Tracy

An historic
strain of
blood in
America

CS71

.C6

1908

U [)d] 549 430 t

3Ira«r?a Klatl^attt — ^-n'

■"IF.ALOGl.-ii;

CONNECTICt

c.^

I|t0tonr ^trattt of llflflJi m Am? rira

from tt|r Wih Wavlh

into t^t Nrm Warlh anb 3nfuHpIi

nf ti|P Amrnran ■Nation ^ Prngrng of 3lrrrmiat| (Elarkr

anb Ijta totfp, Hfrnntts ICattjam, " ©In? ilotl|pr of ^owrnora " j* JntirHttgattono

.^.Louise Tracy

I^Ew Hav>;n, Connecticut

Author of "The Two Martha Goodspeeds"' in New York, Biographical and Genealogical Record — Compiler of Amity
Records — Genealogist to Mahir,'3Bistinguished American Families, '

^^^g^HE power of |*^ heredity,
' / ^ I which, whejptt.4ts secret
■ 1 I ^^ discovered by some
A m \j future scientist, may
^^^^^ solve many of the prob^
^^^^ lems of physical, menta-I
and moral man, is fre-
quently observed by American gene-
alogists who are interested in the
psychological aspect of their re-
searches. That there will come a
scientist who will discover the
science of heredity as Harvey did
the circulation of the blood ; Newton,
the power of gravitation, or Frank-
lin the existence of electricity, is
more than a probability. Through
such discovery may be solved the
problems of marriage relations and
the development of men and women
to the highest plane of life.

Genealogy to-day is the social
foundation through which this dis-
covery may be made. Several emi-
nent American genealogists have re-
cently noted marked instances of
strong strains of blood that have
dominated generations. Instances
have been observed where strong
lines overcome the inter-flow of all
incoming strains. The blood of man
holds the secret of the ages ; through
his veins runs the generations ; he is
the reincarnation of thousands that
have left their earthly immortality in
him. How much of us is the chem-

istry of the generations ; how much
of us is astrological influence ; hq'w
much of us is individual divinity, or
human effort, or environment, or
opportunity, or chance, is the secret
which someone must some time re-
veal to mankind. In the meantime,,
we are building future generations
wholly on adventure, accident, and
coincidence, — where we happen to
go, whom we happen to meet, and
the circumstances. There is no
known designed or defined order in
the most important and the greatest
creation within the power of human-
kind.

A recent research by Louise
Tracy, one of the Connecticut gene-
alogists, offers opportunity for study.
In tracing a genealogical line out of
the Old World into the New World
in the early days of the transplanting
of the English blood in America, this
genealogist follows it through sev-
eral illustrious families, and a re-
markable chain of governors and po-
litical leaders which distinguishes it
historically as "the mother of Amer,-
ican governors." The record is
here made purely as a contribution'
to American historical and genea-
logical literature. All rights are
herewith assigned to the author, from*
the original publication in The Jour-
nal OF American History. — Enrrop-,

M-7

An liifitnrtr Strain of llnnin in Am^rtra

X?(X>^|)

(^izt^^

SEAL AND AUTOGRAPH OF GOVERNOR WALTER CLARKE— Photograph
from an Original Deed in the possession of the Newport Historical Society and
believed to contain the long-sought and much-desired Clarke Coat-of-Arms

3T would seem, that in the
American nation of to-
day, with its nearly
twenty million homes,
that the narrative of the
lives of a man and his
wife would scarcely
come within the scope of American
history; but, when we look back,
three centuries or more, upon this
broad land of ours, and picture in
our minds, its grand forests, rapid
rivers and broad lakes, lying under
winter snows or summer sunshine,
in a stillness broken only by nature's
sounds or the wild whoop of the In-
dian, and contrast it with the teem-
ing cities, lakes and rivers bearing
sailing craft or steamers to and fro,
the hum of mills, roar of engine and
train, the uncouth automobile horn,
in short, all the busy activity of

the millions of human beings in-
habiting this Western Continent, we
can but admit that we owe the
change to the men and women who
left home and kindred and braved
the dangers of the sea and a life in
the wilderness, to establish homes for
themselves in the New World. Many
of them came to escape religious
persecution, others to better their
fortunes, but one and all had to bat-
tle with the trials of settlement in a
new country, famine, pestilence and
the horrors of Indian warfare.

With the building of their homes
and church — or even before, as in
the case of the "Mayflower" Pil-
grims — came their plans for civil
government.

They builded better than they
knew ; probably not one of them
imagined, in the faintest degree,

Jffratir^a Hatliam Ollark^— iintti^r of ^cu^rnnra

PORTRAIT OF LEWIS LATHAM, FALCONER TO
CHARLES I— Father of Frances Latham Clarke

what the result of their labors would
be; or, that the end of three centuries
would find it numbered as one of the
most important of the nations.

Among the early settlers of what
we now call Rhode Island, was Jere-
miah Clarke, who came from Eng-
land, bringing with him his newly-
wedded wife and her children by a
former husband, William Dungan, of
London. Where, or when he was
born, or who were his parents, is as
yet, so far as the writer has discov-
ered, unknown. That his wife be-
longed to a family of position in
England, is known, and from that,
and the fact that he at once took a
prominent place among the people
with whom he had cast his lot, we in-
fer him to have been a man of fine
education, and of a family equal to
that of his wife.

