The Lee Will Dispute and White House - 1926

 Some background on the ownership history of the White House estate.

SUIT OVER LEE WILL IS DECIDED

Litigation Split One of First Families in Virginia and Involved Famous Estates.  

 The contest over the will of Gen. W. H. Fitshugh (“Rooney”) of which split one of the first families in Virginia and involved some the most famous estates in the Old Dominion, has been decided to favor of the “outsider," as she was termed, a Mrs. Mary Middleton Lee, the widow of Colonel Robert E. Lee Jr., of the historic Middleton family, of South Carolina- now living in Washington, has won her suit against her brother-in-law, Dr. Geo. Bolling Lee, of New York City, and Newport, R.I., whereby she gets a life interest in half of the Lee estate, valued at $1,500,000 and including business property in the heart of Richmond, leased to Thalhimer Bros., Inc., at $40,000 a year for 50 years.

 The decision Was announced May 18th by Judge Samuel Brent, of the circuit court of Fairfax, county, at Alexandria. Dr. Lee will carry the case to the Virginia Court of Appeals.  

 The suit was over the interpretation of a peculiar clause in the Will of General W. H. F. Lee, son of the Confederate general and father of Colonel Robert E. Lee, Jr., and Dr. George Bolling Lee. The Broad Street property in Richmond, inherited from this first wife, Miss Wickham, the Lee ancestral estate, “Ravensworth,” in Fairfax county; the "White House” estate, where George Washington married Mary Custis and all other property were willed by the general to his second wife, Mary Tabb Lee, for use during her life, at her death to be divided between, her two sons, George Bolling and “Bob” Lee, provided they or their children were alive at her death.

 “But,” continued the will, “should either of my sons die without making a will concerning this property, the same shall descend to the survivor.”

 This is the clause that caused the controversy. General “Bob” Lee died in 1922, two years before his mother, but leaving a will giving his widow a life interest in his half of the estate, it reverting to his brother at her death. Dr. George Bolling Lee, who brought suit against his sister-n-law shortly after his mother’s death in 1924, claimed that “Bob” could not get title to his half of the estate until he outlived his ‘mother, but, as he died first, he had nothing to leave his widow.

 Mrs. Lee contended that, by a proper interpretation of the disputed clause in the will off her father-in-law, her husband gained title to his interest by the act of making a will. Citations from many famous Virginia will cases were brought into court in defense of this position.

 Mary Middleton Lee was never well received by the family into which she married; at the time of her marriage to Col. Robert E. Lee, Jr. his mother, Mary Talbot Lee, announced that she would never let an “outsider” preside over a Lee estate, and forbade the young people the use of “Ravensworth.” In the two years of her widowhood before the death of Mary Tabb Lee, she signed deeds and papers jointly with her mother-in-law and brother-in-law. This fact was relied upon during the trial as an acknowledgement of the Lees that she had a right to the property.

 Immediately after the death of his mother, however, Dr. George Bolling Lee brought suit against his brother’s widow, claiming that she was an intruder and without equity in the estate. He secured injunctions keeping her from securing a share in the $40,000 Richmond lease or from entering “Ravensworth” or other parts 6f the estate.

 The decision of Judge Brent, which will be appealed, gives Mrs. Lee half of the entire W. H. F. Lee estate, a partition to be made later. This property cannot be sold, but can be leased or used in any way by her until her death, when, under the terms of her husband’s will, it all goes to George Bolling Lee.

-Virginia Star(Culpeper),  3 June 1926

Settlement of Litigation Over Estate of General W. H. F. Lee.

 R. M. Lynn, Virginia correspondent at Washington, wrote Thursday: Settlement of the litigation over ;the estate of the late General W. H. F. “Rooney” Lee outside of court has been effected, it was learned today, and deeds necessary to carry out the terms of the agreement have been prepared. A formal decree is in the hands of Judge Samuel G. Brent, of the circuit court of Fairfax county, embodying the settlement. This is expected to be entered at any time.

