Person:John Richardson (3)

Notes on Birth of John Richardson

• Place = Bedford County. Source: widely reported in published genealogies. Not sure where it originated. Some have specifically claimed he was born in Moneta in Bedford County. Needs evidence.

Notes on Death of John Richardson

• Date/Place = bef 1788 in Montgomery County, Virginia
  • Source: Estimation based on 1788 Tax List entry for "Lettice Richardson", assumed to be the widow of John Richardson.

Research Notes and Tasks

• TASK: find, scan, transcribe and add primary records where possible.
• Possible Lead: According to the Proclamation of 1763, men who had served in the French and Indian War were entitled to bounty land. It was a decade later, 1774, when warrants were finally issued. Surveys for these warrants may be found in Fincastle County, Virginia, Survey Book A. In addition, there were a number of warrants for which no surveys have been found. Montgomery County, Virginia, Order Books for 1779 and 1780 give additional service records for men who were then residents of the county.

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5} John Richardson, in Alderman, John Perry. Carroll 1765-1815, the settlements: a history of the first fifty years of Carroll County, Virginia. (Central Va. Newspapers, c1985)
   p 196.

   Old John Richardson is probably the same man who settled in 1769 on the “Great Kennawa” opposite the mouth of “Great Reed Island” above the claim of Josiah Fugate (Kegley, Adventurers, II, p. 104); if so, his land was on New River, opposite the mouth of Big Reed Island Creek in present Pulaski County. He apparently moved to Little Reed (in Carroll) a few years later for he is found in the 1771 and 1772 list of tithables of William Herbert (Kegley, New River Tithables, 1770-1773), and there he remained until his death. John took the oath of allegiance to the revolutionary cause, but was not listed on the rolls of any of the surviving rosters of the Montgomery militia.
   
   In 1782 he was taxed with two tithes, four horses and seventeen cattle which would indicate he was then a man of considerable property. He entered his land claim in arch and April 1783; one tract was 400 acres which he claimed by right of settlement (Montgomery, Entry B-5) and the other was on Bobbitts Creek. The Bobbitts Creek tract was the one eventually granted to him and it contained a mill (Montgomery, Entry A-219; Grayson, D. B. 2-379). He had 250 acres of the Bobbitts Creek tract surveyed and it was granted to him in 1793. He let Stephen Clements have 180 acres of the Bobbitts Creek property (Montgomery, Survey B-244), but reacquired it and also received that grant in 1793 (Grants, 27-614; Grants 27-679).
   
   The grants were likely issued after his death. His entries in 1783 are the last records known to have been made of him during his lifetime, unless the John Richardson taxed in 1787 with Thomas Richardson is him. He probably died in the middle 1780s and the Lettice Richardson taxed in 1788 and 1789 is probably his widow.
   
   There was no administration of his estate and no will. There was a deed made in 1800 by his heirs, conveying the 250 acre tract to John Paxton, but the deed is confusing. The heirs named in the deed are Letitia and John Powell, Thomas and Ann Richardson, William and Jane Richardson, Jonathan Richardson, James and Elizabeth Walter, Henry and Letitia Edwards, Lewis Richardson, Joshua and Mary Richardson, Sarah Richardson, and Mary Richardson. In addition, Milley Richardson and another Mary Richardson signed the deed, although they were not named in the body of the deed. It is known from the text of the deed and other sources, that old John’'s son John had died in 1797 and some of the grantors in the 1800 deed are young John'’s children.
   
   The correct list of heirs is found in the records of the Superior Court of Chancery of Wythe County in a suit filed in 1829 (at page 4343). Following John’'s death, for some reason his son Thomas sold the 180 acre tract to Samuel Chew (Grayson, D. B. 1- 223) in 1798. Thomas did not have title to it, but apparently thought he had inherited it, so years later a suit was filed against the Richardson heirs in order to get a proper title to the land. The suit indicates that old John Richardson had six sons: Thomas, Jonathan, Lewis, Joshua, William and John Jr. There is no mention in the 1829 suit of old John’'s widow, but it would seem that the Letitia who was taxed in 1788 was the widow and that by 1800 she had remarried John Powell and signed the 1800 deed with Powell; probably she was dead by 1829. The 1829 suit also lists the children of John Jr. and William, both of whom were dead by that time.

2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} For Further Review, in Virginia Land Office Grants.

   1793: Richardson, John. grantee. Land grant 21 March 1793.
   Location: Montgomery County.
   Description: 250 acres on Bobbins Creek a branch of Little Reed Island a branch of Big Reed Island a branch of New River, and adjoining Stephen Clements land.
   Source: Land Office Grants No. 27, 1792-1793, p. 614 (Reel 93).
   
   1793: Richardson, John. grantee. Land grant 8 April 1793.
   Location: Montgomery County.
   Description: 180 acres on Little Reed island a branch of Big Reed Island a branch of New River.
   Source: Land Office Grants No. 27, 1792-1793, p. 679 (Reel 93).
   
   1796: Richardson, John. grantee. Land grant 7 July 1796.
   Location: Wythe County.
   Description: 60 acres on the waters of Reed Island.
   Source: Land Office Grants No. 35, 1795-1796, p. 395 (Reel 101).

3.   Kegley, Mary B. New River tithables, 1770-1773. (Wytheville, Virginia: M.B. Kegley, c1972).

   [TASK: Transcribe information for Richardsons.]

4. ↑ Richardson, in New River Notes website - 1782 Montgomery County, Virginia Personal Property Tax List.

   Names - Tithes - Slaves - Horses - Cattle - Comments
   Richardson, John - 2 - [0] - 4 - 17 - [none]
   Richardson, Joshua - 1 - [0] - 2 - 8 - [none]
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   [Note: this is an online database. It would be better to scan and attach original records, if possible.]

5.   Richardsons, in New River Notes website - 1782 Montgomery County, Virginia Land Tax List.

   Name - Acreage - Value - Tax - Comments
   Richardson, William - 300 - 40 - 8/ - [none]
   Richardson, Joshua - 150 - 15 - 3/ - [none]
   Richardson, John - 400 - 20 - 4/ - [none]
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   [Note: this is an online database. It would be better to scan and attach original records, if possible.]

6. ↑ Richardsons, in New River Notes website - William Herbert Company Roster 1771.

   [Source: Diana Dallas & Wythe Co., Historical Review #13, "Captain William Herbert" by Mary B. Kegley]
   List of men in my company - William Herbert 1771.
   ... John Richardson ...
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   [Note: this is an online database. It would be better to scan and attach original records, if possible.]
   [Note: John Richardson is the only Richardson on this list.]