In the "Common Burial Ground" at New-
port — Drawing by Charles L. N. Camp

^ ii "Iii»l««'M ii^i III

LATHAM MANOR HOUSE— ANCESTRAL HOME IN LANCASHIRE, ENGLAND,
OF THE LATHAM BLOOD IN AMERICA

COMMON BURIAL GROUND OF NEWPORT— Now called the "Governors' Lot."
showing head and foot-stone of Frances (Clarke) Vaughan, "Mother of Governors," in
foreground — Drawing by Cliarlcs L. N. Camp, Genealogist, of New Haven. Connecticut

Jffranrfs Satlram Qllarke — MatifH at dnuf mora

Jeremiah Clarke — Progenitor
of an Ancient American Family

In 1639, he was chosen "Elder"
at Aquidneck, and on April 28th of
the same year, he, with eight others,
signed the compact at Portsmouth,
preparatory to the settlement of a
new town at the south end of the
island, later called Newport. In 1640,
he was appointed constable, and on
March loth of the same year, is re-
corded as owning sixteen acres of
land at Newport. The same year he
attended the General Court of Elec-
tions, and in 1642 was chosen lieu-
tenant of the Newport Militia.
March 13, 1644, he was chosen as
captain, then the highest military rank
in the colony.

He served as treasurer for New-
port, 1644-1647; and 1647-1649, as
treasurer of the colony. In 1648, he
was chosen governor's assistant,
an office similar to the senator of to-
day, and, pending the clearance of
certain accusations against Governor
William Coddington, he was elected
governor, under the title of "Presi-
dent," thus attaining to the highest
position within the gift of his fellow-
men.

In 1651, having served his day and
generation well, as one of the "Mak-
ers of American History," he fell
asleep and was laid to rest in the town
of which he was one of the founders,
the "Friends' Meeting" of January,
1652, thus recording his death and
burial : "Jeremiah Clarke, one of the
first English planters of Rhode
Island, died at Newport, in said
island, and was buried in the tomb
that stands by the street on the

waterside, Newport, upon the

day of the eleventh month, 1651,"

Sixty-three years later, his burial-
place is referred to by his grand-
children, in the settlement of the es-
tate of their father. Governor Walter
Clarke, they giving to Colonel John
Cranston, also a grandchild, a cer-

tain piece of land on Main Street,
"said land being given in considera-
tion of its being kept in good condi-
tion, and never broke up, but kept in
good and decent manner as a memo-
riall to our honored grand-father,
Jeremiah Clarke, whose body was
interred there in Feb., 1651." Suc-
ceeding generations of the Cranston
family must have ignored the "con-
sideration," for the place where he
was interred is now covered with
buildings. Mr. Tilley, an authority
on the early history of Newport,
thinks it have been where the "Bos-
ton Store" stands on Main, now
Thames Street.

Were it possible to find the old
tomb to-day, it might solve the mys-
tery which surrounds the a'ncestry
of Jeremiah Clarke, for it must have
given the date and place of his birth,
and, probably, as so many of the
gravestones of the early Newport
families did, his coat-of-arms ; but not
even a description of the tomb, other
than the above, have I found. That
his son. Governor Walter Clarke,
used a coat-of-arms, we know, for in
the settlement of his estate, in 1714,
his children, who were daughters,
"agree, that our Uncle, Weston
Clarke, shall have our father's seal,
on zvhich our father's coat-of-arms is
engraven." This seal he had prob-
ably, as eldest son, inherited from his
father.

Search for the Coat=of=Arms
of Jeremiah Clarke in America

For some years, various persons, I
among them, had been searching for
the Jeremiah Clarke coat-of-arms.
Having examined every printed de-
scription of the family that I could
find, also copies of wills and deed^,
and finding nothing but the above, I
turned my attention to Clarke grave-
stones, A diligent search in differ-
ent grave-yards showed no stone —
even that of Governor Walter Clarke,
in Clifton graveyard in Newport —

Lewis La.tHa-m==

Kinq Charles. I.

Frances LatKam i.WiHiciiTl Dunqan= ix) Jei'emiali Clarl<e=C

u vuoiw. of rc'stinoiiort In Ttie. Coloviu
SiQVter o( ^tne. C«nipcicT at PoyTs-ntoiiTl

Trfeaoier -j--^- -?i--

Membw of ni«- General Covi-T o( Ele(
LiecTenaKT, |t'^t , Ceajlai'w. . . . . .

Treasurer j'or K/ewpovT. |G

Xvt<^sore\; o( tWe. CoLowu ■^ m tours -16

Pi-cs'iUewT Recjftwl acTmo otsGowni

Dunqan

mes [Barker

orporal IG^i/ Ensign ItU

lenibei' oj the Gencml Court c

iwiwlssionei' 3 yecirs

oua.1 CliRi-rerer -

S^istawt 9 "j't'-fS

epurtj 'X M«"r3

lepctu £)cverwoi

■

WillioLmDawduii

olElcct.ok. IfeV^

-- 16&3

<.n

Frances Dunqan RevThomasDonqan

=^ Major RanSoll Holkn i/^ one oj the jf who
^ 5,-ntve/ ol the ComloucT a^ ^°<''' ^'^f °J ,f 0." °

L.OUnrviiKCLnunr uonrt vi. ■. a. .^ >. ' .

