Philip Richard Fendall I
Encyclopedia
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...
. He was a member of the Lee family
Lee family
The Lee family of the United States is a historically significant Virginia and Maryland political family, whose many prominent members are known for their accomplishments in politics and the military. Through the past few hundred years it was believed that Colonel Richard Lee of Virginia descended...
and a friend and business partner to George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
. Fendall constructed the Lee-Fendall House
Lee-Fendall House
The Lee-Fendall House is an urban plantation family home in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. Since its construction in 1785 the house has served as home to thirty-seven members of the Lee family , hundreds of convalescing Union soldiers , the prominent Downham family , and powerful labor leader John L...
on the corner of Washington and Oronoco Streets as a lasting home for his family.
Early life
Born on November 24, 1734 in Charles County, MarylandCharles County, Maryland
Charles County is a county in the south central portion of the U.S. state of Maryland.As of 2010, the population was 146,551. Its county seat is La Plata. This county was named for Charles Calvert , third Baron Baltimore....
, Philip Richard Fendall had a profound influence on the socioeconomic and political structure of Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...
society. As a banker, lawyer, and merchant, he was active in the financial and mercantile interplay of a thriving seaport community. Fendall was a member of the Maryland branch of the Lee family
Lee family
The Lee family of the United States is a historically significant Virginia and Maryland political family, whose many prominent members are known for their accomplishments in politics and the military. Through the past few hundred years it was believed that Colonel Richard Lee of Virginia descended...
. His mother, Eleanor Lee, was the daughter of Philip Lee, Sr.
Philip Lee, Sr.
Captain the Hon. Philip Lee, the Elder , was a Captain, Justice of the Peace, and Sheriff in colonial Maryland.Lee was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, probably at “Paradise” in 1681, the son of Colonel Richard Lee II, Esquire , by his marriage to Laetitia Corbin...
(1681–1744) of Blenheim. She was born in 1708 and married her cousin Benjamin Fendall on November 18, 1729. Her husband, Benjamin Fendall (b. 1705) was also a Maryland Lee, and his Fendall
Fendall family
The Fendall family was a prominent American political family that had its beginnings when Josias Fendall , immigrated to Maryland in the early 1650s. He was appointed the 4th proprietary Governor of Maryland from 1656-1660.-Lineage:...
progenitors had held important offices in the Maryland colony.
Potomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...
in Charles County, Maryland. Fendall married his cousin, Sarah Lettice Lee on September 22, 1759, but she died soon after, on January 8, 1761. In 1764, Fendall succeeded his father as Clerk of the Court of Charles County. As clerk, Fendall worked at the county seat at Port Tobacco, Maryland and was responsible for the oversight of the judicial records. He held the position until the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
when, in 1778, he traveled to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
to visit his cousin Arthur Lee
Arthur Lee (diplomat)
Dr. Arthur Lee was an American diplomat during the American Revolutionary War. He was the son of Hon. Thomas Lee and Hannah Harrison Ludwell...
.
Family Man
Fendall returned home in 1780 and married another cousin, Elizabeth Steptoe Lee, the widow of Philip Ludwell Lee of Stratford Hall. Elizabeth brought significant land holdings to the marriage, including the 6,595 acres at Stratford Hall. Philip lived with Elizabeth, her two daughters, Flora and Matilda, and her son-in-law Col. "Light Horse Harry" Lee at Stratford Hall in 1784. In that year, Fendall bought a half-acre lot at the corner of Washington and Oronoco Streets in Alexandria, Virginia from Light Horse Harry for ₤300. He constructed the Lee-Fendall HouseLee-Fendall House
The Lee-Fendall House is an urban plantation family home in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. Since its construction in 1785 the house has served as home to thirty-seven members of the Lee family , hundreds of convalescing Union soldiers , the prominent Downham family , and powerful labor leader John L...
, a large family home on the lot in 1785.
By 1787, Fendall's wife Elizabeth had contracted a cancer-like disease. She died unexpectedly in May 1789, while on a trip to Stratford Hall to visit her daughter. Two years later, in 1791, Fendall married a third Lee lady, Mary Lee, daughter of Henry and Lucy Grimes Lee of Leesylvania plantation, sister of Light Horse Harry Lee, and thirty years younger than Fendall. Mary and Philip Fendall had two children, Lucy Eleanor and Philip Richard Fendall II
Philip Richard Fendall II
Philip Richard Fendall II was an American lawyer and politician. He was born December 18, 1794 at the Lee-Fendall House, located at 614 Oronoco St., Alexandria, Virginia. Fendall matriculated to the College of New Jersey, later known as Princeton University in 1812 where he excelled at forensics...
.
Life and Work in Alexandria
As the town of Alexandria flourished, Philip Fendall pursued a wide spectrum of commercial and financial ventures. With a group of leading Alexandria and Georgetown merchants, including George WashingtonGeorge Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
, he became involved in the formation and development of the Potomac Canal Company
Patowmack Canal
The Patowmack Canal is an inoperative canal located in Virginia, United States, that was designed to bypass rapids in the Potomac River upstream of the present Washington, D.C. area...
, one of the greatest engineering feats of its day. As a director of the Bank of the United States in the 1790s, the citizenry of Alexandria drew upon his financial expertise to establish the first bank south of the Potomac in 1792. In 1793, Fendall was elected its first President.
As a man of diverse interests, he invested heavily in real estate. Many of these investments failed and Fendall was swept away by the maelstrom of economic inflation and depression. Like many prominent civic, business and social leaders in the South, Fendall became a victim of an erratic and uncontrolled national economy and declared bankruptcy in 1803. The final years of Fendall's life were not pleasant. From 1800-1805, Fendall found himself besieged with debts and he became emotionally and financially overwhelmed. Philip Fendall died in 1805.