Kendall Lee - Lee And Harrison Families

6/12/2022 at 6:10 PM

I have both as ancestors. Harrisons from Kendal a Thomas 1440 that I can trace through the years to Benjamin Harrison the President born 1594 from Northampton. My Lee family in Kendal I have only just started on. I can see that Lee family go way back in Shropshire, but maybe one Lee did branch from Kendal because why is one named Kendall Lee a direct relation to Richard the Immigrant who actually came from Worcester not too far from Westmorland UK, and why did they name Westmorland County in the USA. So many questions? Also the Thomas Harrison 1440 married Mary Blackwell. That is very remote as years later, but a coincidence anyway with Judith Lee marrying General Blackwell.
Just a theory at present.
Cheers,
Diane Penberthy from Western Australia

Private User

6/12/2022 at 7:03 PM

In the case of the Lees of Virginia (Ditchley branch), the answer goes back to the Eastern Shore. Hancock Lee I's first wife was Mary Kendall, daughter of Col. William Kendall, a big noise in that relatively small pond. (She was also this Kendall Lee's grandmother.)

If you think Worcester, England, is anywhere near Westmorland, you need to consult a map. Westmorland was way Oop North, tucked in under Cumberland (they wound up being combined as Cumbria). As for people naming Virginia counties after counties in England, that had been going on since 1636, when New Horfolk County was split off fro Elizabeth City Shire. The first actual naming without a "New" started on the Eastern Shore, with Northampton County (and it's a safe bet that Obedience Robins, a Northamptonshire man, had something to do with the choice of name). Northumberland (on the mainland and *not* to be confused with Northampton) was next in 1645, then Gloucester and Lancaster in 1651, Westmoreland in 1653, etc.

Private User

6/12/2022 at 7:14 PM

when New Norfolk County was split off from Elizabeth City Shire -please excuse typos.

Kendall Lee - Lee And Harrison Families

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