John Clarke Lee

John Clarke Lee (April 9, 1804 – November 19, 1877) was an American lawyer, merchant, banker and politician who co-founded the prominent stock brokerage firm of Lee, Higginson & Co.

Early life Lee was born on April 9, 1804, at Tremont Place in Boston, Massachusetts, and named after the Rev. John Clarke, D.D. He was the son of Nathaniel Cabot Lee (1772–1806) and Mary Ann ( Cabot) Lee (1784–1809), who were first cousins. After his father's death in Barbados, his mother married Francis Blanchard. His mother died at 25, shortly after giving birth to his only sibling, half-sister Elizabeth Cabot Blanchard, who also died young at age 33 in 1842 after becoming the first wife of U.S. Senator Robert Charles Winthrop and having three children.

His maternal grandparents were Anna ( Clarke) Cabot and Francis Cabot (brother of U.S. Senator George Cabot), who lived in Natchez, Mississippi. His paternal grandparents were Capt. Joseph Lee and Elizabeth ( Cabot) Lee (daughter of Joseph Cabot and Elizabeth Higginson Cabot). Lee's son George joined the firm in November 1848 and was admitted as a partner on April 1, 1853. Higginson's son, Henry Lee Higginson, joined the firm as a partner in 1868.

Later life Following his retirement from Lee, Higginson & Co. at the end of 1862, Lee traveled to Europe. The first visit was in 1869 to 1870, travelling extensively throughout Great Britain and the continent and the second in 1872 to 1873, mostly spent in the South of France and in London while visiting his daughter, the wife of Samuel E. Peabody who was a partner in the London banking firm of J.S. Morgan & Co.

Descendants

Through his daughter Marianne, he was a grandfather of Endicott Peabody (1857–1944), an Episcopal priest who founded the Groton School for Boys.

Through his son George, he was a grandfather of Alice Hathaway Lee (1861–1884), who became the first wife of Theodore Roosevelt, later President of the United States, and George Cabot Lee Jr. (1871–1950), who joined the family firm in September 1900 as a junior partner.

Through his daughter Josephine, he was a grandfather of Rosamond Saltonstall (wife of Charles C. Auchincloss), and Robert Saltonstall and a great-grandfather of William Saltonstall, the 8th principal of Phillips Exeter Academy.