SURNAME SATURDAY: LEE (LEA) Clan of Virginia and England

Copyright 2015, The Hopelessly Hooked Genealogist (B. Harrison)

Today is Surname Saturday in GeneaBloggers time zone, one of the daily writing prompts for those of us who write genealogy blogs. I began this article for my blog in 2011 and just discovered that I had left it in draft mode and never posted it. So, here it is, better late than never. 

One of the surnames in my ancestral tree is LEE (also spelled LEA and LEIGH). These are ancestors on the paternal side of my tree from Virginia. One source on the Lee family of Virginia is this book: Genealogical History of the Lee Family of Virginia and Maryland, From 1300 to 1866. 

I descend from the Lee of Virginia and England line through my paternal grandmother Susannah "Susan" Allen Harrison, wife of John P Harrison. Her paternal great-great-grandmother was Nancy Lee Tucker, wife of William Wofford Tucker, a Captain in the Revolutionary War from Virginia. The following is from info I posted on the Find A Grave Memorial that I created for Nancy Lee Tucker, reference memorial # 67820200 . 
Nancy Lee Tucker, wife of Revolutionary War Lieutenant William Wofford Tucker. Daughter of Ambrose Lee and Frances Penn Lee(Tucker) of Amherst County, Virginia. Mother of 14 children including Dandrige Tucker and Susannah Tucker Hudgens.

Nancy Lee Tucker's mother Frances Penn Lee married 2nd husband Drury Tucker, who was the father of Nancy's husband William Wofford Tucker. Thus, her mother was also her step-mother-in-law. 

A headstone and confirmed burial location for William Wofford Tucker and his wife Nancy Lee Tucker have not been located. Tucker Homestead Cemetery is a historic family graveyard on private property in Liberty near Clemenstville in Casey County, KY which contains headstones of their son Dandridge Tucker, grandson Dabney Tucker, and other kin. This is likely the burial location of William Wofford Tucker and his wife, who may rest in the family plots in now unmarked graves. 

I have found some famous, not so famous, and infamous LEE ancestors in this extended clan of Lees in my lineage. The Lee clan of Virgina included some colorful characters, political leaders, and military heroes. Some of them were considered "rich, powerful, and influential".  Those individuals will make interesting subjects for future biographical blog posts to flesh out their life stories in my tree, some of which has already been well documented by historians. *(I've already blogged about a couple of them previously). 

Lee Family Crest , Source: Wikimedia Commons

The LEE surname in my tree has origins in England and Ireland.  The English spellings of Lea and Leigh mean "meadow" or "forest clearing". In Ireland, the name was used as an occupational description meaning "poet". The Lee family of Shropshire, England were the forebears of the notable colonial American family of Lee.

Some of my direct line Lee ancestors include my 4x great-grandmother Nancy Lee (1762 VA - 1829 KY) who married William Wofford Tucker; her father Ambrose Lee (1733 VA - 1764 VA) who married Frances "Frankey" Penn; his father William Lee (1710 VA - 1770 VA) who married Elizabeth Rachel Ambrose; his father William Lea ( abt 1684 VA - 1760 VA) who married Ann Taylor; his father Colonel William Lee (1654 VA - 1703 VA) who married Mary Green; his father William Lea (1623 VA - 1663 VA) who married Catherine Ironmonger; and his father William Leigh (1588 England - 1653 VA) who married Mary Dawkes. 

According to the Internet Surname Database at http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Lee:  "This famous name recorded as Lee, Lees, Lea, Leas, Lease and Leese is of Olde English origin. It is usually locational and derives from any of the places named with the pre 7th Century element "leah". This translates as "an open place" in a forest or wood, but may describe a water meadow, the word having different meanings in different parts of the country. Examples of the place names include Lee in Buckinghamshire and Hampshire, and also Lea in Cheshire, Lincolnshire and Wiltshire. The name may also be topographical, for someone who lived at a clearing or pasture, as in the surname 'Atlee'.  The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Ailric de la Leie, which was dated circa 1148, in the "Charters of Northamptonshire", during the reign of King Stephen, known as "Count of Blois", 1135 - 1154. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation In England 

Surname Saturday: CATLETT

               Copyright 2012, The Hopelessly Hooked Genealogist (B. Harrison)

One of the surnames in my tree that I will be focusing on researching further in the coming year is CATLETT.

