboth" in Dorchester County to his sons:
"Carbon Lee, 200 acres called 'Rehoboth,' John and George, 600 acres
called 'Rehoboth' in North West fork of Nanticoke, to be equally divided
between them. Francis, 200 acres, part of a tract called 'Rehoboth,'
aforesaid. I give to my grandson Philip Lee, 200 acres, part of
'Rehoboth.' "
"President" Thomas Lee (3), of "Stratford," son of Richard Lee (2), died
at Stratford in Westmoreland, on the Rappahannock River, in November,
1770. He was the father of Richard Henry Lee, and Francis Lightfoot Lee,
of Revolutionary fame (both were signers of the Declaration of
Independence).
In their father's will, "Rehoboth," the 1300 acres owned by him, were
bequeathed to his eldest son, and entailed on his second and third sons
in case of failure of male heirs by them, in order devised.
Richard Lee (4), the first son, died unmarried, before his father.
Philip Ludwell Lee (4), the second son, became the owner, heir-at-law of
"Rehoboth." He had two daughters, and a son that died in infancy. What
disposition was made of his share of "Rehoboth" is not mentioned.
Francis Lee (4), son of Phillip Lee (3), was living on his plantation, a
part of "Rehoboth," in 1745, and was a member of the Assembly of
Maryland that year, when he moved to Cecil County, .Maryland, and
offered to lease his "late Mansion House on the North West fork of the
Nanticoke River." (Md. Gazette, 30th January, 1747-48) He died in
1749 and devised his land in Dorchester County, as follows :
"I give to my son Francis Leonard Lee (5), all my dwelling plantation in
Dorset County, called 'Rehoboth.' To my son, Lancelot Richard
Thos. Lee, a tract of land called 'Lee's Purchase,' containing 317
acres, on the Northeast fork of the Nanticoke River." He gave his
wife, Elizabeth (Hollyday) Lee, 50 acres on the Nanticoke, "where the
ship was built", and two tracts bought of John Smith, adjoining
"Rehoboth," to his son, Francis Leonard Lee.
It is not shown so far as we have examined that Richard Henry Lee, and
Francis Lightfoot Lee, sons of Col. Thomas Lee (3), of "Stratford," ever
shared ownership in "Rehoboth," with their brother, Philip Ludwell Lee,
though Lettice Corbin Lee, a sister, did. Like the great
plantations, "Mount Pleasant," "Stratford," "Chantelly" and "Paradise,"
of the Lees of Virginia, has "Rehoboth" of Dorchester County, passed out
of their possessions.
The land records of Dorchester County show that "Lettice Corbin Lee, of
Harford County, Md., in 1787, sold to John Smoot, a tract of land called
"Rehoboth," containing 200 acres, on the North West Fork of Nanticoke
River, which "descended to her upon the death of her brother Philip
Lee."
Major Frank Turpin, first a Captain in the Militia of Dorchester County
during the Revolutionary War, became the owner of that part of
"Rehoboth" on which the Lee Mansion now stands, a fine old brick
building still in an excellent state of preservation, now about one
hundred and seventy-five years old. Major Turpin lived there for
many years, where he dispensed lavish hospitality to many a social guest
within its spacious halls. Balls, so popular eighty or ninety
years ago, were continued for two or three days at a time at his home,
where music and wine kept merry, handsome men and maidens fair through
many a mazy dance. Some of those men had been in the War of 1812,
and others had served in the Eleventh Regiment of the Dorchester
Militia, under Captain Minos Adams, Lieutenant Solomon Davis and Ensign
Robert Medford.