Grace Waters Robins (O'Neil) - Grace Who?

Maven

Had you contacted the other managers of Grace O'Neil, or any of the managers of the profiles that were connected to her before you removed the relationships of the children and husband Obedience Robins?

Your information is valuable but the other managers have a right to agree or disagree, it could be they would agree and would of liked the parentage changed, not another profile entered. Some manager/users could report you as vandalizing the tree, please don't be so in a rush that you disregard courtesy to other users.

And it would be better if you did not enter emotional remarks in the 'About' section of the Profiles, those should probably be kept in the profiles 'Discussion'.

Yes I did send them a message.

She's still linked as spouse to both Edward Waters and Obedience Robins (I put the latter link back), but everything I've got says that the kids were Grace Neale's (except for two who were actually Robins' by his *first* wife).

And I got rid of the rude remark, but left the contravening data.

What evidence do you have to substantiate that the parents of Grace Neale Robins were Edmund Neale and Elizabeth? I know that she is related to these Neales as Capt. James Neale refers to her as his cousin in a letter he wrote, but I have never been able to establish the exact connection.
Thanks,
Claudia Ross

C.R.V. 'Rob' Hall, , Ancestors of Thomas Hearn Fooks V, 9 Oct 2011, p. 58.

Citation found at http://espl-genealogy.org/MilesFiles/p254.htm#i25355

M.K. Miles maintains a database of genealogical information related to the Eastern Shore of Virginia (Accomack and Northampton Counties), with a little spillover into Somerset, Worcester, Dorset and Wicomico Counties, Maryland (the four lowermost counties on the Maryland Eastern Shore). They are meticulously sourced and usually quite accurate.

And, by the way, Grace Neale with correct ancestry can be found here: Grace Robins

Cool! Yeah, the Miles Files are great...I've gotten a lot of info there. I find Grace to be a very intriguing figure. One has to wonder why a young woman of a good family would have emigrated. I know that her family was Catholic (the Neales and Throckmortons were involved in the Gunpowder Plot). Perhaps, as Catholics, the family's fortunes had taken a downturn and desperate times were upon them. Or, perhaps, her father having died in 1611, she acquired a stepfather who really could have been arranging a noxious marriage for her , a la To Have and To Hold! It would be interesting to know if she had any social or family connection to the Yeardleys. In any case, she must have been fairly feisty, with all of that and living to 80!
:) Claudia

I like to think she had red or auburn hair, which gave her the idea of passing herself off as Irish. (I don't think she came up with the whole fantabulous backstory right away - I think it evolved over time, and may have been further embellished by "divers hands".)

The idea that she, herself, invented the name O'Neil to hide her identity, at least when first coming to Virginia, is an interesting one. I have always assumed that the story was a much more recent product of wishful thinking and sloppy genealogy. She had a very prominent and respectable lineage as it was, not something she would have had any need to "beef up", and her true identity was certainly known to her spouses and many kin connections in Virginia and Maryland. If she did invent the name "O'Neil" in order to come to Virginia, the ruse could certainly not have lasted long. I guess I had assumed that the confusion over the name was due to some sloppy recording, as creative spellings were quite common back then.
So fun to have another Grace descendant to chat with!

She's my 10th great aunt. :-) Close enough, at this distance. :-)

So delighted to discover this thread. Hope the other descendants who responded will write again! I'm a historian by trade, and teach history, and one of my specializations is early Virginia/Chesapeake. I love working with matters of reputation. So many created fictitious pasts for themselves, because reputation was everything and it was difficult to prove false claims, especially in early VA. Would love to know more about Grace.

If you don't insist on fictitious connections to nonexistent nobility, her story is plenty romantic enough. She came to Virginia on the "Diana", one of the earliest of the "bride ships" (bringing women and children in quantity to the struggling colony), and attracted the attention of Lt. (a militia rank) Edward Waters, who had already had enough adventures for several lifetimes. He married her as soon as it could be arranged, and they had at least two (known surviving) children. Edward and Grace, and possibly son William, were captured during the 1622 attack by Nansemond Indians, who were more inclined to take people for ransom than to just kill them. They may have been ransomed, or they may have escaped (the tradition is that they did the latter). Some time after 1624 they staked out some territory on the Eastern Shore.

Edward went back to England on a visit in 1630, and died there. Grace soon married Obedience Robins, one of the other (and one of the most influential) Ancient Planters, and raised a second and larger family on the Eastern Shore (Northampton County, which was named at Obedience Robins' insistence after his home county in England).

The Neale family can be backtracked in Northamptonshire (wonder if Grace had a bit of influence in naming Northampton County, VA too?) for quite a few generations. They weren't particularly prestigious or influential, but they did at some point acquire a coat of arms (per pale sable and gules, a lion passant-guardant argent). Note: a "lion passant-guardant" (walking along, right paw raised, head facing out at the observer) is also referred to as a a "leopard" and was sometimes - but not always - a significator of Royal favor or of holding a Royal office. (For instance, Sir Peter Malory, a Justiciar of England, adopted the arms "or, three leopards/lions passant guardant sable", which is a color-change on the English royal arms and a clear indication of just how important his office was to him.)