Jeremiah Clarke fe>ifeU-a

CoMimissiortcr Q yeciri

MiKister •( rtie FiV»t
Beusti'sT Chureli of
CeiU SprinOj. Pa..

Barker
:ho\os Easton
A H OR. Peter
ston , l)L) wije

CapT James Barker
Mewvb«r otTrooii of
Horse Wi De^ulJ

Coud Martial IfeH
AsSi'stakt -^ vjcaw.

PeVrBwrker , UntlTavu Barker
= I.FTeel«ve91ijs DepwtM 5
S. o) Hoii Edwai-a V- ^<»"-pJ Gov. tjears
= (1) Israel ^vnolS BeMcJut Arneld ^ri

Marti Barker
= ^.Elishfl.5mltK

Dcpofu H Ljeuri
S-oiStepKen Arjioltl.

Walter Clarke, t.

AssisTant IGt3-T'(-"

©oveinor lfe76-1.'Sfe:

Deputu (s»ver«oi- !l3 l

Member of Sir EdmO

Countil, I6»6 ^

==• I. Content Greenmc

= X Hannalx Scott e|.o

= 3 MrsJreeborii

, .Roger Willi

= S. Mrs.SaraK

Manhewf

Gove'

<( MCftvs ovi
EfUor's Cool

OHCll ■

-Lieot Charles HoUen Frances Holdett EliiabeThHolden Mctru ,

Depotij from Warwick I7i5-ife =s Uieul. John Holmes ;=:Capt John Rice =V)oh
''■'■'" ' ' Deputy3 years _ '^ _

General rreaSorei'
lfe<J0-l~I03

<oitlienne(breene,4<"i- "j
•pulu &overi-ioi- \Joh\t Greene,
and. liirougK their Son ftntV>oni4

Hold en tUey were antestovi of
Heviru Lipp'itt Govei-vior otR- 1
I'ilS-UTToi.H.iliis Sox '
Charles Warren Li'ppVtt
Sovernor i»9S-96. '

Deputy g .years.

Joh
Depul

KQriiarrneHolmes== Joseph (bariiner

William GcxrctinersssMani d

Maru ©ardiVier Gapt Peleo Clarke

vjolin Gardirver CdcsceMt provedl bu deftdL)
Deputy fa overnor o{ ft. 1. 115^. Ifst -n's^

== Frawtes SawforcL- I"

Tliroufjh their qrand-Jaoahter tlizobel
VHarr'ied John Rooerj the^ were The cti
oj S annuel Sreei^e Arno\ci. Uieot 6ov

,, *'*o the riemory o\

"he Hon>L« JOHN GAFCDNER. Esc.

ite Lieut > over nor oF this Colonv

This Tomb is dedicate a «'

changed this Life for one" mo re 8'o»''ous
Ml the 29"* t)av of January. A.D. 1764-.

m 1he 69* Year of hfs Age.
Death was to the Community the loss of
seful and wovth^ Member: To his Dlscon
iTe Wife and numerous OffspriiiQ a. loss
parable he was ex lovins 8r indulgent Husband
^ell as a tendti-dnd affecTionAte Pdi-enT and
remarkable for his affable and courteous

Deportment to all Men.
le\/oun§ he devoted himself to the service
is Country in which he was advanced, to
y rosTs of the greatesl Trust which he

aischarged with honour and fidelity
^as earl^/ received nxtb the Baptist Church
L Lommynionof which he remained a worthy
ber till his Jjealh; His Life .Was eyemplarv^
few men. 1-iacL a more extensive Charity for
Christians of every Denomination.

l*J/* aH^°^'' ^^h":^ ^'^ Sickness with beconiins
nc« and Resignation a glorious. Presaae of his
tnappi.ness: And we trust be is now cd rest
» MAiV»i<|na of BJils^s w.TK his Red«iemer "
the Spirits of just Men mad*. perfecT.

;toric strain of blood in

instead of l66i — The name " Gold "

hjoMCu Clarke

= Hon. Christopher Fowler

Sarah Fowler

=.C©I . Edward Marhn

Gardner

Sarah Kate Martin

= Rev, Horace L.E. Pratt".

Dallas Bachc Pratt"

= Maru Gordon Landon

Alexonder Baclie Pratt

KoiWan'ne Gn'swold Pratt ■—, LycurqusWindiester

Constance Sou^hworth

Beatrice Gordon Pratt

iffaiti

Greene

(-« Governors l>vj
Jeremiah;Clarke (I

Walter Clarke ^
John CroMsToM. .
Samuel CransTon
Colek Carr.
Williaw Orceiaelst
William Greene 1»"
H«wru Lipp'iit M
Charles Warreri LJpp

N«hemlaK Rice Kvii
William Wawtoh.
CUarles Collins Vai-
John RctnUtn Ro<

Jaw
Johi
JoK*

Wai
Wili
Wilt'
Sail"
Choi.

Wil

Hope Gordon Winchester,
Kathoirine L^corq*usWind-»ester,

*Lm.]

