Mary Weston, wife of William Clarke of East Farleigh, mother of Jeremy Clarke of Newport RI

[sswa...@butler.edu]

The fate of Mary Weston, wife of William Clarke of East Farleigh, Kent, and mother of Jeremy Clarke of Newport RI, has long puzzled researchers. She disappears from view after the baptism of her posthumous daughter Mary Clarke 16 September 1610 in East Farleigh.

Here offered are two pieces of evidence about her afterlife, neither definitive, yet both likely, which may open the way to discover what happened to her.

The first is a marriage record in the East Farleigh parish register:

Robert Golding, gentleman, married Mrs Mary Clarke, widow, 25 March 1622 East Farleigh. (This was just about the time her eldest son Weston Clarke reached his majority and came into his own as the heir of his grandfather James Clarke of East Farleigh.)

[This may be found on Familysearch. Since I’m not in a FHC I cannot get the exact image number at the moment.]

The name is ordinarily spelled Golding or Goldinge in the records, sometimes Goulding or Gouldinge as in the will below. Families of that name, hovering on the hazy border between yeomanry and gentility, are found in East Farleigh itself and neighboring parishes of Barming and Linton. By the later C17 they were unequivocally gentlemen.

The second is the will of Robert Goulding of Maidstone, gentleman, dated 25 April 1623, proved 26 May 1623 Canterbury [not PCC]. The will’s register reference is Kent Archives PRC/32/45/319b. Its original reference is Kent Archives PRC/31/82 G/4. (The register copy is here transcribed.) Mr Robert Golding was buried 2 May 1623 Maidstone. The will names his wife Mary, notes the lands she had brought to the marriage, and assigns her land during the term of a lease:

In the name of God Amen the five and twentieth day of Aprill Anno D[omi]ni 1623. I Robert Goulding of Maidstone in the Countie of Kent gent[leman] being sick in body but of good and perfect memorie (God be praised) do make and ordaine this my last will and testament in manner and forme following, that is to say ffirst I com[m]itt my soule into the hands of Allmightie god my Creator and my body to the earth assuredlie hoping of Slvation [sic] through the only merritts of Jesus Christ my Saviour [bleed through and tear ....] my will and desire is that all such debts as I owe either of right or Conscience be satisfied and paid. And concerning the disposicon of my worldlie goods my will and mind is that Mary my loving wife shall receave to her owne use so much of the last lady dayes rents of her owne lands and tenements (w[hi]ch shee had before o[u]r marriage) as is yet behind and that, that w[hi]ch I have alreadie received thereof (w[hi]ch is about thirie pounds) shall be repaid unto her againe by myne Executor hereafter named w[i]th[in] two monethes next after my decease. And whereas I have latelie dealt w[i]th my Cozen John Best of Allington neere Maidstone aforesaid Esq[ui]r[e] for the lease of the Castle wherein he now dwelleth and the lands etc thereunto belonging w[hi]ch lease is foorthw[i]th by him to be assigned over unto me. And whereas also I have thereupon agreed to demise unto Nicholas Cripps and John Harrys of Maydstone aforesaid yeomen certaine roomes, barnes, outhouses, etc, and the most p[ar]t of the lands unto the said Castle belonging, as by the sev[er]all draughts of the said assignement and lease more att lardge appeereth Now my will and meaning is that my said Executor shall proceede in that busines, both in taking of the said assignement from my Cozen John Best and then sealing of the said lease unto the said Nicholas Crips and John Harrys and performing of all such assurances and covenants unto either of them as I myselfe should have don. And whereas there are certaine roomes, gardens, outshoues, dovehouses etc and fifteene acres of land or thereabouts w[hi]ch are not intended to be demised unto the said Nicholas Cripps and John Harris but res[er]ved unto me the said Robert Goulding. And whereas alsoe the said Nicholas Cripps and John Harris are yearlie betwixt [Ho]llantide and Christmas [bleed through: .....] intended dymise, to deliver unto me the said Rob[er]t Goulding etc att the Castle beforesaid eight quarters of wheate and eleaven quarters of barlie And whereas alsoe I am to have certaine wood for my fuell att the said Castle out of long sole Parke etc my will and meaning is that my said wife shall have, hold, p[er]ceive, receive, take and enioy the said roomes, gardens, outhouses, dovehouses and land (which were excepted and not mentioned to be dymised in the said draught of the said intended lease to Nicholas Cripps and John Harris) And the said wheat, barley and wood for fuell, in as large and ample manner as I my selfe should have don, for and during the terme of the said intended dymise, yf shee shall fortune to live so long, she my said wife paying yearlie unto myne Executor or his Assignes for the said roomes, gardens, outhouses, dovehouses and land the sume of foure pounds and fifteene shillings of lawfull money of England att the ffeasts of the Annunciacon of the blessed virgen Mary and St Michaell the Archangell by equall porcons during the tyme that he shall fortune to enioy the same, And alsoe paying unto my said Executor the sume of eighteene pounds of like lawfull money for the said wheate and barlie yearelie from tyme to tyme w[i]thin one moneth next after the deliv[er]y thereof And also paying for the felling, making and carryeing of the said wood for fuell. And all the residue of my goods, chattells, leases, corne, cattell, plate and houhold stuffe whatsoever (my said debts, legacies and sev[er]all expences being discharged) I I’ve and bequeath unto Henry Goulding my Brother to bee imployed to the use and pr[e]ferment of Henry Goulding my son. And I make the said Henry Goulding my Brother sole Executor of this my last will and Testament and do give unto him twentie shillings to make him a ring to weare in Remembrance of me. In witness whereof I have to this my p[re]sent will (being three sheetes of paper in number) set my hand and Seale dated the day and yeare first aforesaid. Rob[er]t Goulding. Sealed, subscribed and published in the pr[e]sence of John Bix, Joane Highwood her m[ar]ke, William Chambers his marke.

