Frances Drew

-https://oneandallwisdom.com/ancestry-william-barker-early-virginia-...

lists her father as Capt. John Ward, not James Ward

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Frances Ward married 1st: William Barker. 2nd: Robert Netherland. Robert died before 3/1/1661-2. Married 3rd: Thomas Drew.

Biography

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/collaborate/LBTL-VQJ

Frances Ward was born in England about 1614, the daughter of James Ward. She married William Barker about 1635. William Barker was a prosperous merchant and ship captain and they may have married in England. William purchased Flowerdew Hundred* in 1639 from Elizabeth Peirsey Stephens Harvey who was the daughter of Abraham Peirsey, the second owner of Flowerdew Hundred.

Frances Ward and William Barker had three children:

1. John
2. Elizabeth; married Phillip Limbrey
3. Sarah; married Captain Robert Lucy

William Barker died about 1653.

Frances married Robert Netherland about 1654. Frances and Robert had only one child, a son who was also named

1. Robert (Robert Netherland (II)).

Unfortunately, her husband Robert died by 1657.

Frances married a third time to Captain Thomas Drew about 1662. Frances and Thomas Drew had no children and Thomas died by 1671.

Frances is remembered for her effort to gain custody of her grandchildren. Her son, John Barker, had inherited Flowerdew Hundred following the death of his father, William Barker. John Barker died about 1673 and left the property to his sisters Elizabeth and Sarah who divided the plantation in 1677.

Elizabeth married Phillip Limbrey and they had three children, one of whom died in infancy. Elizabeth Barker Limbrey died and her husband Phillip married Jane _____. Phillip later died, and Jane married Elias Osborn, resulting in the Limbrey orphans, a boy, John, and a girl, Elizabeth, living in a household that was headed by a stepfather and a stepmother.

Elias Osborn was in court quite often and apparently he was an unsavory person. He evidently mistreated his wife and the stepchildren and he squandered the orphans' inheritance (Flowerdew Hundred property) to the extent that Frances (now Frances Drew) went to court to try to gain custody of her grandchildren and to require Elias Osborn to give an accounting of the estate of the orphans.

Frances was involved with the court proceedings by May 3, 1677, but she died before the case was formally settled. Her son Robert Netherland (II), in a court appearance on April 15, 1678, promised to keep the Limbrey orphans and to provide for their schooling. He was awarded custody of the children. He evidently kept his promise as both of the children grew up at Flowerdew Hundred and raised families of their own.

A "hundred" was an English term for a unit of land. It originally meant one of two things: (1) enough land to support 100 fighting men, or (2) enough land to support 100 families. By the 1600s, however, it simply meant an administrative unit midway between a parish and a shire. There were many "hundreds" along either side of the James River, both above and below Jamestown, being privately owned plantations under the auspices of The Virginia Company. Flowerdew Hundred was one of the earliest and most important of these large privately owned tracts that were established during the tobacco boom years of 1617-1625. George Yeardley, the original owner, may have begun developing his 1,000 acres on the south side of the James River as early as 1617, naming the plantation for the family of his wife, Temperance Flowerdew (or Flowerdieu). In 1624, Sir George Yeardley sold Flowerdew Hundred to Abraham Piersley. Piersley died in 1628 and his daughter inherited the property which she kept until she sold it to William Barker in 1639. Under Barker's guidance, Flowerdew Hundred grew into one of the most productive and important plantations in the county. By the 1650s it was an administrative and mercantile center where court often met and markets were held.

Note: For anyone following the Weldon-Anthony-Tate-Netherland line, the research of Charles L. and Alice Weldon Riley on this branch of the family tree ends with this record for Frances Ward and Robert Netherland. Any information about individuals further back is entered by other contributors.

http://www.balcro.com/carol.html

William Barker Born: est. 1591-5, England. Age given as about 56 in 1647 in depositions given in Books A, B, C, D (1637-1665) in the Norfolk Co. Clerks Office (23W (1) p38) Married: before 1623, probably in England Died: before 3/3/1655. Parents: unknown Wife: Frances Ward

On 3/1/1661-2 Richard Taylor (husband of Sarah Barker, Frances' daughter) "of Flowerdieu Hundred made a bond to Mrs. Frances Netherland of the same, widow, to protect her from any claims or inheritance to be had and made for Sarah, John and Elizabeth the children of said Frances by her first husband Mr. Willm Barker, dec'd. And further if John Barker shall and will at his full perfect age by Law to mannage his owne estate sign and deliver to the said Frances and her husband certain properttie for life, at fflower d hundred, particularly one plantation, excepting the said John Barkers and the said Taylors particular own plantation and the plantations already let out by leases. The said Francis her said intended husband os meaned Lt. Coll Tho. Drew to whom only civility of John Barker is purposed," Frances after 3/1/1661-2 married-3rd: Thomas Drew. On 6/10/1664 Frances acquitted Richard Taylor, "from a bond concerning land for my life in Flowerdieu Hundred."