AMERICA FROiM LEWIS LATHAM, FALCONER TO KING CHARLE
in the Walter Clarke line is more freauentlv used as "Gould" — The reror

\LES I — Chart drawn I

•d of tlip annniiitniPuLj

William Voii/cihan

011/^1

Latham

Stdt.

ran

Ko-i'u Clarke laiG<(
===- Dr.uiidCcipT.Joh(iGrans1oii

AltorueiJ&enercilfor Piov'iitnce
•AMtlWiArw'itk lOJf .'55, '56

Latham Clarke, LiG'iS Weston ClarRcbiG^? James Clarke, fc.ifr'^^. SaraUClark

Commissioner loss '59, '(>0,6I 43
bcpoTu (CdV — l&iO , ,

De|»_ol(jGt>vernor.ltti,'73,"JC^."r7.r
Moior and Ckitf Capital n of all tha
Colohu.from Ifcit '

IMavor. Ifcll-MV
_G>ovemor iCltf.'ig.'tO.

Membev- of Court M^rTioJ
'92..

•o(CovjrrM<»rTiok|.l(.76

einbci- olCouit Murti'ul. It/ft.

> ^..r.' 1 It.-yr ^tt '*Oa

AttorneuG'ewerol l«>7<i ',77.'i4.
'»l,'»S.''t'<,'»5i'l<;.
teneralTreciSurer I6SI — 1it6
Oeneral Kecoreltr. XJk ueckrf Mmk«»

OcvwmWvoKvr o< i3auHclalrt««

I70J- ao«( ■'

M Coww mittcet* «r«w w^ I«k^S

tortheCaloHij.

Rxstor of Second

= I. John Pinn«
= 1. Caleb Ccii'
CoVMmittiovi

'sg.'aoi'd

Geyieral Tr
0«)»utu til

AsiittoinT \
Governor.

Samuel Cranston
AssUtahl 1G4C
Mojer for Utandt I698
Governor o| R. 1 -1 49».-n 11
30ijear«

)6.

Col J Alio Grawston
Depoti^ 9 ijears
«» peaker of House
•tD«pufie»VTII>nU
Assl&TaMt.lTJfc.

Frances Clar|<e

= - John Sawford sonof Sovwoei and

Whew o((oov. Pele9Sanfori

Dirabeth Cr««sVon
" Ct«bt John Broww

t)epu'V] "iSutarS Ap»oilit»ii
011 aspccral Council to
assist the Governor in
adv',(te ■for the speed y cx-
-p»d'ition of the oyeor de-
-si<3n viovi'mtenVed aqaiM^
Cort«i«ltL.
*"Z . Re V. dames Honeu vna rv.
Paster •/ Oli TrlKirtj.

Satw(»tlClavke=HaMv»«.KWi'lcocKs.

Aucllck} Clc<rk< SoroWWeceicn

t or worriftoe

) PresiSent CWi'ri<) Gov. IfelfJ-

Governor e[ Rhode Island. 1676 - G j)**'*

. , .. i(,1i-l^'to.

- • . M - • 26 years.

- .. «... .-„ »G95

H .( .. >• I'T'^j - nsi
m? - 17>5

" » ' )»7S - 1877.
1»95 - l»9fe

1732 ' 1733

» „ ^ " l«77 - ItrKg

,. Washi'M<}toi» 1S16-I101
died dbn'ii^ 1*^ +er«i

Lieutenant Governors,

SanFortL

•Ue
Bene l«
ene l"* *
ne Arnold *
ler Van Zandt
eeMe '^

lG7St

, I7t'/
I'l years

UT3-|»75.

ArnolcL

j_ Th<? Body of JOHN CRANSTON

Island gee-. He departed-'TKls Life lAi
thea^*- l6Ko'm^e55^^V'earof
His Age.

Here If •tl-.
Tilt Body of SAMUEL
CaAN5TOr4,Es<^
^LaT« &«vernoor of This »
Colony AgeoL 6 ?( Years (5C ^
iJtcpartectthis Life April v^ U*^
A. D. 17.27 he was 5ovx of John.
CransToit Esor^ vvho also was

Go\^€r>iour hcie ISJTO. He. was
. destendwd from the Nfobit ScotMsIt
Uord Cranston, And carried in Ki* V
a ♦Tr©4m of the A«ti«nt Eirla of
Crawford Bothwell &TraqadLi»»
Having had for his Grandfather Japi
CranaTon Clerk CkipUin to K-n^Char/
int First Hi* Great Grandfather was
John CraMston of PooI.Esg.^ Th'i3 last
WAS son t« James Cranjton fe^,»' \VhieK
JaTtT«s wa5 Son to William Lord Cransl
R«st )?<H*py *^«*« 8ir»ve PiTriflt. w'>tt.«ot Em a..
tVi Coor»Ti-«jV FitK«r fif tky Coontr^'j Fm',h

L. N. Camp for The Journal of American History — Recent discoverie.s authenticate the date of the death of Jeremiah Clarke
'"ranston as assistant to the Governor in Rhode Island seems to be somewhat olDscure in the engravinor Vrnt should be transcri

An IfiBtnrii: Strain nf II006 in Am^rtra

bearing anything more than an in-
scription. Then I determined to
look for original papers signed
"by Governor Clarke, both as citi-
zen and governor. Mr. Tilley, the
courteous Curator of the Newport
Historical Society, and also Commis-
sioner of Records for the State of
Rhode Island, kindly allowed me to
examine all the papers of which he
bad charge, and among them I worked
for weeks. Paper after paper was
examined, each a fresh disappoint-
ment, until, one morning, when hope
was almost gone, I was informed, on
my arrival at the Historical Society
Rooms, that in a bundle of old papers
brought in the day before, had been
found a deed, given by Governor
Walter Clarke, in 1705, bearing a
seal, which was probably the one for
which I was searching. The seal, I
saw at once, bore an heraldic device,
which, when examined through a
magnifying glass, showed quite
plainly, and was evidently made by
the seal. With Mr. Tilley's permis-
sion, and under his supervision, I had
a photograph taken — somewhat en-
larged — of the signature and seal,
and on my return to New Haven, had
another photograph, still more en-
larged, taken of the seal.

