Richard Henry Lee was from a Welsh family, as, in fact, were all the Lees of that period. He was born in 1732, educated in England, and after his return to America in 1757 was elected a member of the House of Burgesses.
He was elected to the Continental Congress in 1774, and in July, 1776, he had the honor to offer the resolution declaring the colonies free and independent. The day before the appointment of the committee to draft the Declaration, Mr. Lee was called away to the bedside of a sick wife, or he would doubtless have been appointed chairman. In 1773 he, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry had a serious consultation in the old Raleigh Tavern, at Williamsburg, Virginia, in respect to submitting a resolution to the Virginia House, recommending the appointment of a Committee of Vigilance and Correspondence, and expressing the hope that the other colonies would do the same. It was passed; and from that time the Revolution began to assume organic form, and prepared the way for 1776. Mr. Lee was United States Senator under the Constitution, which office he held with signal ability. He died June 14, 1794, in his sixty-second year.
Francis Henry Lightfoot Lee was of Welsh origin, and a signer. He was born in Virginia on the 10th of September, 1734. He was educated at home, and from 1765 to 1775 served his State as a member of the House of Burgesses. He died in April, 1797, in his sixty-third year.
Many of the facts given above concerning these signers are not found in their usual biographies, and therefore they are inserted here.
Robert Morris, who came to this country when a child, served an apprenticeship with a merchant, became a successful business man by his energy and integrity, and during the Revolution his fortune and unlimited commercial credit were superior to Congress itself. In the darkest days, when the army was unfed and unclothed, Washington could turn to his dear friend Robert Morris for help. He gave his immense means to his country, and died, in comparative poverty, in 1806, aged seventy-three years.
Gouverneur Morris, who wrote the first connected draft of the American Constitution, was a Welshman.
Among those who fought in the Revolution may be found a long list of Welsh by nativity or descent:
Generals.
Charles Lee,
Isaac Shelby,
Anthony Wayne,
Morgan Lewis,
William R. Davie,
Edward Stevens,
Richard Winn,
Daniel Morgan,
John Cadwallader,
Andrew Lewis,
Otho H. Williams,
John Thomas,
Joseph Williams,
James Reese.
Colonels.
David Humphreys,
Lambert Cadwallader,
Richard Howell,
Ethan Allen,
Henry Lee,
Thomas Marshall,
James Williams (killed at Bennington).
Captains.
John Marshall (afterwards Chief Justice),
Isaac Davis,
Anthony Morris,
Captain Rogers.
Besides these, there was a host of subordinate officers who could claim descent from the Welsh.
In the navy were Commodore Hopkins and others; and at a later period Commodores Rogers, Perry, Jacob Jones, and Ap Catesby Jones.