Name: Mary Ann
   Born: after 1600
  Place: England
   Died: by 1674
  Place: probably Virginia
 Buried: 

Mary Ann Utie Bennett's memory is a thin shadow in American history; just another immigrant raising a small family during the early years of Virginia Colony. She's first mentioned in the census of the living and the dead in 1623 and again in the muster the following year. A 1642 court order refers to her as "Mrs Marian Utie, now the wife of Richard Bennett," which confirms her two marriages. Thirty-two years later, her husband's will quietly attests to her death by the mere absence of her name. That's about all we know. However, she married two remarkable men, both of whom made important contributions to Virginia's earliest history. Captain John Utie was a key player in the arrest of Governor John Harvey in 1635, and Richard Bennett effected the removal of Governor William Berkeley in 1652, becoming the colony's next governor.

Nothing is found in contemporaneous record about the origins of Mary Ann or her first husband. Still, it has lately circulated, without credible source, that her maiden name was Longworth. From this unsubstantiated data point, an anonymous researcher concluded she was the daughter of George Longworth and Margaret Trafford of County Lancaster, the latter said to have been of aristocratic descent. However, if we accept that Mary Ann could not have been beyond her forties at the births of the three children she and Richard Bennett had during the 1640s, she was likely born after 1600. It's genealogically relevant, then, that The Visitation of Lancaster of 1567 states that the Longworth couple, Mary Ann's supposed parents, were already grandparents, nearly forty years before Mary Ann's birth.¹ Whoever her parents were (and she certainly had parents), they could not have been George and Margaret Longworth.

Furthermore, a scan of the July 1616 parish record in Heptonstall, Yorkshire, purportedly proves the marriage between Mary Ann Longworth and John Utie, puts a nail in Longworth-Utie coffin. Susan Lord of the Calderdale Family History Society (Yorkshire) provided an image of page 20 of the Bishop's Register for Heptonstall. The suspect and oft-cited entry is squeezed between the first and third recorded marriages for July. Intentional or not, it appears to have been stricken through. But the strikethough is so precise that the record can be followed from one illegible word to the next. Only the "30" at the end of the line, which probably signifies the day of month for the marriage, and "ann" are reasonably unambiguous.

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Be this as it may, the only conclusive thing about the record is that it's inconclusive. And even if the transcription one day proves authentic, there are still no contemporaneous records placing John and Mary Ann Utie of Virginia in Yorkshire, or anywhere else, before their arrival in Jamestown, and no independent, corroborating record of Mary Ann's birth name.

But a couple of clues to her possible origins remain. The 1667 will of her son, Richard Bennett Jr, leaves 400 acres on the Sassafras River (Maryland) to his "cousin" John Langley.¹⁵ Although the term "cousin," particularly during that era, is open to interpretation, the name Langley is not found on the Bennett side of the family, which is largely understood. In fact, Langleys did immigrate to Jamestown about the same time as the Uties. John Langley was an investor in the Virginia Company and master (navigator) of the 1622 voyage of the Margaret and John. It's entirely possible that a researcher of some recent decade conflated the names Langley and Longworth and created this whole mess.

The Utie Family

Much of what is known about the early Virginia immigrants comes to us from John C Hotten's transcription of Musters of the Inhabitants in Virginia 1624/1625. The Uties are found at Hogg island. It's our good fortune that arrivals and dates are sometimes noted among the roughly twelve hundred people enumerated. It tells us that Mary Ann and her young son, John Utie, Jr, crossed the Atlantic on the Seaflower. No year is mentioned in their entry, but three other colonists testify they arrived on the same ship in 1621.² Mary Ann's first husband, John Utie (Uty), arrived earlier on the Francis Bonaventure. The earlier 1623 census lists the family as "John Utie, Mrs Utie, John Utie, infant."³

Some researchers have theorized that the couple was already aligned with the Bennetts (Mary Ann's future in-laws), that they were Puritans and a part of the community in Leyden. Edward Bennett, the owner of the 1621-1622 voyage of the Seaflower, was a Puritan, as were many of the ship's passengers. However, the Leyden community largely immigrated to Massachusetts, not Virginia.