Frances Latham and Her Marriage
to Jeremiah Clarke in Britain

Frances Latham (spelled Francis
on both her head and foot-stone) was
baptized in the parish of Kempston,
County Bedford, England, February
15, 1609-10, and was the daughter
of Lewis Latham, of Estow, County
Bedford, England. Lewis Latham
was of a Cadet branch of the Lathams
of County Lancaster, England, and
bore the arms of that family. He
was falconer to Richard Berrick, and
under-falconer to Charles, Prince of
Wales, who, on ascending the throne
as Charles I, retained his falconers,
and in 1627, promoted Lewis Latham
to the office of serjeant-falconer.
Latham probably remained in office
until his death, in 1655.

Among the possessions of Frances
Latham, and said to have been
brought over to New England by her,
was a portrait of the old falconer,
thought to have been painted by Sir
Peter Lely, which is now owned by
one of her descendants, the late Hon-
orable William Lukens Elkins, of
Philadelphia.

According to a tradition in the
family (See "Barker Family"), Fran-
ces Latham married, first. Lord Wes-
ton, then William Dungan, per-
fumer, of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields
Parish, London, and after his death
married Mr. Jeremiah Clarke and
came over to New England. After
his death, she married the Reverend
Mr. Vaughan, pastor of the Baptist
Church, in Newport.

Mr. George Austin Morrison,
junior, in his able work on "The
Clarkes of Rhode Island," doubts the
first marriage, however, and he gives
such good reasons for it that I quote
them, verbatim :

"Notwithstanding this" (the Bar-
ker statement), "the belief is ad-
vanced, with great show of reason,
that her first husband was not 'Lord
Weston, as the Herald's Visitations
and Peerages give no one possessing
such a title, contemporary with her.
There was a Baron Weston, created,
1628, but his genealogy does not
show any such alliance. If she mar-
ried a Lord Weston, it must have
been at an extremely early age, and
the fact that she exchanged the title
of Lady Weston, to marry William
Dungan, the perfumer, is improbable.

"The name Weston, however, among
her descendants must be explained,
and to this end the genealogy of the
Clarke familly of Willoughby, County
Warwick, is of great interest. This
family bear coat armor blazoned as
follows : Argent, on a bend ; gules,
between three pellets, as many swans
of the first; on a sinister canton,
azure, a ram's head, salient, of the
first, and in chief, two fleur-de-lis, or,
crest, a ram's head, couped, proper.
Burke's Peerage gives this family."

IfranttB ICattjam (Ulntkt — iHnttj^r nf (gnu^rnnrB

Mr. Morrison also adds: "A James
Clarke of East Farleigh, Gent, left a
will, dated July 13, 1614, proved No-
vember I, 1614, in which he mentions
that his house and orchard lying at
■Court Wood Gate, in the parish of
Wynton, is to go, after death of
Griffin Roches and wife Jane, to
Weston Clarke, and his heirs for-
ever." Frances Latham was four or
five years old when this will, mention-
ing a Weston Clarke was made,
which adds weight to Mr. Morrison's
telief that the name Weston did not
come into the Clarke family through
her marriage with a Weston.

To quote again from Mr. Morri-
son's work : "''Eliza Britton, born
Aug. 21, 1798, dau. Elizabeth Clarke,^
Audley,'* Henry,^ Jeremiah,- Jere-
miah,^ left, among her effects, a photo
of a coat of arms, which was evi-
<iently taken from the tomb of Sir
John Clarke, Knt, at Thames Church,
County Oxford, and the arms bla-
zoned thereon are exactly the same
as those borne by the present baronet,
who is a lineal descendant of Sir
John Clarke of Weston. This seems
a claim on Eliza Britton's part, to
have descended from this family.
The theory advanced now is, that
Frances Latham never married a
Lord Weston, but that Jeremiah
Clarke, when she married him, was
Lord of the Manor of Weston."

Note, also, that Frances Latham
gave the name of Weston to a Clarke,
not a Dungan child ; that the seal of
Governor Clarke is to be given to an
uncle, Weston Clarice, and that Jere-
miah Clarke named one of his sons
James. (See will of James Clarke.)

The seal photo I have submitted to
various persons versed in heraldry.
All agree that the arms are similar
to those of Latham, but differ as to
the crest, the majority thinking it
suggestive of the lark or dove ris-
ing, with or without the ear of wheat
in its mouth, as used by some of the
English Clarkes. However, I simply
record the find and leave the matter
open for discussion.

Of Frances (Latham) Clarke's
personal appearance or character, no
word has come down to us through
the generations, except in the lives
of such distinguished descendants as
few women have given to the world.
Lowell says that every man is a bun-
dle of his ancestors ; of her, we might
say that she lives in her descendants.
It is said : "The hand that rocks the
cradle, rules the world," and with the
birth and care of her eleven children,
giving them the careful training of
those days, besides the keeping of the
home, and entertaining the noted men
and women of the times, her life
must have been a very full one. She
must have been, in the truest sense,
a "help-meet" to her distinguished
husband, and the loved and honored
mother of her children.

