Frances Fielding Lewis was born 282 years ago – October 27, 1731 – in Gloucester County, Virginia. Frances was the daughter of John Lewis III and Frances Fielding. Unfortunately her mother died the same day, giving birth to her daughter. Frances married George Yates IV, of Caroline County, Virginia. They had 9 children: John Estes, Charles Lewis, Richard, Frances G., James, William, Warner, Mollie and George Yates.
Categories: Family Stories, Genealogy Ramblings
I’m looking to confirm that Frances Fielding Lewis, daughter of Colonel John Lewis III and Frances Fielding, did not die as an infant and indeed married George Yates IV. I found in a book that they speculated she died soon after her mother. I don’t have any hard evidence either way. Do you know of any records to confirm she lived to marry and have children?
There is no record that shows francis Fielding Lewis married George Yates iv . Even his DAR file says no proof of who his wife was. The book Lewis of Warner hall does not mention it all..
There is some uncertainty about Frances Fielding Lewis’ parentage. Based on the absence of records, Merrow E. Sorley in Lewis of Warner Hall surmised that Frances Lewis, the youngest daughter of John Lewis and Frances Fielding, did not survive childhood. However Michael Lewis in Pioneer Lewis Families, v. 1 (individual 9L116) surmised that she survived, married George Yates IV and raised a large family.
Notwithstanding Sorley’s failure to find records about her, Yates family records indicate that George Yates’ wife was Frances Fielding Lewis, daughter of John Lewis. Four of their nine children were given Lewis family names (one of which “Warner” is not common). Later, writing in Pioneer Lewis Families, v. 4, Michael Lewis changed his mind and claimed that Frances Fielding Lewis was the daughter of John Lewis and his second wife Priscilla Churchill (widow of Robert Carter III). That is Frances Fielding Lewis, wife of George Yates, was not the youngest daughter of John Lewis and his first wife Frances Fielding as he claimed previously. John Lewis probably married Priscilla Churchill in 1734 or 1735, soon after the death of his first wife. Earlier histories of the John Lewis family do not attribute any children to his second marriage. Whether Frances Fielding Lewis was the daughter of John Lewis and his first wife (Frances Fielding) or his second wife (Priscilla Churchill Carter) remains unclear. But either way, Frances Fielding Lewis appears to be the daughter of John Lewis, and surely was raised by Priscilla Lewis.
I am of the thinking that she was the child whose birth caused her mother’s death. Why would John Lewis & his next wife Priscilla name a daughter after the deceased first wife? Doesn’t make sense to me. And yes, George Yates IV and his wife Frances did name almost all of their children after either a Lewis, a Fielding, or a Warner – which was the tradition at the time. If she weren’t a Lewis, why would they do that? It’s sad that no records in support – one way or the other – seemed to have survived. Plus, Frances’s brothers, being more historically relevant, got the lion’s share of the focus from a documentation standpoint. If she indeed is a surviving infant from her mother’s sudden death, someone would have had to care for her and serve as a “wet nurse” almost immediately. This would have been well before Priscilla came into the picture. Who would it have been – a neighbor? Relative? Household servant? Makes you wonder if there aren’t some buried records around somewhere that would mention that situation, but because (perhaps) they pertain to another family, they may not have been cross-referenced with the Lewis family. Another thing that may support the theory is that in some accounts of that part of Virginia, the Yates family is often mentioned as having interactions with the Warner Hall folks. So, it wouldn’t be a shocker for a Yates and a Lewis to marry. (There was another “Frances Lewis” but she would have been a daughter of Col. Fielding Lewis, plus she was too young to have married George Yates and mothered his children.)
What is the source of the names of the children? Was there a Bible record or something?