Samuel Lee

Samuel died at the height of the American Revolution at the age of 23, so it is plausible that Samuel's death was caused by this conflict. Making this more likely is that his brother Ezra is known to have served with distinction, recognized for his valor by General George Washington himself. Samuel's brother-in-law was Major General Samuel H. Parsons [claimed in Wikipedia's article about Ezra], 1737 - 1789, a commander under Generals Washington and Putnam. In 1774 Parsons had been the first to propose the idea of a Continental Congress.

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Two Revolutionary War battles were in New England, and in sufficient proximity to December 7, 1780, that, if Samuel died as a result of battle wounds, one of these battles might have been the scene of Samuel Lee's final action:

1 - The Battle of Fort St. George (or Fort George) was the culmination of a Continental Army raiding expedition led by Benjamin Tallmadge against a fortified Loyalist outpost and storage depot at the Manor St. George on the south coast of Long Island on November 23, 1780, during the American Revolutionary War. Tallmadge's raid was successful; the garrison was surprised, and many provisions and prisoners were taken.

2 - The Battle of Klock's Field, also called the Battle of Failing's Orchard; and occasionally as the Battle of Nellis Flatts, was an encounter between Albany County, New York militia and a British-supported expedition of Indians and Loyalist led by Lieutenant Colonel Sir John Johnson and Captain Joseph Brant. On October 19, 1780, Johnson and Brant's army of Indians and Loyalists — consisting of units from the King's Royal Regiment of New York, Butler's Rangers, and Brant's Volunteers destroyed homes and farm buildings in the area of modern Palatine Township (then known as Stone Arabia), in Montgomery County, New York, from the Anthony's Nose to just west of the modern village of Saint Johnsville. Earlier in the day, Sir John had persuaded[clarification needed] Patriot [hereafter called Rebel] Colonel John Brown of the Bay State Levies stationed at Fort Keyser, about one mile (1.6 km) south of Stone Arabia, to march to his death in an ambush. Battle Late in the day Brigadier General Robert Van Rensselaer, commanding units of the rebel militia from central Albany County, New York and New York State Levies under the command of Colonels John Harper and Lewis DuBois, caught up with Johnson on a farm owned by George Klock in the easternmost portion of Lot 16 of the Francis Harrison Patent. A running battle ensued which lasted until the Loyalist forces were outflanked by the left column of Van Rensselaer's force on the flatts of George Klock's farm on Lot 17 of the Harrison Patent just to the south of the modern rock quarries of Hanson Aggregates about one and a half miles (2.4 km) west of Saint Johnsville. The fighting continued quite briskly until it became painfully apparent to General Van Rensselaer that his right and left flanks were firing upon one another and the General ordered his men to retreat to the house of George Klock near Timmerman's Mill where they could finally be properly victualed and rested after having been on the march and in battle for approximately 26 hours with only a couple of hours rest. Becoming aware of Van Rensselaer's cease-fire, Sir John and Brant ordered their men to cross the Mohawk River at King Hendrick's Ford to avoid the necessity of approaching either Fort House on the west bank of the East Canada Creek or Fort Windecker [formerly known as Fort Hendrick] immediately opposite. During their precipitous escape Johnson's men were forced to abandon their cannon, their baggage, and most of the prisoners they had captured earlier.

Source: Wikipedia.

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Katharine Manierre (Newbury) (1878 - 1973) claimed (c.1907) that Samuel Lee (1756 - 1780) was directly descended from Thomas Lee of East Lyme, Connecticut (1639 - 1704).

The house of Thomas Lee (1639-1704) in East Lyme, Connecticut, was built in 1660, and has been maintained as a museum since at least the early 20th century. Samuel Lee (1756 - 1780, husband of Rachel Lee (Thompson)) is descended from Thomas.

Following is a text about Thomas Lee written by East Lyme Town Historian, Wilbur Beckwith (downloaded 2011 from http://www.eastlymehistoricalsociety.org/index_files/Page337.htm):

"Ensign Thomas Lee II was born in 1639 and baptized September 29, 1644 in Rusper, Sussex County, England. He was the son of Thomas Lee I and his wife Phoebe Brown Lee. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Lee and their three children Jane, Sarah, and Thomas II left England in 1645 for America together with Phoebe’s father William Brown. The senior Thomas Lee died of small pox during the crossing. The widow Phoebe married two more times. First to Greenleaf Larabee and was the mother of five children: Greenfield, John, Elizabeth, Joseph, and Sarah Larabee. Sarah, the half sister of Thomas II, was the grandmother of the diarist Joshua Hempstead. Phoebe married again to a man named Cornish and had two more children, James Cornish and a stillborn. She died in childbirth at Northampton, Massachusetts in 1664. William Brown, his daughter the widow Phoebe Lee, and her children arrived in Saybrook in 1645. According to Glimpses of Saybrook in Colonial Days, by Harriet Chapman Chesebrough “Their afflicted and distressed condition commended to the sympathies of those at the fort and Thomas II was particularly cared for by Matthew Griswold, and followed him to Lyme, where in later years he became a prominent citizen and received on arriving his majority a grant of land on the East side of the river”. A Saybrook 1650 division land lists Thomas Lee (then about age 11) as a grantee. No documentation of the grant details has been found. A close relationship between the Lee and the Griswold families continued throughout the colonial period. About 1670 Thomas Lee II married Sarah Kirtland, daughter of Nathaniel Kirtland of Lynn, Massachusetts. It is probable that the first stage of the Lee house was built at this time.

"Thomas and Sarah were the parents of three children, John, who wrote the “Dying Charge”, Thomas III (Mr. Justice Lee), and Sarah. His wife Sarah died May 21, 1676 leaving him with three young children. He soon married a second time on July 13, 1676 to Marah Dewolfe. There were eleven more children, four of whom died in childhood."

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See the profile for Thomas Lee (1644 - 1704), son of Thomas Lee and Phoebe Browne, husband of Sarah Kirtland, father of John Lee; profile managed in Jan. 2011 by Peter Dutton, Jr., at
Ensign Thomas Lee, II

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