That she undoubtedly was an at-
tractive woman, her three marriages
would indicate. Left a widow at
twenty-six, with four children, she
was soon taken to wife by Jeremiah
Clarke, and when again widowed, in
165 1, when forty-one years of age,
she was sought in marriage by the
Reverend Mr. Vaughan, probably her
pastor. Each one of her sons served
his country, or church, with public
service, and each daughter married
men who did the same.

One can imagine the gathering of
distinguished men and women in the
"Common Burial Ground" of New-
port, on that September day of 1677,
when Frances Vaughan, recently wid-
owed for the third time, was laid in
her grave.

There was her eldest Clarke son,
then governor ; her daughter Mary,
with her husband, then Deputy-Gov-
ernor John Cranston, later, governor,
and their son Samuel, a young strip-
ling, who, before the century closed,
would also be a governor, holding
the office for thirty years ; her daugh-
ter Sarah, sometime the wife of Gov-
ernor Caleb Carr ; Barbara, with her
husband, James Barker, to be chosen
the next year, deputy-governor ; Fran-

Att Iftstnrir Strain nf H006 in Am^rtrtt

ces and her husband, Major Randall
Holden, ancestors of several of
Rhode Island's governors and one of
Washington ; Weston Clarke, then
attorney-general; James, Latham and
Jeremiah Clarke, with their sons and
daug'hters, and Reverend Thomas
Dungan, who, perhaps, was the one
to say the last sacred words over his
mother's grave.

Progeny of Frances Clarke —
Their Intermarriages in America

1. Barbara Dungan, born 1628, in
England, the first born child of Fran-
ces Latham, married James Barker,
corporal, 1644; ensign, 1648; member
of General Court of Elections, 1648,
commissioner three years ; Royal
Charterer, 1663; deputy, assistant-
governor, deputy-governor in 1678.

Of their children, Elizabeth mar-
ried Nicholas Easton, grandson of
Governors Easton and Coggeshall ;
Mary married first, Elisha Smith ;
second, Israel Arnold, deputy eight
years, grandson of Governor Bene-
dict Arnold. Peter married Freelove
Bliss, also a grandchild of Governor
Arnold, and William married Eliza-
beth Easton, sister to Nicholas Eas-
ton, who had married his sister Eliza-
beth, and so grand-daughter of two
governors-

2. William Dungan.

3. Francis Dungan, born 1630, in
England, married Major Randall
Holden, signer of the compact at
Portsmouth, 1637-1638; signer of the
compact at Warwick, 1642- 1643 !
commissioner, nine years.

Their daughter, Frances, married
John Holmes, general treasurer of
Rhode Island 1690-1710; lieutenant,
1696: Elizabeth married John Rice,
deputy, 1710; Mary married John
Carder, deputy, 1678-1696; Sarah
married Joseph Stafford ; Randall,
deputy, 1696-1699; 1 700- 1 704- 17 14-
1715-1721 ; assistant, 1705- 1725,
twenty years; major for the main,
1706; speaker of the House of Dep-
uties, 1714-1715 ; married Bethiah
Waterman ; Margaret married John

Eldred, ensign, 1692; later, captain
and assistant, 1699-1717, fifteen
years; Lieutenant Charles, deputy,
1710-1716, married Catherine, daugh-
ter of Deputy-Governor John Greene ;
Barbara married Samuel Wickham,
deputy, 1701 - 1703- 1704- 1707- 1709-
1710; clerk of Assembly, 1703-1709-
17 10, and Susannah married Benja-
min, son of Honorable Thomas
Greene.

Frances Dungan and Major Ran-
dall Holden number several govern-
ors of Rhode Island and one of
Washington among their descend-
ants, and many other of the most
distinguished men and women of the
country.

4. Reverend Thomas Dungan was
one of the "47" who took grant of
five thousand acres to be called East
Greenwich. Lie was serjeant in
1676; deputy, 1 676- 1 68 1, and in 1684,
minister of the First Baptist Church
in Cold Spring, Pennsylvania, mov-
ing there in 1684.

Morgan Edwards, writing of the
old church, which was broken up in
1702, says: "The Reverend Thomas
Dungan, the first Baptist minister in
the province, now exists (1770) in a
progeny of between 600 and 700. He
married Elizabeth Weaver, daughter
of Clement.

"He is said to have been a man of
great learning, having studied with
his step-father, the Reverend Mr.
Vaughan, of Newport." From him
descend many of Pennsylvania's best
families.

5. Walter Clarke, born 1640, mar-
ried, first. Content Greenman ; sec-
ond, Hannah Scott, daughter of Rich-
ard ; third, Mrs. Freeborn Hart,
daughter of Roger Williams, and
fourth, Mrs. Sarah Gould, daughter
of Matthew Prior.

He was assistant 1 673- 1674- 1675-
1 699 ; governor, 1 676 - 1 677 - 1 686 -
1696- 1697- 1698 ; deputy -governor
twenty-three years ; member of Sir
Edmund Andros' Council, 1686.

Hannah, his daughter by his sec-
ond wife, Hannah Scott, married Dr.