It seems unlikely that the 1619 Visitation of Kent’s pedigree of Goulding of Sevington pertains to this Goulding family.

The link:
https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Visitation_of_Kent_Taken_in_the_Year/Xq1zM7rt9LkC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=goulding

Wikipedia has this to say about Allington castle and John Best:

“Most of the Great Hall and the north-east wing were destroyed in a disastrous fire in the second half of the 16th century. An early 17th-century lessee named John Best pulled down the battlements and added a half-timbered gabled second storey to the east and west wings as a replacement for the fire-damaged areas of the castle. The Bests were Catholics and used a room in the east tower as their private chapel. There is still a priest hole in the lodge of the gatehouse, a sign of the persecution that Catholics faced at the time.”

The link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allington_Castle

Possibly if Best were Catholic, so were Robert Golding and Mary Weston. Mary’s brother Jerome, Earl of Portland, and his wives were avowedly Catholic. Possibly the Clarkes, flying under the radar, remained so as well since there was a priest hole at Ford Hall in Wrotham (or so its then owner said when I visited in 1978).

In addition to Mary’s own lands then, Robert Goulding assigned her land in Allington for term of a specified lease. Presumably her own lands came to her as her third of William Weston’s estate. The East Farleigh church rates (which may be found on Familysearch) survive from 1636 onward, yet she does not appear in them as Mary Golding. If she married again, her holdings would have been assessed under the name of her current husband. The fragments of Gallants manor rolls (on Familysearch), which held tracts in East Farleigh, Linton, and Maidstone, note the Clarke holdings therein but no Golding holdings. The East Farleigh manor rolls (on Familysearch) offer nothing useful.

Mary, christened 26 April 1579 Roxwell, Essex, was 42 at the time she married Golding, 44 when he died, so if she survived, she might well have married again. Her waiting twelve years to remarry after William Clarke’s death might have been itself unusual. There is no obvious marriage record for Mary Golding in the online abstracts of Kent or London registers. If Mary did not remarry, there is no evident burial record for her in the online abstracts of Kent or London registers. There is no will proved for Mary Golding in the Kent or PCC wills.

Further sightings most welcome!

Scott Swanson
sswanson [at] butler [dot] edu

[Johnny Brananas]

Yes, she did marry again -- to William Bispham, gent., of Billing, Lancashire, as shown in his funeral certificate:

"The sayd Willm Bispham, deceased, married to his 3d wife Mary, dau. to Sr Jerome Weston of Skreenes, in Essex, Kt, and sister to Richard Weston, Lord Thresurer & Earle of Portland, but by her he had no yssue."

