Person:Richard Belden (8)

NOTES FOR RICHARD BELDING: It had been generally accepted that Richard was the son of Sir Francis and Margaret (Goodrick) Baildon or Bayldon. If so he was born in Kippax, Yorkshire, England, and baptized 26 May 1591. However, there is on record a statement with his signature affixed thereto, dated 26 Mar 1613, that he was nineteen. This would mean the year of his birth was 1594. Later research, published in 2001, establishes that while these records apply to the son of Sir Francis, that Richard died in 1630 and was not the Richard Belden/Belding who emigrated to New England.

There is no birth record noted in Edith Horsfall's "The Parish Registers of Heptonstall", but there is a marriage given for a Richard Beldon and Margaret Ackrenden, 9 Dec 1622. Apparently Richard's wife died before he emigrated with his sons.

Richard Belden, the first of this name found in land records, came from England sometime between 1636 and 1640 although passenger and ship lists for this period are missing. By the '2 month 7th daie 1641' Richard's name appears in the land records of the Town of Wethersfield, Connecticut: 'one piece whereon a house is builded containing three acres,one rood, more or less, the ends abut against Broad Street N.' This home lot lies near the Ancient Burying Place in what is known as "Old Wethersfield".

Henry R. Stiles describes the emigrant and land as "Richard, the Settler, recorded lands April 1641, of a homestead on Broad Street, N.; Mathew M itchell S.; way into Meadow W.; holot of Leslie Broadfield E." as do other writers in their histories of Connecticut.

There are eight pieces described in Land Records, Book 1, page 19; reference also is made in the Town Records under date of "the 2d month & 7dai e, 1641, to those lands given him by the towne and those he bot of Jonas Woods."

The home lot was deeded from generation to generation until in 1742 when Silas, Jr. and his mother, the widow of Silas Belden, sold the homestead to Josiah Smith. It is recorded in Land Record book 7, page 114, 21 M ay 1742. James Smith, a descendant of Josiah's, in 1885, was living in the house built on the same site as the original homestead; at that time he still had the original deed. Richard Belden was employed to keep 12 score cows and oxen at 24 pounds, and two shilling for each animal in excess of that number, from the middle of April until November 11. He was paid in wheat, barley, peas and Indian corn on the 16 Mar 1646/47.

Richard Belden died in Wethersfield, Connecticut, in August 1655. In the Particular Court Record, for the years 1660-1663 on pages 58 and 82, there appear two entries for Richard Belden, Wethersfield. Inventory 111-19- 00 pounds. Taken 22 August 1655 by John Talcott and John Nott, "and on 2O ctober 1655 the Court ordered that the inventory be recorded, but the bills being unknown, the Devision of Estate is at present defered." The First volume of Wethersfield records contained an inventory of the estate of Richard Belden. It included ten pieces of Pewter, one musket, one Karbine and one rapier among other household items. Richard Belden's name appears during the years in the Court Records for various reasons; in several instances he "was ordered to stand bownd for others that they keepe good behaviour".

One researcher, referring to the inventory of Richard's estate, said "We judge Richard to be a gentleman in the English sense and had been a soldier as the inventory shows he brought to New England a carbine, a musket, and a rapier; the rapier is virtual proof that he was a gentleman, and the other arms that he had served in wars".

Came to Wethersfield in 1635. Appointed town herder in 1646.

Name appears in Wethersfield land records regarding "one piece whereon a house is builded containing three acres, one rood, more or less, the ends abut against Broad Street North." (Located near the Ancient Burying Ground)

Immigrated to Wethersfield, Connecticut with sons John and Samuel sometime between 1636 and 1640. Owned land in Wethersfield in 1641. Richard was married in England, but his wife died before he left, leaving him only the two sons. A man of means, spent a lot of money purchasing land. Inventory of his estate was taken 22 Aug 1655.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Reed, Paul C., and John C. B. Sharp. The English Ancestry of Richard¹ Belden of Wethersfield, Connecticut: With an Account of the Death in England of Richard Baildon, Son of Sir Francis Baildon of Kippax, Yorkshire. American Genealogist (D.L. Jacobus). (Jan, Apr 2001; Oct 2002)
   76:128.

   Probably son of Lawrence^A Baildon of Heptonstall, co. York. "Richard¹ Belden/Beldon, b. before start of the baptism register in 1599, say 1598; immigrated to Wethersfield, Conn.; m. Margaret Ackrenden."

2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 Richard Belden, in Adams, Sherman W. (Sherman Wolcott), and Henry R. (Henry Reed) Stiles. The History of Ancient Wethersfield, Connecticut: Comprising the Present Towns of Wethersfield, Rocky Hill, and Newington; and of Glastonbury Prior to its Incorporation in 1693, from Date of Earliest Settlement Until the Present Time with Extensive Genealogies and Genealogical Notes on Their Early Families. (New York: The Grafton Press, 1904)
   2:76.
3. ↑ Richard Belden, in 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)
   1:158.

   "Richard (Belden), Wethersfield 1640, had Samuel, and prob. John, both b. in Eng."

4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} Belden, Richard, Wethersfield, in Manwaring, Charles W. A Digest of the Early Connecticut Probate Records. (Hartford, Conn.: R. S. Peck & Co., 1904-06)
   1:96.

   "Probate Record. Vol. II, 1650 to 1663. Page 58.
   
   Belden, Richard, Wethersfield. Invt. £111-19-00. Taken 22 August, 1655, by John Talcott, John Nott.
   
   Court Record, Page 82—2 October, 1655: Division of the Estate defered."

5.   Belden, Jessie Perry Van Zile. Concerning some of the ancestors and descendants of Royal Denison Belden and Olive Cadwell Belden. (Philadelphia: unknown, 1898)
   76.

   Inventory taken by John Talcott & John Nott; included 10 pieces of pewter, "one musket, one karbine, one Rapier", among assorted household objects. The rapier has generally been taken as strong evidence that he was a gentleman in the English sense.

6.   Belden, Stanley R. (Stanley Raymond). The family history of Judge Ellsworth B. Belden : and collateral families. (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1971)
   5-7.

   This source confuses Richard, son of Sir Francis, with Richard, son of Lawrence.