| Father | Edmund Neale (b. about 1575, d. before 11 February 1611/12) |
| Mother | Elizabeth Arnold (b. about 1580) |
| Son | Elbert Robins |
| Daughter | Margaret Robbins+ (b. February 1625, d. 1665) |
| Daughter | Dorothea Robbins (b. about 1635, d. 2 March 1683) |
| Son | Maj. John Robbins (b. 6 July 1636, d. 28 May 1709) |
| Son | Obedience Robbins (b. about 1638, d. 19 March 1683) |
| Daughter | Mary Robbins+ (b. about 1642, d. before 1691) |
| Daughter | Frances Robbins+ (b. about 1644, d. about 3 June 1679) |
| Pedigree Chart | |
| Included in charts - lists | Box Pedigree - CRS (#1) Box Pedigree - CRS (#2) Charles Ryland Scott Ancestors Indented - CRS (#1) Indented - CRS (#2) |
| Relationship | 9th great-grandmother of Charles Ryland ("Ryland") Scott 11th great-grandmother of Isaac Silas Vaughn 11th great-grandmother of Katherine Gilstrap Scott 11th great-grandmother of Joseph Ryland Scott 11th great-grandmother of Charles Parker ("Parker") Scott 11th great-grandmother of Orly Marie Vaughn 11th great-grandmother of Avital Catherine Vaughn |
| Anecdote | Edward Waters and Grace O'Neill That Edward Waters survived long enough to sire a son was something of a miracle. His journey to the colony was an exciting adventure story, full of hardships, narrow escapes, and derring do. The 20 year old Edward left England in 1609 aboard the Sea Venture, flagship of a Virginia-bound expedition headed by Sir George Somers. A hurrican struck the fleet, forcing the Sea Venture onto rocks off the coart of Bermuda. Edward Waters and the other passengers managed to clamber ashore before wind and waves demolished the ship, an incident that probably inspired parts of Shakespeare's The Tempest. After spending a couple of years as a virtual castaway, Waters became one of the leading citizens of the fledgling colony of Bermuda. Later he almost drowned when his ship foundered in the West Indies, and he had to be rescued from a desolate island by pirates. He finally settled in Virginia in 1617 and established a plantation on the north side of the James River, close to the site of the modern-day city of Newport News. He and his wife, Grace O'Neill Waters, whom he married in 1620, nearly lost their lives in the Indian uprising of 1622. Taken prisoner by Nansemond Indians, they were about to be executed when an abandoned boat washed ashore, delighting their captors and distracting them long enough to allow Edward and Grace to slip into a canoe and escape. Amazed by Edward's seemingly endless series of lucky breaks, Captain John Smith could not resist commenting on the capriciousness of fortune: "Thus you may see how many desperate dangers some men escape, when others die that have all things in their pleasure."The year after they survived the Indian attack, Edward and Grace Waters had their first child, William, followed a year later by a daughter, Margaret. The family enjoyed a steady rise in wealth and prestige during the 1620's. Edward expanded his landholdings on the James-York Peninsula and built one of the largest work forces in the area. The 1625 muster of Virginia's inhabitants called him "Mr. Edward Waters," the title reflecting his status as the head of a 15-person plantation community, employer of six servants, and owner of four houses, a boat, and a "pallizado" (small fort). He acquired every office a local grandee could hold: churchwarden, magistrate, burgess, militia commander. Had he lived longer, he might have continued his ascent and eventually won a seat on the colony's preeminent governing body, the Council. In 1630, however, Edward's fabled luck finally ran out; he died on a business trip to England at the age of 41. In his will, written a few days before his death, he styled himself according to the social rank he had attained in the New World: "Edward Waters of Elizabeth Cittie in Virginia Gentleman.: He left his land in Virginia and a third of his personal property to his seven year old son, William, who was sent to Yorkshire to be educated under the supervision of his uncle.Edward Water's stature in Virginia entitled his children to membership in the colonial gentry, and their social position grew even stronger when their mother married Obedience Robins in 1634. The son of a Northamptonshire yeoman, Robins had worked as an apothecary's apprentice in London before emigrating to the colony in the early 1620's and establishing himself as a surgeon on the Eastern Shore. Over the next three decades, he steadily ascended the political hierarchy, serving as county magistrate, sheriff, burgess, militia