Mary (Stith) Herbert (abt. 1701 - 1801)

Born about 1701 in Prince George Co., Virginia

Ancestors

Wife of Buller Herbert — married 18 Aug 1720 in Charles City County, Virginia

Descendants

Died 17 Aug 1801 at about age 100 in Prince Edward, Virginia, USA

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Biography

Mary Stith was born about 1701 to Drury Stith Sr. (abt.1670-1741) and Susannah (Bathurst) Stith (1674-1745).

She married Buller Herbert on 18 August 1720 at her parents' home. The marriage is recorded in a "secret" diary of William Evelyn Byrd Jr. (1674-1744).^[1] On his way to the wedding, Byrd stopped first at the home of a Mrs. Harrison, where he found "abundance of company and old Mrs. Bolling among them." The editors of the diary say that this Mrs. Bolling was probably Anne (Stith) Bolling (1660-), Mary's father's sister and the widow of Robert Bolling (1646-1709). Byrd took Mrs. Harrison to the wedding and brought her home. Byrd records that the wedding day was "clear and warm, the wind southwest." The guests were served a dinner about 2 p.m. that included roast veal. After dinner they "danced and were merry till 6 o'clock."^[1]

Mary and Buller had only one child, Mary (Herbert) Claiborne (bef.1726-). Buller died quite young and his daugther inherited his vast estate.^[2]

Research Notes

Account of John Herbert Peterson

William Byrd II's diary entry helps corrorborate the 1829 account by John Herbert Peterson that connects this Mary (Stith) Herbert, his great-grandmother, to the Bathurst family and his mother to a cousin Buckner Stith, likely Buckner Stith (1722-bef.1791). An analysis of Mr. Peterson's account says that attempts to identify Mary Stith were stopped by an authoritative conclusion from Dr. Christopher Johnson of Baltimore that relevant information did not exist, however Dr. Johnson wrote about the Stith family long before Byrd's secret diaries were decoded, as did the 1922 analysis of Peterson's text cited here.^[2] The editor of a later series of Byrd's diaries discusses the issue in detail.^[3]

Mr. Peterson's account makes clear that the wealth referred to in "Old King William Homes and Families" by Peyton Neale Clarke (Baltimore:Regional Publishing Co., 1966) (Page 35 says that "Mary Stith, of Brunswick County, was a great heiress. Among her possessions was property in London, England, which was sold for eighty thousand pounds sterling") refers to the property of the daughter, Mary (Herbert) Claiborn, and not the mother, Mary (Stith) Herbert. It would appear that the mother would not have inherited wealth from her husband's relatives after his death, however the editor of the second Byrd diary assign the wealth to "Mary Stith Herbert."^[3]

Although Mary (Stith) Herbert may not have owned "a compleat square Block of Buildings in the City of London," as Peterson's account describes,^[2] she was left a wealthy widow by the death of her husband. The dates of their profiles suggest she was 30 years old when he died and lived to about 100. If he owned even close to the 300 slaves and over 18,000 acres of land suggested by the account, her dower interests would have made her an attractive target for remarriage. A classic study notes that "when a wealthy Virginia died . . . [t]he man with the his eye on the main chance went for the wealthy widow rather than the daughters."^[4] This suggests that it would be interesting to locate information about the last 70 years of Mary (Stith) Herbert's life.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Louis B. Wright & Marion Tinling, editors, The London Diary (1717-1721) and Other Writings, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1958) 441
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Clayton Torrence, "The Petersons, Claibornes and Harrisons, and some of Their Connections,The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol 2, No. 1 (Jan 1922), pp. 1–19 & n.14 http://www.jstor.org/stable/1921480
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Maude H. Woodfin, editor, Another Secret Diary of William Byrd of Westover for the Years 1739-1741, (Richmond, The Dietz Press, 1942), 22 n.2
4. ↑ Edmund S. Morgan, American Slavery–American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia (New York, London: W.W. Norris & Co., 1975), 167.

• Source S4418 Title: Boddie, John Bennett, Virginia Historical Genealogies (Orig. publ in Redwood City, CA, 1954. Reprinted for Clearfield Company by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc, Baltimore, MD 1990) Note: CD #191 Page 40 Repository: #R41 Call Number: LOC Catalogue Card #54-3721

• Repository R41 Name: FTM's Family Archives. Family History: Southern Genealogies #1 1600s-1800s.