Thomas RICHARDSON (c. 1570  – 1634) was Alex’s 11th Great Grandfather, one of 4,096 in this generation of the Shaw line through his son Samuel. He was also Alex’s 12th Great Grandfather through his daughter Elizabeth.

Thomas Richardson Coat of Arms

Thomas Richardson of Standon, Hertford, England was born about 1570.  He married Katherine DUXFORD of Westmill, also in Herfordshire on 24 Aug 1590.  Unfortunately, the earliest surviving parish register of Standon does not begin until 1671, so that source of information regarding Thomas Richardson’s parentage is cut off.   Thomas was buried 8 Jan 1633/34 at Westmill, Herfordshire, England.

Katherine Duxford born about 1570.  Her parents were Thomas DUXFORD and Catherine [__?__] of London and Westmills.  Katherine was buried 10 Mar 1631/32 at Westmill.

Children of Thomas and Katherine:

Thomas’ will indicates that he was a farmer in moderate circumstances. The Puritan influence was very strong in several parishes not far from Westmill, where the Richardson lived after their marriage, and this as well as the prevailing hard times may have motivated the emigration of three sons of the family to New England, for of the many American families of whom it is said that “three brothers came over from England” (in the great majority of cases said falsely) the Richardsons area an exception in that the statement is true.

The will of Thoams Richardson of Westmill in the County of Herts, husbandman, was made 4 Mar 1630/31, and proved 31 Jul 1634, at Hitchin.

He left his wife Katherine for her life, “my littell close of pasture called little hunnymeade, cont[aining] half an acre” and after her death to his son Samuel and his heirs. To his son John 40s. to be paid within three years after his and his wife’s deaths. To his son James, 12d. To his son Thomas, 3 pounds to be paid within five years of his and his wife’s deaths. To his wife Katherine, all his movable goods for her life and thereafter to his son Samuel who was named executor. Witnesses: Richard Baker, Philip Baker.

Three of Thomas Richardson’s sons and his grandson immigrated to America.  Richardsons Row Woburn, Mass is named for them.

1647 – 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.  Since Woburn was first settled near Horn Pond, this  Google Map Street View of Richardson Street in Woburn is probably the same place.

Children

1. Elizabeth RICHARDSON (See Francis WYMAN(t) Sr.‘s page)

4. Samuel RICHARDSON (See his page)

5. Ezekiel Richardson

Ezekiel’s wife Susanna Bradford was born 1610 in England. After Ezekiel died, she married 27 Mar 1651 in Woburn, Middlesex, Mass to Henry Brooks (b. 1592 in Norwich, Norfolk, England – d.12 Apr 1683 in Woburn, Middlesex, Mass.) Susannah died 15 Sep 1681 in Woburn, Middlesex, Mass.

There is no baptismal record of this son in the Westmill register and he may have been baptized in his father’s parish of Standon.  There is no doubt that Thomas Richardson was his father, however, in spite of the fact that he was not mentioned in Thomas’s will.

In Massachusetts Bay, first at Charlestown and later at Woburn, Ezekiel, Samuel and Thomas Richardson, and Francis and John Wyman, sons of the senior Thomas Richardson’s daughter Elizabeth, were living as close neighbors in the 1630-1640 decade, and Ezekiel in his will specifically calls Samuel and Thomas his brothers.

It is probable that Thomas, the father, gave Ezekiel his share of his estate to help pay for his passage to New England in 1630. ” Richardson was undoubtedly a passenger on one of the ships in the Winthrop fleet which left England in the spring of 1630.  Eleven of the vessels had arrived by July 6 of that year, and most of the voyagers settled with their govenor at Charlestown at the head of Boston harbor, where Exekiel Richardson and Susanna his wife became members of the First Church on August 27, 1630.

