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Richard Sperry
b.Bef 1624
Facts and Events
Richard Sperry was a farmer in the Puritan colony of New Haven. He helped hide two judges from officers of Charles II, who had ordered the execution of all the judges who had signed the death warrant against his father Charles I.
From Osterweis, Three Centuries of New Haven, p.56, 354: "Whalley and Goffe lay hidden from their enemies in Judges Cave on the top of West Rock. Each day Richard Sperry, a local farmer, left food on a nearby stump."
Also see http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/4049/regicide.html and Joseph A. Montagna's History of Connecticut Through 1690 at http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1978/4/78.04.02.x.html for more information about historical events surrounding New Haven and the regicide of Charles I.
«/i»Richard Sperry is listed in the 1669 census of New Haven
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Vangale/Sperry Family 1540-1994, Roderic A. Davis online (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~dav4is/ODTs/SPERRY.shtml), accessed July 2006.
- ↑ Cutter, William Richard. Genealogical and family history of the State of Connecticut: a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation. (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1911)
2:1062.
"The emigrant ancestor of the Sperry family of Connecticut was a native of England, and is of record in West Haven as early as January 4, 1643. He presumably came as agent for the Earl of Warwick. He was the last friend and benefactor of the regicides, Goffe and Whalley, who for a time made their refuge in what became known as 'The Judges' Cave,' and which adjoined Richard Sperry's home tract. The latter, known from early days as 'the Sperry Farms,' has remained in the family for more than a Quarter of a century."
- ↑ Will of Richard Sperry, l dated 18 Apr 1693.
- ↑ Descendants of John Sperry.
- ↑ New Haven, Connecticut. 1669 Census.
- ↑ 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)
4:151.
Sperry, Richard, New Haven 1643, sw. freem. 1644, had Ebenezer, b. July, bapt. 30 Aug. 1663; and Daniel, 1665; beside Esther, wh. m. 21 June 1683, Daniel Hotchkiss; had liv. on the W. side of the rock, a. one mile from the cave, where Goffe and Walley, the regicides, enjoy. their hiding, and he had supplied them with food; was a propr. 1685, as were JOHN, RICHARD Jun. NATHANIEL, and THOMAS, perhaps his s. Mary, prob. his d. m. 29 Mar. 1670, Benjamin Peck. JOHN m. Eliz. [p.151] wh. next m. BenjaminBunnell; and THOMAS m. 18 Nov. 1684, Eliz. d. of Samuel Fernes
- ↑ Stiles, Henry R. History and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor, Connecticut (1892): including East Windsor, South Windsor, Bloomfield, Windsor Locks and Ellington, 1635-1891. (Hartford, Connecticut: Press of the Case, Lockwood & Brainard Company, 1892)
2:695.
"Richard (Sperry), of New Haven, 1643; sworn freeman, 1644; m. Dennis _____. It is a tradition in the fam. that Rich'd Sperry came to N. Haven as gardener or agent for the Earl of Warwick. It is certain that to him was granted a large tract of land known as 'the farme,' and still called Sperry's Farms, located on the W. side of West Rock, in what is now the town of Woodbridge. His descendants are still found owning and occupying the land in this vicinity.
'At A Courte held the 2th of May 1648 (New Haven Col. Rec., p. 378), Richard Sperry was complained of for not comeing to watch, but Mr. Goodier answered for hime that when he was neare comeing from the farme they wanted an oxe, the neager said he was sicke & left in the woods, so he was faine to goe forth to seeke hime least hee should be lost.'
Richard Sperry's claim to history is that he was the courageous and faithful friend and protector of the Regicides, and their story is too well known to be repeated here. He died between 1693 and 1698. His will, dated 18 Apl., 1693, is to be found in N. H. Prob. Rec., Vol. II, pp. 230-1. His widow, Dennis Sperry, died prob. Feb. or Mch.', 1707."
- ↑ Dickerman, Edward Dwight, and George Sherwood Dickerman. Families of Dickerman ancestry, descendants of Thomas Dickerman, an early settler of Dorchester, Massachusetts. (New Haven [Connecticut]: Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Press, c1897).
- ↑ Tales of the Puritans: The Regicides New Haven
pp 290-293.
- ↑ Sperry, in Jacobus, Donald Lines. Families of Ancient New Haven. (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1974)
7:1665.
"Richard (Sperry), d 1698; …"
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