Lee family
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| Current region | Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, United States |
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| Place of origin | England |
| Members | Robert E. Lee, Henry Lee III, Richard Henry Lee, etc. |
The Lee family of the United States is a historically significant Virginia and Maryland political family, whose many prominent members are known for their accomplishments in politics and the military. The family became prominent in colonial America when Richard Lee I ("The Immigrant") immigrated to Virginia in 1639 and made his fortune in tobacco.
Members of the family include Thomas Lee (1690–1750), a founder of the Ohio Company and a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses; Francis Lightfoot Lee (1734–1797) and Richard Henry Lee (1732–1794), signers of the United States Declaration of Independence; Thomas Sim Lee (1745–1819), Governor of Maryland and, most famous, General Robert E. Lee (1807–1870) Confederate States of America commander in the American Civil War. President Zachary Taylor and Chief Justice Edward Douglass White were also descendants of Richard Lee I. Confederate President Jefferson Davis married Sarah Knox Taylor, daughter of Zachary Taylor.
Most recently, family members have marked over two hundred years of political service in the United States, as Blair Lee III, a descendant of Richard Henry Lee, served as Lieutenant Governor of Maryland from 1971–1979 and Acting Governor of Maryland from 1978–1979. Charles Carter Lee, a descendant of Henry Lee III and a Superior Court Judge in Los Angeles County, was named the U.S. team's Chef de Mission by the United States Olympic Committee for the Beijing Olympics. The Lee Family of Virginia is also related to the Lee–Hamblin family of the American West through Richard Lee II.
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