Richard Lee I - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Col. Richard Lee I, “the Immigrant” (1617–1664) arrived in Jamestown in 1639 at the age of 22 with very little to his name other than the patronage of an influential man, Sir Francis Wyatt

Francis Wyatt

Sir Francis Wyatt was the first English royal governor of Virginia. He sailed for America on August 1, 1621 on board the George. He became governor shortly after his arrival in October, taking with him the first written constitution for an English colony...

, the 1st Governor of Virginia. Once there he became Attorney General of the Colony of Virginia, Colonial Secretary of State, and member of the King's Council. He became Clerk of the Quarter Court at Jamestown

Jamestown, Virginia

Jamestown was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 14, 1607 , it was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke...

, within the Secretary of State’s office. He was a loyal supporter of King Charles I of England

Charles I of England

Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...

, and his public offices ceased when Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....

seized power in England in 1649. In addition he served as High Sheriff and was a Colonel in the Militia. He was also a tobacco planter, trader, owner and trader of slaves, and employer and importer of indentured English servants (who paid for their passage to America with 7 years of labour). At the time of his death he was the largest landholder in the colony (13,000 acres) and perhaps the richest man in Virginia. He was the great-great-great grandfather of Confederate general Robert E. Lee

Robert E. Lee

Robert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....

and great grandfather of President Zachary Taylor

Zachary Taylor

Zachary Taylor was the 12th President of the United States and an American military leader. Initially uninterested in politics, Taylor nonetheless ran as a Whig in the 1848 presidential election, defeating Lewis Cass...

Biography

In 1643 the new Governor, Sir William Berkeley (1606–1677), on the recommendation of Sir Francis Wyatt, appointed Richard as Attorney General of the Colony.

Richard was in the fur trading business with the Indians

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

. Because of this, Richard took his bride away from the capital city, and went to live among the Indians beyond the frontier of settlement. His first patent was for land on the north side of the York River

York River (Virginia)

The York River is a navigable estuary, approximately long, in eastern Virginia in the United States. It ranges in width from at its head to near its mouth on the west side of Chesapeake Bay. Its watershed drains an area including portions of 17 counties of the coastal plain of Virginia north...

at the head of Poropotank Creek, in what was then York, later Gloucester County

Gloucester County, Virginia

Gloucester County is within the Commonwealth of Virginia in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area in the USA. Formed in 1651 in the Virginia Colony, the county was named for Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester, third son of King Charles I of Great Britain. Located in the Middle Peninsula region, it...

. He had received the title to this 1,000 acre (4 km²) tract on August 10, 1642 through the headrights of thirty-eight immigrants unable to pay their own passage, who were brought over by Col. Lee in his own ship on his return from Breda

Breda

Breda is a municipality and a city in the southern part of the Netherlands. The name Breda derived from brede Aa and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. As a fortified city, the city was of strategic military and political significance...

in 1650. However, Lee did not take title to this land until 1646, when there is record of his purchasing 100 acre (0.404686 km²) at this location. Richard’s first home was on leased land on the same side of the river, at the head of Tindall’s Creek near the Indian community of Capahosic Wicomico. However, on April 18, 1644, hordes of Powhatan

Powhatan

The Powhatan is the name of a Virginia Indian confederation of tribes. It is estimated that there were about 14,000–21,000 of these native Powhatan people in eastern Virginia when the English settled Jamestown in 1607...

Indians massacred the newcomers to the area, led by Chief Opchanacanough

Opchanacanough

Opechancanough or Opchanacanough was a tribal chief of the Powhatan Confederacy of what is now Virginia in the United States, and its leader from sometime after 1618 until his death in 1646. His name meant "He whose Soul is White" in the Algonquian language...

. They killed 300, but were driven back by a successful counterattack. As a result the English abandoned the north side of the river.

Richard and his family escaped and settled at New Poquoson on the lower peninsula between the York River and the James River

James River (Virginia)

The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is long, extending to if one includes the Jackson River, the longer of its two source tributaries. The James River drains a catchment comprising . The watershed includes about 4% open water and an area with a population of 2.5 million...

