Frances Latham
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Frances Latham (16101677), was a colonial American woman who settled in
Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...
, and is known as "the Mother of Governors." Having been widowed twice, she had three husbands, and became the ancestor of at least ten governors and three deputy/lieutenant governors, and is related by marriage to an additional six governors and one deputy governor. Born in
Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...
, England, she was the daughter of Lewis Latham, a falconer for King Charles I. She was first married to William Dungan, with whom she had four children. Dungan died at an early age, and she soon married Jeremy Clarke who brought her and her Dungan children to
New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...
where they settled in
Portsmouth, Rhode Island Portsmouth is a town in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 17,871 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census. Portsmouth is the second-oldest municipality in Rhode Island, after Providence Plantations, Provide ...
. Clarke was a prominent merchant who became the President of the colony for a year. With Clarke, Frances had seven children, the oldest of whom,
Walter Walter may refer to: People and fictional characters * Walter (name), including a list of people and fictional and mythical characters with the given name or surname * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–19 ...
, later became a governor of the colony. Jeremy Clarke died when all of his children were still minors, after which Frances married her third husband, the Reverend William Vaughan of Newport. Frances and her last husband both died at about the same time in 1677 in Newport, and Frances was buried in the Common Burying Ground there. She leaves a legacy of thousands of descendants, many of whom reached great prominence during their lives.


Life

Baptized in
Kempston Kempston is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Bedford, Bedfordshire, England, situated around south-west of Bedford town centre. It had a population of 19,330 in the 2011 census, and forms part of the wider Bedford built-up area. The ...
,
Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...
, England on 15 February 1609/10, Frances Latham was the daughter of Lewis Latham and his wife Elizabeth. Her father, born about 1584 in
Elstow Elstow is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Borough of Bedford, Bedfordshire, England, about south of Bedford town centre. History The Countess Judith of Lens, niece of William the Conqueror, founded a Benedictin ...
, Bedfordshire, was a Sergeant Falconer under King Charles I. Frances' first husband was William Dungan, who was a perfumer living in the parish of
St Martin-in-the-Fields St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. Dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, there has been a church on the site since at least the medieval pe ...
, now a part of
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. With Dungan she had four children, but he died in 1636, being buried at St Martin-in-the-Fields on 20 September of that year, leaving a will with Frances as executrix, and naming each of his four minor children. Within two years she was remarried, this time to Jeremy Clarke of London, a nephew of Richard Weston, 1st Earl of Portland. Soon thereafter the couple immigrated to
New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...
with Frances' four young children, and in 1638 Jeremy was admitted as an inhabitant of
Aquidneck Island Aquidneck Island ( ), officially known as Rhode Island, is an island in Narragansett Bay in the state of Rhode Island. The total land area is , which makes it the largest island in the bay. The 2020 United States Census reported its population as ...
(
Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...
) in what soon became the
Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was an English colony on the eastern coast of America, founded in 1636 by Puritan minister Roger Williams after his exile from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It became a haven for religious d ...
. Following turmoil in the government of the island in 1639, her husband was one of the nine signatories of an agreement to form the settlement of Newport at the south end of the island. He held a number of important positions in the town and colonial government, and in 1648 became President of the entire colony, serving for a year in this role. Clarke died in January 1652, with his death being recorded later in the Friends' (Quaker) records. He was buried in the "tomb that stands by the street by the water side in Newport," now lost, but his governor's grave medallion is in the Clifton Burying Ground where several Quaker Rhode Island colonial governors were later buried. About a year after her second husband's death, her father, Lewis Latham, also died, leaving Frances a small legacy in his will. Frances was again a widow with many young children, and within a few years she had married her third husband, the Reverend William Vaughan of Newport. The time of her marriage to Vaughan was before January 1656 when she made an agreement with her oldest Clarke son,
Walter Walter may refer to: People and fictional characters * Walter (name), including a list of people and fictional and mythical characters with the given name or surname * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–19 ...
, through his guardians, John Cranston and James Barker, settling inheritance issues, now that she was no longer widowed. Vaughan had been ordained in 1648 as a member of the First Baptist Church of Newport, but in 1656 he and others formed the Second Baptist Church. He was a highly respected citizen of Newport, so much so that in April 1676, during
King Philip's War King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1678 between a group of indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodland ...
, he was one of 16 colonial leaders whose counsel was requested by the General Assembly during "these troublesome times and straits." Others named in this request for counsel were former governor
Benedict Arnold Benedict Arnold (#Brandt, Brandt (1994), p. 4June 14, 1801) was an American-born British military officer who served during the American Revolutionary War. He fought with distinction for the American Continental Army and rose to the rank of ...
, former President
Gregory Dexter Gregory Dexter (1610 – c. 1700) was a renowned printer of important and controversial books and pamphlets in London. In New England, he assumed various roles including serving as a consultant to printers, a Baptist minister, an owner of a lim ...
, and future deputy governor James Barker. Frances died in 1677, at about the same time that her husband died. In September of that year Samuel Hubbard of Newport wrote to his children in Westerly, "For news, Mr. Vahan is gone to his long home and his wife is like to follow him if not dead." Frances was buried in the Common Burying Ground in Newport, and on her stone was placed the following inscription, "Here Lyeth ye Body of Mrs. Frances Vaughan, Alius Clarke, ye mother of ye only children of Capt'n Jeremiah Clarke. She died ye 1 week in Sept., 1677, in ye 67th year of her age."


