Person:Samuel Richardson (7)

Samuel Richardson's Life in New England

"The first notice we find of Samuel is dated July 1, 1636, when he and his brother, Thomas Richardson, with others, were on a committee to lay out lots of land for hay. In 1637, the names of Samuel and Thomas Richardson first appear in a list of inhabitants of Charlestown. The same year the town of Charlestown granted to each of them a 'house plot,' clearly indicating that they had recently become residents in the place. These two brothers were admitted members of the church there, Feb. 18, 1637-8, in consequence of which they were made freemen of the colony, May 2, 1638. Samuel was chosen surveyor of the highways, March 17, 1636-7.

The three brothers had lots assigned them, April 20, 1638, on 'Misticke side and above the Ponds,' that is, in Malden, and their names, among others, appear as persons having the privilege of pasturing cows upon the Common, Dec. 30, 1638.

On the 5th of November, 1640, the three brothers and four others, Edward Convers, Edward Johnson, John Mousall, and Thomas Graves, were chosen by the church of Charlestown as commissioners or agents for the settlement of a church and town, within what were then the limits of Charlestown, but soon after erected into a separate town, and called Woburn. That whole territory was then a wide, uncultivated waste. In the February following, the commissioners built a bridge over the Aberjona River, as the Mystic River is called, north of Mystic Pond. This bridge was known in after times as Convers' Bridge, from Edward Convers, the proprietor of the adjacent mill. He lived in the immediate vicinity, in the first house built in Woburn. His descendants lived there, or in that vicinity, and the entire locality is now in the heart of the town of Winchester.

When the church was constituted in Woburn, Aug. 14, 1642, O.S., Samuel Richardson and his two brothers, with John Mousall, Edward Johnson, Edward Convers, and William Learned, solemnly stood forth, as the nucleus around which the church was to be gathered.

The three brothers lived near to each other, on the same street, which has ever since been known as 'Richardson's Row.' It was by the town laid out as a street in 1647, and the three Richardsons are in the town book represented as then living upon it. It runs almost due north and south, in the north eastern part of the present town of Winchester, but a short distance east of the Boston and Lowell Railroad, and now constitutes a part of Washington Street, in the town last named. The three brothers lived near the present line of Woburn. Cellar holes are still pointed out to designate the sites of their houses. Samuel lived near the present abode of his descendant, Luther Richardson, now [1876] living, but a short distance north from the present village of Winchester.

That Ezekiel, Samuel, and Thomas Richardson were brothers appears from the will of Ezekiel Richardson, in which he 'discharges all demands between his brother Samuel Richardson and himself, and gives to Thomas Richardson, son of his brother Thomas, ten shillings.' It also appears from a quitclaim deed of forty acres of land, from Samuel Richardson, dated March 1657, to 'my sister Susanna Richardson, now Brooks, during her lifetime, and then to my cousin [i.e., nephew], Theophilus Richardson' [Midd. Deeds, ii. 72], and moreover from the boundaries of said forty acres, which are "south by Samuel Richardson, north by Thomas Richardson, our brother,' etc. [Midd. Deeds, ii. 154.] This deed further determines the relative position of the houses and farms of the three brothers, that Samuel lived nearest to the present village of Winchester, Thomas on the north, near Woburn line, and Ezekiel midway between them.

Samuel Richardson was selectman of Woburn in 1644, 1645, 1646, 1649, 1650, and 1651. In 1645, he paid the highest tax of any man in Woburn; Capt. Edward Johnson the next.

He died, intestate, March 23, 1658. The inventory is dated March 29, 1658. His widow Joanna and eldest son, John, were appointed administrators. [Midd. Prob. Rec., i. 142] Lieut. John Wyman, of Woburn, was appointed guardian of his sons, John and Joseph, June 25, 1658"^[2]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} Richardson, of Chelmsford, in Davis, Walter Goodwin, Compiler, and Introduction by Gary Boyd Roberts. Massachusetts and Maine Families in the Ancestry of Walter Goodwin Davis (1885-1966): A Reprinting, in Alphabetical Order by Surname, of the Sixteen Multi-Ancestor Compendia (plus Thomas Haley of Winter Harbor and His Descendants). (Baltimore, Maryland, United States: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1996)
   3:217.