, where it was safer from attack. He was said to have been the first white man to have settled in the northern neck of Virginia. They resided upon this land for the next nine years, which consisted of 90 acres (364,217.4 m²) and was a comfortable ride from Jamestown

Jamestown, Virginia

.

On August 20, 1646 he took out a patent for 1,250 acres (5 km²) on the Pamunkey River

Pamunkey River

The Pamunkey River is a tributary of the York River, about long, in eastern Virginia in the United States. Via the York River it is part of the watershed of Chesapeake Bay.-Course:...

in York, later New Kent County

New Kent County, Virginia

At the 2000 census, there were 13,462 people, 4,925 households and 3,895 families residing in the county. The population density was 64 per square mile . There were 5,203 housing units at an average density of 25 per square mile...

, at the spot “where the foot Company met with the Boats when they went Pamunkey March under ye command of Capt. William Claiborne
William Claiborne
William Claiborne was an English pioneer, surveyor, and an early settler in Virginia and Maryland. Claiborne became a wealthy planter, a trader, and a major figure in the politics of the colony...

” during the counteroffensive against the Indians after the massacre of 1644. He did not develop these lands, but exchanged them in 1648 for a tract of the same land along the north side of the York near the present Capahosic, retaining the 400 acres (1.6 km²) he called “War Captain’s Neck” and selling the other 850 acres (3.4 km²).

Colonial politics

Lee became a Burgess

House of Burgesses

The House of Burgesses was the first assembly of elected representatives of English colonists in North America. The House was established by the Virginia Company, who created the body as part of an effort to encourage English craftsmen to settle in North America...

of York County from 1647–1651, and in 1649 he was appointed a member of the King’s Council, and a Justice. In 1651 he became Colonial Secretary of State. With the title of Secretary of State

Secretary of State (U.S. state government)

Secretary of State is an official in the state governments of 47 of the 50 states of the United States, as well as Puerto Rico and other U.S. possessions. In Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, this official is called the Secretary of the Commonwealth...

, he was next in authority to the Governor, Sir William Berkeley (1606–1677). That same year, Charles I

Charles I of England

, King of England (1600–1649), was beheaded and Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell

(1599–1658) began his control. Since the people in the distant colonies could not believe the incredible news from England, they remained loyal to the Crown and to Charles II

Charles II of England

Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

(1630–1685), heir to the throne. In 1650, Richard made a voyage to the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

to report Virginia’s loyal adherence to Charles II. However, this does not necessarily mean that he was a devout royalist. It turns out that two years later, he negotiated the capitulation of Virginia to the Commonwealth of England

Commonwealth of England

The Commonwealth of England was the republic which ruled first England, and then Ireland and Scotland from 1649 to 1660. Between 1653–1659 it was known as the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland...

, and was satisfied with the terms that were laid out. At this time, he retired from public office, but continued to represent the interests of Virginia in London.

Land holdings

Richard began to acquire many land grants on the peninsula between the York and the Rappahannock River

Rappahannock River

The Rappahannock River is a river in eastern Virginia, in the United States, approximately in length. It traverses the entire northern part of the state, from the Blue Ridge Mountains in the west, across the Piedmont, to the Chesapeake Bay, south of the Potomac River.An important river in American...

. After peace with the Indians had been concluded and the lands north of the York reopened for settlement in 1649, Richard was issued a patent of 500 acres (2 km²) on May 24, 1651, on land adjacent to “War Captain’s Neck”. That same year he also acquired an additional 500 acres (2 km²) on Poropotank Creek. He sold 150 acre (0.607029 km²) of his original grant, the tract on Poropotank Creek. This left 850 acres (3.4 km²) at the original site, to which he later gave the name “Paradise”, and resided from 1653-1656 in the newly created Gloucester County

Gloucester County, Virginia

. He became a part owner of a trading ship, whose cargoes brought indentured servants with headrights that Richard used to enlarge his Virginia property. He spent nearly as much of his time from 1652 to his death in 1664, in London, as he did in Virginia. In about 1656 Richard moved the family to Virginia’s Northern Neck, the peninsula formed by the Rappahannock

Rappahannock River

and Potomac River

Potomac River

The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...

s. Leaving the “Paradise” tract to overseers, they resettled on a spot acquired from the Wicomico Indians, which consisted of 1900 acres (8 km²). This new land was termed “Dividing Creek”, near what is today the town of Kilmarnock

Kilmarnock, Virginia

Kilmarnock is a town in Lancaster and Northumberland counties in the U.S. state of Virginia. The population was 1,244 at the 2000 census. It is located near the mouth of the Rappahannock River and is located within the Northern Neck George Washington Birthplace American Viticultural Area winemaking...

