Mary Shakespeare Mary Shakespeare Mary Shakespeare, née Arden, (c. 1537–1608) was the mother of William Shakespeare. She was the daughter of Wilmcote gentleman farmer Robert Arden, a cadet of the Arden family prominent in Warwickshire since before the Norman Conquest. She was the youngest of eight daughters, and when her father died in 1556 she inherited land at Snitterfield and Wilmcote from her father as a dowry. The house was left to her stepmother Agnes Hill. Richard Shakespeare, the father of John Shakespeare, was a tenant farmer on land owned by her father in Snitterfield. As the daughter of Richard's landlord, she
Toni Arden early television talent series "Doorway to Fame", Arden signed her first solo recording contract with a major record label, Columbia Records, in 1949 (Arden was arguably the only performer out of 20,000 over "Doorway to Fame's" two-year run on air to become relatively famous); at Columbia, she had several hits including "I Can Dream, Can't I?" (which reached #7 on the Billboard charts), "Too Young" (which reached #15), "Kiss of Fire" (which reached #14) and "I'm Yours" (which reached #24). CD compilations of these earlier recordings can be found on the Sepia Records label and a two-CD set released by