Herman F. Lee
Three large portraits of Lee family members were donated to the East Lyme Historical Society by Mrs. Linde Hendrickson of Long Island. Mrs. Hendrickson is a 12th generation descendant of Thomas Lee. The portraits are of Orlando E. Lee (1808-1857), his wife Lydia A. Miller Lee (1807-1885), and their son Herman F. Lee (1835-1864).
Orlando, of the 7th generation of Thomas Lees, was born in what is now East Lyme. He and Lydia A. Miller, daughter of Anson Miller, were married in 1834 in the Congregational Church where they were very active. Soon after that they moved to Staten Island, where Orlando became a very prosperous business man.
After Orlando Lee’s death, and the untimely death of their son in 1864, Lydia returned to the village of Niantic. She owned a house at the corner of Main Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, and was once again active in the church. She donated much to that church, including a parcel of land on Lincoln Street for the construction on a new church building in 1879. Gravestones for Orlando, Lydia, and Herman are located in the Old Stone Church Burial Ground at the intersection of Riverview and Society Roads.
These portraits, which were painted in 1851, are now hanging in the East Lyme Town Hall in the lower conference room.
