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The Gee House
On Route 645, known better as the Jonesboro Road, there is located another of Lunenburg County's ante-bellum homes, The Gee House.
The exact date it was built is not known, but there is no doubt that it was before the Civil War.
Robert Gee, the youngest son of the progenitor of the Gee family of Virginia, Charles Gee, came to what was then Brunswick County about 1740, and acquired substantial land holdings in the vicinity of the present site of this old home.
And it has remained in the Gee family for generations, although many of the descendants of immigrant reside in other states across the nation.
It was Charles Gee; called "Powder Face" to distinguish him from the many other individuals named Charles in the Gee families, son of Neville and great-grandson of the immigrant, who inherited the land on which the house was built.
He gained his nickname while serving during the Revolutionary War, when gunpowder explosions blackened his face.
Even the Land Books of Lunenburg County listed him as "Charles Gee (PF)".
It was during Charles' lifetime that the house was built.
The original part of the house was a story and a half, with two chimneys constructed of brick made on the plantation.
What is now used as a very attractive combination kitchen and family room, once formed the main part of the house, with a small-attached kitchen, then, and a porch.
In this part of the house there is still an enclosed winding stairway. Outside, no longer standing today, there were several other buildings that made up the plantation, a smokehouse, stable, store and buggy shed.
The two-story front section of the home was built at a later date.
Powder Face's great-grandparents, Charles and Hannah (Drury) Gee, both born in England, came to Virginia about 1700, and settled in Prince George County where Charles was listed in the Quit Rent Rolls of 1704.
Charles and Hannah had four sons, James, Charles, Jr., Henry and Robert.
These sons moved to Surry (now Sussex) County, and Robert, on further to Brunswick County, dying in Lunenburg County, which was created from Brunswick in 1746, and where his will was recorded in 1783.
Of these four sons, Charles Gee, Jr. married Bridget Neville and had ten children: James, William, Neville, Henry, Benjamin, John, Jesse, Charles, III, Elizabeth and Penelope.
Although Charles Gee, Sr. died in Sussex County, where he still resided, in 1768, he was then possessed of land in Lunenburg, as in his will he states, "I give unto my Son BENJAMIN GEE the plantation he now lives on in Lunenburg County with two hundred and sixty four acres of land there to belonging to him and his heirs and assigns for ever."
Thus, it seems that Neville Gee was not the only one of the family to follow his Uncle Robert to Lunenburg.
Neville Gee married a Lucas, her given name not known by this writer, but perhaps an aunt of William Lucas, the father of Rebecca who married Chappell Gee, the grandson of Neville,s uncle, James Gee.
Nevertheless, Neville and his wife had eleven children: Charles, Nancy, Jesse, Jones, Amy, William, George, Lucas, Neville, Jr., James and Reuben.
Charles, or Powder Face, Gee, son of Neville, married Sarah Wilson in Lunenburg County in 1787.
They lived in Lunenburg and there they raised their five children: Wilson, Judith, Everard W, Edward Bonner, and S Minerva Gee.
Wilson moved to South Carolina, Everard moved his family to Greenbriar County, Virginia (now West Virginia), and Edward gained possession of most of the familial Gee land in Lunenburg County.
Everard W Gee married three times.
His first wife, Rebecca Crymes Gee, a distant cousin, was the mother of all but the last two of his eight children: Susannah R, James H, Thomas W, Robert Pleasant, Edward Crymes and Josephus W.
His second wife, Martha B Marable, was the mother of his two youngest children, Rebecca Caroline, called Carrie, and Charles Wilson Gee.
He married lastly Hannah Piercy, by whom there was no issue.
As stated earlier, Everard took his family to live in Greenbriar, but before going his brother, Edward, who had no children of his own, asked if his namesake, Edward, could not remain in Lunenburg, promising to educate him and leave his estate to him.
Everard would not allow Ned, as he was called, to stay.
However, after a year in Greenbriar, Ned himself decided the place was not for him, and returned to Lunenburg to live with his uncle.
True to his promise, Edward, also called Ned, saw to his nephew's education.
Young Ned attended Jefferson Medical College in Pennsylvania, returning to Lunenburg with his degree in medicine in 1859.
He was a well-loved doctor, who charmed his patients and their families with his story-telling antics.
At his death the Richmond Dispatch stated that "He was the best known physician in this section, was very prominent in his profession, and did perhaps the largest practice of any country physician in Southside Virginia."
But as Ned was heard to say more than once, "I was practice medicine because I love it, and I farm to make a living."
Ned married Mary Frances Webb, the daughter of Garner and Harriet (Hardy) Webb, also of Lunenburg County.
They lived at The Gee House and had fourteen children, three of whom died in infancy.
The surviving children were: Josephine Eugene, Caroline Gertrude, Nancy Beth, Harriet, Everett Webb, Mary Etta, Jesse E, Robert Edward, John William, Thomas Garner and Frank Asbury.
Frank Asbury Gee, the youngest son, inherited the home place at his mother's death.
He married Anna Inge, had five children and died in the same room of the old house in which he was born.
It was during this period that the Lochleven Post Office was established in 1846.
Frank's wife served as its Postmaster.
It just happened to be located in the big front hall of their home.
Until it was discontinued in 1910, the last mail carrier, Mr. Hall, would ride his open buggy up the drive from his last stop at Perseverance Church, to pick up and leave the mail, and have his morning coffee, often with eggs, ham and biscuits.
There was also a store located in the yard of The Gee House estate, in an old, pegged ante-bellum building.
Uncle Tom Bragg, as he was known, was designated storekeeper when he came to live with the Gees after his wife died. There, every night, the men of the neighborhood would gather to re-fight World War I, play checkers or rook, or just shoot the breeze with one another.
The old store closed in 1922.
Frank and Anna had Frank Rives, Samuel Edward, George Nelson Winn, Mary Proctor and John Sherwood.
The youngest, John Sherwood Gee, Billy as he was called, was the next to inherit the plantation.
He graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg, Virginia, and served in the United States Navy during World War II.
John married Daisy Browder and they had four children: Johnny, Frankie, Susanna and Sammy.
Billy is buried in the old private Gee cemetery located in the back yard.
Daisy Gee was very generous with her time in showing us her lovely home and the beautiful antiques and cherished family heirlooms it houses.
 
Antique Buffet Stairway from kitchen
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