PENELOPE ( ) Clark by Linda Sparks Starr September 2004 Almost twenty years ago when I became interested in genealogy, I rather quickly backed my mother-in-law's line to Breckinridge County, Kentucky. The Archives there located a pedigree chart in their surname file, taking the Clark line back to Virginia. Although it was bare-boned, showing names but few dates and even fewer county names, it did go back to Christopher and Penelope Clark, Charles and Elizabeth Moorman and Robert and Mourning Adams. For Penelope's surname, the compiler appended a brief note: "either Massie, Bolling or Johnson". And that's where we still are due to the destruction of relevant records. Some members of this group lean toward her being a Bolling, others are firmly convinced she was kin to Lord Shaftsbury, and still others think she was a Johnson. The remaining few are just confused, and this is written for their benefit. I will attempt a concise and unbiased explanation of the reasons behind each of the surnames. I probably should add, I've also seen her surname as something like "Micajaw", which was an obvious typo and attempt at explaining another son's name. The bottom line is, we have no documentary proof for any of these. BOLLING. As far as I can tell, the suggestion of this for Penelope's surname is based solely on given name of her son "Bolling / Bowling" Clark. However, after years of searching, researchers have failed to locate "a" Penelope Bolling who could be Christopher's wife. According to page 128 of Virginia McNaught's _James Clark Mansfield Christopher Clark and Allied Families _: "Many descendants think she was a Bolling and give her a place in that family, but a careful examination ... by Col. Frank Stovall Roberts ... of Bolling family Bibles and all available records disclosed no Penelope Bolling." Continuing on same page: "... on a genealogical page of the Atlanta 'Sunday American' dated June 22, 1930, we have the following: 'Christopher Clark's wife was Penelope Bolling, daughter of Major John Bolling and his wife Mary Kennon Bolling. Reference, Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine, June 1926, p. 364-5.' Near the bottom of the page McNaught adds: "Attention is called to the fact that the DAR Magazine above, quoted no documentary proof of the existence of Penelope Bolling." However, James McConnell did find one "Penelope Bowling" in Virginia records per Dr. Bernard Schaaf's sketch on Christopher Clark. There is a Fairfax County land record where, Penelope, the widow of William Bowling, deeded land to her son William Bowling (Jr). MASSIE. Page 128 McNaught: "Col. Roberts wrote in 1913: 'It may be that our Penelope was daughter of Penelope Ashley, descendant of Sir Anthony Ashley, whose daughter Ann Ashley married Sir John Cooper and was mother of Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftsbury, Lord Proprietor of South Carolina'... As for the name Massie there are many theories but all connect with the family of the Earl of Shaftsbury. The Genealogist, Mrs. Wirt Johnson Carrington ... wrote in 1913 in support of the Massie theory: It is something more than tradition in the Moorman family that three Massie women (two sisters and a cousin, or three sisters) descended from the House of Shaftsbury, not through the Earl but a sister who married a Massie. One was Sarah who married William Johnson (parents of Benjamin who married Agnes, daughter of Christopher and Penelope.) One married a Moorman, and it is thought one married Christopher Clark as it is known in the Johnson line that Benjamin married his first cousin." Dr. Bernard Schaaf cites letters written by James McConnell in 1979 and Mrs. Vashti Anthony Jacob (author of _Anthony Roots and Branches _ 1971) in 1980 as concurring: "There is no evidence of any Penelope Massie who ever lived in Virginia." Massie researcher, Rhoda Fone, agrees. For more information on Lord Shaftsbury, see her article -- file called "AutoBio" at http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~lksstarr/html/johnson.html JOHNSON. Although not proof of anything, Sue Wright went through the index of transcriptions of St. Peter's Parish Register searching for the given name "Penelope' and found only one listed: Penelope Daughter of Edw'd Johnson Eliz. Na-- ye 4 day of Agost & bapt. Ye 17 of ye instant, 1684. [page 17: _The Parish Register of Saint Peter's New Kent, County, Virginia 1680-1787 _, published by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Virginia, Parish Record Series No. 2, Richmond, 1904.] There are several reports