Martha Parrott

ANCESTORS OF MARTHA CLARKE PARROTT

Research by Susanne Sachs

Martha Clarke was married to Christopher Parrott at Marlborough, MD, in Prince Georges County, January 20th, 1781. All of the information shown on Chart 2 is from Mareen Duvall, Middle Plantation by Harry Wright Newman, 1952. Her great-grandmother, Elizabneth Duvall Clarke, inherited from her father, Mareen Duvall, “that three hundred seventy and five acres of land called and known by the name of Bowdels Choice Lying situate in the County of Calvert and adjoining to a place called by the name of Bores Creek to have and to hold the same name unto her and the heirs of her body lawfully born and begotten forever and in case of default of such issue then to be and to go to the next heir or heiress of from and by me lawfully and lineally descended.” Elizabeth also received one hundred and fifty pounds sterling money to be paid upon reaching the age of sixteen or a day of marriage, “which shall first happen.” Mareen Duvall's will shows that he owned at least two thousand and eight hundred and six (2,806) acres of land. He was the father of twelve children, five of whom were born of an earlier marriage before his marriage to Susannah Brasseur, Martha Clarke's ancestor. His last wife was Mary_____ who supposedly had had two husbands before Mareen. By none of the three husbands did she have children.

Mareen Duvall was born in Normandy, and Harry Wright Newman believes that he was a civil lieutenant who supported the exiled Duc de Conde against Cardinal Mazarin and perhaps fled to Spain where Conde was and was captured during a raid into France. Mareen was sold into bondage and transported to The United States, a common occurrence with captured insurgents. His “master” was William Burgess, and it is likely that his period of indentureship was for five years as it is estimated that he came here in about 1653 and he became a freeholder in 1659.

He was granted fifty acres of land for his indentureship, and what a remarkable man he must have been! Describing himself as, “Marin Dewall Carpenter” in 1664, he applied for a patent for six hundred acres of land which was surveyed under the name, “Middle Plantation.” And so, from land grants and purchases, Mareen Duvall, at his death, could leave to each of his children (excluding, mysteriously, his eldest son) several hundred acres of land. One of his plantations, “Howerton's Range,” which he purchased for seven thousand pounds of tobacco, is described as lying in Calvert County (later Prince Georges) on the west side of the Patuxent River adjoining the land of Gabriel Parrot. Descendants of Gabriel Parrott yet live on a plantation in Calvert County named, “The Cage.” We have not been able to establish a connection between this Parrott family and that of Christopher Parrott. We went to “Parrott's Cage” in 1971 and found no one at home. The house, built in 1649 by a William Parrott------etc.

MARTHA CLARKE'S ANCESTORS

Research by Susan Bockoven

The following information is taken from a 570 page book Mareen Duvall of Middle Plantation written by Harry Wright Newman in 1952. Mr. Newman wrote several books regarding the settlement of Maryland.

MAREEN DUVALL, Gentleman was born 16__ and died August 5, 1694. He is buried at Middle Plantation. He emigrated to the province of Maryland during the 1650's, a period of much political and social unrest in the British Isles and France. He was a known conservative, a Jacobite and follower of James Stuart, son of King Charles II of England. He was probably brought to this country by William Burgess, a Quaker and sympathizer. It is known that he served a certain period of indentureship under John Covell.

The first members of this family settled in Anne Arundel county but by 1710 most of the scions had moved to Prince Georges county on land patented by Mareen the Emigrant in then Calvert county, the latter in 1695 becoming the Northern portion of Prince Georges county with the Patuxent River as common boundary. Most of the Duvalls lived at “Darnall's Grove” or “Pleasant Grove,” two large tracts of 3800 and 1600 acres respectively and divided into smaller plantations. Many gave individual names to their “seats” to distinguish them from the plantations of their kinsmen on the same tracts, thus we have Marietta, Prospect Hill and others not found in letters patent issued by the Lords Baltimore.

The family was not conspicuous during the colonial period in military and civil service (the 2 sons, John and Lewis, of the Emigrant, Mareen being the exception). During the revolution a number held commissions and 3 were accorded membership in the Society of the Cincinnati under the rules of 1854.

In religion the entire family was Church of England during the colonial period, except for 2 in 1778 who refused to take the oath consequently affirming allegiances to the new government. Captain John Duvall, son of Mareen the Emigrant and his wife gave the land for the first church in Queen Anne's parish, but most of the Duvalls worshiped at the Chapel of Ease at Collington now the independent Parish of Holy Trinity. It was nearer to their plantations.

It was characteristic of English and Scots gentry of early Maryland to name their plantations after ancestral estates or native parishes and in doing so provides clues to prove the ancestry of early Maryland settlers in G. B.. Maryland was the only colony which adopted this English practice of specifically and officially designating each plantation with a distinctive name and the practice was not discontinued until after the Revolution. As the Emigrant Mareen called his first land patent Laval, it might be considered Prima Facie evidence that this branch had roots in or near the medieval city of Laval.

The name DuVal (it was a son or grandson of Judge Gabriel Duvall who first adopted the old Angevin spelling of DuVal) is what the French call “voisinage” meaning neighborhood and was given when names were introduced into French provinces to the patriarch of a family living in a vale or dale. The Duvalls were seigneurs who occupied the castle of Laval and probably became known as the familia de vallis, hence DuVal.

Laval is the capitol of the Department of Mayenne, France, 42 miles east of Rennes. First a part of the ancient Province of Anjou, later it came under the influence of Brittany and Normany. Recorded history of Laval goes back to the last years of the 10th century.

The DuVal family, according to the Dictionaire de la Noblesse published by Schelesing Freres, Paris, 1865, was an ancient one and originated in Caen, Normandy. Etienne DuVal in 1548 was raised to the rank of nobility by King Henry II.