Meet Craig and Scott Queen – my cousins from the Queen – Marsham family lineage…
I’m not quite sure how to break down the cousin math (X cousin X removed?.. if anyone can help?) but we are related through our great grandparents x9 Giles Brent and Mary Kittamaquund as our mutual ancestors. However, our great grandparents x8 had extensive ties in 1600’s Southern Maryland: Charles Beaven / Mary Brent Beaven (my great grandparents x8) and Col. Richard Marsham / Katherine Marsham (their great grandparents x8) were related by marriage and blood.
Available records from Prince George county tell us that Craig and Scott’s great grandfather x8 Col. Richard Marsham assigned 600 acres on the North branch of the Patuxent River (“Hickory Thicket”) to his brother (in-law), my great grandfather x8 Charles Beaven:
“Charles Beaven repatented, Hickory Thicket, 600 acres on North branch of the Patuxent River. This tract had been assigned to him by Col. Richard Marsham previously (Liber 1B #9, folio 360, and Liber 1B, #10 folio 527 of Prince George County, Maryland). 15 March 1695
It was awesome to meet Craig and Scott and their family Morgan, Seth, Tommy and Lynn.. “Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ” (we All Are Related) in the grand scheme of things but it’s amazing to see the further back you go how deep our intertwined family lineages and roots extend into the past.
Another distant relative of ours, master genealogist and historian Gary Yordy, provided me with extensive information on the relationship between Col. Richard Marsham and Charles Beaven. On December 8th, 1688, Mary Brent Beaven (my great grandmother x8) witnessed the will of her nephew, Basil Waring along with Thomas Greenfield and Martha Greenfield. Col. Richard Marsham (Craig and Scott’s great grandfather x8) was the co-executor of that will. This is the first known reference to Mary Brent “Fitzherbert” as Mary Brent “Beaven” (source).
It’s also interesting to note, according to Yordy, that two circumstantial pieces of evidence suggest that Charles Beaven was a Roman Catholic… or more likely … converted to Roman Catholicism after initially coming to the new world as a Quaker:
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Charles’ last three children – Charles Jr., Elizabeth, and Catherine each married Roman Catholics and raised their children in the faith.
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DNA evidence indicates that Charles’ second wife, Mary, was Mary Brent, the daughter of Giles Brent and Mary Kittamaquund. The Brent family was devoutly Roman Catholic and thus it is reasonable that Charles converted to Roman Catholicism to marry Mary Brent.
Although Charles Beaven’s religious affiliation is ambiguous, we know that he was born in Caernarfon, Wales about 1636 and immigrated in 1666 at about 30 years of age. Then from his arrival in Maryland until 1686, he resided in southern Anne Arundel County in an area where virtually every other plantation nearby was owned by Quakers.
Although from 1685 to 1688 Charles disappears from the historic records- from 1688 until his death in 1699, he is known to have resided on the Hargrove estate in Calvert (later Prince George’s County). It is believed by many, including Gary Yordy, that “Charles married Mary Brent Fitzherbert who was raised a devout Roman Catholic. Charles’ two oldest children became members of the Church of England, whereas his three youngest children became members of the Roman Catholic Church.”
The relevance of this is that Charles’ “brother” (in-law), Richard Marsham (Craig and Scott’s great grandfather x8), was originally a “Puritan” or member of the Church of England. Although there is circumstantial evidence that he “converted” to Catholicism before he married Anne Calvert in 1696, like Charles Beaven, Marsham’s religion is, at best, ambiguous. The interesting thing however, is the idea that Marsham’s religion at the time of his marriage to Katherine Brent, was with the Church of England- which would explain possibly why Katherine was not referenced in Margaret Brent’s will from 1663 (see below):
1663 – 26 December – Mary Brent was named as “my neece, Mary Brent, daughter of my brother Giles Brent” in the will of her aunt, Margaret Brent, signed on December 26, 1663.Although many believe the reason Katherine Brent was not named in Margaret Brent’s will is because she did not exist, another possibility is that Katherine was already married to Richard Marsham when Margaret’s will was written. Marsham was a member of the Church of England, and Gary Yordy believes it was the strong Catholic ties of the Brent family and their well-known dislike of Protestants, that make it possible Katherine was disinherited completely by her family for marrying a protestant.In the name of God, Amen. I Margaret Brent of Peace in the County of Westmoreland in Virginia considering the casualtys of human life do therefore make this my last will and testament as followeth: My soul I do bequeath to the mercies of my Savior Jesus Christ and my worldly estate to be disposed of by my executors as followeth:
To my nephew George Brent I give all my rights to take up lands in Maryland except those already assigned to my cousin James Clifton; to my neece Clifton I give a cow and to my neece Elizabeth Brent I give a heifer; to Ann Vandan I give a cow calf; to my neece Mary Brent, daughter of my brother Giles Brent I give all my silver spoons which are six; to my nephew Richard Brent, son of my brother Giles Brent, I give my patent of land at the Falls of Rappahanock River also my lease of Kent Fort Mannor in Maryland saving yet power to his father, my brother Giles Brent that if he should like to do so he may sell said lease and satisfye to his son other where as he shall think fit in lands goods or money and in case of my said nephew Richard Brents death under age and without heirs to his body lawfully begotten his legacy thereto to go to his brother Giles Brent or his sister Mary Brent or to the heirs of my brother Giles Brent or otherwise as my said brother shall dispose it by Deed or last Will; to my brother Giles Brent and his heirs forever I give all my lands, goods, chattels, and all my estate real and personal and all that may be due me in England and Virginia, Maryland or elsewhere still excepting the before disposed of in this my last Will and Testament and I do appoint him my said brother Giles Brent and his children Giles Brent, Mary Brent, and Richard Brent or such of them as are living at the time of my death the Executors of this my Last Will and Testament.
In Witness whereof I have hereunder set my hand and seal this twenty sixth day of December, Anno Domini 1663.
Speculative painting of Margaret Brent (1601-1671) by Edwin Tunis
The following image and state marker gives more information about the relationships of our mutual ancestor Mary Kittamaquund, and her daughter Mary Brent, with that of her aunt and relative Margaret Brent (mentioned above):
For more information on our ties to the Piscataway Nation and first families of colonial Maryland check out:
I Stand with Nathan Phillips and Indigenous People!
Teko Photo
Also: Sebi Medina Tayac – Piscataway Nation Represent
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