. This tract in later generations became known as that of “Cobbs Hall”.

He later purchased another 2600 acres (11 km²) in Northumberland County

Northumberland County, Virginia

Northumberland County is a county located on the Northern Neck in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state in the United States. In 2010, its population was 12,330. Its county seat is Heathsville...

at Machodoc Creek, which empties into the Potomac River. This tract was patented on October 18, 1657, and repatented the following year on June 5, 1658 as 2,000 acres (8 km²). Upon this tract became what was known in later generations as the estates “Mount Pleasant” and “Lee Hall”. He then acquired 4,000 acres (16 km²) farther up the Potomac, near where the city of Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

, would rise, in what was then Westmoreland, now Fairfax County

Fairfax County, Virginia

Fairfax County is a county in Virginia, in the United States. Per the 2010 Census, the population of the county is 1,081,726, making it the most populous jurisdiction in the Commonwealth of Virginia, with 13.5% of Virginia's population...

. One of these would eventually become the site of Mount Vernon

Mount Vernon (plantation)

Mount Vernon, located near Alexandria, Virginia, was the plantation home of the first President of the United States, George Washington. The mansion is built of wood in neoclassical Georgian architectural style, and the estate is located on the banks of the Potomac River.Mount Vernon was designated...

.

Disposing of several lesser properties he had obtained, Lee was able to consolidate and develop four major plantations. He had two in Gloucester County

Gloucester County, Virginia

: “War Captain’s Neck” and “Paradise”, and two in Northumberland County

Northumberland County, Virginia

Northumberland County is a county located on the Northern Neck in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state in the United States. In 2010, its population was 12,330. Its county seat is Heathsville...

: “Dividing Creek” and “Machodoc”. He also acquired a plantation called “Lee’s Purchase”, located across the Potomac in Maryland.

In 1658 Richard acquired a residence at Stratford Langthorne, in the County of Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

, then a pleasant suburb of London, and in 1661 he moved his family there. Essex borders London on the east, and the village of Stratford Langthorne was a resort for persons of means who found London unhealthy. It is located about a mile from Stratford-at-Bow

Bow, London

Bow is an area of London, England, United Kingdom in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a built-up, mostly residential district located east of Charing Cross, and is a part of the East End.-Bridges at Bowe:...

on the north side of the Thames

River Thames

The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...

in West Ham

West Ham

West Ham is in the London Borough of Newham in London, England. In the west it is a post-industrial neighbourhood abutting the site of the London Olympic Park and in the east it is mostly residential, consisting of Victorian terraced housing interspersed with higher density post-War social housing...

Parish, until recently the site of great wharves, docks, and the congestion of east London. He did that so that his younger children would have a proper education, seeing as his oldest two sons, John and Richard II, were already students at Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

. Nevertheless, he eventually wanted his children to reside in Virginia. Though now a resident of England, he continued in his role as a Virginia planter and merchant.

Death

During 1663, Richard Lee, with his wife and children, journeyed to England, where he had his will executed in London on 6 February 1663-4 just before returning alone to Virginia to oversee his interests in the Colony. The exact date of his death is unknown, but had to be before 20 April 1664 when his son John made an application for land due to his father, deceased. (John had probably returned to Virginia with his father.) It is also not known where he died, but it may have been at his home at "Dividing Creeks", Northumberland Co., Virginia.

