The earliest mention I've found of the attachment to the Herbert family is in 1884 (The Newport Historical Magazine, in an article written by John Austin of the Genealogical Dictionary fame). It's presented only as an oral tradition. The Congdon Chronicle presents the connection to St. David's also as oral tradition - the earliest reference to that I've found. Oral traditions can be wildly unreliable, of course, especially when connecting American commoners to European nobility. I find nothing credible to suggest Philip Herbert (the 4th Earl) had a daughter Mary, despite Cracroft's, which I haven't seen btw. I've read critiques that aren't good. He's the only earl who could have been involved. He had one daughter, Anne, who married the Earl of Carnarvon. No legitimate daughter of this man would go unnoticed, first of all, or marry a commoner of low enough social standing that he was brought to VA as a settler. Unless the daughter was illegitimate, but in any case, there isn't any evidence to support the connection other than heresay. Bertha Clark's article is very unscholarly - not a critical review of the evidence. She basically says all this stuff is fact, and that she was the first one to put it all together! More or less. Much of her blurb is about the Congdons in VA. It's a purely speculative narrative trying to connect all the heresay.