On 6/4/1677 Frances petitioned the court for and receievd custody of her two grandchildren John Limbrey and Elizabeth Limbrey, the children of Elizabeth Barker, by then deceased. Born: est. 1599, England Married: before 1623, probably in England Died: Parents: James Ward (for whom Ward's Creek was named). He died after 1651; see below.

Notes for James Ward: James Ward 06/07/1651 acres Charles City County Lying up Poweels Creek, upon Reedy Swamp bounded south west on David Peables for the importation of persons including Ann Ward, James Wallis, John et al.

Their children were:

• Sarah Barker. See her page. Married-1st: Richard Taylor. Married-2nd: Robert Lucy. Their child was: Mary Lucy (m-1st: Thomas Anderson; m-2nd: Cornelius Cargill) Sarah BARKER and her husbands Richard Taylor, Robert LUCY, and James Bisse
• John Barker. Married Hannah Pitt on 11/24/1662. No issue. Died 167 in Charles City County, VA.
• Elizabeth Barker. Married ca 1650 to Philip Limbry. Their children: John Limbrey, Elizabeth Limbrey. Elizabeth Barker died by 1677, when her mother Frances received custody of the children.

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Elizabeth's mother Frances Drew, petitioned for custody of Elizabeth's children stating that Elizabeth did leave at her death four motherless children; two are now dead and two fell into the hands of James. She asked that Elias Osborned be required to bring in Limbrey's will, advising that "His temper and demeanor is well known to the court" .She received custody of her grandchildren. Related by Anne Nelson email dated 2/8/01 GTNEL@aol.com ( from the Book of Emigrants)

Notes

https://walterfitzgilbertdehamilton.wordpress.com/2017/01/06/drew-h...

1. Thomas Drew, often quoted as coming from Exeter, on the sole basis of a namesake being recorded in the Visitation of Devon. He was more likely to have been the Thomas Drew, bapt. May 7, 1594 (son of Robert) in Stocklinch Ottersay, 30 mls. fom Dunster, Somerset, manor of the Lutterell family. Thomas Drew apparently m. (as her third husband) Frances Ward, relict of (1) William Barker, mariner, (2) Robert Letherland. William Barker, mariner, was a partner of Francis Derick: …

William Barker, bapt. on 7 May 1592 in St. Werburgh’s, Bristol; merchant and mariner, who deposed his age to be 37 in 1629, and mate of the Hopewell, which sailed fom Virginia on New years Eve of that year for England, under Captain Richard Russell, in company with ‘the Gift’ of London, under Captain Samuel Crampton and Master Edward Beale. (See Coldham, P.W., English Adventurers and Emigrants, 1609-1660, p. 23, 1984). He bought land in Flowerdew Hundred from Abraham Piersey’s da., Elizabeth. This property passed to his son, John Barker, in 1655, who left the plantation to two of his sisters, Sarah and Elizabeth Limbrey. He was a partner of Francis Derrick: April 13, 1639: ‘Bond of Francis Derrick (the younger), of Bristol, and William Barker, of Ratcliffe, Middlesex, to the King, in 1,000l. conditioned for the appearance of Derrick before the Council, to answer an accusation of piracy pretended to have been committed by him upon a Spanish ship in a voyage to Virginia, about 11th October 1636’.

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References

• "His [Thomas Baker or Barker]’s wife was Frances, daughter of James Ward, who secondly married Robert Netherland and thirdly, Lt. Col. Thomas Drew." (HSF, "Barker,Bradford, Taylor of Flowerdiew Hundred," page 249)
• http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/m/a/r/Dianne-K-Martinez-...
• http://www.geneajourney.com/nether.html#sarahneth Netherland of Goochland and New Kent, Virginia Robert Netherland b abt 1625, of Charles City, VA, d abt 1661. He md Frances Ward abt 1650. She was b abt 1630, d abt 1675.Child of Robert Netherland and Frances Ward was: Robert Netherland b abt 1655, d bef 1704. The identity of his wife is undetermined.