Two weeks after he was enumerated on the 1624 muster, Utie, one of thirty men, complained to the king that six thousand "persons have been transported to Virginia who, for the most part, were wasted by the cruelty of Sir Thomas Smyth's government."⁴ He sat in the Virginia General Assembly for the years 1629 and 1630 and was elevated to a member of the Virginia Council from 1631, a position he held until at least 1635.

In 1630, by now a successful merchant and politician, Utie moved his family to the mouth of King Creek on the York River and named his home Utimaria, undoubtedly for his wife.⁵ In time, the couple had at least three sons: John, Nathaniel, and George. It's commonly cited that John Jr was christened on 28 June 1619 at Holy Trinity The Less parish church on Knightrider Street in London, but that's easily proved to be incorrect. The record provides no surname, neither for the baptized John nor for his parents, John and Ann. There's another theory that he was the John Utie christened as son of John and Joane Utie on 11 Feb 1618 at St Andrew's Parish, Holbein, London. Because the mother is not Mary Ann, corroborating data is required. In any case, the infant's prior birth is established by the 1623 census.

Nearly thirty years after the founding of Jamestown, the colonists, even the landowners and elected officials who'd been present from the earliest years, found it difficult to stay afloat. It clearly seemed to many of the colony's leaders that their masters, first the directors of the Virginia Company and now the royally-appointed governors, rarely had their best interests in mind. Once again, Utie was embroiled in controversy. In an incident now known as "The Thrusting Out of Governor Harvey," Utie and the Virginia Council, in a move that is described as America's first rebellious act toward the Crown, removed Virginia Governor John Harvey. About this, the Encyclopedia Virginia says, "On April 28 [1635] both Harvey and the Council attempted to arrest each other on charges of treason. The councilors, backed by musketeers, prevailed."⁶ In fact, the incident was even more colorful. Captain Matthews described the events in a letter written the following month to Sir John Wolstenholme,

25 May 1635
The next meeting in a most sterne manner [Harvey] demanded the reason that wee conceived of the Cuntreye's Petition against him. Mr. Menefie made Answere the chiefest cause was the detayning of the Letters to his Majestie and the Lords. Then [Harvey] rising in a great rage sayd to Mr Menefie and do you say so? He replied yes; presently the Governor in a fury went and striking him on the shoulder as hard as I can imagine he could said I arrest you of suspicion of Treason to the Majestie. Then Captain Utie being neare said and wee the like to you Sir. Whereupon I seeing him in a rage, tooke him in my Armes and said. Sir there is no harme intended against you save only to acquaint you with the grievances of the Inhabitants and to that end I desire you to sitt downe in your Chayre.⁷

Several weeks later, John Martyn, the mayor of Plymouth, England, sent testimony to the Privy Council that Governor Harvey arrived at port from Virginia that morning. Harvey immediately charged two of his fellow passengers, Thomas Harwood, who carried with him a trunk of letters, including that from West, and Francis Pott with taking part in his removal from office. Harvey wasted no time petitioning the government regarding "the mutinous proceedings,"

14 July 1635
Hearing of secret and unlawful meetings, held by Mathews about December last, he ordered William English, Capt. Martin, and Francis Pott, to be apprehended, [Harvey] demanded the assistance of the Council to suppress those mutinous meetings; but on 28th April, Mathews and others of the Council armed, and with about 50 musketeers, beset him in his own house ... John Utie struck him violently upon the shoulder, and said, "I arrest you for treason" ... ⁸

Harvey further accused John Pott, the brother of Francis, the exiled governor's travel "companion," as being the leader of the musketeers. He blamed (and detailed) various "jealousies" held by the men involved, and requested "that the offenders may be reduced to obedience, and receive condign punishment, and that the reputation of him who has suffered so much may be repaired."