 Mrs. Mary M. Lee, widow of Colonel Robert E. Lee, Jr., conveys her interest in the home place, “Ravensworth,” Fairfax county; in the other historic place, “White House,” New Kent county; and in the family heirlooms. Dr. Bolling Lee in consideration of these conveyances, paid over to Mrs. Lee, his brother’s widow, the sum of $30,000.

 Mrs. Lee retains her interest in the valuable real' estate in Richmond, known as the Thalhimer property, situated at Sixth and Broad streets.

 The Lee heirlooms and the Lee country estates in Fairfax and New Kent are now the exclusive properties of Dr. Bolling Lee, “Ravensworth” has been in the family since the original grant to William Fitzhugh by Lord Culpeper in 1688. The estate known as “White House” in New Kent was owned by the widow Custis who married George Washington, and it was here that the wedding supper took place in celebration of that marriage.

 Litigation commenced in 1924, upon the death of Mrs. Mary Tabb Lee, widow of General Rooney Lee, who died in 1891.

 The mansion at “Ravensworth,” built a century and a half ago, burned at night several months ago, together with some of the furniture and furnishings. Insurance of $40,000 on house and contents covered the losses in part. Mrs. Mary M. Lee lives at her home at 1733 Riggs place, Washington, which her husband left her. She has the “Mount Vernon” silver and the “Lee” silver so long as she lives, and at her death it becomes the property of Dr. Bolling Lee, under the terms of her husband’s will.

-Rockbridge County News,  4 November 1926

General W. H. F. “Rooney” Lee inherited the White House property in 1858 at the death of his grand-father George Washington Parke Custis. After the war Rooney Lee live and farmed at the White House until inheriting Ravensworth in 1873. 

Interestingly the mansion at Ravensworth burned  a few months before this article. Chestnut Grove in New Kent, the birthplace of Martha Washington, the great-grandmother of Rooney Lee,  burned to the ground the day before the above article was published.

Dr. Bolling Lee stayed involved New Kent cultural affairs throughout his life including presiding over the dedication of the Confederate Monument on the old New Kent Courthouse lawn.

Chestnut Grove - 1926

 

                           HISTORIC MANSION PREY OF FLAMES

                      "Chestnut Grove" Was Birthplace of Martha Washington

                                          (Special to The Times-Dispatch)

WEST POINT, VA., Nov. 5- "Chestnut Grove," the birthplace of Martha Custis Washington, burned to the ground on Wednesday night. This beautiful old home was possible the oldest in this section of the country and was beautifully situated in a terraced garden on the banks of the Pamunkey River in New Kent County.

 The estate is owned by Miss Ione Smith of Newport News, great-granddaughter of Colonel R. P. Cook, who purchased the home in the early part of the nineteenth century and lived there until his death. The late O. M. Chandler, who died last August, and family lived there until a few years before his death. Mrs. Chandler was Colonel Cook's grandmother*.

 Chestnut Grove was for years a center of hospitality in New Kent County and is a great loss not only to the family, but to the community at large. The furnishings of the home, mostly antique furniture of rare design, were also destroyed with the house.

 The origin of the fire is undetermined.

-Richmond Times-Dispatch, November 6, 1926

*No, granddaughter. And also Colonel Cook was married to a Chandler, Sarah.

Ione Smith was only 15 at this time.

The picture below, by Eva Harnsberger, is part of the WPA Federal Art Project files at the Library of Virginia. The drawing was in the 1930s however, after the destruction of the house.

Chestnut Grove - 1906

 

This rather blurry photo is from the article

     BIRTHPLACE OF MRS. WASHINGTON

     Chestnut Grove the Childhood Home of Martha Dandridge.

    WAS BULIT IN THE LONG AGO

      No One Living Has Any Record of the Date of the Erection.

 

                                              (Special to The Times-Dispatch.)

 WEST POINT, VA., May 10.- Chestnut Grove, the birthplace of Martha Dandridge, who married first Daniel Parks Custis and then Colonel George Washington, is only a short Journey from West Point. It is situated in New Kent county, about five miles from the county seat, on the banks of the Pamunkey River. The old mansion, in which Mrs. Washington first saw the light, is standing to-day, and by the nails, lumber and style of construction, extreme age is attested.

