Frances* Latham, (immigrant)

Notes:

Birth: Feb. 15, 1609
Kempston
Bedfordshire, England
Death: Sep. 2, 1677
Newport
Newport County
Rhode Island, USA

Frances Latham (Dungan Clarke Vaughn) is known as the "Mother of Governors". Her third husband was the Reverent William Vaughn. She had four children by her first husband; from the descendants of these children are many distinquished statesmen.

There are seven children born of her second marriage, and these too have given many governors to the country. Each one of Frances Latham Clarke's sons served his country, or church, with public service, and each daughter married men who did the same. "She was undoubtedly a very attractive woman, her three marriages would indicate. One can only imagine the gathering of distinquished men and women in the "Common Burial Ground" of Newport when Frances Vaughn, recently widowed 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-Governor John Cranston and later governor; and their son Samuel, who before the century closed would also be governor; her daughter Sarah, sometime the wife of Governor Caleb Carr; Barbara with her husband, James Baker, to be chosen the next year as deputy governor; Frances 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 daughters, and Rev. Thomas Dungan, who perhaps was the one to say the last sacred words over his mother's grave "Mother of Governors"

Her father was Sargeant Falconer Lewis Latham to King Charles I.

Children not listed below: John Dungan (died young), William Dungan, Frances Dungan Holden, Elizabeth Dungan (died young), Walter Clarke, Latham Clarke and Jeremiah Clarke
Spouses: Married four times
1st Lord Weston
2nd William Dungan
3rd Capt. Jerimah Clark
4th Rev. William Vaughn
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Note:
The marriage between Frances Latham and Lord Weston has been disproved.

"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

Tracy, Louise (1908). "An Historic Strain of Blood in America: Frances Latham--Mother of Governors."

Reprinted from the Journal of American History, New Haven, Connecticut, pp 8-9."
(findagrave http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=20716199)

Buried:
Here Lyeth ye Body of Mrs. Frances Vaughn, Alias 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."

Frances* married William* Dungan, (son?) on 27 Aug 1629 in St. Martin in the Fields, London, Middlesex, England. William* (son of Thomas* Dungan and Elizabeth* (..) Dungan, Mrs) was born in 1606 in Calbridge, Co Kildare, Ireland; died on 18 Sep 1636 in St. Martins, London, Middlesex, England; was buried on 20 Sep 1636 in St.Martins in the Fields, London. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. John Dungan was born about 1627 in London, Middlesex, England; died after 1627 in died young.
2. Barbara Dungan, (immigrant) was born in 1628 in London, Middlesex, England; died in Sep 1677 in Newport Co, Rhode Island.
3. Frances Dungan, (immigrant) was born in 1630 in England; died in 1697 in Warwick, Kent Co, Rhode Island.
4. William Dungan was born in 1632 in London, Middlesex, England; died after 1632.
5. Thomas* Dungan, (immigrant) was born on 13 Feb 1632 in St. Martin, Westminster, London, England; died on 1 Feb 1688 in Bucks Co, Pennsylvania.
6. Elizabeth Dungan was born about 1633 in London, Middlesex, England; died after 1633 in died young.

Frances* married Capt. Jeremiah Clarke in 1637. Jeremiah was born about 1608; died after 1637. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Gov RI Walter Clarke was born in 1640; died on 22 May 1714 in Newport, Rhode Island; was buried in Clifton Burying Ground, Newport Co, Rhode Island.
2. Jeremiah Clarke was born in 1643 in Newport, Newport Co, Rhode Island; died on 16 Jan 1729 in Newport, Newport Co, Rhode Island.
3. Latham Clarke was born in 1645; died on 1 Aug 1719 in Portsmouth, Newport Co, Rhode Island.
4. Weston Clarke was born on 5 Apr 1648 in Providence Co, Rhode Island; died on 6 Oct 1730 in Newport Co, Rhode Island; was buried in Clifton Burying Ground, Newport Co, Rhode Island.

Frances* married Lord/Rev. William Vaughn on 26 Jun 1655. William was born about 1608; died after 1655. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Lewis* married Mrs. Elizabeth (..)* Latham about 1607. Elizabeth was born in 1590 in Elstow, Bedfordshire, England; died in 1620 in Elstow, Bedfordshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]