It was not long before Winthrop, and the church with him, moved to the neighboring peninsula which became Boston.  The Richardsons remained in Charlestown, however, and were dismissed with others to form a new Charlestown church on October 14, 1632.  On April 1, 1633, Ezekiel was appointed constable of “Charlton” by the General Court “for the year next ensuing & till a new be chosen,” and in 1635 he was himself a deputy from Charlestown to the Court, which met in New Town (Cambridge).  He was elected a member of the town’s first board of selectmen on February 10, 1634/5, and served also in 1637, 1638 and 1639.  On September 19, 1637, he was on a “Jury of Life and Death” when three persons were found guilty of adultry, one of murder, and one acquitted on the charge of murder.”

“Ezechiel Richardson and his wife” admitted to Boston church as members #80 and #81, which would be in the winter of 1630/31 [ BChR 13]; on 14 Oct 1632 “Ezechiell Richardson and Susan his wife” were dismissed to participate in the organization of Charlestown church [BChR 16]; on 2 Nov 1632

OFFICES: Deputy for Charlestown to General Court, 2 Sep 1635 [MBCR 1:156]. Petit jury, 19 Sep 1637 [MBCR 1:203]. Charlestown member of colony committee on valuation of livestock, 13 May 1640 [MBCR 1:295]. Commissioner for small causes at Woburn, 10 May 1643 [MBCR 2:35]. Committee to lay out highway between Cambridge and Woburn, 10 May 1643 [MBCR 2:36].
Charlestown selectman, 10 Feb  1634/35, 12 Feb 1637/38 [ ChTR 13, 34]. Constable, 3 April 1633 [MBCR 1:104]. Committee to lay out lots, 9 Jan 1633/34, 23 Nov 1635 [ChTR 10, 17]. Committee to lay out highways, 10 Feb 1634/35, 12 Feb 1637/38, 20 Dec 1638 [ChTR 12, 39, 40]. Committee to regulate wages, 28 Nov 1636 [ChTR 23]. Committee on stinting the common, 17 Feb 1636/37 [ChTR 25].

1632 – Phebe Richardson, Ezekiel and Susannah’s first born child is born. She is the tenth child born in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Actually, the June, 1632 date is the date of her baptism. Some genealogies list her place of birth as “possibly England”. I think it more likely she was born on American soil sometime after the Winthrop Fleet arrived and then baptized in 1632.

1640 – The three Richardson brothers, with others, are commissioned by Governor John Winthrop to establish a colony at Woburn, Massachusetts.

1640 – The Richardson brothers build homes close together so that the road passing by becomes known as Richardson’s Row. The Richardson brothers are large landholders in the Woburn area. The area of Richardson’s Row is in what is now Winchester, Massachusetts.

1647 – Ezekiel Richardson dies in Woburn. He must have been a relatively young man, probably under 45, per estimate of Vinton. His oldest child, Phebe, had been baptized only 15 years earlier. His widow, left with seven children, remarried Henry Brooks four years later, in 1651.

In his will, dated 20 July 1647 and proved 1 June 1648,

“Ezekiell Richardson of Woebourne” appointed “my wife Susanna and my eldest son Theophilus joint executors”; and bequeathed to “Josias my son £30” at twenty-one years of age; to “James my son £30” at twenty-one years of age; to “Phebe my daughter £30” at “twenty years of age or within six months after the day of her marriage”; if any of these three should die before they come of age, the legacies be shared among the survivors; in case “my son Theophilus die before he shall accomplish one and twenty years of age, then his portion shall be equally divided to my other children”; discharged demands against “my brother Samuell Richardson”; to “my brother Thomas Richardson, his son Thomas, 10s.”; overseers Edward Converse and John Mousall of Woburn, if either of these die, then the survivor with the consent of Thomas Carter, pastor of the church in Woburn, to choose a replacement overseer; 30s. to each overseer; residue to my executors, “provided that my wife may peacably enjoy her habitation in the house so long as she shall live” [ SPR Case #72].