   "Samuel (Richardson), bapt. Dec. 22, 1602; m. Joanna Thake at Much Hormead, co. Hertford, in 1622 [error for 1632]. He and brother Thomas followed their brother Ezekiel to Massachusetts Bay where they had arrived by 1635/6. Both were on a Charlestown committee July 1, 1636. Granted a house-plot in 1637, he was admitted to the church Feb. 18, 1637/8, and took the Freeman's oath May 2, 1638. In 1640 with his brothers and four others he was a member of a committee to lay out the town which became Woburn but which was then within the bounds of Charlestown. They were all original members of the new church 'gathered' in 1642. A selectman of Woburn 1644-1646, 1649-1651, he paid the highest town tax rate in 1645. He died intestate March 23, 1657/59, and administration was granted to his eldest son John. His nephew, Lieut. John Wyman, was appointed guardian of his sons John and Joseph on June 25, 1658."

2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 Vinton, John Adams; Franklin Richardson; and Isaac Richardson. The Richardson Memorial: Comprising a Full History and Genealogy of the Posterity of the Three Brothers, Ezekiel, Samuel and Thomas Richardson, Who Came from England and United with Others in the Foundation of Woburn, Massachusetts in the Year 1641; of John Richardson of Medfield, 1679; of Amos Richardson of Boston, 1640; of Edward and William Richardson of Newbury, 1643; with Notices of Richardsons in Endland and Elsewhere. (Portland, Maine: Brown Thurston & Co., 1876)
   183-85.

   Samuel Richardson, the second of the three brothers of that name who united in the settlement of Woburn, was born in England, not far from the year 1610. He died intestate March 23, 1658. The inventory is dated March 29, 1658.

3. ↑ Samuel Richardson, 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)
   3:537.

   "Samuel (Richardson), Charlestown, prob. br. of Ezekiel, by w. Joanna, had Mary, bapt. 25 Feb. 1638, prob. m. Thomas Mousall; John, bapt. 12 Nov. 1639; was freem. 2 May 1638, rem. early to Woburn, there had Hannah, b. 8 Mar. 1642, d. next mo. Joseph, 27 July 1643; Samuel, 22 Apr. 1646; Stephen, 15 Aug. 1649; Thomas, 31 Dec 1651, d. bef. his f. and Eliz. was one of the founders of the ch. 24 Aug. 1642, and d. 23 Mar. 1658 or 9. His wid. Joanna, wh. d. 1666, in her will of 20 June 166_, the last fig. being lost, names eldest s. John, and other ch. Samuel, Stephen, Eliz. and Mary Mousall."

4.   Burrage, Henry Sweetser; Albert Roscoe Stubbs; and George Thomas Little. Genealogical and family history of the state of Maine. (New York, New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, c1909)
   4:1651.

   Baptized December 22, 1602 (or 1604) at West Mill, Herts, England, and died in Woburn, MA. [This and other baptisms of Herts, England printed in Source:The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, p. 57:297-9, which is probably the source used by the work cited.]

5. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NRWL-BJ9 : accessed 22 Dec 2013), Samuell Richardson, 22 Dec 1604.

   Name: Samuell Richardson
   Gender: Male
   Christening Date: 22 Dec 1604
   Christening Place: WESTMILL,HERTFORD,ENGLAND
   Father's Name: Thomas Richardson
   Indexing Project (Batch) Number: C07308-1
   System Origin: England-ODM
   GS Film number: 991327

6. ↑ [Richardson.] Samuel, s. of ----, [died] Mar. 23, 1658., in Johnson, Edward F. Woburn Records of Births, Deaths, and Marriages . (Woburn, Massachusetts: Andrews, Cutler & Co., 1890-1919)
   2:157.
7. ↑ ^7.0 7.1 See Family talk:Thomas Richardson and Katherine Duxford (1) for additional discussion.