Author Marston Watson traces the descendancy of the Manchester Lees through its progenitor in America, Henry Lea/Lee, who was born in 1618 in Lancashire, England. Henry is known to have been in Boston in 1656 and, two years earlier, in Manchester. His son Richard was born in Boston in 1657.
Manchester, Massachusetts (which changed its name in 1989 to Manchester-by-the-Sea) and its neighbor Marblehead owe much of their history to this distinguished Lee family. Many descendants of Henry Lea/Lee were patriots in the American Revolution. The fami-ly’s good fortunes were tied to the merchant trade. Samuel Lee built over one hundred houses in Manchester and Marblehead, including the famed Jeremiah Lee Mansion, which is depicted on the front cover of this book.
The author’s line to the Lees extends directly from the joining of the Lee family of Manchester and the Watson family of Plymouth with the marriage of Lucy Lee and Colonel Marston Watson in 1779 at Manchester. Mr. Watson is the third great-grandson of these two families.
The Lee family can claim the greatest number of descendants in colonial and post-colonial Manchester, as documented here. Readers will discover the names of other notable families of Manchester, Gloucester, Beverly, Marblehead and other colonial Essex County families who are connected to this Lee genealogy.
John Rowe’s family established themselves in Manchester and Gloucester. Many descendants of immigrant William Allen settled in the town of Manchester, along with the Jeffrey Parsons/Persons family who lived in Gloucester. The progeny of John Rowe, William Hilton, William Hooper and Samuel Morgan are familiar names in the Essex County towns. The Durkee line is linked to the Lee family through Mary Lee’s marriage with John Durkee of Connecticut. John Armstrong of Connecticut left many descendants, as did Wil-liam Armstrong, whose descendants were numerous in Manchester. Other familiar names include Thomas Bray, William Bad-cock/Babcock, Obed Carter, Emanuel Day, William Dodge and John Tink/Trask.
Besides the extraordinary details of the family history itself, Mr. Watson has added an extensive bibliography and a name index with thousands of references to the Lees and allied families. In short, this work will be the standard by which all future studies of one of New England’s most important families are measured.
About the Author
Marston Watson is the author of the four-volume work, Royal Fami-lies: Americans of Royal and Noble Ancestry, which trace the royal de-scents of Governor Thomas Dudley; Reverend Francis Marbury Through Anne (Marbury) Hutchinson and Katherine (Marbury) Scott; Samuel Appleton and His Wife Judith Everard; and Pelham-Avery-West Thomas West, 2nd Baron De La Warr: The Possible American Progeny of King Henry VIII.