Mary Jane Catlett (1738-1812) was one of my 4x-great-grandmothers. She married Moses Aaron Coppedge (1735-1801), on 26 July 1764 in Fauquier County, Virginia. Around 1780, they went to live in Kentucky, traveling in a party led by Daniel Boone (according to the book written by Arthur Max Coppage and John E. Manahan:  “Coppage-Coppedge Chronicle, 1542-1975, (pg 262).   Mary Jane Catlett Coppedge died in Washington County (now Marion County), Kentucky in 1812.  Although she has a memorial page on the Find A Grave website (Find A Grave Memorial# 73125083), her exact burial location is unknown.  She MAY be buried at Old Liberty Cemetery near Bradfordsville, Marion County, Kentucky.  An alternate burial  location could be the Coppage Cemetery on private property in Marion County, Kentucky.

Mary Jane Catlett was the daughter of John Catlett (circa 1705- 1788) and Mary Ann Grayson (circa 1705-1790), my 5x-great-grandparents. John Catlett’s Will, proved 23 March 1778 in Faquier County, Virginia, left to his “loving daughter Jane Coppage, my roan mare and colt, with my Saddle and Bridle, and my black walnut folding  table”  from his estate.  John Catlett had married Mary Ann Grayson on 20 October 1726 in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.

Below is a page from the book entitled "A history of Two Virginia Families Transplanted From County Kent, England. Thomas Baytop, Tenterden, 1638, and John Catlett, Sittingbourne, 1622." By Dr. and Mrs. William Carter Stubbs. Published 1918 in New Orleans, La .

The following research was posted by Bev Loomis to her public family tree Byrd/Alsbury/Sonnichsen/Hallum and Related Families on Ancestry.com, and is based on information she transcribed from the Will of John Catlett of Virginia, descendant of the Colonel John Catlett of Sittingbourne, Kent, England who immigrated to Virginia:

“In his will John Catlett refers to his plantation, 3,000 pounds of crop tobacco, a “Flock of cattle,” horses, a weaving loom, and walnut furniture, so we can surmise that he was a moderately successful tobacco farmer.  He wills to daughter Elizabeth “two white boys until they arrive at the age of 21 years, which boys were purchased for me with their father and mother.”  These were probably indentured servants who had been purchased for a fixed period of time.  No slaves were named in the will, although the labor-intensive crop of tobacco required many workers.”

“John Catlett’s children (their birth years are approximate), as named in his 1778 will, were:

1.                   William Catlett, born about 1739

2.                   Alexander Catlett (of Catlettsburg), about 1748-1823, married Susannah Beall

3.                   John Catlett (of Georgia)

4.                   Elizabeth Catlett, born about 1733, married David Marrow

5.                   Mary Ann Catlett, born about 1737, married John Hogan

6.                   Jane (Mary Jane) Catlett, about 1738-1815, married Moses Coppedge/Coppage

7.                   Barsheba Catlett, born about 1744, married Senate Young

8.                   Frances Catlett, about 1754-1818, married George Priest 

9.                   Isabell Catlett, born about 1757, married Mr. Summers”

It is believed that the parents of this John Catlett are John William Catlett (circa 1690- 1770) and Joan Lettico (circa 1695- 1748), of Frederick County, Virginia. (Further research pending to verify the lineage it is on my Genealogy To-Do List for 2012).  As is often the case with our ancestors, there were multiple “John Catlett”s and “William Catlett”s in Virginia in this time period.

 The progenitor and immigrant ancestor to America of this particular Catlett line is Colonel John Catlett (circa 1622- 1680) of Sittingbourne, Kent, England who immigrated to Rappahannock, Virginia about 1650.  Colonel Catlett married Elizabeth Underwood Slaughter, widow of Colonel Francis Slaughter, in January 1656 in Rappahannock, Virginia. He may also have had one other wife, a Mary Lucas, though as yet in my research no marriage record has been found of that union.