on my web page that go into more detail, pros and cons, and all based on preponderance of evidence. Many of these discussions are buried within reports dealing with other topics, so you have to search. I state again, primary documentation for any one of the three surnames attributed to Penelope has not been found. And in all likelihood, we'll never locate anything more definite than was available a century ago. ------------- Comments from members of the group As a Massie descendant, I've never found any record to show that Peter Massie had a daughter Penelope. Actually, Penelope is not a name used by Peter's children either. (Massie descendants might note that the name "Cecelia" is very prominent in the Massie family for several generations.) To my knowledge, no record has been found in England or Virginia that gives the name of Peter Massie's wife as Penelope or any other given name. It is my personal opinion that Massie can be eliminated as a possible surname for Penelope, wife of Christopher Clark. That leaves us with Bolling and Johnson. To date, I've not seen a Penelope Bolling in records. The only Penelope that really seems to fit is Penelope Johnson, daughter of Edward Johnson. Rhoda Fone It isn't my line, but I will jump in with a few thoughts. The chart Linda found offered 3 possibilities that a previous researcher had considered, but of course Penelope's surname need not be _any_ of these three. I presume these were just 3 possibilities that this researcher had found some thin evidence to support. The use of Bolling as a given name probably does point to _some_ type of connection with that family, but it need not be a family connection. It was not unheard of in that time period to name a child after a friend, someone held in great respect locally, etc. Also, if there is a family connection, it might be several generations back. Sometimes a grandmother or great-grandmother's maiden surname would be used as a child's given name, especially if the family for whom the child was named had money or was prominant. Also, Bolling Clark might not have been named Bolling directly for the family of that name, but rather been named for an uncle, grandfather, great uncle, etc. who had been in turn named for the surname. As Linda notes, Penelope is rather uncommon. You have found only one in Penelope's generation-- have you tried looking in previous or later generations? If there was a family that had a Penelope or two in the mid or even late 1700s, and didn't have an obvious connections with the Clarks, they might be worth investigating further. Heather Olsen Untypically, I agree that we are not absolutely certain of Penelope's surname and probably never will be certain. However, I think the Bolling name should be eliminated from the chase as factors that CAN be documented make it VERY UNLIKELY that a Bolling could have been the father of Penelope. Most importantly, immigrant Robert Bolling (1646-1709) is well-documented and he left a record of his family, written in his own hand, on the flyleaves of a law book titled "Purvise's Collection" which is in the Virginia State Library collection. Robert, who was 14 when he came to Virginia, married his first wife, Jane Rolfe, in 1675. She gave him one son, John Bolling, who was born 4 Jan 1676 before she died of birthing complications. He next married Anne Stith in 1681. They had eight children, seven listed in Robert Bolling's law book, as follows: Robert, b.25 Jan 1681, Stith b.28 Mar 1686, Edward b.1 Oct 1687, Anne b.22 Jul 1690, Drury b.21 Jun 1695, Thomas b.30 Mar 1697, Agnes b. 30 Nov 1700. Another daughter, Mary was born after 1700 but died at birth which is probably why she was not listed in Robert's law book. Also, Robert Bolling lived in Charles City (later Prince George) County near the mouth of the Appomattox River -- not exactly a location for social interaction with the folks of the upper parish of New Kent County. As I've pointed out before, immigrant Robert Bolling's grandmother was Anne Clarke, daughter of London merchant Thomas Clarke whose Clarke roots go back to Yorkshire. That much is documented in the 1633-34 London Visitation journal. That might be the connection that produced the "Bolling" name in the Christopher Clark family. (I should add that this is the same Thomas Clarke, London merchant, who shows up in the land records of widow Margaret Clarke of Barbados.) I will let Rhoda deal with the Massie name. Doug Tucker Main Page: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~lksstarr/ Linda Starr e-mail: lsstarr@pilgrimage.us