Family and legacy

Late 19th-century genealogist John Osborne Austin proposed that Frances had first been married to a "Lord Weston" as a teenager, but strong evidence against this was presented by New Haven genealogist Louise Tracy in 1908. Frances had 11 children by her first and second husbands, and leaves behind numerous descendants, many of them prominent. Her oldest daughter, Barbara Dungan, married James Barker, who served as deputy governor of the colony. Her second daughter, Frances Dungan, married Randall Holden, a signer of the Portsmouth Compact, and one of the founding settlers of the town of
Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined wit ...
. Descendants through this daughter include William Greene, an early governor of Rhode Island shortly after the Revolutionary War, his son, Honorable Ray Greene, and his grandson William Greene, a lieutenant governor of the state. Her oldest Clarke child,
Walter Walter may refer to: People and fictional characters * Walter (name), including a list of people and fictional and mythical characters with the given name or surname * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–19 ...
, served for more than 20 years as deputy governor of the colony, and also served several years as the governor. Her daughter, Mary Clarke, married John Cranston, another governor of the colony, and they were parents of the longest-serving Rhode Island governor, Samuel Cranston. Frances' son Weston Clarke married Mary Easton who was a granddaughter of two other governors,
John Coggeshall John Coggeshall Sr. (2 December 1599 – 27 November 1647) was a British colonial statesman who was one of the founders of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and the first President of all four towns in the Colony. He was a su ...
and
Nicholas Easton Nicholas Easton (1593–1675) was an early colonial President and Governor of Rhode Island. Born in Hampshire, England, he lived in the towns of Lymington and Romsey before immigrating to New England with his two sons in 1634. Once in the N ...
Her son, Latham Clarke, married Hannah Wilbur, the daughter of Samuel Wilbur, Jr. who was one of seven purchasers of the Pettaquamscutt lands, and who was also mentioned in Rhode Island's Royal Charter of 1663. Her youngest child, Sarah Clarke, married colonial governor
Caleb Carr Caleb Carr (August 2, 1955 – May 23, 2024) was an American military historian and author. Carr was the second of three sons born to Lucien Carr and Francesca Von Hartz. Carr authored '' The Alienist'', '' The Angel of Darkness'', '' Casing t ...
as her second husband. Other Rhode Island governors who are direct descendants of Frances include Nehemiah R. Knight, Henry Lippitt, Charles C. Van Zandt, Charles W. Lippitt,
John Chafee John Lester Hubbard Chafee ( ; October 22, 1922 – October 24, 1999) was an American politician and officer in the United States Marine Corps. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 66th Governor o ...
, and
Lincoln Chafee Lincoln Davenport Chafee ( ; born March 26, 1953) is an American politician. He was mayor of Warwick, Rhode Island, from 1993 to 1999, a United States Senator from 1999 to 2007, and the 74th Governor of Rhode Island from 2011 to 2015. He was a ...
, as well as a governor of the state of Washington, John R. Rogers. Additional deputy or lieutenant governors that descend from her are Rhode Island's John Gardner and Samuel G. Arnold, while another Rhode Island governor related to her by marriage is William Wanton. A small book about Rhode Island history through the eyes of Frances, ''The True Story of Frances, the Falconer's Daughter,'' was published in 1932. Besides governors, other prominent individuals descend from Frances, including Rhode Island Attorney General Daniel Updike, Rhode Island congressman Tristam Burges and
American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
Colonels Christopher Lippitt and Christopher Greene, as well as Major General
Benedict Arnold Benedict Arnold (#Brandt, Brandt (1994), p. 4June 14, 1801) was an American-born British military officer who served during the American Revolutionary War. He fought with distinction for the American Continental Army and rose to the rank of ...
. Additional descendants are American explorer
Meriwether Lewis Meriwether Lewis (August 18, 1774 – October 11, 1809) was an American explorer, soldier, politician, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery, with ...
, slave Underground Railroad activist Catherine Coffin, U.S. Army Corps Topographical Engineer Major Howard Stansbury, Kansas abolitionist John Brown, abolitionist Susan B. Anthony, writers
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and
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, British Navy Vice Admiral Sir Jahleel Brenton and American astronaut Roger Chaffee, baseball sports legend
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and his son
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, writer and cartoonist
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,
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.