There is an interesting historical marker in Virginia, which indicates that in 1670 Colonel John Catlett accompanied the 3rd Expedition of John Lederer's company to explore the Blue Ridge Mountains region and view the Shenandoah Valley  of Virginia and the Carolinas. The records of Colonel Catlett seem to trail off there, indicating that he may have perished during this expedition or shortly thereafter. This is part of my research plan, “to be continued”.  

PENN ANCESTRY: MASSACHUSETTS AND PENNSYLVANIA ROOTS- and allied lines of Lee, Tucker, Allen, Hudgens

Copyright 2011, The Hopelessly Hooked Genealogist (B. Harrison) 

MASSACHUSETTS ROOTS: DISCOVERING MY PENN ANCESTRY – And connections to two famous Penn historical figures: the Founder of Pennsylvania and a Signer of the Declaration of Independence.



This blog post examines more closely my Penn, Lee, Tucker, Allen and Hudgens inter-connected ancestry on the paternal side of my tree, specifically the Penn lineage with roots in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia. While I have previously done quite a bit of research on the Virginia roots in the 1700’s of these surnames in my tree, and their westward movements into Kentucky and Missouri during the 1800’s, the Massachusetts connection in the Penn and Lee lineage is a “new” discovery for me. I am excited to discover there is apparently an early Plymouth, MA connection in my Penn line. This is something I will be exploring further, and will follow-up on in future blog posts.

For my own personal record and to help me keep the relationships straight and sorted out, I will now describe my kinship to the Penn and Lee families. Prepare to be confused, dear readers, because it does get confusing! That is one reason I am writing it down in other than standard tree-format, to serve as my own personal reference cheat-sheet guide to supplement my online tree.

My great-grandfather Valentine Allen, subject of an earlier blog post, was the 6th-great grandson of immigrant ancestor George Penn, son of William Penn I of England born 1548. William Penn I of Minety, Gloucestershire, England (father of my George Penn) was my 10th great-grandfather and also the great-grandfather of the historically famous William Penn, 14 Oct 1644 – 30 Jul 1718, founder and "Absolute Proprietor" of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future American state of Pennsylvania. George Penn, born 1571 in England and son of William Penn I of Minety, Gloucestershire, England, is my 9th-great-grandfather, and the grand-uncle of William Penn founder of Pennsylvania (who is my 2nd cousin 9 times removed). George’s brother was Giles Penn, the Pennsylvania founder’s grandfather.

Sir William Penn, 1644- 1718, founder of Pennsylvania

As of this point in my research, it is reasonably substantiated that the above George Penn born 1571 is my immigrant ancestor of this line, who came from England to Plymouth, Massachussetts circa 1623. He died in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1632. The names George, William, Moses, and John were used so frequently in the Penn family throughout multiple generations in the same localities and time periods that it is difficult to sort them out, and it appears that even some of the “reliable” source books documenting the Penn ancestry and used by genealogists for decades tend to confuse them in the citations. There is little doubt, however, that these families are connected.

                                           Though I still have much research to do on this lineage, my documentation to date suggests that this branch of my tree involving the Penn lineage is as follows, according to the published sources I have found as well as family records and marriage records supporting the links in the more recent generations: George Penn was born in 1571 in Sussex, England. He married Margaret Elizabeth (maiden name as yet unknown) and immigrated to Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1623 at about age 52, and died in 1632. He was the son of William Penn born 1548 in Gloucestshire, England and wife Margaret Rastall. George Penn’s son was my 8th great-grandfather William Penn born 1609 in Plymouth, Massachusetts who moved to Westmoreland, Virginia and married Elizabeth Markham. William and Elizabeth Markham Penn had a son, John Penn born 1650 in Caroline County, Virginia who married Lucy Granville; these were my 7th-great-grandparents. John and Lucy Granville Penn had son George Penn born about 1706 in King and Queen County, Virginia who married Anne Fleming; these were my 6th-great-grandparents. John and Lucy Granville Penn had another son, Moses Penn II, who was the father of the John Penn signer of the Declaration of Independence. (Thus, my 7th great-grandparents John and Lucy Granville Penn were also the grandparents of the famous signer of the Declaration of Independence, if in fact it turns out that this lineage has been documented correctly.) If the lineage is documented correctly, it appears that the signer of the Declaration of Independence John Penn is my “1st cousin 7 times removed”.

