Person talk:Mary Richards (66)

Wrong Mary [13 April 2015]

Got to this page by accident following an odd search result.

First source listed on this page: Sketches of the Old Inhabitants and Other Citizens of Old Springfield, p. 284, says Nathaniel m. "Mary F. Richard, daughter of Thomas Richards of Hardwick, Mass."

This is a secondary source, of course, so of limited reliability of course. It turns out you can get 2 out of 3 items to match (or alternately 1 out of 3), but you can't get all 3.

• If you want Mary F., and you want Hardwick, it is Mary Fuller Richards, daughter of David and Chloe, b. Hardwick 15 Jan 1805
• If you want the daughter of Thomas, then it is Mary born in Brookfield 16 Feb 1805 (no initial in the Brookfield birth record, but Mary C. in the Framingham record, probably for Chamberlain).

Whatever it is, clearly the above source is at least partially wrong.

Now the marriage records for Nathaniel that I added, show two occurrences of Mary F, and one of Mary B (which is probably a misreading of Mary F). The death record for Nathaniel's wife (left side, 21 Sep 1834) says Mary F.

The History of Hardwick, by Lucius Page, p. 464, says David Richards, s/o Ebenezer Richards, m. Chloe Richards, d/o Maj. Thomas Richards, and they had daughter Mary Fuller Richards, "b. 15 Jan 1805, m. Nathaniel R. Moseley of Springf. 9 Oct. 1823."

Essex Genealogist, in an article "Edward Richards of Lynn", Vol. 13, p. 108, says Thomas Richards by 2nd wife Polly Chamberlain had Mary C. Richards, "b. 16 Feb 1805; d. unm. 1834 Brookfield". Couldn't locate a death record to confirm this.

This is an incredible coincidence, two Mary Richards, b. 1805, d. 1834. Certainly would make me want to dig for more sources. But at this point, I'd say this page does not reflect the general consensus. --Jrich 20:57, 13 April 2015 (UTC)

The death record is filed in Brookfield under the name Rickards. There is no other record in Brookfield, either birth, marriage or death, using the name Rickards, so I think it is pretty likely this is her. I am going to update this page. Mary C is now Person:Mary Richards (69). --Jrich 23:24, 13 April 2015 (UTC)