Richard Fox Sr. (1641 - 1708)

Born 1641 in Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut Colony

Descendants

Died 31 Mar 1708 at about age 67 in Glastonbury, Hartford, Connecticut Colony

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Biography

Birth: 22 DEC 1657 Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut^[1]

OR Birth: 1641 Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut

Marriage: ABT 1676 Weathersfield, Hartford, Connecticut^[2]

Sons mentioned in will:

1. Richard
2. Ebenezer
3. John
4. Abraham b 1692 married Dorothy Hollister, daug of Thomas & Dorothy (Hills) Hollister ^[3]
5. Joseph

Richard Fox (sr.) died at the age of approximately 67 years on 31 Mar 1708/9 in Glastonbury, Hartford, Connecticut.^[4][5]

Will

Inventory and Will in Vol. VIII, Page 5 Name: Richard Fox Location: Glastonbury Invt. 111-15-06 pounds. Taken 29 April, 1709, by Jonathan Smith, Joseph Smith and Samuel Smith. Will dated 10 July, 1708:

I, Richard Fox, of Glastonbury, husbandman, do make this my last will and testament: Imprs. I give and bequeath to Beriah, my beloved wife, the use of my dwelling house, cellar, orchard and improveable lands during the time of her natural life, and then to return to my sons hereafter named. It. I give to Beriah my wife all my moveables, both within doors and without, for her use and comfort so long as she doth live, and then to dispose of the above said moveables, if any are left, to any or all of her children as she pleaseth. I give to my son Richard Fox 50 acres of land which the Town gave to me, lying in the Great Swamp, which appears by a deed which I gave to him. Ite. I give to my son Ebenezer Fox one-half of my upland joining to my house, namely, the north side of my lot, bounding north upon land belonging to Capt. Wells, east upon John House and west upon Salmon Brook, to him and his heirs forever. It. I give to my son John Fox 25 acres of my land in the Great Swamp which the Town gave to me. If my son John see cause to live on the land, I give it him and his heirs forever; but if he said John Fox will not live upon the land, then the above said 25 acres of land I give to my son Ebenezer Fox and to my son Abraham Fox equally. It. I give to my son Abraham Fox 25 acres in the Great Swamp of land which the Town gave to me. It. I give to my son Joseph Fox the one-half of my land which my dwelling house now stands upon, with the dwelling house, which parcel of land is the south side of my upland and is bounded on the north on land given my son Ebenezer Fox above mentioned, and south upon Joseph Smith Senr his land, and east upon John House his land, and west upon Salmon Brook, which parcel of land and house I give to my son Joseph Fox and his heirs forever. Richard X Fox.

Witness: Benjamin Talcot, Thomas Morly. Court Record, Page 130--6 June, 1709: Beriah Fox of Glastonbury exhibits an invt. of the estate of her late husband Richard Fox. Page 132--5 September, 1709: Will exhibited and proven. There being no executor appointed in the will, Adms. is granted to Beriah Fox widow, with the will annexed. Page 40 (Vol. VIII) 19 November, 1711: Beriah Fox now exhibits an account of her Adms. Approved, and this Court grant her a Quietus Est. ^[6]

Research Note

The Fox Y-DNA Surname Project on FTDNA has found that "a descendant of Richard Fox Sr. (1641-1708), of Glastonbury, CT, matches ... a descendant of Vaniah Fox (-aft.1790), who married Abigail Cadwell in Glastonbury, CT, in 1748." The exact connection is however unknown. Most interestingly, both of those Y-DNA tests also closely match a descendant of Francis Harry Fox (abt.1849-), who has now been traced back to Walter Fox (abt.1690-abt.1735), born in about 1690 in Minterne Magna, Dorset. As the majority of 17th century emigrants to Massachusets and Connecticuts came from Dorset, Somerset and Devon, it is not particularly surprising to find a connection to a Dorset Fox. Further research is currently ongoing to trace that line further back to possibly identify the common ancestor and the emigrant. It would also be helpful to identify living descendants of that Dorset Fox family still in the area for further Y-DNA testing to confirm the connections.

Sources

1. ↑ Yates Publishing Title: U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 The Generations Network, Inc Source number: 215.000; Source type: Electronic Database; Number of Pages: 1; Submitter Code: MFL. Data: Text: Record for Richard Fox
2. ↑ Torrey’s New England Marriages Prior to 1700. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008.) Originally published as: New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015. Volume 1, Page(s): 573 FOX, Richard (ca 1642-1709, ca 67, Glastonbury) & Beriah [SMITH] (ca 1657-); ca 1676; Wethersfield {TAG 25:127; Glastonbury, CT 189, 192; Fox Fam. News 10:2; Stoddard (1873) 15; Upton (1893) 174; Sv. 2:196; Hale (1952) 329, 604, 624; Hartford Prob. 1:584,
3. ↑ "The Hollister Family of America: Lieut. John Hollister, of Wethersfield, Conn., and His Descendants" compiled by Lafayette Wallace Case 1886 p 41 https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=5eNUAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA41
4. ↑ Connecticut Marriages, 1640-1939," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9BT-498C-J?cc=2448940 : 11 April 2017), >image 81 of 1784; Connecticut State Library, Hartford.
5. ↑ Connecticut Vital Records to 1870 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011.) From original typescripts, Lucius Barnes Barbour Collection, 1928.Volume: Glastonbury, Page(s): 37
6. ↑ A DIGEST OF THE EARLY CONNECTICUT PROBATE RECORDS. 1700 to 1710. Connecticut Probate Records Hartford district, 1700-1729, Vol VII by Charles William Manwaring, Page 62. https://books.google.com/books?id=sW0c0dwWEYoC&pg=PA94&dq=Joseph+Smith+Glast&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Qam8U4DiMY3hoATIvIHgAQ&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Joseph%20Smith%20Glast&f=false

See also:

• Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970, Louisville, Kentucky: National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution Ancestry.com
• Jacobus, Donald Lines. Richard Smith of Wethersfield, The American Genealogist (New Haven, Conn., 1949) Vol. 25, Page 127