Mary Flower

Evidence needed to support as child of Robert Douglas

Evidence for Mary's three marriages and the names of her children comes from a series of court proceedings in Charles City County.

Mary's "final marriage took place before 24 May 1658 when John Flower made deeds of gift to the children of his wife 'Mary the relict of Walter Daux' spelling out the above relationships quite clearly.[2] One child was John Plaine 'the son of the sd Mary by her former husband Robert Plaine decd.' The other children were Ann and 'Susan' Daux. Several days later, on 3 June 1658, John Flower was granted administration of the estate of Walter Daux 'having married the relict of sd. Daux.' Fleet’s abstract of the deed of gift indicates that Robert Plaine had owned land at his death which fell to the son John Plaine, and indeed John Flower claimed that land in 1668, the son John Plaine having died by then."[3][4]

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Biography

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/UNKNOWN-6407

Mary was born about 1630. Her parents are unknown, as is her birthplace. She may have immigrated by herself or with her parents from England. She died probably before 1672 in Charles City County, Virginia Colony.

Birth

Without knowing her parents' names or her birthplace, it is not possible to locate a birth record. The birth year of 1630 is estimated based on dates of her marriages and births of her children. Mary's surname is given as either "Feb" or "Douglas" in various family trees. No documentation is provided in support of either name.

Marriage

Mary was married first to Robert Plaine (b ca 1620), probably about 1650. She had one son with him,

• John Plaine. John was born before 1655 (died about 1667) and Robert died before that date.

There is a Robert Plaine listed as an immigrant from England to Accomack, Virginia about 1638. He was sponsored by one Thomas Burbage who was granted 1250 acres in Accomack County on the north side of the mouth of Hungars Creek, 1 March 1638, for transport of 25 persons including Robert Plaine.[1]

Widow Mary Plaine married Walter Daux about 1655. They had two daughters,

• Ann Daux and
• Susannah "Susan" Daux, born about 1655 and 1657.

Walter died before May 1658 when Mary married her third husband, John Flower(s), Jr., the son of a wealthy ship’s captain who had evidently inherited the part of his father’s estate that lay in Charles City County. There is no evidence Mary and John had any children.

Death

Mary and her husband John Flower apparently died before 1672. Neither is mentioned in the series of lawsuits filed by John Witt and Richard Rawlins, husbands of Ann and Susannah Daux, beginning in October 1673. (See a detailed explanation of these lawsuits in In Search of Walter Daux.)

From http://www.genfiles.com/Witt/John_Witt_I.htm

John Witt’s mother-in-law Mary (whose maiden name is unknown) was married three times. She was first the wife of Robert Plaine, by whom she had a son named John Plaine. [3] After being widowed she married Walter Daux[4] and had two daughters named Ann Daux and Susanna Daux before being widowed a second time. She married for a third time to John Flower or Flowers.[5]

This final marriage took place shortly before 24 May 1658 when John Flower “for and in consideration of marriage with Mary the relict of Walter Daux decd, and in consideration of my love and affection to the children of the said Mary Daux now my wife” to John Plaine “the son of the sd Mary by her former husband Robt. Plaine decd” a gift of two steers, a bed and other household goods. He gave unto “Ann Daux” and “Susan Daux” cows and furniture as well. [6] This deed of gift also tells us that Robert Plaine had owned land in Charles City County which fell to the son John Plaine, which land John Flower claimed in a 1668 patent, the son John Plaine having died in the intervening ten years.[7]

A few days later on 3 June 1658 John Flower was granted administration of the estate of Walter Daux “having married the relict of sd. Daux.”[8] Walter Daux had perhaps lived on the property of the his wife’s first husband, as there are several later records of a dispute between John Flower and a ship’s captain regarding two hogsheads of tobacco shipped by Walter Daux to his father Richard Daux of London.[9]   In 1658 the Charles City court ordered an accounting of all orphans estates within the county, but Flower evidently failed to deliver. In early 1659 the court ordered the sheriff to seize the estate of Flower, or the estate of Walter Daux in Flower’s possession, until an accounting was rendered.[10] Flower evidently never did so, as on 3 June 1659 the court appointed two persons to appraise the estate of Walter Daux “and divide the same to the relict and his two children”.[11] A few months later, John Flower was allowed 1000 pounds of tobacco out of the estate “in consideration of his wife’s bedding.”[12] The following year, in late 1660, Flower finally made a bond for the estate of Walter Daux for “carefull keeping and educating the orphanes of the sd Daux during their minority.”[13]  
Other than court orders through 1664, in which no mention of the Daux girls is found, there is at this point a gap in the Charles City County court records until a fragmentary book for 1672-3, and then another gap followed by an order book for 1677-79. It appears that John Flower died in the interim, as there is no record of him after 1663. The two Daux children evidently married about 1672 or 1673. Richard Rawlins[14], who married Susannah Daux, and John Witt, who married Ann Daux, petitioned the Charles City County court on 3 October 1673.[15] The substance of the petition is not recorded, and the court records stop at that point, but from later records it is clear they were attempting to recover the estate of Walter Daux inherited by their wives.

We know, for example, that John Flower was about 30 years old in 1658 when he married the widow Mary Daux, suggesting that Mary herself was either younger or, at worst, no more than a few years older. The Daux sisters, if they were typical of the time, would have married about the age of 17 or so, suggesting they were born in the mid 1650s and were probably infants at their father’s death. Men typically married in their late 20s at this time, and tended to be about ten years older than their wives.

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