*Mary Grey - Family 2

Burton Barb Mare
     Dicky Pierson Mare (f Dicky Pierson)
          Old Thornton (f Brimmer)
               Chesnut Thornton (f Makeless)
                    Lusty Thornton (ch f Crofts' Bay Barb)
                         Ringbone (ch f 1732 Partner [Crofts's]) ..... 2-a
                              Starling [Ancaster] (gr c 1738 Starling [Bolton])
                         Brown Woodcock (br f 1717 Woodcock [Darcy's])
                              Miss Doe [Lambton's] (gr f 1728 Greyhound)
                              Crofts' Chestnut Mare (ch f Greyhound)
                                   Mary Grey* (gr f 1742 Starling [Bolton])
                                        Dabster Mare [Wormeley's] (f c1755 Dabster*)
                                        |    Jolly Roger Mare (f Jolly Roger*)
                                        |         Americus [Willis's] (ch c 1768 Fearnought*)
                                        Poll Flaxen [Wormeley's] (gr f c1765 Jolly Roger*)
                                        |    Brimmer [Goode's] (b c 1777 Eclipse [Harris's])
                                        |    Nell Gwynn (f Janus*)
                                        |         Nettle (f Granby*)
                                        |              Bellona (f Eclipse [Harris's])
                                        |                   Eclipse [Lewis's] (b c 1791 Diomed*)
                                        |    Camden (ch c 1772 Janus*)
                                        |    Sister to Camden (f Janus*)
                                        |         Asahel (b c 1778 Eclipse [Harris's])
                                        |         Sister to Asahel (f Eclipse [Harris's])
                                        |              ? Mousetrap Mare (f Mousetrap*)
                                        |                        Stirling Mare (f Stirling* [Hoomes's])
                                        |                             Citizen Mare [Cotten's] (f Citizen*)
                                        |                                  Stockholder (b c 1819 Sir Archy)
                                        ? Jolly Roger Mare (f Jolly Roger*)
                                        |         Valiant Mare (f Valiant*)
                                        |              Silvereye Mare [Eppes'] (f Silvereye*)
                                        |                   Brimmer Mare (f Brimmer [Goode's])
                                        |                        Mary Grey [Eppes's] (gr f Tippoo Saib [Page's])
                                        |                             Wonder [Wilkes's] (ch c 1800 Diomed*)
                                        |                             Pacolet [Jackson's] (gr c 1808 Citizen*)
                                        ? Jolly Roger Mare (f Jolly Roger*)
                                        |         Apollo Mare (f Apollo [Spotswood's])
                                        |              Mercury Mare (f Mercury)
                                        |                   Wildair Mare (f Wildair [Syme's])
                                        |                        Dare Devil Mare (f Dare Devil*)
                                        |                             Lady Bedford (ch f 1810 Bedford*)
                                        |                                  Giles Scroggins (b c 1824 Sir Archy)
                                        ? Jolly Roger Mare (f Jolly Roger*)
                                        |         Silvereye Mare (f Silvereye*)
                                        |              Fearnought Mare (f Fearnought*)
                                        |                   Mark Anthony Mare (f Mark Anthony [Lee's])
                                        |                        Polly Medley (f Grey Medley [Barry's])
                                        |                             Doublehead (ch c Diomed*)
                                        ? Jolly Roger Mare (f Jolly Roger*)
                                                  Partner Mare (f Partner [Lightfoot's])
                                                       Janus Mare (f Janus*)
                                                            Garrick [Eaton's] (ch c Celer [Meade's])
                                                            Little Janus [Eaton's] (ch c 1794 Celer [Meade's])

Mary Grey*

It is easier to discover who Mary Grey* was not, rather than who she was. The extant evidence for her provides the information that she was sired by the Bolton Starling from Mr Crofts' "Chesnut Mare" who is otherwise unidentified, although she possibly belongs to either Family 2 or Family 4.

