Page images
PDF
EPUB

A portrait of Lewis Latham painted, according to experts, by Sir Peter Lely, was brought to New England by his daughter, Frances (Latham-Dungan) Clarke and passed into the possession of Mr. F. A. Holden, Hyattsville, Md. Mr. Holden sold it to the late William L. Elkins, and it is now in the collection of the late George W. Elkins, a descendant of Lewis Latham. The Latham coat of arms is painted in the upper corner of the portrait, a reproduction of which finds place in Mr. Justice's book.

Lewis Latham had nine children, all by his first wife.

10

6

12

FRANCES LATHAM, (Lewis,13 John,12 John," Thomas, Nicholas," Thomas, Hugh,' Philip, Sir Robert,5 Sir Robert, Richard, Robert, Henry'), baptized, Feb. 15th, 1609; died, Sept., 1677, at Newport, Rhode Island. Married: 1st, 1627, William Dungan, born, about 1607; buried, Sept. 20th, 1636, son of Thomas Dungan, Gentleman, of Lincoln's Inn, London.

2d, 1637, Jeremy Clarke, bapt., Dec. 1st, 1605; buried, Nov., 1651, son of William and Mary (Weston) Clarke.

3d, about 1655, Rev. William Vaughan, died,

Aug., 1677.

In many accounts of Frances Latham it is stated that she was married to a Lord Weston before her marriage to William Dungan. Mr. Justice made a thorough investigation of the grounds for this statement but failed to find any evidence whatever to support it. About one year after the death of William Dungan his widow married Jeremy Clarke, Gentleman, who, with his wife and her four children by William Dungan, sailed shortly thereafter for New England and became one of the Founders of Newport, R. I., and "President Regent," or Governor of the Colony, 1648, after having held various other offices during the preceding nine years.

The third husband of Frances Latham, Rev. William Vaughan, was one of the original members of the First Baptist Church of Newport, and in 1665, one of the founders of the Second Baptist Church and its first pastor.

She is buried in the Common Burial Ground at Newport, R. I., The tombstone which marks her grave is well preserved and bears the following inscription:

"Here Lyeth ye Body of
Mrs. Frances Vaughan
Alius Clarke ye Mother
Of ye Only Children of
Capn. Jeremiah Clarke
She dyed ye 1 week in
September, 1677 in ye 67th
Year of her Age.'

15

Children, surnamed Dungan: Barbara, born about 1628, in London,

Eng.; died at Newport, R. I.; mar

ried Hon. James Barker.

Frances,15 born about 1630, in London;
died 1697 at Warwick, R. I.; mar-
ried Hon. Randell Holden.

William,15 born about 1632, in London.
Thomas, born about 1634, in London;

15

died 1687 in Pennsylvania; married Elizabeth Weaver. See p. 443.

surnamed Clarke: five sons and two daughters.

FREEBORN.

WILLIAM' FREEBORN, born, 1594, in England; died, April 28th, 1670, in Portsmouth, R. I. Married: probably about 1625, Mary

died, May 3d, 1670.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

born, 1601;

William Freeborn before emigrating to America was the owner of the manor of Batisfords, which stands in the middle of the town of Witham, Essex, England, on the right hand side of Witham Street going from Colchester towards Chelmsford. The mansion is of great antiquity. Mr. Justice was unable to learn when it came into the possession of the Freeborn family, but it was sold by William Freeborn to Dr. George Bosevile, Dec. 20th, 1633.

April 30th, 1634, William Freeborn with his family sailed for New England on the ship "Francis" of Ipswich. The ship's log shows the family to have been: William Freeborn, aged 40 years; Mary, his wife, aged 33 years; their daughters, Mary aged 7 years and Sarah aged 2 years; and John Aldburgh, aged 14 years. (Founders of New England, pp. 53 and 54.)

They settled at Roxbury, Mass., where their son Gideon was probably born.

By Act of the Assembly, March 12th, 1638, William Freeborn, with others, was compelled to leave the State on account of "dangerous errors" of opinion he was thought to have acquired from the preaching of Mr. Wheelright and Mrs. Ann Hutchinson.

March 7th, 1638, William Freeborn was one of nineteen planters who signed the compact which marks the founding of the Colony at Portsmouth, Rhode Island. All but two of these nineteen were driven out of Massachusetts by the Act of Assembly. Rhode Island was purchased by this group of men and, Dec. 10th, 1639, William Freeborn received a grant of 140 acres in Ports

mouth upon condition that he build a house thereon with

in a year.

March 16th, 1641, he was elected Freeman.

Dec. 1st, 1641, he was a member of the Grand Jury at Portsmouth. In 1642 he served as Constable.

May 19th, 1657, he was elected a member of the General Court of Commissioners.

Children: Mary, born 1627.

Sarah, born 1632; died April 23rd, 1670; married Natha

niel Browning, about 1650.

Gideon, born about 1635; died 1720; married 1st Sarah (Brownell) Lawton; 2nd, Mary

MARY FREEBORN, (William'), born, 1627; died, before 1677.

Married: Sergeant Clement Weaver, about 1645.

They were the parents of Elizabeth3 Weaver who married Rev. Thomas Dungan, See p. 443.

« PreviousContinue »