... William Richardson was a prominent Quaker, and Proud, in his History of Pennsylvania, tells of a visit to him by William Penn, The Lord and Lady Baltimore, who, with their retinue, visited William Richardson in his home at West River, from whence they went across the Bay to attend a Yearly Meeting at Tred Haven, Talbot County. Proud took his facts from the Journal of John Richardson, printed at London in 1700.
The lands of William Richardson, of Anne Arundel County, amounted to over 4000 acres, and his household goods, his silver and seals, engraved with the family crest, which have descended in the family, all attest the elegance in which he lived.
His will, dated December 21, 1691, was proved May 28, 1698 (Annapolis Wills, No. 7, page 388). In this he bequeaths "to sons Daniel and Joseph" equally, six hundred acres called 'Hickory Hills' and 'Franklin's Enlargement.' To wife, Elizabeth, 'Watkin's Hope,' "to son William, at twenty-one years of age, part of 'Watkin's Hope' adjoining plantation of William Cole," which testator gave him and his heirs. To "daughter Sophia, 'Diligent Search,' at sixteen," young son Joseph, grandson William Richardson, Margaret, wife of William Richardson, Jr., all received personalty, as did also "John and Sarah Talbot, and their daughter Elizabeth and the three children of Edward Talbot" (the children of his wife by her marriage to Richard Talbot). The executors were, "wife Elizabeth, and son William;" overseers, "Richard Jones, Richard Harrison, John Talbot, William Coleson."