Whatever the truth was — that Utie struck Harvey or that Harvey struck Menefie — it's clear that Utie himself affected the arrest and that he was now in serious trouble.

Three days before Christmas, Lord Baltimore, an ally of Governor Harvey's, requested , that "orders be given for Captain John West, Samuel Matthews, John Utie, William Peirce (and George Menefie), the chief mutineers in Virginia, to be sent to England for trial."⁹ (It's interesting to note here that Utie was the first of Mary Ann's two husbands to overthrow a governor of Virginia.) In 1639, Robert Booth, clerk of York County, bought land from John Utie Jr, "son and heir of Capt. John Utie, dec'd," thereby establishing the captain had died by then.¹⁰

Captain West, the seventh son of the 2nd Baron De La Warr, served as governor after the discharge of Harvey until 1637 when the king returned Harvey to his post and affected the arrests of Utie, Matthews, West and the others. Harvey, rather than deferring to instructions from the king, took matters into his own hands and attempted to exact revenge on his former accusers by seizing their servants and property.

Utie was in England on 25 May 1637 when he and his embattled friends petitioned the Privy Council: "[They] have been lately sent prisoners to England, Peirce excepted, who came over a year ago, and are now on bail. Pray that their distressed state may be taken into consideration and a letter written to Governor Harvey by a ship now ready to sail, to restore their goods, servants, and cattle, seized by his orders."¹¹

The Privy Council followed through the same day,

Require [the governor and the council] to take effectual orders that the servants, goods, and cattle belonging to John West, Sam. Matthews, John Utie, and Will. Peirce, whose petition they inclose, should be quietly left in the hands of those to whom they were entrusted, and any that have been seized, restored, until the charges against the petitioners are heard and determined by the King or Privy Council.¹²

Frederick Dorman wraps up Utie's fate by writing, "Utie was presumably dead by July 1637 when goods were loaded on the Elizabeth of London in trust for Mistress Uley [sic] and certainly by 12 May 1638 when his son repatented his land."¹³ In other words, we can reasonably assume that Utie not only completed the voyage to England, but that he was there on 25 May to file his petition.

Utie's sons, Nathaniel and George, are noted regularly in the colonial records. All we know about the eldest, John Utie Jr, is what is gleaned in the small number of deeds, at least one of which mentions his wife, Mary. It's the only detail we have about his personal life. John Bennett Boddie wrote in Colonial Surry that he "died before 15th of December, 1642, for on that date the County Court of Lower Norfolk commanded on, Richard Foster, to carry out the previous order dated October 4, 1641 and 'pay unto Mrs. Marian Utie, now the wife of Richard Bennett, Esq., 114 lbs. tobacco'" (Norfolk Bk. 1637-46, Item 17).¹⁴ From the few facts we have, we can surmise that the young man wasn't much older than twenty at his death, which likely occurred not much more than two years after his father's death.

The Bennett Family

As noted by Boddie, Mary Ann and Richard Bennett were married before October 1641. They had three children, all born by 1645: Anne Bennett (c1642-1687) married first Theodorick Bland of Westover and secondly to Col St Leger Codd; Richard Bennett Jr (c1644-1676) married Henrietta Maria Neale, daughter of James Neale of Maryland; and Elizabeth Bennett (1645-1719) married Col Charles Scarborough of Accomac County, the son of Edmund Scarborough.

Two dates and places for Mary Ann's death are often provided in uncited trees — a death in Virginia, which makes sense because that's where she made her home with both Utie and Bennett, and one in Maryland, which is where her children relocated. However, the commonly-cited Maryland death in 1687 belongs to her daughter, Anna Bennett Codd. Mary Ann appears to be last mentioned in a 1658 deed of land to Thomas Carter. She's not mentioned as an heir in the 1674 will of her second husband, Richard Bennett. With his wife and only son dead and with his two daughters well-cared for by their successful and prominent husbands, we can understand the generosity displayed in his will toward his friends, cousins, community, and church.