commander, and, ultimately, as a member of the Council. Power led inexorably to the acquisition of vast tracts of land, and by the early 1640's Robins had amassed over 3,000 acres in the southern part of the Eastern Shore, making him one of the largest landowners in the county. He raised tobacco and livestock and established a wide-ranging transatlantic commercial network. An ardent free trader, Robins opposed the imposition of an English tobacco monopoly, advocated trading with both sides during the English Civil War, and pursued new markets by forming close ties with the Dutch. marlomoura169 marlomoura169 originally shared this to Marlo Moura Family Tree 14 Mar 2010 story AliceHarrison85 AliceHarrison85 added this to Alice's Family Tree 10 May 2011 | |
| Anecdote | If you don't insist on fictitious connections to nonexistent nobility, her story is plenty romantic enough. She came to Virginia on the "Diana", one of the earliest of the "bride ships" (bringing women and children in quantity to the struggling colony), and attracted the attention of Lt. (a militia rank) Edward Waters, who had already had enough adventures for several lifetimes. He married her as soon as it could be arranged, and they had at least two (known surviving) children. Edward and Grace, and possibly son William, were captured during the 1622 attack by Nansemond Indians, who were more inclined to take people for ransom than to just kill them. They may have been ransomed, or they may have escaped (the tradition is that they did the latter). Some time after 1624 they staked out some territory on the Eastern Shore. He went back to England on a visit in 1630, and died there. Grace soon married Obedience Robins, one of the other (and one of the most influential) Ancient Planters, and raised a second and larger family on the Eastern Shore (Northampton County, which was named at Obedience Robins' insistence after his home county in England). Neale family can be backtracked in Northamptonshire (wonder if Grace had a bit of influence in naming Northampton County, VA too?) for quite a few generations. They weren't particularly prestigious or influential, but they did at some point acquire a coat of arms (per pale sable and gules, a lion passant-guardant argent). Note: a "lion passant-guardant" (walking along, right paw raised, head facing out at the observer) is also referred to as a a "leopard" and was sometimes - but not always - a significator of Royal favor or of holding a Royal office. (For instance, Sir Peter Malory, a Justiciar of England, adopted the arms "or, three leopards/lions passant guardant sable", which is a color-change on the English royal arms and a clear indication of just how important his office was to him.) | |
| Person Source | Grace Neale had person sources.1 | |
| Birth | 1603 | She was born in 1603 in Brackley, Northamptonshire, EnglandBGO.1,2,3 |
| Immigration | 1618 | She immigrated in 1618 to Northampton, Virginia, United StatesBGO, at from England on the Diana with Sir George Yeardley.BG. |
| Marriage | 1620 | Edward Waters and she were married in 1620 in Elizabeth City, Virginia, United StatesBG.4,3 |
| Name | 1620 | As of 1620, Grace Neale was also known as Grace Waters. |
| Muster | 7 February 1624/25 | She was listed in the Muster on 7 February 1624/25 in Elizabeth City, Virginia, United StatesBG, She was shown as Grace Waters, aged 21 who came in the Dianna in 1618, in Edward Waters' Muster. .5,3 |
| Marriage | 1634 | Col. Obedience Robins, (First Families Of Virginia), and she were married in 1634 in England, United KingdomBGO. He was identified in two N'hamp patents in Mar 1643 as a total of 950 acres. The first of the patents, for 500 acres, divided in 2 parcels, was due by order of the court dated 22 Mar 1638/9 as also for the transportation of 10 persons, among them Robins himself, Mrs. Grace Robins and her daughter Margaret Waters. From these claims for headrights, it would appear that he made a trip to England and while there had married Grace O'Neil, who first husband Edward Waters, was buried there on 22 Aug 1630.1,4 |
| Name | 1634 | As of 1634, Grace Neale was also known as Grace Robbins.1 |
| Death | before 2 March 1682/83 | She died before 2 March 1682/83 in Northampton, Virginia, United StatesBGO. It was on this date that Capt. John Robins, on behalf of himself, William Cowdry who married mary Robins, and the children of Dorothy Andrews, was granted administration on his father's estate, lately left by their deceased mother, mother-in-law and grandmother.6,3 |
| Last Edited | 9 February 2021 |