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I am not a Duke, so far as I know, unless you count the 11th C. Renaud and Thierry de Bar le Duc. I do, however probably descend from those 17 generations-500 years of Israeli Exilarchs that go back to Abraham, by way of the counts of Narbonne, Toulouse, Aquitaine, etc, down through the Rogers, Courtenay, de Bohun, descendants of the infamous Longshanks. The English, incidentally, regard him as having been a rather good king. The Scots disagree.
That off my mind, here's a preamble to my question.
It is widely accepted among the descendants of the Rogers, Clarks, Gwalthmeys, Underwoods and others that Mary Byrd, born 29 Sep 1683, daughter of Wm Byrd and Maria Horsmanden of Westover, VA, married John Rogers in 1716, had a number of children by him, and lived to a ripe old age. There are many family stories that support this theory, and I found some very convincing arguments among the manuscripts at the Library of Virginia and Virginia Historical Society, but no court documents or records to prove it.
It is fairly clear from the Byrd and Duke forums as well as the genealogical notes published with the Byrd Letters, that Mary Byrd was married to James Duke sometime between her mother's death in 1699 and her father's death in 1704, and that there were offspring of this union.
So, this, at last, is my question. What happened between 1712 and 1716 that might have freed Mary to marry Rogers? Did she leave Duke, were they divorced, did he throw her out? And what happened to the children? Reportedly her big brother was very upset when he returned from England and found her married, without his permission, to John Rogers.
Can anyone shed some light on this conundrum? I really want to know if Mary is my ancestor. I have searched the internet and the Richmond archives in vain, appealed to the Rogers and Byrd forums, inquired of the King & Queen Co. Historical Society, all I can think of to do, and still I'm obsessed with finding the answer.
I have looked way back through the Duke forum, too, found no answer, but really enjoyed it, especially the discussion of the Plantagenet connection. It is lively, erudite, philosophical, interesting, but not terribly humorous. If you want humor, go to the Hackett forum. I don't mean to imply that the Dukes are humorless, mind you, so don't be offended, please. Heaven forbid! I certainly do detect some drollery! Imagine going out on the street and asking strangers for their pedigrees! Candid camera should pick up on that. I'd like to do it myself, just to see how many people ask, "Do I LOOK like a cat?" It's just that the Hacketts may be among the funniest folks on the web. Check out their discussions of bunions, polydactylism, and the seven-course Irish meal.
As for the suggested poll for the title of "The Most Wretched Rotten Royal of All", Atilla the Hun has got to be on the short list. I read in an essay by one Fred Hamori, "The Hungarian Resettlement of 896 AD",at www2.4dcomm.com/millenia/history, that Atilla was the ancestor of the Arpad dynasty of Hungary (emphasis on the nasty?)that spawned the kings who produced Philippa of Hanault and company, therefore the descendants of Ed III.
I'd love to hear from y'all on this Duke/Byrd thing. Yeah, I lived in Oklahoma and Texas for a few years.
Konnie
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