Of all the pedigrees advanced for her, all remain unproven, although the one that seems most likely is the one supplied by the stallion advertisements in Virginia during the period 1783 to 1786, including this one for Goode's Brimmer:

"Mary Grey, remarkable for her speed, was bred by John Crofts, Esq , of Yorkshire, and got by Squire Leeds' Old Starling out of Mr Crofts' Chesnut Mare; which Chesnut mare was got by Greyhound; out of the grandam [Lusty Thornton] of Lambton's grey mare Miss Doe.
Mary Grey was full sister to Young Starling: he won seven 50 pound Plates, six King's Plates, a 200 gns Match against Babram, and was sold to the Duke of Ancaster for a stud horse.
Chesterfield Co., Va. Robert Goode".
[E1:60]

This pedigree for Ancaster Starling is given in the Racing Calendars:

"To cover this season, at Mr Thomas Thompson's, at Beverley, Yorkshire, the noted grey horse, called Ancaster or Young Starling (formerly Mr Martindale's).
Young Starling was bred by John Crofts, Esq , of Yorkshire, and got by Edward Leeds, Esqr 's Old Starling: his dam [Ringbone] by Old Partner: out of the grand dam [Lusty Thornton] of Lambton's grey mare Miss Doe which was got by Mr Crofts' Bay Barb: her dam [Chesnut Thornton] by Makeless: her grand dam [Old Thornton] by Brimmer: her great grand dam [Dicky Pierson Mare] by a Son-of-Old Dodsworth: out of a Burton Barb Mare".
[Heber1755:240; Pond:201; Cheny1744:xii; GSB1:173]

The conflict between the two pedigrees is that the Greyhound cross which appears in Mary Grey's pedigree is missing from Ancaster Starling's pedigree.

Numerous efforts were made to resolve the conflicts, confusion and mythology surrounding this pedigree, including one by Skinner in 1832, which proposed that Mary Grey* was a daughter of Roundhead from Crofts' Ringbone. This was adopted by Bruce for the American Stud Book in 1873, well over one hundred and thirty years after her birth.

Jolly Roger Mares

Mary Grey* has only two authenticated offspring, Wormeley's Dabster Mare and Wormeley's Poll Flaxen. Both these fillies were produced while she was in Ralph Wormeley IV's Rosegill stud on the Rappahannock River. Mary Grey* was later sold to an unidentified purchaser in the Roanoke Valley. While Jolly Roger* was sent to the Roanoke in 1766, only geography supports the tradition that Mary Grey* produced more foals by him. Nathaniel Macon said she had seven fillies by him, which was increased to eleven by Willis Alston in an effort to "account for the very great numbr of pedigrees tracing to mares by Jolly Roger* out of Mary Grey*" [E1:63]. The American Stud Book later settled on seven fillies.

Pacolet [Jackson's]

"Andrew Jackson's Pacolet (gr c 1808, not 1806 as ASB has it, out of Eppes' Mary Grey by Tippoo Saib, son of Lindsey's Arabian, probably of the family of *Mary Grey)" [E2:428].

Stockholder

The long, and on closer look, unlikely, pedigree presented for Stockholder in the American Stud Book reads (b c 1819) by Sir Archy - Citizen* - Hoomes' Stirling* - Mousetrap* - Harris' Eclipse - Janus* - Fearnought* - Apollo - Partner* - Silvereye* - Jolly Roger* - Mary Grey*. Based on the authentic, but unknown to American Stud Book compilers, the pedigree of Asahel (b c 1778) by Harris' Eclipse - Janus* - Poll Flaxen by Jolly Roger* - Mary Grey*, the following pedigree for Stockholder is proposed: Stockholder by Sir Archy - Cotten's Mare by Citizen* - Hoomes' Stirling* - Mousetrap* - sister to Asahel by Harris' Eclipse - Janus* - Poll Flaxen by Jolly Roger* - Mary Grey*.