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
William Shakespeare Hays evidence to support her husband in the dispute. In 1937, Hays's daughter made one final attempt to support her father as the author of "Dixie". She wrote to "The Etude" that her father had written "Dixie" for the Buckner Guards "when they were called south during the Civil War". The editor, James Coke, asked for evidence, but she could provide none. To this day: there remains, as yet, no known evidence to support Hays' claim that he did indeed write "Dixie". William Shakespeare Hays William Shakespeare Hays (July 19, 1837 – July 23, 1907), was an American poet and lyricist.