George and Anne Fleming Penn had daughter (my 5th great-grandmother) Frances “Frankey” Penn born 1735 in Caroline County, Virginia who married Ambrose Lee in 1752 , and married 2nd husband Drury Tucker in 1767. This part of the lineage is pretty well documented, but is also where it gets confusing. I am related by blood to Frances Penn and both of her husbands. My connection is two ways, (and the following is bound to give any reader a headache to sort it out because it certainly did me!): Frances Penn is the mother of my 4th-great-grandmother Nancy Lee, with Frances’ first husband Ambrose Lee. Frances Penn Lee’s daughter Nancy Lee born 1762 in Caroline County, Virginia married William Wofford Tucker (my 4th-great-grandfather and one of my Revolutionary War ancestors). Their daughter Susannah Tucker born 1792 in Albemarle, Virginia was my 3rd-great-grandmother who married William David Hudgens. ( To refer back to Susannah’s Tucker’s grandmother Frances Penn Lee, widow of Ambrose Lee, who married 2nd husband Drury Tucker, father of William Wofford Tucker and widower of Susannah Douglass: THUS, Frances Penn Lee married 2nd the father-in-law of her own daughter Nancy Lee who was married to William Wofford Tucker). Believe me when I say it was a Three Excedrin Headache Day to sort that confusing and overlapping branch of my tree out! Moving right along, the daughter of Susannah Tucker and William D Hudgens was my 2nd-great-grandmother Frances Hudgens, born 1811 in Lebanon, Kentucky who married Samuel T. Allen in Missouri. Their son, Valentine Allen born 1843 in Phelps County, Missouri was my great-grandfather who married Catherine Ellen Fore. Valentine and Catherine Fore Allen had a daughter, my paternal grandmother Susannah Allen born 1875 in Phelps County, Missouri who married my grandfather John P. Harrison.


So, in a nutshell, my branches of the Penn-Lee-Tucker-Hudgens-Allen lineage began in England in the 1500’s and earlier, to Massachusetts and Pennsylvania in the 1600’s, to Virginia in the 1700’s, and to North Carolina, Kentucky and Missouri in the 1800’s where it intersects with my paternal Harrison and Allen lineage. Most of the movement to Kentucky can be traced to Kentucky land bounty warrants received by members of these families for their participation in the Revolutionary War. Some of the land bounties were sold; others were passed down to descendants of the Revolutionary War patriots. My branches of all of these families eventually migrated westward and continued on into Missouri in the mid-1800’s. Though I still have family roots in Missouri today, the tree has further branched out westward to California, Texas, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, and Colorado.

Regarding the Penn lineage, I do note there is some controversy in online message board posts as to the connection of a William Penn who married an Elizabeth Markham, and their son John Penn who married a Lucy Granville, and how they actually relate to the Penn lineage of the founder of Pennsylvania and to the John Penn, signer of the Declaration of Independence. Though the lineage is cited in multiple published sources that have been used by genealogists for decades, it seems some questions have more recently arisen as to availability of marriage records or other primary source documents to support that link in the tree. Further research is needed to prove or disprove the lineage, as these two individuals do appear to be the same ones associated with my tree. However, the link does not appear any more questionable than probably dozens of others in my tree that have equally been accepted as factual-based by fellow researchers, distant cousins and genealogists for decades. As we all know, actual “proof” in genealogy gets more difficult the farther back in time we go. Previously published lineage books do contain errors and are not infallible. Even DNA testing is not a sure-fire proof of a direct lineage connection. (I will reserve my comments concerning DNA for genetic genealogy and my experience with Autosomal DNA testing, for another Blog post). I have only recently researched my branch of the Penn family tree lineage back prior to the Virginia roots, to the very early Pennsylvania and Massachusetts colonial connections. Nothing is ever “written in stone” as far as I am concerned, regarding lineage that is more than 2 or 3 generations removed from ourselves. All we can do as family historians is base our findings on a preponderance of evidence, while making a commitment to update our records and notations accordingly if we do discover potential errors.