 Colonel R. P. Cook, who was born in New Kent, near Chestnut Grove (the Dandridge homestead), October 10, 1813, and who purchased the property and lived on it fifty years, said that his grandmother, who was Miss Ann K. Chamberlayne, sister of General William Chamberlayne, and a schoolmate of Martha Dandridge (Mrs. General Washington), told him that she did not know when the house was built, and had no acquaintance with any one who did know.

 The building is a two-story frame structure, the walls, resting on a brick basement which is five feet below the surface of the ground and four feet above ground, are eighteen (18) inches thick, save it the bases of the two chimneys, each of which is 5x6 feet, with an arch in the basement six feet high, 4 feet wide and five feet deep.

 The lumber in the frame is white oak; the doors and window castings are of popular, and the weather boarding is of heart-pine. The nails were originally all hand-made. Several years ago it was found necessary to replace many of the nails, for the sake of safety, as so many have had been drawn out and taken away as souvenirs or relics by tourists.

 The length of the basement walls is fifty-eight feet, width 22 feet, and many sumptuous banquets have boon served therein.

 The rooms on the first floor are ten feet high twenty feet wide, and eighteen feet long.

 The reception hall is twelve by twenty feet. On the place is a large burying ground, containing the graves of the Dandridges and many noted people of long ago. A large vault remained there for many years, built of imported brick. The bricks were afterwards used to build a chimney. On the site of the vault thousands, of walnut trees sprung up, and many canes and other souvenirs have been cut and fashioned and carried away by relic hunters.

 The place is now owned by Mrs. M. C. Smith, of Newport News, and is occupied by Mr. O. M. Chandler and family, Mrs. Chandler is a daughter of Mrs. Smith. 

The house fronts north to the Pamunkey River, and also fronts to the south. Sloping from the house to the river is a terraced garden, filled with many beautiful flowers and old-timey shrubs, among others the calacanthus, with its delicious fragrance. Out in the river, in front of the house, is a small island, known as "Cook's Island." During the Civil War, gun boats were sunk on either side of the island to block the course to Richmond.

 The name Chestnut Grove was given on account of the many fine chestnut trees abounding on the farm.

 While Martha Dandridge was the wife of Daniel Parke Custis she lived at the White House, the site of which can be seen from the Southern Railroad, running between West Point and Richmond. Tradition says that the presidential mansion in Washington, D. C., was named from the home of Mrs. Custis, afterwards Mrs. Washington, wife of the first President of the United States.

 After Colonel Washington and Mrs. Custis were married, in 1759 they, lived at Mount Vernon until the revolution.

 Her neighbors, while she lived in New Kent, were of no mean sort, for among them were the Claibornes, Lewises, Webbs, Bassetts, Macons and many others whose names are still familiar in this section of Virginia.

 These, in substantial mansions of a former generation, lived in lordly manor and entertained with lavish hospitality. Many of the old buildings have decayed and disappeared, others are mere ruins, while a few have been preserved with zealous care and their hearth-stones still respond to the touch of old-fashioned customs.

 There was a time when homes in this section, resounded with mirth and pleasure, participated in by old and young, when noble sons and stately daughters spent much of their time in routs and balls, and the rafters of the ancient buildings echoed to the music and graceful steps of the "Minuet." "The visits of days" from house to house, the "dining outs," "parties." "fish fries," and "frolics" occupied their time to the exclusion of most other matters. 

                     . . .

-Times Dispatch, 20 May 1906

O. M. Chandler (1854-1926) was the long time county surveyor of New Kent. His wife Annie was the daughter of Richard Graves Smith and Margaret Cordelia Smith née Cook. Margaret Smith's father was the Colonel Richard P. Cook mentioned in the article. Colonel Cook purchased Chestnut Grove in 1840. His rank was from his position as commander of the 52nd Militia Regiment, the militia regiment of the upper Peninsula.