lore1 /lôr/ noun1. a body of traditions and knowledge on a subject or held by a particular group, typically passed from person to person by word of mouth.
For as long as I have been researching my family, 47 plus years, I’ve heard that we are related to Robert E. Lee on my maternal grandfather’s side. Countless scraps of paper among my notes, charts, photographs, etc., most of them in my Momma’s handwriting, allude to this bit of family lore.
According to Momma’s grandmother on her daddy’s side, her daddy was a cousin to Robert E. Lee by way of his paternal grandmother, Susan Adeline Parks. Now that is clear as mud! No matter how I have gone about it, I have not been able to prove this connection. However, this past year, I did stumble upon a different connection. My 9th great-grandfather on my paternal grandfather’s side was Robert E. Lee’s 3rd great-grandfather, making him my 4th cousin 6x removed! While researching this connection, I found a more convoluted adoptive tie to George Washington through his wife, Martha (Dandridge) Custis.
Martha Dandridge (1731-1802) first married Colonel Daniel Parke Custis (1711-1757). When their son John Parke Custis died in 1781, just weeks after his son, George Washington Parke “Wash” Custis, was born, Martha and her second husband, General George Washington (1732-1799), adopted Martha’s grandson, G. W. P. “Wash” Custis, who would later become the father-in-law of Robert E. Lee.
So, while you can’t always take the family traditions and stories as fact, you should never completely disregard what “great-aunt Tilly told cousin Jonas” as wrong. There is often a thread of truth or a hint of where you need to look buried in the lore.