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Lee and Cabot
This house was composed of Captain Joseph Lee and Hon. George Cabot, his brother-in-law. Captain Lee, who was born in the year 1744, was an original character. Besides being an expert on naval construction he
was also an engineer, and when the builder of the Essex Bridge died he took his place and completed the undertaking. When it was finished, as he made no charge for his services, certain grateful citizens presented him with a silver pitcher as a token of appreciation. Captain Lee most unexpectedly, but amusingly, surprised his friends by exclaiming at the time of the presentation, "If I had known they would make such
d--d fools of themselves I would never have touched their bridge." Lee went to sea at the early age of thirteen, later commanding a vessel, and some years afterward he became a merchant and ship-owner. George Cabot served his brother-in-law from cabin-boy up, and it is said that Lee put his young kinsman through a course of very severe discipline. Cabot, who was the great-grandfather of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, was later a Senator of the United States from Massachusetts. These two friends were partners for many years and carried on a large trade with the West Indies, Spain, and the Baltic, Captain Lee did much good, and often said that he believed, as did Jeremy Taylor, "that God is pleased with no sacrifices from below so much as in the thanksgiving songs of relieved widows, of supported orphans, of rejoicing and comforted and thankful persons." A friend once said of the three Lee brothers "that they were certainly hypocrites, for they took great pains to conceal their good qualities." Captain Lee's son, Henry, went into the shipping business with his brother, Joseph, and became an authority on the trade between Calcutta and Boston. He was associated at one time with Ozias Goodwin, and later with William S. Bullard. This house was succeeded by Bullard, Lee & Co., being composed of William S.
Bullard, Henry Lee, Jr., and Stephen H. Bullard. Bullard was an excellent business man and used to say he could feel it in his bones when money was going to get tight, and he was usually right, too. Two sons of Captain Joseph Lee, another Joseph and Captain George Lee, showed great talent for naval architecture.
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genealogy resource from genealogy finds . com
Source:
Other Merchants and Sea Captains of Old Boston, State Street Trust
Company, Boston, Mass., 1919
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