Mary Ann married two extraordinary men and was doubtless of extraordinary character herself. Her descendants include Richard Bland (1710-1776), a delegate to the Continental Congress and cousin of Thomas Jefferson; Major-General Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee (1756-1818), a Virginian Congressman and Governor; Judge Theodorick Bland (1776-1846), an attorney, statesman, and Chancellor of Maryland; John Randolph (1773-1833), a minister to Russia, a Virginian Congressman and Senator; General Robert E Lee (1807-1870); and Roger Atkinson Pryor (1828-1919), a Virginian newspaper editor and politician. As the wife of a historic figure — a Cromwellian governor of Virginia — and ancestor of several well-known politicians and military figures, we owe it to her legacy to get her story right, even if that story amounts to little more than "unknown."

1. William Flower, Norroy King of Arms, The Visitation of the County Palatine of Lancaster, Made in the Year 1567, edited by the Rev, F R Raines, MA, FSA, the Vicar of Milnrow, and Hon. Canon of Manchester, printed for the Chetham Society, 1870, 25.

2. It's worth noting that in 1621, Edward Bennett, the uncle of the future Virginia governor and Mary Ann's second husband (Richard Bennett) owned the Seaflower. In November 1621, it sailed out of Bristol with 120 passengers and arrived in February the following year. A substantial number of them settled at Bennett's plantation, then known as Bennett's Welcome. A quarter of the Virginia population was to lose their lives only weeks later in the Indian massacre of 1622, including 52 of the residents on Bennett's lands. Might the Uties have been present at Bennett's Welcome that day? The family had a home only a short distance away on Hogg Island the following year.

3. John Camden Hotten, "List of the Living and the Dead in Virginia," The Original Lists of Person of Quality (London: n.p., 1874), 181.

4. Peter Wilson Coldham, The Complete Book of Emigrants, 1607-1776 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 1987), 46. It was Smythe who was granted the royal charter for the Virginia Company and the man from whom subsequent colonial policy derived, although he was never a Virginia resident.

5. The property passed between 16 private owners until it was assumed by the government in 1914. It became Navy property in 1917 and is now the Cheatham Annex Naval Base. (Source is howlingpixel.com.)

6. Brent Tarter, "Sir John Harvey (ca. 1581 or 1582-by 1650)," Encyclopedia Virginia, Virginia Humanities, accessed 1 August 2019.

7. "Captain Matthews to Sir John Wolstenholme, 25 May 1635," Proceedings of the Council of Maryland, 1636-1667, Colonial Papers. Vol. VIII, No. 65, p33.

8. "Declaration of Sir John Harvey, Governor of Virginia, to the Lords Commissioners for Foreign Plantations, concerning the mutinous proceedings of the Council there and their confederates," America and West Indies: July 1635, in Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies: Volume 1, 1574-1660, ed. W Noel Sainsbury (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1860), 214. British History Online, accessed August 2, 2019, https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/colonial/america-west-indies/vol1/pp210-214.

9. Coldham, 173.

10. "Captain John Utie, of Utimaria, Esq.," The William and Mary Quarterly 4 (July 1, 1895), 21-58.

11. "Petition of West, Mathews, Utie, and Peirce to the Privy Council." America and West Indies: May 1637, ibid, 251-253.

12. "The Privy Council to the Governor and Council of Virginia," America and West Indies: May 1637, ibid.

13. John Frederick Dorman, F.A.S.G., editor, "Utie," Adventurers of Purse and Person, Virginia, 1607-1624/5, Vol 3 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1956), 432.

14. John Bennett Boddie, Colonial Surry (PA: Clearfield Printing, 1948), reprinted by Genealogical Printing Company, 1989, 41.

15. "Will of Richard Bennett, Jr.," Maryland Historical Magazine I (Baltimore: 1906), 73-74.