Lettice Lee

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American colonial society hostess

title: "Lettice Lee" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1731-births", "1776-deaths", "18th-century-owners-of-plantations-in-the-thirteen-colonies", "american-socialites", "18th-century-american-women-landowners", "lee-family-(virginia)", "women-slave-owners", "owners-of-plantations-in-colonial-maryland", "slave-owners-from-maryland"] description: "American colonial society hostess" topic_path: "people/1730s" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lettice_Lee" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American colonial society hostess ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Lettice Lee
image	Mrs. James Wardrop (Lettice Lee).jpg
caption	1750 Portrait of Lee by John Wollaston
birth_name	Laetitia Lee
birth_date	1731
birth_place	Prince George's County, Colony of Maryland, British Empire
death_date	April 3, 1776
death_place	Prince George's County, Maryland, U.S.
resting_place	Darnall's Chance
parents	Philip Lee Sr.
Elizabeth Fowke
spouse	{{plainlist
relatives	Lee family
::

| name = Lettice Lee | image = Mrs. James Wardrop (Lettice Lee).jpg | caption = 1750 Portrait of Lee by John Wollaston | birth_name = Laetitia Lee | birth_date = 1731 | birth_place = Prince George's County, Colony of Maryland, British Empire | death_date = April 3, 1776 | death_place = Prince George's County, Maryland, U.S. | resting_place = Darnall's Chance | parents = Philip Lee Sr. Elizabeth Fowke | spouse = {{plainlist|

James Wardrop
Adam Thompson
Joseph Sim | children = | relatives = Lee family | other_names = | education =

Laetitia "Lettice" Lee, also known as ** Lettice Lee Wardrop Thompson Sim**, (1731 – April 3, 1776) was an American colonial planter, society hostess, slaveowner, and châtelaine of Darnall's Chance. A member of the prominent Lee family of Virginia and Maryland, she lived a privileged life typical for members of the planter class. Unusual for her time, Lee was married three times; first to James Wardrop, then Adam Thompson, and lastly to Colonel Joseph Sim. She lived at Darnall's Chance for the second half of her life, throughout all three of her marriages.

Biography

Lee was born in Prince George's County, Maryland in 1731. She was the daughter of Philip Lee Sr., the progenitor of the Maryland branch of the Lee family, and Elizabeth, widow of Henry Sewell. A member of the American gentry, she was a granddaughter of Colonel Richard Lee II, a Virginian planter and politician, and his wife, Laetitia Corbin Lee, and a great-granddaughter of Richard Lee I, who immigrated to the Colony of Virginia from Shropshire, England, and Henry Corbin, one of the most influential politicians in the colony.

In 1748 she married James Wardrop, a Scottish immigrant who made a fortune as a merchant in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. The plantation included a large brick house, outbuildings, orchards, an ornamental garden, and a farm for livestock. They enslaved thirty-two people on their plantation, including house slaves, craftsmen, and field hands. Lee lived at Darnall's Chance for almost thirty years.

She was described by George Washington as "this fair lady".

Following her husband's death in 1760, Lee married a second time to Dr. Adam Thompson, a Scottish physician who created the American Method of smallpox inoculation. After the death of her second husband, she married a third time to Colonel Joseph Sim.

Lee died on April 3, 1776. Her grave had been discovered on the grounds of the plantation seventeen years prior.

References

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