Richard Lee’s will directed that his wife and children, "all except Francis if he be pleased", were to return to Virginia. His property at Stratford

Maryland, London

Maryland is a location in east London. It forms the northeastern part of Stratford in the London Borough of Newham. The area borders Leytonstone to the north, Stratford New Town to the west and Forest Gate to the east, with the centre of Stratford to the south-west.-History:Maryland's earliest...

in England was to be sold, and the proceeds be used to discharge his debts, to pay for the education of his 2 eldest sons John and Richard, and to provide dowries for his daughters, Elizabeth and Anne. Richard left land to all his sons, and to his widow Anna (or Anne) for her lifetime. In Virginia, he left the "Dividing Creeks" and "Mocke Nock" plantations to his widow for her lifetime and afterwards to be divided among his 3 youngest sons, the "Machodoc" plantation and 3 islands in the bay of Chesapeake to his son John, the "Paradise" plantation to Richard, and "Paper-makers Neck" and "War Captain's Neck" to Francis, William "all the land on the Maryland side, and the remaining plantations and land to William and his 2 youngest sons Hancock and Charles. Richard had also been actively involved in the slave trade and he left his widow 5 "negro" slaves for "during her widowhood and no longer" and 10 English (indentured) servants. He gave John 10 "negro" slaves as well as 10 English (indentured) servants. He left Richard all the English (indentured) servants on the "Paradise" plantation, and Francis 5 "negro" slaves and 10 English (indentured) servants. Other property that was divided among his 8 surviving children included livestock and furniture. His share in 2 trading ships he left to Francis.

His widow Anna (or Anne) married again to Edmund Lister before 24 September 1666. The date of her death is unknown, although legend has it that she was buried beside Richard near the house at "Dividing Creeks".

Richard Lee's Marriage

An interesting claim is made in many genealogies that Richard's wife was Anne Constable, the daughter of Francis Constable

Francis Constable

Francis Constable was a London bookseller and publisher of the Jacobean and Caroline eras, noted for publishing a number of stage plays of English Renaissance drama....

the London publisher.

Children

Richard I Lee and his wife Ann had 10 children

John Lee (1643–1673) of "Mount Pleasant", who never married
Henry Lee (1650–1696)
Col. Richard Lee II
Richard Lee II
Col. Richard Henry Lee II, Esq. was a Colonel, planter, member of the Upper House and the King's Council.Richard Henry II, was termed "Richard the Scholar". Richard was the son of Col. Richard Lee I, Esq., "the Immigrant" and Anne Constable Col. Richard Henry Lee II, Esq. (1647-1715) was a...

"the scholar" (1647–1715), who married Laetitia Corbin (c.1657-1706), daughter of Hon. Henry Corbin, Sr (1629–1676) and Alice (Eltonhead) Burnham (c.1627-1684). Greatx2-grandfather of General Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....
Francis Lee (1648–1714) a merchant in England, who married Tamar
Capt. William Lee (1651–1696), who married Alice Felton in 1675 and fathered four children
Capt. Hancock Lee I, Hon. (1653–1709) of "Ditchley", who married 1) Mary Kendall (1661–1694); 2) Sarah Elizabeth Allerton (1671–1731), daughter of Col. Isaac Allerton, Jr. (1630–1702) (son of Isaac Allerton
Isaac Allerton
Isaac Allerton was one of the original Pilgrim fathers who came on the Mayflower to settle the Plymouth Colony in 1620. Allerton is an ancestor to Presidents of the United States Zachary Taylor and Franklin D. Roosevelt....

of the Mayflower) and his second wife, Elizabeth (Willoughby) Overzee Colclough, widow of Simon Overzee and George Colclough. Grandfather of President Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor was the 12th President of the United States and an American military leader. Initially uninterested in politics, Taylor nonetheless ran as a Whig in the 1848 presidential election, defeating Lewis Cass...
Elizabeth (Betsey) Lee (1654–1714), who married 1) Leonard Howson Sr (1648–1704); 2) John Turberville (1650–1728), son of George Turberville IV (1638-c.1659) and Bridget
Anne Lee (1654–1701), who married Maj. Thomas Youell Jr (1644–1695), son of Thomas Youell (1615–1655) and Anne Sturman (d. 1672)
Capt. Charles Lee Sr (1655–1701) of "Cobbs Hall", who married Elizabeth Medstand, daughter of Thomas Medstand (-1675). Ancestor of the Manning family of Eli Manning
Eli Manning
Eli Nelson Manning is an American football quarterback for the New York Giants of the National Football League. He is the younger brother of NFL quarterback Peyton Manning and the son of former NFL quarterback Archie Manning...

