Person:Richard Vore (1)

Richard Vore
m. Abt 1590
  1. Richard VoreAbt 1600 - 1683
  • HRichard VoreAbt 1600 - 1683
  • WAnn _____ - 1683
m. Abt 1616
  1. Mary VoreAbt 1630 - Bef 1683
  2. Lydia Vore1633 - 1698
  3. Sarah VoreAbt 1635 - 1675/76
  4. Abigail VoreAbt 1640 - 1727
Facts and Events
Name Richard Vore
Gender Male
Birth? Abt 1600 Somerset, England
Marriage Abt 1616 Englandto Ann _____
Will? 1 Jul 1683 Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut
Death[1] 22 Nov 1683 Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut

Richard may have been born in one of Somersetshire's villages. It was probably his daughter Lydia whose 1633 birth was recorded in Crewkerne's parish register. [3] Soon afterwards he, his wife and two small daughters emigrated to New England, settling for a short time in Dorchester.

In the fall of 1635, sixty members of Reverend John Warham's Dorchester Church, including Richard's family, removed to Windsor "driving their cattle before them through the wildnerness." [4] Richard and Anne's third daughter was born around this time. They had one more daughter born about five years after settling in Windsor. Richard's first home in Windsor was destroyed by a flood in the Spring of 1639. That year the ice in the Connecticut River began breaking up on March 5th. The next week brought storms and heavy rains which lasted through the 18th and by the night of the 22nd the river was "as high then as ever known by the Indians and many were drowned out and great numbers of cattle were drowned." The town granted Richard a two acre homelott on 25 December 1640 where he built his next house on higher ground. [5] The town also granted him an additional 42 acres plus 26 acres in the woods. Not long after his oldest daughter's 1646 marriage, Richard gave her new husband the 42 acre parcel of land.

Richard is rarely mentioned in the records but he must have been a good man for Reverend Warham asked if he could have "liberty to build a little house upon [Richard's] land for a dwelling house for his kinswoman Mary Jones". Mary was to live there during her lifetime and then the house would go to Richard at her death, which occurred in 1666. Richard is mentioned briefly in 1660 when he was freed from "traineing, watching and warding." [6] All males between 16 and 60 were required to train in the local militia, so Richard must have been around 60 at this time. [7]

Richard lost two of his daughters in 1676 -- the year the war ended with the Indians. Sarah died in Springfield in January 1676, following the birth of her ninth child and his oldest daughter Mary died in Northampton, possibly also from complications of childbirth. He predeceased his other two daughters, making his will on 1 July 1683, just 52 days before his death. He named his wife Ann executrix but she died before the will could be probated. After almost 50 years in New England, his total estate was worth just 81 pounds and consisted of a house and homestead worth 30 pounds, 10 acres of meadow land worth 25 pounds; 3 acres in the neck worth 10 pounds; one cow worth 4 pounds, a bedstead, bedding and linen worth 4 pounds and other miscellaneous items. His will was proven the 10 December 1683.


Land Transactions

Windsor Deed Books:

  • 1A:23 - The town grants Richard a 2 acre homelot + 1 acre of meadow land - 1640
  • 1A:23- The town grants Richard an additional 42 acres + 3 acres in the Little Neck - 1640
  • 1A:23 - The town grants Ricahrd 26 acres of woodland + 30 acres between the pine plains - 1640
  • 1A:103 - Richard gives his son-in-law Alexander Alvord the 42 acre parcel in the woods - 1646
  • 1A:108 - Richard sells Robert Howard 2 acres - 1646
  • 1A:165 - Richard sells Job Drake land adjoining his own - 1667
  • 2:1 - Richard sells Tahan Grant a dwelling house- 1681
  • 2:17 - Richard sells Job Drake 1 acre of land - 1682

Will

The last Will and Testament made by me Richard Vore of Windsor, being at present perfect in memory not knowing how soon God may take me out of this world doe in order to that advice which God hath given me in his Word, viz: Set they house in order, doe hereby declare my mind and will respecting that small portion of outward estate which the Lord hath blest me with as followeth: I doe make my well beloved wife Ann Vore to be my sole Executrix to my estate, & my will is that during her natural life she shall possess & injoy my houseing & lands lying & cituate in the Township of Windsor, as also my goods, household goods & other estate, more particularly my house & homelott on the north side of the rivulett, with orchard, fences, yards, or what else belongs thereto, as also my land lying in a place called the Neck, counted 3 acres.

Secondly: My will is that after the death of my wife (if she shall survive me) my daughter Abigail, now wife of Timothy Buckland, if she be living, shall enjoy my house & homelott, yt provided my Will is that neither my daughter nor her husband shall have any power to alienate or dispose of the same or any part thereof, but shall keep & preserve it intire; yet they may enjoy the benefit & profit that may be raysed thereof so long as my daughter shall live, & after her decease it shall belong to her children, if any living; if not, the said homested shall belong to my other daughters or their children.

