VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY
him by appointing him lieutenant of the
Tower, an act which at once caused the most
intense excitement all over the country. It
was at the time when the struggle between the
King and commons was rapidly drawing to a
crises, and every royal act was scrutinized
v.ith hostile eyes. The placing of a man,
whose youth had been anything but exemplary,
was seized upon by the excited popular imagi-
nation and exaggerated beyond the bounds of
reason. He was accused of every crime of
oppression, of plotting against the people's
and was even believed to be a cannibal who
ate children. That Lunsford's sympathies
were entirely royalist, that he was a resolute
and dangerous enemy of the parliament in the
civil wars, was later abundantly proven, and
it seems quite possible that he was even vio-
lent towards those who opposed him ; but the
popular belief was undoubtedly quite with-
out foundation, and merely one of those ex-
travagances which the heated feelings of such
a time give rise to. Lunsford took an active
part in the wars which shook England, and
was unusually successful in the field. He was
thrice captured and twice released, though on
each occasion he resolutely declared his allegi-
ance to the King. The manner of his regain-
ing his freedom for the third time is not
known, but he was at liberty before June 29,
1648, for there is a letter of that date from
him to the Prince of Wales. After the execu-
tion of the King, Lunsford, like so many of
his fellow cavaliers, sought refuge in Virginia,
which held out for the royal cause, and on
Aug. 7, 1649, ^^ received a pass for himself
and family to the new home across the water.
In Col. Norwood's account of his own voyage
to Virginia, he relates finding at Capt. Worm-
ley's, several friends and brother officers who,
a short time before, had come from England.
They were Cols. Philip Honeywood, Main-
waring Hammond, Sir Henry Chicheley and
Sir Thomas Lunsford. In Oct., 1650, he re-
ceived a patent for 3423 acres of land on the
Rappahannock river. When Virginia was
threatened with an invasion by the parlia-
mentary forces from England, Gov. Berkeley
did not overlook so distinguished a soldier as
Lunsford, who accordingly appears in a list
of councillors present on Nov. 6, 165 1, as Sir
Thomas Lunsford, lieutenant-general. He of
course retired from the council on the
colony's surrender to parliament. His death
must have occurred about 1653, as there is, in
that year, an order among the English records,
appointing a guardian for his three daughters.
By his third wife, whom he married in \'ir-
ginia, he had a daughter Catherine, who mar-
ried Hon. Ralph Wormeley, Esq., secretary of
state, and from this marriage Sir Thomas has
many descendants in Virginia.
Lee, Richard, wdio was honored in being the progenitor of the distinguished Lee family of Virginia, was descended from the Coton branch of the Shropshire Lees, one of the old- est families in England, their ancestry being traceable for some 750 years. "Colonel Rich- ard Lee, Secretary of State in Virginia, anno 1659," was described by a descendant as "of good stature, comely visage, an enterprising genius, a sound head, vigorous spirit and gen- erous nature." His first home in Virginia was in York county, where on Aug. 10, 1642, he was granted i,ocxd acres of land. There is a tradition to the efifect that Col. Lee was accompanied to Virginia by a brother Robert, who also settled in York, but whether or not this is true, or whether the other families of Lee in Virginia were in any way related to the councillor, cannot be proven. The first
