Character Transcends the Generations
Character defines who we are. It is the real you.
In Colonial America, “The roles men expected of women followed a strict guideline. Those guidelines kept women in certain boundaries. Women had no defined legal identity as an individual. Women grew to resent being repressed socially and legally with the constant law changes restricting the liberties permitted to their gender. Their only outlet was gossip, allowing them to have a degree of control over their own lives and the lives of others.” Gender Roles in America by Holly Hartman https://wou.edu
Henrietta Maria Neale Bennett Lloyd
Henrietta Maria Neale Bennett Lloyd defied this stereotype. She’s known as being gracious, charming, and independent (though perhaps a bit stubborn). “Her beauty, strength of will and character are legendary.” As a testament to her high regard, “so many descendants were named for her that she has been called the great ancestress of the Eastern Shore.” https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Neale-64
According to http://sites.rootsmagic.com/Worland/individual.php?p=7817, because of the “large number of notable descendants, she could justly be crowned the Queen of the Dames of the Colonial period.” Truly, her “name and memory has been handed down most lovingly from generation to generation of her descendants.”
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Henrietta Maria was born in Spain to Captain James Neale and Anna Maria Gill on April 28, 1647. She was named for Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of King Charles I. As namesake, Henrietta Maria received the Queen’s mourning ring. The ring had been given to her mother by “Queen Henrietta Maria after Charles was beheaded by order of Oliver Cromwell. (The ring is now at the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore.)” https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Neale-64
Henrietta Maria’s family moved to Maryland when her father received a land grant for “services to the crown.” Henrietta Maria married Richard Bennett in 1663. They had a son, Richard Bennett III. (I wrote about Richard in my week 11 blog post titled Fortune on March 20, 2021. According to his obituary in the Maryland Gazette in 1749, Richard was the “richest man on the continent.”) After her husband, Richard Bennett, died from drowning, Henrietta Maria married Philemon Lloyd. (My connection to Henrietta Maria is through Philemon who was the son of Edward Lloyd and Alice Crouch my 9th great grandparents and the sister of my 8th great grandmother, Alice Lloyd who married John Watkins II.)
Even today, Henrietta Maria is known as Madame Lloyd, which was a Colonial title that designates the upmost respect for a woman of that time period. (If she had been living in England, she would have been known as Lady Lloyd.) Henrietta Maria was acknowledged as steadfastly adhering to her Catholic beliefs while her husband and children other than Richard were Protestants. Not only was she a religious leader, she also managed Wye House and was considered a social leader. She was greatly admired and it was recognized that “the name of this beautiful and gracious lady stands for whatsoever is gentle in birth and breeding, for whatsoever is excellent in character and conduct, for whatsoever is of good report among the honorable men and women of old Maryland.” http://genealogytrails.com/mary/annearundel/colonialfamilies_Lloyd.html
Upon Henrietta Maria’s death, her son, Richard Bennett III, dedicated her tomb with this inscription:
What will be your legacy? How will you be remembered by future generations? How does your character define you? What lasting impact does your life have?