Mary Anna Custis Lee | |
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| Born | Mary Anna Randolph Custis October 1, 1807 |
| Died | November 5, 1873 (aged 66) Lexington, Virginia, U.S. |
| Resting place | University Chapel Washington and Lee University Lexington, Virginia, U.S. |
| Notable work | Recollections and Private Memoirs of Washington, by his Adopted Son George Washington Parke Custis, with a Memoir of this Author by his Daughter (1859) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | |
| Parents | |
| Relatives | Martha Washington (great-grandmother) |
Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee (October 1, 1807 – November 5, 1873) was the wife of the Confederate general Robert E. Lee and the last private owner of Arlington Estate. She was the daughter of George Washington Parke Custis who was the grandson of Martha Washington, the wife of George Washington. Lee was a highly educated woman, who edited and published her father's writings after his death.
Mary married Robert E. Lee in 1831 at her parents' home, Arlington House in Virginia. The couple had seven children. Although she sometimes lived with Lee when he was assigned elsewhere, she preferred to reside at Arlington House with her parents. Robert E. Lee resigned from his commission with the U.S. Army to serve his home state of Virginia during the American Civil War; he eventually commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.[1]
Mary Lee was separated from her husband for the majority of the war, and she and her children were forced to stay with various family friends to avoid for the majority of the war. She was never able to return to Arlington House, as it was seized by the United States federal government at the end of the war. After the war, Robert E. Lee became the president of Washington College, and died in 1870. Mary Lee died three years later 1873.
- ^ Perry, John. Mrs. Robert E. Lee : The Lady of Arlington. Multnomah Publishers, 2003. ISBN 1-59052-137-4.