I have previously posted a biographical sketch of my ancestor William Wofford Tucker, Revolutionary War Patriot and Colonial Army Captain from Virginia (whose wife was Nancy Lee, daughter of the Frances Penn Lee Tucker as mentioned above). Future separate individual blog posts will further examine my Tucker-Hudgens-Penn-Lee kin. It is much too confusing to try to combine all of that in one blog post! I will suffice to say, for now, that many interesting connections pop up in those branches of my tree. One such connection is that my above-referenced 4th-great-grandmother Nancy Lee Tucker was a distant relative of the Civil War Confederate General Robert E. Lee (which of course makes me a distant relative as well; according to the relationship calculator in my genealogy program the famous Confederate General is my 6th cousin, six times removed). It will take a whole separate Blog article to discuss my Lee ancestry in greater detail. It is always fun to discover connections to famous figures from history in one’s ancestral tree, however distant that kinship might be. Ultimately though, my quest remains to discover more about the not-so-famous figures in my tree as well, and to try to learn about them as individuals who led interesting and challenging lives.

General Robert E. Lee, CSA

The discovery of an early Massachusetts connection in these branches of my tree may also lead to breaking down a Brick Wall in my Allen lineage on the paternal side of my tree (I have Allen ancestors on both maternal and paternal sides). To date, I have been unable to discover the names of the parents of my paternal 2nd-great-grandfather Samuel T Allen who married Frances Hudgens. Very little is known about where Samuel T Allen came from, or what happened to him after he disappeared from Missouri circa 1850. However, a few vintage published sources I found on early Missouri history mention my Allen, Hudgens, and Harrison ancestors and state that Samuel T Allen came from Massachusetts. At least one of these published local history sources alluded to a “rumor” that Samuel’s disappearance from Missouri was due to either being killed by Indians, or that he may have returned to Massachusetts to reunite with family there, and where he possibly had another wife. Knowing that the Penn-Tucker-Lee-Hudgens-Allen families are so closely intertwined in my tree, and that at least one of those lines has documented early roots in Massachusetts, does lend more credence to the theory that my ancestor Samuel T Allen may in fact have had some family connections in Massachusetts.

So, the pursuit of further Massachusetts research on these family connections and surnames in my tree is now added to my Genealogy To-Do List. That list seems to keep growing, the more research I do. Lots of digging to do still; so many ancestors to chase down, so little time!

While it is not my intent to provide a research guide in this personal Blog, which is merely my own personal journal of my search for my roots; a few of the sources (among many others) of my information on Penn ancestry are listed below. (The bulk of my source citations are attached to my online tree, and include a stack of reference books I have collected in my personal library):


                                      Copyright, 2011


Source Information:

Ancestry.com. Virginia Land, Marriage, and Probate Records, 1639-1850 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.

Original data:

Chalkley, Lyman. Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia, 1745-1800. Extracted from the Original Court Records of Augusta County. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1965. Originally published in 1912.

Crozier, William Armstrong, ed. Virginia County Records - Spotsylvania County Records, 1721-1800. Being transcriptions from the original files at the County Court House of wills, deeds, administrators' and guardians' bonds, marriage licenses, and lists of revolutionary pensioners. New York, NY: Fox, Duffield & Co., 1905.

The will abstracts for Isle of Wight and Norfolk counties were taken from microfilmed copies of the original Will Books. Some of these records may be found at the Family History Library as well as other libraries and archives. The originals may be found at the appropriate county courthouses.

Gale Research. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2010.

Original data: Filby, P. William, ed. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s. Farmington Hills, MI, USA: Gale Research, 2010.