The inventory of the estate of Ezekiell Richardson was taken 18 Nov  1647 and totalled £190 6s. 6d., with no real estate included [SPR Case #72].
On 6 Mar  1649/50 Edward Converse confirmed to the heirs of Ezekiel Richardson an earlier sale of twelve acres of meadow & upland in Woburn [ MLR 2:71]. On 27 Mar 1651 Samuel Richeson of Woburn “having formerly sold unto Ezekill Richeson my brother (who is since deceased) forty acres of arable & meadow land” in Woburn, confirms the same to “my sister Susanna Brookes (who was the wife of my deceased brother Ezekill Richeson” [MLR 2:72]. On 23 Mar 1654/55 “Susanna Richeson now Brookes formerly the wife of Ezek: Richeson” confirmed a sale made eight years earlier by “Ezekill Richardson & Sussanna Richardson my wife” to Thomas Moulton and John Greenland of thirty-five acres of land in Woburn [MLR 2:36]. On 13 Dec 1659 “Henry Brookes & Susanna Brookes of Woburn,” in accordance with an award of the court, deeded to Theophilus Richardson the right and title they had in “the moiety or half part of the housing & land of Ezekiell Richardson of Woburn aforesaid, by executorship or otherwise” [MLR 2:154].

7. Thomas Richardson

Thomas’ wife Mary Baldwin was born 1612 in England. After Thomas died, she married 26 Oct 1655 in Wolburn, Mass to Michael Bacon (b. 16 Feb 1639 in Winston, Suffolk, England -d. 13 Aug 1707 in Bedford, Middlesex, Mass.) Mary died 19 May 1670 in Woburn, Mass

An Inventory of the Goods of Thomas Richardson, late of Woburn.
4 Working Oxen 24. 0. 0
5 Cows 22. 10. 0
3 Steers 8. 0. 0
2 Heffers 4. 10. 0
3 Calves 4. 0. 0
1 Mare 4. 0. 0
1 Ewe 1. 0. 0
8 Swine 5. 0. 0
Corne in the Barne 30. 0. 0
10 pieces of pewter 1. 0. 0
3 pieces of Brass 1. 5. 0
3 Iron pots 1. 0. 0
5 pairs of Sheets 1. 13. 4
1 table Cloth,
2 pillow beers 0. 5. 0
Bedding and the Furniture belonging to it 3. 0. 0
His wearing apparel 4. 5. 0
Two muskets and other arms 2. 4. 0
Tubs and other wooden vesells 0. 16. 0
1 Table, 1 Cupboard, 2 chares and other lumber 0. 16. 0
Iron tools 0. 17. 0 Carte, plows, chaines, and other instruments of husbandry 7. 13. 0
For his servant’s time, that he hath yet to serve 6. 0. 0 ——– £133. 14. 4

Further, the said Thomas Richardson died possed of one Dwelling House, Barn, and One hundred acres of Land, situate in the Town of Woburn, of which 25 acres are plowed land, and ten of meadow, Real Estate valued at 80 pounds. He is indebted the sum of ten pounds, ten shillings. The two steers formerly forgotten, 4 pounds ten shillings. Following the inventory, and it would seem a part of it is this statement: ‘He hath left a wife, three sons, and four daughters. The eldest son is 8 years old; the second, 6 years; and the third, three-quarters [of a year]. The eldest daughter is 13 years old; the second, 11 years; the third, 4 years; the fourth, 2 years.’

Samuel and Thomas were on a committee to lay out lots (of land) for hayfields 1 July 1636.

Children of Thomas and Mary

i. Nathaniel Richardson was wounded in the “Great Swamp Fight,” Dec. 19, 1675.

Sources:

From Sarah Hildreth, 1958 by Walter Goodwin Davis

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http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid=13421649

http://www.genealogyofnewengland.com/f_22.htm#61

http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=AHN&db=redfish&id=I30972

http://www.ida.net/users/lamar/WEB/challiskd/pafg38.htm

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/k/a/h/John-B-Kaherl/GENE19-0001.html