and Peyton Manning
Peyton Manning
Peyton Williams Manning is an American football quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League . Manning holds the record for most NFL MVP awards with four. He was drafted by the Colts as the first overall pick in 1998 after a standout college football career with the...
Anne Lee (1655), who died young

Family legacy

Today the different branches of the Lee family are known as: "Cobb's Hall", "Mount Pleasant", "Ditchley", "Lee Hall", “Blenheim

Blenheim (Maryland)

"Blenheim", was the once historic estate of the Lees in Charles County, Maryland. It was owned by Capt. Philip Lee, Sr., Hon., Esq. ....

”, “Leesylvania”, “Dividing Creek”, and "Stratford

Stratford Hall Plantation

Stratford Hall Plantation in Westmoreland County, Virginia, was the home of four generations of the Lee family of Virginia, including two signers of the Declaration of Independence, and it was the birthplace of Robert Edward Lee , who became the Confederate General-in-chief during the American...

". These were the estate names of the descendants of Richard Lee I that are still referred to today when talking of Lee descendancy. An interesting note is that Richard had patented somewhere in the neighborhood of 15,000 acres (61 km²) on both sides of the Potomac, in Maryland and in Virginia. Part of this land later became George Washington

George Washington

George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...

’s Mount Vernon. When he divided his estate among his children, he also left them the products of the several plantations including white indentured servants, Negro slaves, livestock, household furnishings, silver, and many other luxuries.

Notable descendants of Richard Lee I include signers of the Declaration of Independence

United States Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. John Adams put forth a...

Francis Lightfoot Lee

Francis Lightfoot Lee was a member of the House of Burgesses in the Colony of Virginia. As an active protester of issues such as the Stamp Act, Lee helped move the colony in the direction of independence from Britain. Lee was a delegate to the Virginia Conventions and the Continental Congress...

and Richard Henry Lee

Richard Henry Lee

Richard Henry Lee was an American statesman from Virginia best known for the motion in the Second Continental Congress calling for the colonies' independence from Great Britain. He was a signatory to the Articles of Confederation and his famous resolution of June 1776 led to the United States...

, Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

general Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee, Confederate

Confederate States of America

The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...

Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

generals Robert E. Lee

Robert E. Lee

Robert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....

, Richard Taylor

Richard Taylor (general)

Richard Taylor was a Confederate general in the American Civil War. He was the son of United States President Zachary Taylor and First Lady Margaret Taylor.-Early life:...

, William Henry Fitzhugh Lee

William Henry Fitzhugh Lee

William Henry Fitzhugh Lee , known as Rooney Lee or W.H.F. Lee, was the second son of Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Randolph Custis. He was a planter, a Confederate cavalry General in the American Civil War, and later a member of the U.S. Congress.-Early life:Lee was born at Arlington House in...

and George Washington Custis Lee

George Washington Custis Lee

George Washington Custis Lee , also known as Custis Lee, was the eldest son of Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Custis Lee...

, Richard L. T. Beale, Richard Lucian Page

Richard Lucian Page

Richard Lucian Page was a United States Navy officer who joined the Confederate States Navy and later became a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He was a cousin of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Another cousin was poet Thomas Nelson...

; President of the United States

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

Zachary Taylor

, Chief Justice of the United States

Chief Justice of the United States

The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices; the other eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States...

Edward Douglass White

Edward Douglass White, Jr. , American politician and jurist, was a United States senator, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court and the ninth Chief Justice of the United States. He was best known for formulating the Rule of Reason standard of antitrust law. He also sided with the...

, Governor of Maryland

Governor of Maryland

The Governor of Maryland heads the executive branch of the government of Maryland, and he is the commander-in-chief of the state's National Guard units. The Governor is the highest-ranking official in the state, and he has a broad range of appointive powers in both the State and local governments,...

Thomas Sim Lee

Thomas Sim Lee was an American planter and statesman of Frederick County, Maryland. Although not a signatory to the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation or the US Constitution, he was an important participant in the process of their creation...

Biography

Colonial politics

Land holdings

Death

Richard Lee's Marriage

Children

Family legacy

Further reading