Eleanor Agnes Lee, born February 27, 1841, was called Agnes. She was
the third of four daughters and the fifth of seven children of Mary Anna
Custis and Robert E. Lee, born at the family’s Virginia estate,
Arlington. As a child, Agnes spent much of her time reading, studying,
playing piano and working in her garden. There was also a steady flow of
visitors and playmates, cousins from their large extended family, and a
host of friends.
Agnes loved Arlington dearly and
took great interest in the changes made in the house, especially when
the Lees refurnished the large hall in 1855. She also helped teach the
slaves at Arlington, a practice her mother had begun years earlier,
knowing that educating slaves in Virginia was punishable by law. Agnes
held a Sunday evening school for the slaves and taught individual
children before and after breakfast.
Agnes received an excellent education for a woman of her era. She and
her sister Annie were taught at home by a tutor, Miss Sue Poor, from
whom they learned music, English composition, French, and arithmetic.
During her childhood years, Agnes kept a journal of her life at
Arlington that was published as Growing Up in the 1850s (1984). In 1855
Agnes began attending boarding school at the Virginia Female Institute
in Staunton. Considered her mother's favorite daughter, like the other
Lee girls, Agnes had never married. Eleanor Agnes Lee contracted typhoid
fever and passed away in Lexington October 15, 1873 - three years and
three days after her beloved father. She was only 32 years old. Her last
wish was to be buried in the dress she wore on Christmas Day 1862, the
day she refused Orton's proposal of marriage.
Mary Randolph
Custis Lee passed away on November 5, 1873, three weeks after Agnes. The
remaining members of the Lee family - including surviving daughters
Mary Custis and Milly - must have been stunned by so much death in such a
short time. ~Via Civil War Women’s blog~
Evening my friends., was a nice cool day ., hope yours was all you expected it to be.
i went for coffee .but my ankle was killing me couldn't put and weight on my foot so went to the doctors., took x-rays when i tried i screamed so loud i think i woke the dead so i have to wait for the results tomorrow i hope., watching the red sox now so far so good.
hopfully i can get to the hairdressers tomorrow been 2 weeks oh well