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Publications%CC%88/43JEAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=bispham+jerome&pg=PA199&printsec=frontcover

William Bispham and Mary Golding were married the 30th of March 1626 at Sandon, Essex, per IGI.

Mary (Weston) (Clarke) (Goulding) Bispham left this 1658 will proved in the P.C.C.:

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D778638

[sswa...@butler.edu]

This is the best kind of further sighting, Johnny! Mary’s son Essex Clarke served as rector of Tilsford in the 1630s and 1640s. Since he was 22 at the time of her marriage to William Bispham, it looks as though it was Bispham who brought Essex to Cheshire rather than Essex who brought Bispham to the attention of his mother.

Have you any idea of what might have made sense of this marriage? Did Bispham have interests in Kent or Essex, possibly Sandon? Or whether the Bispham family were Catholic or Catholic sympathisers? Since Mary’s son Essex was a rector in the Church of England, her son Jeremy a Puritan in New England, and her sisters and brother (I meant to say Richard, Earl of Portland) for the most part Catholic, there was a wide range of religious commitment in her family.

[Johnny Brananas]

There's another Bispham marriage and also a Bispham baptism at Sandon, so some family members were there in the area.

I only just worked out the third marriage after reading your posting a minute ago and checking into the subsequent 1626 marriage of "a Mary Golding," so I really can't say anything about the background or reasons.

Someone might want to check the Mary Bispham will from 1658, since that was just a guess based on Jeremy Clarke's brother being a clergyman in Lancashire/ Cheshire area.

[sswa...@butler.edu]

Just checked the will. It's hers and names her surviving Clarke children and an array of grandchildren. It looks as though she were living with her son Essex's widow Ruth. I'll transcribe and post it in the next few days.

[JBrand]

Cool, sounds interesting!

[pj.ev...@gmail.com]

Checking Familysearch:
No image for the marriage to Golding - it's in a database.
"England Marriages, 1538–1973", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NLQ4-SQF : 12 March 2020), Mary Clarke in entry for Robert Golding, 1622.
And the one to Bispham shows up here, no image:
"England, Essex Parish Registers, 1538-1997," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XKZW-YL2 : 12 February 2018), William Bispham and Mary Goldinge, 30 Mar 1626; citing Marriage, Sandon, Essex, England, Essex Record Office, England.

[sswa...@butler.edu]

There is on Familysearch an image for the marriage in the East Farleigh, Kent, parish register under 1622.

[Will Johnson]

I want you to reconsider that the Vis Kent you cited does *not* pertain to this same Robert.

This Robert of Maidstone had a prior wife Elizabeth.
And he had a brother Henry per his will


https://www.google.com/books/edition/Abstracts_of_Probates_and_Sentences_in_t/iooyAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=robert+goulding+of+maidstone&pg=PA133&printsec=frontcover

his prior wife Elizabeth

[JBrand]

I guess that could be correct, if Robert's two children by Elizabeth died before the date of his will. The reference to wife Elizabeth's will being proved by "late husband Robert Goulding" must mean he was "late her husband," not that he was personally "late"/ deceased.

[JBrand]

Although, since the Visitation doesn't mention Elizabeth's earlier husband Cooper, perhaps there were two Roberts of Maidstone, with the one who proved Elizabeth (___) (Cooper) Golding's will being identifical to the husband of Mary (Weston) Clarke.

[sswa...@butler.edu]

As to the 1619 visitation Will may be on to something but not for the reasons set out in the link. I had been focusing on Robert the father in the pedigree; it looks as though Robert the son who married Elizabeth Wastnes is likely Robert of Maidstone.

The link sets out the following:

1) Elizabeth ----- had married John Cooper and served as his executrix.
2) Elizabeth then married Robert Golding. [14 March 1619/20 All Saints, Maidstone as it turns out].
3) Elizabeth Golding of Maidstone left a will proved 16 June 1620 [PCC] by Robert Golding.

The Goulding pedigree in the 1619 Visitation does identify a Robert Goulding married to Elizabeth Wastnes who had a son Henry, age 17, (so born 1601-1602); for that reason alone Elizabeth could not have been the Elizabeth Cooper who married Robert Goulding of Maidstone 1619/20 a month or so before she died. There are, moreover, for what it’s worth, Henrys aplenty in the parishes of East Farleigh and Barming on the outskirts of Maidstone to provide a brother for Robert of Maidstone. What is needed is not a coincidence of common first names but documentary identification.

