Mildred Childe Lee

Mildred Childe Lee (February 10, 1846 – March 27, 1905) was an American society hostess and the youngest child of Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Custis Lee. She was the last member of the Lee family to be born at Arlington Plantation and had a privileged upbringing typical of members of the planter class, attending boarding schools in Winchester, Virginia, and Raleigh, North Carolina. A favorite of her father's, she was doted upon and given the nickname "Precious Life", often being referred to by this nickname in family letters. During the American Civil War, she sewed clothing for soldiers of the Confederate States Army and volunteered as a nurse in Confederate hospitals. Lee never married or had children, instead devoting her time to caring for her parents in their later years. After her father's death, she assisted her brother, George Washington Custis Lee, as hostess while he served as president of Washington College. Early life and family Mildred Childe Lee was born on February 10, 1846, at Arlington Plantation to Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Custis Lee. She was named after her father's sister, Catherine Mildred Lee Childe. Lee was her parents' fourth daughter and seventh child. She was the last member of the Lee family to be born at Arlington. At the time of her birth, her father was stationed at Fort Hamilton in New York City. A member of the Lee family, she was a descendant of the colonist Richard Lee I. Her paternal grandparents, Henry Lee III and Anne Hill Carter Lee, were the ninth governor and first lady of Virginia. On her mother's side, Lee was descended from several colonial families, including the Randolph family of Virginia. Through her maternal great-grandmother, Eleanor Calvert, she descended from Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, making her a descendant of Charles II of England. Through her grandmother, Mary Lee Fitzhugh Custis, she was a descendant of William Fitzhugh. Her maternal grandfather, George Washington Parke Custis, was George Washington's step-grandson and adopted son and the founder of Arlington House. Lee was the sister of Robert E. Lee Jr., Mary Custis Lee, Anne Carter Lee, Eleanor Agnes Lee, George Washington Custis Lee, and William Henry Fitzhugh Lee.