The Locket

In 2009, archaeologists found a beautiful locket in the Menokin ruin. This cameo locket portrays the image of a woman. The back is glass and locks of hair are still visible inside. Who did this locket belong to? Who is this woman? Letters from Francis Lightfoot Lee’s brother, William, may just be the key to unlocking this mystery.

The locket portrays the profile of a woman. Purple gems surround it.

William’s wife, Hannah Lee, thought it important that their daughters Portia and Cornelia grow up in Virginia. In 1785, two years after the death of his wife, William sent his two daughters to live at Menokin with his brother Francis Lightfoot Lee and sister-in-law Rebecca. Before they departed for Virginia, the sisters stayed with family friends, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Thorp, in London. William wrote to them to further explain the desire for his daughters to grow up in Virginia: “[H]owever superior English education may be to what can be obtained here[,] yet the manners & customs of the ladies in England are so extremely different from the ladies here [in Virginia] that I never knew an instance of a young lady educated in England who could live happily here.”

William also wrote to the Thorps requesting a momento by which Portia and Cornelia could remember them. He wrote, “Our dear girls at Menokin are so importunate to have a miniature picture for each of them of your self & good Mrs. Thorp…have them set in gold to wear as bracelets…or a locket…the form should be rather a long than a round oval not too sharp at the ends…” He even gave a recommendation for where Mrs. Thorp could sit for a miniature picture in London and advised for the pieces to have a certain style so that they would always be fashionable despite changing trends.

William instructed, “When they are ready please to send them neatly enclosed in a packet directed to Francis Lightfoot Lee Esquire, Menokin, Richmond County, Virginia by some trusty Captain bound to Rappahannock who will engage to deliver the packet either to my brother, Doctor Brockenborough in Hobb’s Hole, or John Tayloe Esquire at Mount Airy.”

The locket made it to Menokin, where today it resides safely within our collections. It’s a great example of how we use research to uncover the stories of Menokin artifacts and the people who once owned them.