#38 - Power: Newton McAllister Lee

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks (2021-08)

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is a series of weekly prompts to get you to think about an ancestor and share something about them. The weekly prompt is provided by www.amyjohnsoncrow.com. The prompt for the week of February 21 is "Power." It took me some time to gather some research on the Davidson family line for Newton McAllister Lee.  

Tombstone of Newton M. Lee and Maria Jane Faris Lee.
Photo ©Edward R. Olsen 2014.

Back in 2014, I took this picture of his tombstone in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.  Doesn't this tall obelisk scream "Power?"  

The inscription on the monument reads:

Newton M. Lee

Born in Fleming Co. K.Y.

Oct. 2, 1819

Died at Richmond VA.

Sept. 1, 1888

Maria Jane Lee

Wife of 

Newton M. Lee, 

Born in  Fleming Co. K.Y.

Dec. 24, 1827,

Died at Richmond, VA.

Jan. 18, 1910

Then last May Newspapers.com had a weekend where you could access their newspaper archives for free.  So I accessed the Richmond Times Dispatch and obtained a copy of his obituary from September 2, 1886.

The image to the left shows Newton's obituary as outlined in red.  That is a pretty large obituary.  Since it's so long, I'm not going to transcribe the entire obituary.  But I do want to transcribe a portion.

He served as a member of the City Council, as a member of the House of Delegates, and was for four or five terms City Sergeant.  

Sounds like he was a man with plenty of power!  

So to prepare for this post, I started to do a little more research.  I wanted to find supporting documentation to verify the positions that were listed in his obituary.  What I found was that there was microfilm that contained a collection of letters for Newton.

A few weeks ago I went to the Library of Virginia to view the microfilm and see if I could find some supporting documentation.  Most of the documents were correspondence from when he was a real estate agent.  But one of the documents was on letterhead while Newton was City Sargeant.  

Cropped images of letterhead and closing salutation with Newton's signature.
Note the Deputy with the last name Lee...that is one of Newton's sons.

I was also able to find a book documenting the Virginia House of Delegates and was able to verify that he was a Delegate in 1865.  I apologize for the quality of the scans.  In the red box, the underlined name is N.M. Lee.  He doesn't appear in any other sessions of the General Assembly.

 

From the book "The General Assembly Of Virginia 1619-1978" in the Library of Virginia.

Based on the long obituary, Newton led a full life and I still have much more to research to find out more about him!

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How I'm "related" to Newton McAllister Lee: