"That this is correct is shown by an application dated 28 Feb 1633/34 by Mary Jones for a grant of administration dbn on the estate of her father Sir Edward Littleton of Henley, Salop [PCC Act Books].

Now we know from the will of Gilbert Jones I, the father, dated 15 Oct 1616 and proved 11 Jan 1616/17 (Montgomeryshire Coll. 21:170) that his youngest son, Gilbert, was old enough to be named executor. The younger Gilbert, of Gray's Inn in 1617, was living in Welshpool on 8 October 1639 when Margaret, daughter of Gilbert and Mary Jones, was buried (fragmentary Welshpool Registers, id. 16:4).

As Mary, wife of Edmund Scarborough II was married to this husband by 3 August 1640 (Virginia Patents 1;699), it is quite impossible that this latter Mary could be a daughter of Sir Edward Littleton.

"In addition, the following shows Mary Littleton married Gilbert Jones, II and her brother was Nathaniel Littleton: "The Littletons," in Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological Society, Series 4, Vol. III, Part 2 (1913), p. 307.

According to Sutherland McColley on January 23, 2004 (smcc@mohawk.net): A "Mary Charleton" [if there ever was Mary Charleton] was not the daughter of Capt. Stephen Charleton as they were both of the same generation. "Stephen married three times: 1) to Elizabeth Myddleton, born August 26, 1610, Wales; 2) Bridgett Pott, born 1613, probably Cheshire, England, sister to Capt. Francis Pott (his baptism was January 12, 1608 at St. Michael, Macclesfield, Cheshire, England); and 3) Ann Barloe, born about 1608, England, wife of (1st) Anthony Huffe, and wife of (2nd) Anthony West.

Mary deposed twice that she was born once in 1610 and another time in 1612. Almost the same time as the above Elizabeth.

She arrived in Virginia as Mary Scarborough in August 1640 (Greer, George Cabell, Early Virginia Immigrants, 1978, p. 291).

The only possibilities are: Mary could have been a sister to Capt. Stephen Charlton or a sister to Capt. Frances Pott.

Edmund Scarborough and Ann Toft
from: Ruh-@cox.net
dated: January 6, 2004, 11:06 PST

Just wanted to let you know that another researcher into this couple, Robert Leland Johnson and his wife, Pamela, have been looking at the documents surrounding Edmund and Ann and think that they have enough information to put them together as parents of Ann's 3 daughters. Mr. Johnson is a lawyer and his wife is a legal researcher.

From the research of Pamela and Robert Leland Johnson regarding Ann Toft: Anne Toft lived at Gargaphie Plantation which was owned originally by Colonel Edmund Scarborough II. "Gargaphie comes from Ovid's Metamorphoses, iii, 180, and refers to the bower where Diana and her nymphs disported." The first patent (800 acres) to mention Ann was granted to her on November 3, 1660 (A777, from Colonel Edmund) when she was 17. In February 1664, Ann received the patent for 1,200 acres which became the basis for her home plantation of Gargaphie. There were no other settlers within miles of her. That seems strange for a young woman with infant children. "In 1669, Edmund Scarburgh and Mary Scarburgh sold the land to Mistress Anne Toft for 9,101 pounds of Mevis Sugar in Cask and 708 pounds of Indigo.

The land was improved and several industrial enterprises were started on the land. In August 1668, Articles of Agreement were drawn up between Edmund Scarborough and Ann Toft. She agreed to allow him "during his natural life" to make use of her plantation as he "thinks fitt" to conduct his business and she agreed to improve all and every part of his concerns during his absence to his "best advantage". Edmund renounced "all and every claim, right interest, profitt or title" to any part of the land, animals or goods on the land after his natural life for himself and his heirs or creditors.

After the marriage of Mistress Toft to Daniel Jenifer, a joint patent was issued to them in 1672 for 5,000 acres to include the above and 2,000 acres of new land; in later transactions this new part usually was called swamp land. (Virginia's Eastern Shore--A History of Northampton and Accomack Counties, Vol 2, p 1350, Ralph T. Whitelaw).

On July 15, 1672, Daniel and his wife Ann "lately called Ann Toft" recorded a document to the effect that 5,000 acres at Gingoteague (the name of the Indians living at that area and applied to the land) were to be set aside for the daughters of Ann Toft. In 1686, the final deeds of transfer were made prior to the death of Ann Toft Jenifer.

From Whitelaw, p 1151 (Vol II) can also be found record of an event on May 8, 1670 where two witnesses heard a drunken workman say that "he would work no more for Scarburgh's whores and bastards". [In Memory of Colonel Edmund Scarborough II (Scarburgh)(1618-1671) and Anne Toft (1643-1687) of Accomack County, Virginia by Robert Leland Johnson; Denver: Robela Publishing Co., 2003; (no page numbers for most of the book)].

This message (I'm not positive that it's in the book) also gives pertinent information about their reasoning:

Bob asked me to send you a re-cap of where we seem to be on the Anne Toft connection.

First, a disclaimer: This is not my period or my area. My contribution to Bob's genealogical research is primarily European. I am currently working on organizing some 4000 Anglo-Norman ancestors into a coherent presentation. I know a lot more about 12th Century England than I do about 17th Century Virginia, but I have acquired most of the Delmarva materials and am trying to learn more about this area.

Unfortunately, Anne Toft is probably not the easiest place to start. I gather that this has been an on-going debate, with one faction firmly committed to the identification of Col. Scarbrough as the father of Anne Toft's children, and the other opposed. The "opposition" seems to be based more upon moral and social considerations than upon an alternative candidate for paternity. The problem with this position, as I see it, is that the presumed societal consequences would have arisen regardless of who the father of the children was, unless the father happened to be Anne Toft's husband.

Anne Toft's three daughters were born during the 1660's and during that same period Anne was involved in various real estate ventures. In these ventures she acted as a feme sole; she, therefore, had no husband * (see below). See, for example, the deeds relating to the "Double Purchase" in which she held an interest with Randall Revell:

Years of legal research make me pretty confident on that part of the question, so I would conclude that Anne Toft was a "single mother" and that either she or her lover had enough power to protect her from being prosecuted for "fornication." Col. Scarbrough would seem to fit the bill in that regard, and according to at least two of the sources I have viewed, he was the owner of the plantation, Gargaphie, where she lived. (The name, incidentally, comes from Ovid's Metamorphoses, III, 180, and refers to the bower where Diana and her nymphs desported - sounds appropriate to me.) Add to this the fact that Mary Littleton [sic--cm] Scarbrough was older than her husband (in her fifties by the time Anne Toft's children were born) and a not unfamiliar pattern emerges. The fact that Anne Toft did not marry until shortly after Col. Scarbrough's death, as well as the fact that for some reason Mary Littleton [sic--cm] Scarbrough was refused letters of administration to her husband's estate (I do not know the circumstances, but it was certainly unusual) might also be significant.

Taking everything together, I think that the identification of Col Scarbrough as the father of Anne Toft's three daughters holds together quite well and I see that a number of researchers have reached the same conclusion, possibly for different reasons.

* feme sole: A common law concept derived from feudal Norman custom and prevalent through periods when marriage abridged women's rights, feme sole (Norman French meaning "single woman") referred to a woman who had never been married or who was divorced or widowed or to a woman whose legal subordination to her husband had been invalidated by a trust, a prenuptial agreement, or a judicial decision. In some instances by custom a woman could execute contracts independent of her husband as a feme sole trader, but generally legal action was required to establish a married woman's legal separateness from her husband. See also coverture.

coverture: An Anglo-American common law concept derived from feudal Norman custom, coverture referred to a woman's subordinate legal status during marriage. Prior to marriage a woman could freely execute a will, enter into contracts, sue or be sued in her own name, and sell or give away her real estate or personal property as she wished. Once she married, however, her legal existence as an individual was suspended under "marital unity," a legal fiction in which the husband and wife were considered a single entity: the husband. The husband exercised almost exclusive power and responsibility and rarely had to consult his wife to make decisions about property matters. Coverture rendered a woman unable to sue or be sued on her own behalf or to execute a will without her husband's consent and, unless some prior specific provision separating a woman's property from her husband's had been made, stripped a woman of control over real and personal property. Coverture was disassembled in the United States through legislation at the state level beginning in Mississippi in 1839 and continuing into the 1880s.