"Mother of Governors"

The following governors, deputy governors, or lieutenant governors either descend directly from Frances, or married one of her descendants: Governors who are direct descendants: * Walter Clarke, her son, Rhode Island governor 1676-1677, 1686, and 1696-1698 * Samuel Cranston, Rhode Island governor 1698-1729 * William Greene, Jr., Rhode Island governor 1778-1785 * Nehemiah R. Knight, Rhode Island governor 1817-1821 * Henry Lippitt, Rhode Island governor 1875-1877 * Charles W. Lippitt, Rhode Island governor 1895-1896 * John R. Rogers, Washington governor 1896-1902 *
Goodwin Knight Goodwin Jess "Goodie" Knight (December 9, 1896 – May 22, 1970) was an American politician and judge who served as the 31st governor of California from 1953 to 1959. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 35th lieutenant ...
, California governor 1953-1959 * Marvin Griffin (1907-1982), 72nd Georgia governor 1955-1959 *
John Chafee John Lester Hubbard Chafee ( ; October 22, 1922 – October 24, 1999) was an American politician and officer in the United States Marine Corps. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 66th Governor o ...
, Rhode Island governor 1963-1969 *
Sarah Palin Sarah Louise Palin (; Heath; born February 11, 1964) is an American politician, commentator, and author who served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009. She was the 2008 Republican vice presidential nomi ...
, 9th Alaska governor 2003-2004 *
Lincoln Chafee Lincoln Davenport Chafee ( ; born March 26, 1953) is an American politician. He was mayor of Warwick, Rhode Island, from 1993 to 1999, a United States Senator from 1999 to 2007, and the 74th Governor of Rhode Island from 2011 to 2015. He was a ...
, Rhode Island governor 2011-2015 Deputy or lieutenant governors who are direct descendants: * John Gardner, Rhode Island deputy governor 1754-1755 and 1756-1764 * Samuel G. Arnold, Rhode Island lieutenant governor 1852-1853 and 1861-1862 * William Greene, Rhode Island lieutenant governor 1866-1868 * Theodore F. Green Rhode Island lieutenant governor 1933-1937 *
Goodwin Knight Goodwin Jess "Goodie" Knight (December 9, 1896 – May 22, 1970) was an American politician and judge who served as the 31st governor of California from 1953 to 1959. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 35th lieutenant ...
, California lieutenant governor 1946-1953 * Marvin Griffin (1907-1982), Georgia lieutenant governor 1948-1955 Governors who are related by marriage: * Jeremy Clarke, her husband, Rhode Island president 1648-1649 * John Cranston, Rhode Island governor 1678-1680 *
Caleb Carr Caleb Carr (August 2, 1955 – May 23, 2024) was an American military historian and author. Carr was the second of three sons born to Lucien Carr and Francesca Von Hartz. Carr authored '' The Alienist'', '' The Angel of Darkness'', '' Casing t ...
, Rhode Island governor in 1695 * William Wanton, Rhode Island governor 1732-1733 * William Greene Sr., Rhode Island governor for 11 years from 1743-1758 * Charles C. Van Zandt, Rhode Island governor 1877-1880 Deputy governor related by marriage: * James Barker, Rhode Island deputy governor 1678-1679


See also

*
List of early settlers of Rhode Island This is a collection of lists of early settlers (before 1700) in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Most of the lists are of the earliest inhabitants of a particular town or area. Native American tribes and leaders The ...
*
Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was an English colony on the eastern coast of America, founded in 1636 by Puritan minister Roger Williams after his exile from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It became a haven for religious d ...


References


Bibliography

* * *


External links

*
Lewis Latham family
Website showing portrait of Lewis Latham, apparently brought to New England by Frances

Website with photo of the grave marker for Frances in the Newport Common Burying Ground, and a photo of the book written about her
Rhode Island History
from the State of Rhode Island General Assembly website. See Chapter 2, Colonial Era. {{DEFAULTSORT:Latham, Frances 1610 births 1677 deaths 17th-century American women People from Kempston People from Newport, Rhode Island People from colonial Rhode Island Burials at Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery English emigrants 17th-century American people Clarke family (Rhode Island)