Jfranr^fi Slattjam Ollark^ — iHnlJj^r of (BttwrntttB

Thomas Rodman, who came to New-
port from Barbadoes in 1675. He
was a prominent member of the Soci-
ety of Friends and an eminent physi-
cian and surgeon. In 1686, Dr. Rod-
man purchased a "propriety" in New
Jersey. It was a large tract of land
extending into three counties, and
with the exception of five hundred
acres, exchanged, in 1710, for a plan-
tation in Barbadoes, descended to his
children.

Of their children, Hannah married
Philip Wanton of the noted Rhode
Island "Governors" family; Clarke
married Anne Coggeshall. He was
a physician in Newport and an es-
teemed minister of the Society of
Friends. Tradition says that a mem-
orable sermon of his was upon this
text :

A man of words and not of deeds,
Is like a garden full of weeds.

Samuel married Mary Willett,
< daughter of Colonel Thomas Willett,
of Long Island. He was Justice of
the Peace in Newport, 1739.

Patience married Jonathan Easton,
son of Nicholas.

6. Mary Clarke, born 1641, mar-
ried Dr. and Captain John Cranston,
attorney-general for Providence atid
Warwick, 1654-1655-1656; commis-
sioner, 1655- 1659- 1660- 1661- 1663;
deputy, 1664-1669; assistant, 1668-
1 669- 1 670- 1671 - 1672 ( 1676- 1677-
1678:)? deputy-governor, 1672-1673-
1676- 1 677- 1 678; major and chief
captain of all the colony, 1676; gov-
ernor, 1 678- 1 679- 1 680.

Their son, Samuel Cranston, was
assistant, 1696; major for the islands,
1698, and governor of Rhode Island,
1698- 1 727, the longest term known.
Their second son, Colonel John, was
deputy nine years, speaker of the
House of Deputies, 1711-1716; assist-
ant, 1746.

Their daughter, Elizabeth, married,
first, Captain John Brown, who was
deputy eight years, and appointed on
a special council to assist the gov-
ernor in advice for the speedy expe-

dition of the great design now in-
tended against Canada. She married,
second. Reverend James Honeyman,
rector of Trinity Church, Newport.

7. Jeremiah Clarke, born 1642-
1643, was deputy for Newport ten
years, 1696-1706. (See chart for his
descendants.)

8. Latham Clarke, born 1645, was
member of Court Martial 1676; dep-
uty, 1681-1682-1683-1685-1690-1691-
1698; married, first, Hannah Wilbur,
and second, Anne Newbury.

Their children married into the
Thurston, Fry and Stanton families.

9. Weston Clarke, born 1648, was
member of Court Martial, 1676;
attorney- general, 1676- 1677- 1680-
1681-1683- 1684- 1685- 1686; general
treasurer, 1681-1686; general re-
corder, twenty-two years, between
1690 and 1715; commissioner of
boundaries, 1703- 1704; on commit-
tee to draw up laws for the colony.
He married Mary, grand-daughter
of Governor Nicholas Easton.

10. James Clarke, born 1649, was
pastor of Second Baptist Church of
Newport, from 1701 until his death
in 1736. He and his wife, Hope
Power, are interred in Newport Cem-
etery.

11. Sarah Clarke, born 165 1, mar-
ried, first, John Pinner, and second,
Caleb Carr of Newport. He was
commissioner, 1654-1658-1659-1660-
1661-1662; general treasurer, 1661-
1662; deputy, twelve years, between
1664 and 1691 ; assistant, 1679-1691 ;
governor, 1695.

Their grand-daughter, Mary God-
frey, married Governor William
Wanton, whose son Joseph, by a
former wife, and two nephews were
governors of Rhode Island. She
married, second, Daniel Updyke.

Strong Men and Women Descended
from Beautiful Frances Latham

Time would fail me to mention all
the distinguished descendants of
Frances Latham, who are scattered
over this broad land, but among them,

An 2|tj0t0rtr Strain nf llnnft in Am^rtra

by blood or marriage, were Colonel
Daniel Updyke, attorney-general of
Rhode Island twenty-five years;
Samuel Wickham, one of the original
members of the Newport Artillery
Company, speaker of the House of
Deputies, 1747; deputy, 1744-1748;
Colonel Benjamin Wickham, speaker
of the House of Deputies, 1757, and
deputy, three years ; Colonel Chris-
topher Lippitt, of the Revolutionary
War; Honorable Ray Greene, attor-
ney-general of Rhode Island and
senator, 1799-1801 ; Honorable Tris-
tam Burgess, senator and chief jus-
tice of the Supreme Court of Rhode
Island ; Colonel Tristam Burgess, of
the Civil War, whose sons — Arnold,
settling in Michigan, and Tristam in
California, carried the blood into the
Western states ; the noted Julia Ward
Howe, whose sister, Louisa, married
Thomas Crawford, the sculptor; Gen-
eral William Greene Ward and oth-
ersof the Ward family ; also Colonel
Christopher Greene, one of the most
gallant officers of the Revolution.
Having served his native state as a
member of the Colonial Legislature
until the commencement of the war,
he went at once into service, as lieu-
tenant of the Kentish Guards. Later,
he served under his illustrious kins-
man, General Nathaniel Greene.

Promoted to a colonelcy in 1777,
his military career was a brilliant
one, until, surprised by the enemy
at dawn on the fourteenth of May,
1 78 1, at Croton River, he yielded up
his life at the early age of forty-
four. Within a few years the state
of New York has honored his mem-
ory and those who fell with him, by
erecting a monument on the site of
the battle.

