John Lee, Sr.

John Lee (Lies, Lyes) was born 1590 in England, and christened 12 Jul 1590 at Saint Helen, Worcester, Worcestershire, England. His father's name was given on the (transcribed?) record as John Lyes. He died 23 Feb 1629/30 in Worcester, Worcestershire, England. Burial: 23 Feb 1630, St Martin parish, Worcestershire, England.

He married Jane Hancock Bef. 1616, daughter of Edward Hancock and Alice Jeffries. She was born 1590 in England, and died 24 Feb 1637/38 in Worcester, Worcestershire, England.

Children of John Lee and Jane Hancock are:

• 1) John christened 19 Sep. 1616, Vintner's Guide of London shows that John, son of John Lea of Worcester, clothier, bond to Wm. Hancock ( his uncle ) on 02 Apr. 1633, John Lee Jr., died in London; his burial in London is listed under Lyes.
• 2) Richard chr. 22 Mar. 1617/18.
• 3) Edward chr. 30 Aug. 1620, bur. 21 Apr. 1624.
• 4) Thomas chr. 29 May 1622, living in 1640, no further information.

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John was a clothier.

Jane Lee m. 2nd. in St. Martin's Parish on 29 Jul. 1632 to John Maninge/Manning, he d. 1633. Jane ( Hancock/Lee ) Mannings will probated 26 Mar. 1639/40 in St. Martin's Parish, Worcester, names eldest sone John Lyes, sone Richard and youngest sone Thomas, brother Thomas Hancock exe. and assisted by ' my brother ' Walter Hemings ( sister m. Richard Lee, bro. of John), Rich'd Lyes ( bro. of John ) and Thomas Savage ( m. Mary Hancock, Jane's sister ). Jane's will was prob. 26 Mar 1639, Worcester Consistory Court 1639, No. 147, transcribed from the British film collection, Film 098. 058.

Notes for John Lee: In 1988 William Thorndale published an article (National Genealogical Society Quarterly, 76-4, pp 253-267) proposing an hypothesis for the parentage of the emigrant, Col. Richard Lee, which had been sought off and on for more than two hundred years. According to Thorndale, he had been christened 22 March 1617/8 at St. Martins Parish in the city of Worcester, the son of John Lee (sometimes Lees or Leys) (1590-1629/30), a member of the Clothiers' Company (i.e., manufacturers of woolen cloth) and Jane Hancock, his wife.Subsequently, Thomas Woodcock, Somerset Herald at the College of Arms, was engaged by David Halle (Genealogist of the Society of the Lees of Virginia at the time) to try to find further confirmation of this deduction. Although failing in this, Mr. Woodcock did develop the strong probability that this John Lee (1590-1629/30) was the son of an earlier John Lees (ca.1566-1597), weaver, of Worcester.

How Thorndale arrived at his conclusions is unknown, as he did not report in detail on his methodology. It is suspected that he spent extensive amounts of time at a Latter-Day Saints Family History Library poring over microfilms and microfiches until he had compiled enough data to satisfy him. There is some reason to doubt his conclusions, not least because the name "Lyes", which is the most frequent form under which the records were found, is not pronounced like "Lee", but rather like "Lies". (Hat tip to Alan Nicholls, in “Collections for the Ancestry of Colonel Richard Lee, Virginia Emigrant", for pointing this out. Nicholls, incidentally, came to quite different conclusions.)

Information per Nicholls (Pages 174 middle, 170 bottom)

For John (son of John) Lyes/Lies/Lee (1590-1630)
13 Feb 1615/16 John Lyes and Jane Hancox married, Worcester St Andrews

Baptismal records for their four sons are all from Worcester St Martin:
19 Feb 1616 John the son of John Lies was baptized
22 Mar 1617 (1618) Richardus, filius Johaness Lyes baptizadus (recorded in Latin)
30 Aug 1620 Edwardus, filius John Lies baptizadus (recorded in Latin)
29 May 1622 Thomas the son of John Lyes, Baptized
21 Apr 1624 Ed the son of John Lies bur.

References

• Ancestry.com. England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Original data: England, Births and Christenings, 1538-1975. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013. <AncestryImage> Name: John Lyes Gender: Male Baptism Date: 12 Jul 1590 Baptism Place: Saint Helen, Worcester, Worcester, England Father: John Lyes FHL Film Number: 354311
• Calendar of wills and administrations in the Consistory Court of the bishop of Worcester. John Lyes/Lee 1630. Inventory of his goods taken by Lancelot Cave and Christopher Barnackle, 2 March 1629/30 (reference: Worcester Consistory Court 1630, #99). Page 137. <AncestryImage> Will of Jane Hancock Manning probated 26 March 1639 (reference: Worcester Consistory Court 1639, #147). Page 170. <AncestryImage>
• https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/lee/10627/
• Nicholls, Andrew James (2011). “Collections for the ancestry of Colonel Richard Lee, Virginia emigrant.” Hay on Wye, Hereford, Eng: Alan James Nicholls. <GoogleBooks>
• “A genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry of Great Britain & Ireland (1894) Vol. 2 Pg. 1165” (not listed)