Col. John Lee (1788-1871)
of "Needwood" Frederick County; U.S. Representative from Maryland
He was born at "Needwood" Frederick County, Maryland. He graduated from Harvard, studied law, and served as a Colonel in the U.S. Army during the War of 1812. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for Maryland (1823-25), the Maryland Senate (1837) and the Maryland House of Delegates (1852-53). He was Chairman of the Committee appointed to escort the Marquis de Lafayette from Frederick City to Washington D.C., when it was said of him, "he was then thirty-seven years of age and one of the most elegant men in America... Colonel Lee was a most delightful companion; his conversational powers were of the first order - his memory strong and accurate... In his religion he was a Roman Catholic... A native of the South, there was no provincialism in his composition". He was a pioneer proponent of both the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. He eventually sold Needwood to his brother-in-law, U.S. Senator Outerbridge Horsey, and moved to Washington D.C. In 1832, he married Harriet, daughter of Charles Carroll of Homewood and had 4-children (listed).
