Revolutionary Women: Alice Lee Shippen
Alice Lee Shippen (1736-1817) was the 6th Lee child and the younger sister of Menokin’s Francis Lightfoot Lee. Though Virginia did allow it, unlike Francis she was not willed land when her father Col. Thomas Lee died in 1750. Though she was the only child mentioned by name in his will, instead Alice was left 1,000 pounds contingent upon her marriage or when she reached 21 years of age.
Like Francis and the rest of her siblings, Alice struggled to receive her inheritance from executor and oldest brother Col. Philip Ludwell Lee, who was slow to finalize the will for over ten years. In 1760, impatient from waiting, 24-year-old Alice sold her prospective legacy to her younger brother William and immigrated to England where she met and eventually married accomplished physician Dr. William Shippen Jr.
This 1933 interior photo of the Shippen-Wistar House by the Historic American Buildings Survey is documented in the The Library of Congress. The house still stands today. Image courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, HABS PA,51-PHILA,647
After her marriage to William Shippen, the couple moved to a home built by William’s father in 1750 on 4th Street in historic Philadelphia. The home- which still stands today- hosted brothers Richard Henry and Francis Lightfoot Lee during their time in Philadelphia during the Second Continental Congress and the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Recently, Stratford Hall shared some insight into Alice’s time in Philadelphia. She “collected funds to support the Continental Army in which her husband served as surgeon. When the British occupied Philadelphia, Alice took refuge at Stratford until she could join her husband at the army’s encampment.”
Stratford Hall explained that “Alice was very savvy about politics, since she often heard the latest news from her brothers. A mis-delivered letter from Alice to the wife of Samuel Adams landed in the hands of John Adams’ wife Abigail, alerting her to members of the U.S. delegation to France who were maligning her husband. Because of this mix-up, John Adams was able to correct the situation and Alice and Abigail became correspondents.”
During Alice's lifetime, women's roles were unfortunately often defined by their success in child bearing and raising children. Alice experienced this early in life when her inheritance was contingent on her marital status.
Prior to the Revolutionary War, Alice and her husband were known as socialites in Philadelphia. However, Alice suffered six infant deaths over a period of nearly fifteen years, which took a toll on Alice’s life. Her only surviving daughter Nancy wrote in 1784 that her mother became “...more indifferent about worldly matters than ever I saw her.” Alice died in 1817 and was later re-interred with several members of the Shippen family at Mount Vernon cemetery in Philadelphia. Today we celebrate her as a Revolutionary Woman.