When websites lack documented birth and death records, imagination tends to flourish. This seems to be happening to the birth dates given for the children of Elizabeth Rodes and William Wentworth. Elizabeth, mother of Margaret and Thomas Wentworth, was the third wife of William Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford. His second wife, Arabella Holles Wentworth, died in 1631. It is well-known that William and Arabella had a very good marriage. So it is unlikely that William had an intimate relationship with his third wife before his second wife died. If William married his third wife, Elizabeth Rodes, immediately after his second wife died, his first child from his third marriage would have been born after 1631. William Wentworth was executed on May 12, 1641. He gave a speech just before he was put to death. In it he refers to both children. In his farewell speech he said, "if it were not for your lordships' interest, and the interest of a saint in heaven who hath left me here two pledges on earth, I should never take the pains to keep up this ruinous cottage of mine." To him, the worst part of his execution was leaving two young children without a father.
