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ROBERT LEE (d. aft. 1662)
MARY UNKNOWN (d. aft. 1650)
Robert Lee died after 6 August 1662.
Mary Unknown died after 27 April 1650.
Apparently Robert or Mary was the sibling of Anne Atwood, wife of John Atwood, the Assistant, formerly of London. The maiden name of John Atwood's wife is unknown, so it is not clear whether Anne Atwood was Anne (Lee) Atwood or whether Mary (__) Lee and Anne (__) Atwood were sisters. It is also possible that Anne was a half-sister of Robert or Mary or even a stepsister.
Robert was a shoemaker.
Robert Lee was made a freeman in Plymouth on 3 January 1636. [RPC, 1:48] He was on the grand enquest on 2 June 1646. [RPC, 2: 102] He is in the Plymouth section of the 1643 list of those able to bear arms in Plymouth Colony. [PR5] He was on a trial jury on 3 March 1644/5. [RP6] He was appointed to a coroner's jury to investigate the death of Alice Bishop's child on 22 July 1648. The 1 August 1648 court heard its report that the girl was killed by her mother. [RPC, 2: 132]
On 6 August 1662 Mr. Robert Lee, shoemaker of Plymouth, acknowledged his sale to Edward Gray of land in Plymouth that he held as a townsman of Plymouth. [DDD]
Mr. John Atwood, gentleman, made his will on 20 October 1643. [AAA]
For my Brethren God hath blessed them that they may be as well to give to me as I to them, and for their children they may be many, I do here give & bequeath them greate and smale young and old male and female which were borne before the date of these presents twelve pence apiece if demanded, and for my little kinsman Wm. Crowe & my Brother and sister Lee and their two children Ann & Mary I leave them to the will of my wyfe to deale with them as shall seem good toher and I do therefore ordain my loving wife Anne Atwood to be my sole Executrix for whom I will and bequeath all the rest of my estate.
Mistress Ann Atwood, the widow of John Atwood, made her will on 27 April 1650. In it she notes: [PCW]
Imprimis wheras I have a brother and sister now liveing in New Plym: aforsaid namely Robert and Mary Lee unto whom both my selfe and my Deceased husband have formerly showed what healp and kindes wee Could I Doe therfore onely gie and bequeath unto them and theire Children twelvepence a peece if they shall Demaund it.
Children of Robert and Mary Lee:
i. Anne Lee might have married Samuel Sturtevant, Sr. [EWG]
i. Mary Lee married John Howland.
Endnotes:
RPC. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, Records of Plymouth Colony: Court Orders, vol. 1, 1633–1640, vol. 2, 1641–1651, vol. 3, 1651–1661, vol. 4, 1661–1668, vol. 5, 1668–1678, vol. 6, 1678–1691 (Boston: William White, 1855, 1866).
RP5. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, Records of Plymouth Colony: Court Orders, Miscellaneous Records, 1633–1689 (Boston: William White, 1857), 187.
RP6. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, Records of Plymouth Colony: Court Orders, Judicial Acts, 1636–1692 (Boston: William White, 1857), 40.
DDD. "Plymouth Colony Deeds," Mayflower Descendant 17 (1915): 169.
EWG. Eldon W. Gay, "Experience (Howland?), Wife of James Bearse of Barnstable and Plympton, Massachusetts," The American Genealogist 88 (2016): 31–36.
AAA. Justin Winsor, "Abstracts of the Earliest Wills in the Probate Office, Plymouth," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 4 (1850): 173–4.
PCW. "Plymouth Colony Wills and Inventories," Mayflower Descendant 11 (1909): 200.
Last revised: 28-Dec-2023