Queer Places:
Harvard University (Ivy League), 2 Kirkland St, Cambridge, MA 02138
264 Beacon St, Boston, MA 02116, USA
Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA
George Cabot Lee Jr. (February 2, 1871 - October 28, 1950) was born on February 2, 1871, in Boston, Massachusetts, specifically growing up in the
Chestnut Hill area of Newton, as a scion of one of Boston's prominent Yankee families. He was the son of Boston banker George Cabot Lee Sr. and Caroline
Watts Haskell Lee. His extensive lineage included notable relatives, serving as the brother of Rose Lee Gray, Harriet Paine Lee Hammond, Caroline
Fessenden, Isabella Mason Mumford, and Alice Hathaway Lee, who was the first wife of President Theodore Roosevelt and the mother of
Alice Roosevelt Longworth. His paternal grandparents were John Clarke Lee, a member of the
illustrious Cabot family, and Harriet Paine Rose Lee, while his maternal grandparents were Elisha Haskell and Alice Russell Hathaway Haskell.
Lee pursued his higher education at Harvard University, graduating with the class of 1894 and maintaining a long-standing commitment to his alma mater
by serving as his class treasurer for thirty-one years. Professionally, he entered the financial sector, joining the prestigious family-established firm
of Lee, Higginson & Co. on September 1, 1900, as a junior partner. Over the course of his distinguished career in finance, he also held positions as
president of the Lee, Higginson Safe Deposit Company, where he eventually oversaw the orderly liquidation and settlement of the firm's affairs.
Furthermore, his business acumen extended to numerous directorships and trusteeships, including roles with the Revere Sugar Refinery, the Massachusetts
Fire and Marine Insurance Company, the United Fruit Company, the U.S. Smelting and Refining Company, the Ponce and Guayama Railroad, and the Central
Aguirre Sugar Company.
Beyond his commercial endeavors, Lee was deeply engaged in philanthropy and civic leadership. During World War I, he actively raised funds for the
Allied cause, the Red Cross, the YMCA, and the Knights of Columbus, contributions for which he was honored by Serbia with the Order of St. Sava. His civic
footprint in Boston included serving as treasurer of the Boston Floating Hospital, director of the Free Hospital for Women, trustee of the Boston YMCA,
and a dedicated fundraiser for the YWCA. Aside from his financial and philanthropic pursuits, Lee was recognized as a noted horse breeder and yachtsman.
His social circle and properties intersected with notable historical figures of the era; his residence at 264 Beacon Street in Boston notably served as a
gathering space within Boston high society, famously hosting historical encounters such as an April 1906 meeting where
Henry Davis Sleeper was introduced to prominent circles.
Lee's personal life involved two marriages and three children. On November 17, 1898, he married Madeline Jackson, the daughter of James Jackson and
Rebecca Nelson Borland Jackson. Together, they had three sons: George Cabot Lee III, James Jackson Lee, and Nelson Borland Lee. Following the passing of
his first wife in 1920, Lee remarried in July 1926 in Paris to Gertrude Wylde Cramer Bartlett, the former wife of Edwin Bartlett. George Cabot Lee Jr.
passed away on October 28, 1950, at his home in Westwood, Massachusetts, and was laid to rest at the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge.
References:
Other references:
- The New York Times: Obituary and historical financial notices covering his life, career at Lee, Higginson & Co., and philanthropic involvements.
- Harvard College Class Reports & Secretary’s Reports: Records from the Harvard University Class of 1894 documenting his graduation, class treasurership, and biographical details.
- Vital Statistics and Town Records: Massachusetts birth, marriage, and death records documenting his birth in Chestnut Hill/Boston, his marriages to Madeline Jackson and Gertrude Cramer Bartlett, and his death in Westwood, Massachusetts.
- Mount Auburn Cemetery Records: Burial and interment records for Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- A History and Genealogy of the Habersham Family by Joseph Gaston Baillie Bulloch (1901)
- Henry and Mary Lee, Letters and Journals: With Other Family Letters, 1802-1860 edited by Frances Rollins Morse (1926)
- The Hon. Jonathan Jackson and Hannah (Tracy) Jackson, Their Ancestors and Descendants by Elizabeth Cabot Putnam and James Jackson Putnam (1907)
- The Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library (Dickinson State University): Archival correspondence involving George Cabot Lee.
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