The parish registers of Maidstone offer the following information and possibly (only possibly) contradict the pedigree as to the mother of Robert’s children Henry (age 17) and Helena.

1) Robert Goulding, gentleman of Sevington near Ashford, married Elizabeth Westnes of Maidstone 30 May 1597 at All Saints, Maidstone; Elizabeth Goldinge, presumably but not certainly Robert’s wife, was buried 15 January 1597/8 at All Saints, Maidstone. If she was Robert’s wife, then she was not the mother of the following children, two of whom do appear in the visitation as her children:
2) Janne daughter of Robert Goldinge was baptised 15 April 1599 All Saints, Maidstone; Janne daughter of Mr Robert Goldinge was buried 1 January 1600 at All Saints, Maidstone.
3) Ellen daughter of Robert Golding was baptised 20 July 1600 at All Saints, Maidstone; Helen Goulding, daughter of Robert Goulding, gentleman and jurate, and John Bix of Babchild married 18 January 1619/20 at All Saints, Maidstone; John Bix witnessed Robert Goulding’s 1623 will.
4) Henry son of Robert Goldinge was baptised 16 October 1602 at All Saints, Maidstone.
5) Robert Goulding married -----: Margaret -----; Margaret wife of Mr Robert Goulding, gentleman, was buried 28 July 1618 at All Saints, Maidstone.
6) Robert Goulding, jurate and gentleman, and Elizabeth Cooper, widow, married 14 March 1619/20 All Saints, Maidstone; her will was dated 21 April 1620 and proved 20 June 1620, so it’s hard to say whether she was the Mrs Elizabeth Goulding buried 21 June 1620 at Blean in east Kent.

Here follows a transcription of the will which Johnny located [National Archives PROB 11/284/109]. It is from a family history perspective a perfect will, naming her children, her grandchildren, and their spouses, and identifying clear relationships. Her will shows that Mary was reasonably prosperous. Since she was the sister of Richard, Earl of Portland, who amassed and squandered stratospheric wealth, and since it might be wondered whether the rising tide of the Earl’s sensational preferement raised the boats of sisters and brothers, it does not seem here that it did. She was bequeathing 10, 20, 40 shillings, five and ten pounds, not hundreds let alone thousands of pounds.

