Mary Thwaite

https://www.bolling.net/our-story

Due to lack of a "paper trail" which is mandated by genealogical societies today, no descendant can yet claim Thomas Bouldin the Immigrant as their ancestor. While the article does eliminate all other known possible contenders as the father of our earliest proven ancestor, William Bouldin I of Gloucester County, Virginia and Baltimore County, Maryland, we cannot prove that William Bouldin I was the son of Thomas Bouldin the Immigrant. While this paternity remains quite likely, DNA testing will be required to prove -or disprove -William Bouldin I's connection to Thomas Bouldin the Immigrant once and for all.

William Bouldin I's legal wife was Rachel, who may or may not have been nee' Lewis. (now the plot thickens)

Perhaps due to their childless marriage, he made provisions for his wife's future welfare and then left for what is now Cecil County, Maryland with his two sons by his next love, Mary Thwaite. She had been unusually well educated back in England and could write in a very neat and tiny script. After acknowledgement of his two sons by Mary, he made provisions for them and made Mary their guardian. No other family members or executors were mentioned. Recognizing Mary's extraordinary qualities, the court officials for once did not strictly follow the law and granted her rights as if she was William’s legal second wife. She would later remarry three times during the next ten years and bear a number of children. None survived except for one son, William Bouldin II, and probably one daughter who was probably a half-sister instead of step-sister to William II.

Will of William Bouldin

Will, August 1671: William Bouldin of Bohemia River bequeathing all his Maryland and Virginia property to Mary Thwaite and to her sons William and Thomas Thwaite who were born in Bouldin's house in Abingdon Parish, Gloucester Co., Va. She was to be their guardian and to control their tuition and the bequeathed estate. Wit: John Gardiner, Geo. Brocas, Roger Fretwell, William Brocas.

Furthermore, Mary was to be guardian and see to it that there was tuition. They were to receive the estates at age seventeen.

In view of this will, the chronology of ages and dates, it is [here] assumed that Mary Thwate, wife of James Thwate (deceased), was the daughter of William Bouldin, and the children, namesakes of him and his father, were his grandchildren. The name Thwate has been spelled many ways, for example; Thweat, Thwayte, and Thwate. For an alternate view that states that Mary Thwate was William Bouldin's mistress and that the 2 boys were, in fact, his own sons.[19]