His eldest daughter married — cap-
tain of the Revolution, and major of
the War of 1812 — Thomas Hughes,
and his eldest son. Job Greene, served
in the Revolution, and was an origi-
nal member of the Rhode Island So-
ciety of the Cincinnati.

Mention must also be made of
Judge Anthony Low of Rhode Island ;

Major Philip Low of the Revolution,
officer in a Georgia Regiment; Cap-
tain Samuel Low, of old Warwick,
Rhode Island; Jahleel Brenton,.
grandson of Governor William Bren-
ton, sheriff, 1721-1733, and deputy,
1737; his son, Jahleel Brenton, rear-
admiral of the British Navy, and his
son. Sir Jahleel Brenton.

Through the marriage of Hannah
Clarke, daughter of Governor Wal-
ter, with Dr. Thomas Rodman, there
descended, by blood or marriage. Dr.
Thomas Rodman, surgeon in the
Continental Army, 1759; William
Rodman, whose marriage with Lydia
Gardner, daughter of Deputy-Gov-
ernor John Gardner, gave to their
daughter, Mary, the wife of Stephen
Hopkins, son of the signer of the
Declaration of Independence, a dou-
ble strain of blood, from Frances
Latham, and William Mitchell Rod-
man, Mayor of Providence. Also
Professor Francis Greenwood Pea-
body of Harvard Divinity School^
and Walter Langdon Kane, of New
York and Newport, are of this line.

Lieutenant-Colonel William Logan
Rodman, of the Civil War, Sarah
Logan Wister, with her sons, Brig-
adier-General Langhorne, and Cap-
tain Francis Wister, the lovely Mary
Fleming Hare, wife of Sussex Dela-
ware Davis, and William H. Hunt,.
Secretary of the Navy, 1881, and
United States Minister to Russia in*
1882, come of this line also.

Among them, too, must be men-
tioned the beautiful Mary Stockton
Rotch, grand-daughter of Richard
Stockton of New Jersey, who, with
her husband, Captain Charles Hunter;
of the United States Navy, and'
young daughter Caroline, was lost in
the "Ville de Havre," November, 1873.

The Reverend Thomas Dungan,.
who settled in Pennsylvania, is
claimed as ancestor by many of the
most eminent families of that noble
state. Among his descendants of note
are named Lieutenant-Colonel Dun-
gan of Philadelphia County Artillery,.
1780; George Elkins of Maryland,.

3tmttB IGalliam Clarke — lUntij^r nf (ilnwrttor^

and Pennsylvania, who was one of
the brave defenders of his country
the War of 1812 with Great

Britain ; George Washington Elkins
of Pittsburgh, to whom, largely, that
city owes — in a business way — what
it is to-day, and the late William Lu-
kens Elkins, of Philadelphia, capital-

ist, who was not only one of the most
eminent business men of Philadel-
phia, but deeply interested in the de-
velopment of art in this country,
offering a prize of $5,000 for the
most meritorious painting exhibited
by an American artist at the Pennsyl-
vania Academy of Fine Arts.

A MOTHER OF AMERICAN GOVERNORS

Frances Latham, Daughter of Lewis Latham, the Falconer to King
Charles I, who came to America and established a lineal de-
scent of Eminent American Political Leaders, the following Gov-
ernors claiming her as Ancestress by lineal descent or marriage:

Jeremiah Clarke, her husband, Governor of Rhode Island, 1648
*WaIter Clarke.t Governor of Rhode Island, 1676, — six years
*John Cranston, Governor of Rhode Island, 1678-1679-1680
*Samnel Cranston,} Governor of Rhode Island, 1698-1727
*Caleb Carr, Governor of Rhode Island, 1695
*William Greene, Governor of Rhode Island, 1743-1758
fHenry Lippitt,$ Governor of Rhode Island, 1875-1877
fCharles Warren Lippitt,$ Governor of Rhode Island, 1895-1896
*Nehemiah Rice Knight,} Governor of Rhode Island, 1817-1821
*William Greene, 2nd,$ Governor of Rhode Island, 1778-1785
♦William Wanton, Governor of Rhode Island, 1732-1733
fCharles Collins Van Zandt, Governor of Rhode Island, 1877-1880
tjohn Rankin Rogers,} Governor of Washington, 1896-1902

DEPUTY OR LIEUTENANT GOVERNORS

James Barker, Lieutenant-Governor of Rhode Island, 1678

John Cranston, Lieutenant-Governor of Rhode Island, 1672-1676-1678

John Gardiner,} Lieutenant-Governor of Rhode Island, 1754-1756-1764

Walter Clarke,} Lieutenant-Governor of Rhode Island, 1679-1714 — fourteen years

William Greene, ist, Lieutenant-Governor of Rhode Island, 1740-1743

William Greene, 2nd,} Lieutenant-Governor of Rhode Island

Samuel Greene Arnold,} Lieutenant-Governor of Rhode Island, 1852-1853

William Greene,} Lieutenant-Governor of Rhode Island, 1866-1868

Charles C. Van Zandt,} Lieutenant-Governor of Rhode Island, 1873-1875

Nearly all the early governors of Rhode Island are connected with Frances Latham either by blood or
marriage with her descendants — The sign • is here used to designate governorship under the Royal Char-
ter; t under the Constitution adopted in 1842: J Lineal Descendant