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1753-1756 Record Book #3; Northumberland Co Va, (Lewis & Booker): Page 183
Peachey, Judith
W. W. 17 December 1754---W. P. 10 February 1755
All my estate both real and personal to be equally divided among all my children.
Mr. Samuel Blackwell and my son Kendal Lee executors.
Witness: Betty Conway, Kendal Lee, Lucy Smith and Ann Ker.
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http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=6958&id=I29175
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THE LOST CHILD OF RICHARD LEE OF DITCHLEY
Re: Lucy Lee who married Baldwin Matthews Smith
By Mrs. Merillat Moses*
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~lelandva/lucylee2.html
After Richard Lee died in 1735 his widow remained in that status until 1749, when she undertook a "Marriage Agreement with one Samuel Peachey, Gent.". dated February 16, 1749/40(50).27 This document was proved by "Jno. Leland, Kendall Lee and Lucy Lee, witnesses." Captain Samuel Peachey came of an outstanding family of Richmond County and had previously been the husband of Winifred Griffin, who was the mother of all his children except one, Elizabeth, she being the product of his first marriage to Katherine McCarty, daughter of Captain Daniel McCarty (Westmoreland Deeds and Wills, No. 7, folios 256-261, dated November 9, 1721). In "Richmond County Marriages (1668-1852)" by Mr. George N.S. King, published in 1964, the author gives some corrections concerning the various marriages of Captain Samuel Peachey, going on to state on page 144 of his book that Captain Samuel Peachey married thirdly "Judith Lee, widow of Richard Lee, Gent. (1691-1735) of Northumberland County, both of whom died testate there, but only the Will of Mrs. Peachey remains on record." Mr. King gives the nearest death date for Captain Peachey as October 2, 1750.
Now I wish to call attention to the Marriage Agreement of Judith Lee and Captain Samuel Peachey of 1749. The two witnesses of this document with whom we are most concerned were her son Kendall Lee, with whom she was undoubtedly living, and one Lucy Lee. Now the Lees were extraordinarily fond of having their own family members as witnesses to family documents. Add to this, the fact that Lucy Lee, as an unmarried daughter, would be at home with her mother. This first appearance of a Lucy Lee, with Judith Lee's son Kendall, makes one wonder, as this was a most personal document.
Then again, the Will of Judith Peachey, dated December 17, 1754 and proved on February 10, 1755, is of great interest. "Debts to be paid. Rest of estate to be equally divided between children. Mr. Samuel Blackwell and my son Kendall, Ex. Witnesses: Betty Conway, Kendall Lee, Lucy Smith and Anne Kerr." Of these four witnesses, three have been proven to be children of Judith Lee Peachey. It is my conclusion that she would not have called upon a fourth person, who was not a member of the family, to witness such a personal document as her last Will, in as much as she already had three witnesses who were her children. It is my belief that this Lucy Smith is the same person who witnesses her mother's Marriage Agreement to Captain Samuel Peachey as "Lucy Lee." In the space if time between 1749 and 1754, she had married a Smith. She is undoubtedly the seventh and last child.
At this point it should be stated that all this controversy over the "lost child" would not probably have arisen, if there were not a "gap" in the marriage records of the county of Northumberland. These marriage records are published in volume 47 of the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, page 41, as a compilation of the "Clerk's Fees for Licenses Issued." I have personally examined these Fee Books for the period involved and find there is, in truth, a gap from "Joseph Blackwell and Lucy Steptoe, January 1745" to the next entry of "Henry Berry and Winifred Haynie, March, 1756." This gap includes the dates of marriage of several of Richard Lee's daughters, including the marriage of Lucy Lee, which occurred between 1749 and 1755.
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Early Colonial Settlers of Southern Maryland and Virginia's Northern Neck Counties
1702 - 1755 (52 years)