In the name of God Amen. I Mary Bispham of the towneshippe and parish of Tilston in the County of Chester widdowe being aged and weake of body but of good and perfect memory and understandinge for which I praise Almighty god and knowing the uncertainty of my life and being minded to dispose of my worldly estate doe make this my last will and Testament in manner and forme followeing. That is to say, ffirst I bequeath my soule unto god my Creatour hopeing through the merritts of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to have remission and pardon of my sinnes and everlastinge life after my death. Also I commytt my body to the earth whereof it is framed to bee therein interred accordinge to my estate degree and calling at the discretion of my executrix heereafter named. Also I heereby give and bequeath unto my three sonnes James George and John Clerke the summe of forty shillings apeece to each of them and unto Rebeccah wife of the said George twenty shillings and unto Mary Symons wife of William Symons of London bread Baker and daughter of the said James the summe of tenn shillings. Also I hereby give and bequeath unto Elizabeth Clerke one other of the said James Clerkes daughters the summe of twenty shillings currant money of England. Also I heereby give and bequeath unto Rebeccah Haies wife of Daniell Haies and daughter of my said sone George the summe of tenn shillings. Alsoe I heereby give and bequeath unto William Clerke eldest son of my said sonne George the summe of forty shilings currant money aofresaid and unto Isaacke and James Clerke the two younger sons of my said sonne George tenn shillings apeece to either of them. Also I heerbegy give and bequeath unto Barbara Mary Sarah and Elizabeth Clerke younger daughters of my said sonne George the summe of tenn shillinges apeece to every one of them. Also I heereby give and bequeath unto my grandchilde William Clerke one of the sonnes of my son Essex Clerke late Rector of the parish Church of Tilston aforesdaid deceased the summe of Tenn pounds currant money aforesaid and unto his brother Thomas Clerke the summe of forty shillinges of like currant money aforesaid. Also I heereby give and bequeath unto my deare and lovinge daughter in law Ruth Clerke widowe late wife unto my said sonne Essex the summe of five pounds of the like currant money aforesaid and unto her daughter Anne Clerke the like summe of five pounds of like currant money aforesaid and likewise a third part of my [in/ju]steed or household goodes the same being equally divided into three parts. Alsoe I heereb give and bequeath unto Mary Clerke sister of the said Anne Clerke and daughter of my said sonne Essex the like summer of five pounds of like currant money aforesaid together also with two parts of my said [in/ju]sted or household goodes the same being equally divided into three parts. Also I hereby give and bequeath unto Mary Taylor my goddaughter the daughter of Richard Taylor of Shocklach in the foresaid County yeoman the summe of twenty shillinges currant money as aforesaid and unto her mother Jane Taylor my late servant the summer of tenn shillings. Also I heereby give and bequeath unto Susan Cleyton wife of Thomas Cleyton of White Church in the County of Salop tailer and unto Sarah Williamson sister of the said Susan both my late servants tenn shillinges apeece to each of them. Also I heereby give unto Jane Hughes servant to the said Ruth the summe of tenn shillings And unto Edward Thornell one other of her servants five shillinges. Also I heereby bequeath unto my loveing freindes William Povery of Tilston and Anne his wife the summe of twenty shillings And unto my freind Randall Nicholas otherwise Tidder tenn shillinges. Also I heereby give unto James Clerke Doctor in Physicke soone and heire unto my eldest sonne Weston Clerke deceased and unto his now wife twenty shillinges apeice to buy them mourning rings. Also I heereby give unto the poore people enhabieing in Tilston afresaid the summe of thirty shillings and unto the poore people inhabiteing in the severall towneshipps of Carden Stretton and Horton within the foresaid parish of Tilston at the time of my death the summe of twenty shillings currant money aforesaid that is to say to each of those townes six shillings and eight pence to bee equally divided amongest them. All the rest and residue of my goodes chattells cattle and creditts my debts and legacies being thereout first paid and my funerall expenses discharged I heereby give and bequeath unto the said Ruth Clerke And I doe heereby make ordayne and appointe her the said Ruth sole executrivx of this my last will and testament heereby renounceing all former wills by mee made. In witnesse whereof I have heereunto putt my hand and seale the twelfth day of June in the yeare of our Lord god one thousand six hundred ffyfty and eight. Mary Bispham. Sealed subscribed dellivered and published in the presence of Anne Clerke Mary Clerke William Povey with others the marke of John Williamson of Tilston webster.

This will was proved at London before the Judges for probate of wills and grauntinge administrions the tenth day of November in the yeare of our Lord god one thousand six hundred ffyfty and eight by the oath of Ruth Clarke sole executrix To whome was commytted administration shee being ffirst by Commyssion sworne truely to administer.

[Will Johnson]

For those who follow such things, I should point out that this Mary Weston, provided we accept the contested parentage of Cecily /Neville/ , her parentage in a letter by her grandson Simon, born 1491/9 and living 1E6 (1547-8), wife to John /Weston/ of Lichfield, co Staf; Gent -1E6-

is an E3 descendant

Even if we do accept that parentage for Cecily, Mary Weston descends from Henry II (England), David I (Scotland), Llewellyn (Wales) and Louis VI (France) through her mother Mary Cave

[Will Johnson]

Recte: Even if we do NOT accept that parentage....

[JBrand]

More importantly, an Edward I descent comes in through Ferrers behind Clarke.

[JBrand]

Oh, never mind ... I guess that was the ancestry of her husband, James Clarke.

[sswa...@butler.edu]

To be clear I remain staunchly in the fraud and forgery camp on the matter of Cecily Neville. Mary's brother, the Earl, was a bright, amiable, and highly accomplished grifter.

[Johnny Brananas]

https://waalt.uh.edu/index.php/CP40no2495-6_K-Z

1642 Trin London Luke Lee & Ruth his wife, executrix of James Crofte Henry Stevens de London, cleric or de Esingdon, Exeter (£140); And v. Essex Clarke de London, cleric or de Tilston, Ches (£27) Debt: exigent, and procl in Exeter and Ches CP40/2496, m. 889d [276]