Thirdly: I give to my daughter Cooke, the wife of Nathaniel Cooke, 5 Shillings in addition to what I have already given her with her husband, also the land lying in the Neck, after the death of my wife.

Fourthly: I doe give to Thomas Alvard, son to my daughter Mary Alvard deceased, 5 Shillings,

Fifthly; I give to the eldest child of my daughter Sarah Persons, deceased, who was wife to Benjamin Persons of Springfield, 5 Shillings.

Sixthly: My will is that my household goods & chattells of all sorts not disposed of which I have by Will left to my wife for her use, she hath hereby full power to dispose of them, as she shall see cause, amongst my children. I request Capt. Benjamin Newbery, John Moore & John Loomis senior to be overseers and that they be helpful to my wife in case of my death. Richard Vore.

Text References

  1. Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut, United States. Records of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1638-1925.

    Richard Voar dyed August 22nd 1683 (Bk I p. Fifty-Two)

  2.   Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England: Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co, 1860-1862)
    4:376.

    "RICHARD, Windsor, bef. 1640, had been at Dorchester 1635, where he came, perhaps with Warham, in 1630, brot. from Eng. a fam. tho. neighter their number, nor the ship, nor yr. in wh. they came, is kn. but of four ds. m. at W. two and prob. three at W. must have been b. bef. he arr. Mary m. 29 Oct. 1649, Alexander Alford; Lydia m. 29 June 1649, Nathaniel Cook; Sarah m. 1653, Benjamin Parsons; and Abigail, wh. was prob. b. at W. m. 27 Mar. 1662, Timothy Buckland. He d. 22 Nov. 1683, hav. been in 1660, excus. from watch and ward, was in the freemen's list 1669; and his wid. d. 15 days aft. him."

  3. See American Genealogist 26:66.
  4. See the Phelps Family of America.
  5. One Bassett Family in America.
  6. Colonial Records of Connecticut.
  7. DeForest's Moore and Allied Families.


Founders of Windsor, CT
Windsor was the first permanent English settlement in Connecticut. Local indians granted Plymouth settlers land at the confluence of the Farmington River and the west side of the Connecticut River, and Plymouth settlers (including Jonathan Brewster, son of William) built a trading post in 1633. But the bulk of the settlement came in 1635, when 60 or more people led by Reverend Warham arrived, having trekked overland from Dorchester, Massachusetts. Most had arrived in the New World five years earlier on the ship "Mary and John" from Plymouth, England. The settlement was first called Dorchester, and was renamed Windsor in 1637.

See: Stiles History of Ancient Windsor - Thistlewaite's Dorset Pilgrims - Wikipedia entry

Loomis homestead, oldest in CT.
Settlers at Windsor by the end of 1640, per the Descendants of the Founders of Ancient Windsor: Abbot - Alford - S. Allen - M. Allyn - Barber - Bartlett - M. (Barrett) (Huntington) Stoughton - Bascomb - Bassett - Benett - Birge - Bissell - Branker - Brewster - Buckland - Buell - Carter - Chappel - D. Clarke - J. Clarke - Cooke - Cooper - Denslow - Dewey - Dibble - Dumbleton - Drake - Dyer - Eels - Eggleston - Filley - Ford - Foulkes - Fyler - Gaylord - Francis Gibbs - William Gilbert - Jere. Gillett - Jon. Gillett - N. Gillett - Grant - Gridley - E. Griswold - M. Griswold - Gunn - Hannum - Hawkes - Hawkins - Hayden - Haynes - Hill - Hillier - Holcombe - Holmes - Holt - Hosford - Hoskins - Hoyte - Hubbard - Huit - Hulbert - Hull - Hurd - Hydes - Loomis - Ludlow - Lush - Marshfield - A. Marshall - T. Marshall - Mason - M. (Merwin) (Tinker) Collins - M. Merwin - Mills - Moore - Newberry - Newell - Oldage - Orton - Osborn - Palmer - Parsons - Parkman - Pattison - Phelps - Phelps - Phillips - Pinney - Pomeroy - Pond - Porter - Preston - Rainend - Randall - Rawlins - Reeves - J. Rockwell - W. Rockwell - B. Rossiter - St. Nicholas - Saltonstall - Samos - M. Sension (St. John) – R. Sension - Sexton - Staires - Starke - F. StilesH. Stiles - J. StilesT. Stiles - Stoughton - Stuckey - Talcott - E. Taylor - J. Taylor - Terry - Thornton - Thrall - Tilley - Tilton - Try - F. (Clark) (Dewey) (Phelps) - Vore - Warham - Weller - Whitehead - A. Williams - J. Williams - R. Williams - Wilton - Winchell - Witchfield - Wolcott - Young
Current Location: Hartford County, Connecticut   Parent Towns: Dorchester, Massachusetts   Daughter Towns: Windsor Locks; South Windsor; East Windsor; Ellington; Bloomfield