Anthony's Wife Margaret

The following may also be found on my webpage.  I have found nothing to add.  The only actual record that belongs to Margaret gives only her given name.

There is no firm proof of the lineage of "Lady" Margaret.. Edith A. Rudder in My Father's Family suggests Scottish parents. Margaret is said to have been from the Black Douglas line of Scotland, house of Drumlaurig. Grandfather "might have been" James 2nd, Earl of Queensbury.

A descendant and researcher from Seattle had read she was a granddaughter of James Douglas (who was James Campbell that married a Douglas with no male descendant and assumed the heirship of Douglas with Campbell as a married name. ) What a stretch that is!  And this particular correspondent's line may not be from Anthony at all, but a different family - descendants of an Elisha Hadden.  Descendants of Elisha Haddens lived near the Hadens in Logan Co KY circa 1880, but they were not kin.  However, some have rather artificially made them so.

I have even seen databases where Margaret, wife of Anthony Haden was assumed to be the Margaret who was a daughter of the Rev. William Douglas of Goochland. Since his daughter Margaret or Peggy [the common nickname for Margaret] was born in 1737, as recorded in The Douglas Register where he put the details of his own family, and her marriage to Nicholas Meriwether, 31 Dec 1760, is recorded, this is an obvious error. In The Blakey Family by Kress, she claims Margaret was a sister to Rev. Douglas, but Rev. Douglas included in his records his own family data, listing his parents. If he had a sister living right there in Goochland Co, he would surely have named her.  The Rev. Douglas stated he was born in Scotland - perhaps that gave rise to the Scottish theory in the first place.

The only recorded proof of the wife of Anthony Haden is a deed 29 Nov 1745 when "Margaret, his wife" reliquished her right of Dower. 

From "Regarding the Ancestry of Margaret Douglas", by Jack H. Thacker;The Longhunter, Vol.15, No. 3 (Autumn 1992) pp.112-116

"The purpose of this article is to clarify a longstanding mistake with regard to the forebearers of Margaret Douglas, who married Anthony Haden and immigrated to Virginia early in the 18th century.

Some 10 or 12 years ago, shortly after I became involved in genealogy research, I was advised by an elderly kinswoman that this Margaret Douglas was a daughter of William Douglas, 1st Earl of March and 2nd Duke of Queensberry and his wife, Jane Hay, Countess of March. My cousin, a resident of San Francisco, did not provide proof. However, I was advised by several experienced genealogists that she was a very competent researcher and that her findings were generally sound.

Subsequently, I discovered in the 'Parochial Register of Baptisms, 1660-1725, Peebles, Scotland' a record which reads as follows: "The 9 of Apr 1701. The E of March had a daughter baptized by Mr. James Thompson, vicar of Peebles, called Margaret Douglas. Witness, Lord David Hay, Mr. William Hay of Drummowbriar, Major Archibald Douglas of the horse guard, and the Laird of Marybowe." This was intriguing because it has been family tradition since at least the early 19th century that our Margaret Douglas was "of Drumlanrig", and the Earl of March was described as "William Douglas of Drumlanrig." As a result, I continued to search for a record of this Margaret Douglas's marriage or a record of her death, but my efforts were to no avail.

Recently, however, I have received proof that Margaret Douglas, daughter of the Earl of March, was not my ancestor, Margaret Douglas, wife of Anthony Haden. Irene (Mrs. Ben H.) Cook of Longview, Texas received a communication dated 22 January 1992, from the Scots Ancestral Research Society in Edinburgh which stated the following entry was found in the old parochial registers of Peebles: "Lady Margaret Douglles (sic) daughter of the Eirall (sic) of March was buried the 23 of June 1705." Thus, this Margaret Douglas died at age 4.

We are indebted to Mrs. Cook who carried on extended correspondence and incurred not a little expense to obtain this information.

It now becomes the responsibility of us who are descendants of Margaret Douglas Haden to renew efforts to determine her parentage. I thought it would be approporiate to publish this information in The Longhunter because many of the Haden/Douglas descendants settled in southwestern Kentucky."


Just as there is some scant evidence of a John Haden who lived in King & Queen and then King William County beginning a few years prior to 1700, there is also evidence he had a neighbor named William Douglas. [They are both listed in the 1704 rent rolls in King William which had just been formed out of King & Queen.] This is intriguing to say the least. I have long believed that Anthony and Margaret were not immigrants of their familes but were both likely born right there in Virginia. Of course the records of King & Queen and King William are practically all destroyed so further evidence is simply not available.

The name of Margaret's father as William Douglas has undoubtedly been perpetuated because of the number of male descendants who were named William Douglas Haden.  That seems to be the basis for the assumption.  Since the family did adhere quite strongly to the English naming conventions, this could very well have been her father's name.  And the reason no Scottish record has appeared could be because the family was already in Virginia when Margaret was born.

Apparently Margaret died in Goochland County, possibly prior to May of 1747 - she is not included in any of Anthony's gifts of lands or slaves to his children. She relinquished her dower in the tract Anthony Haden purchased from Watson in 1742 and then sold back to him, Nov. of 1745. When Anthony made a gift of 200 acres to his son John in May of 1747, there was no mention of a wife. 

There is evidence that Anthony married a second time, quite possibly the reason he moved to Hanover County, circa 1750.  This marriage has never appeared in anyone else's Haden research to my knowledge.  His second wife will be the subject of my next post.