John Riley Sr. (abt. 1620 - bef. 1674)

Born about 1620 in England [uncertain]

Husband of Grace (Buck) Riley — married 1645 in Wethersfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut

Descendants

Died before 11 Jun 1674 before about age 54 in Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Misty Wood [send private message] and Dorothy Phelps [send private message]

Biography

John Riley was probably of English origin, though his exact origin is unknown.^[Origin]

John Riley was probably born around 1620 or earlier because he would have to be 21 years old or older in order to be able to buy land in Wethersfield.

John was married to Grace by 1646, probably at Wethersfield. They had:

1. John RILEY (1646–1684)
2. Joseph RILEY (1649–1700)
3. Mary RILEY (1652–1692)
4. Jonathan RILEY (1652–1712)
5. Sarah RILEY Sayer / Sayres (or Sears) (1658–1752)
6. Jacob RILEY (1660–1706)
7. Grace RILEY Goodrich (1661–1712)
8. Isaac RILEY (1671–1737)

John often sat as member of the Jury at the court at Hartford. He was a juror in 1649^[1][2] 1650,^[3][4] 1651,^[5][6] 1652,^[7][8] 1653,^[9][10] 1654,^[11] 1656,^[12][13] 1659,^[14][15] 1660,^[16] 1661,^[17][18] 1662,^[19] and also in 1671.

Along with John Hubberd, John Riley was sworn as a constable for Wethersfield in 1655.^[20] They were appointed by the court to secure and give an account fo the estate of Richard Webster.^[21] William Wyatt and Thomas Carter were imprisoned for their "Insufferable abusive Carriage ag[ains]t John Ryly" while John was executing his duty as constable.^[22]

John Riley Senr. was listed as a freeman at Wethersfield in October 1669.^[23]

In 1670, John Rily had 9 in his household and had 50 bushells of wheat and corn.^[24]

His will was drawn up 13 May 1674 at Wethersfield. He named and made bequeathments to his eight children (notably he gave his "three older sons my Carpenter Tooles") and wife, appointed his wife sole Executrix, and desired "Mr. Bulkeley, my brother John Belding, my Brother Emanuel Buck, and my Cousin Michael Griswold to be Overseers".^[25][26]

John died sometime between 13 May 1674 and 11 June 1674.

His inventory, taken on 11 June 1674 by John Kilbourn, Enoch Buck and Eleazer Kimberly, was valued at £688-04-00.^[25][27] His will was approved 3 September 1674^[28]

Last Will and Testament

John Riley Sr (Immigrant) drew up a will on 13 May 1674 Wethersfield, Hartford County, Connecticut, and it was probated on 3 Sep 1674.^[25]

The Will: Be it known to all men by these prsents, that I Jno Ryley of the Town of Wethersfield do make this my last Will & Testament:

I give to my son John Ryley the House & Lott which I bought of John Dickinson, the 4 acres of Land lying at the east lower End of Beaver Meadow wch I had by Exchange of John Betts, The 1/2 of that Land which I bought of Will Gull, lying in the Plaine, 2 acres of my Plaine at the South Field, wch 2 acres shall be on the north side of it. The 1/2 of that Land wch shall by Division fall to me on the East side of the Great River. I do give to my son Joseph that House & Homelott which I had by Exchange of Tho: Couch.

Item, the other half of ye Land in ye Plaine which I bought of Will: Gull.

Item : 2 acres of my Pasture at the South Field, next to his Brother John.

Item : the other half of the Land which by Division shall fall to me on the East side of the Great River. Also, I give to him my gray mare and her Colt, only I do hereby enjoyn him my son Joseph to pay to his sister Mary the sume of £10 in Current pay of the Country 2 years after the Lands shall come into his Hands.

Item : I do give to my son Jonathan 3 acres of Land lying at the lower End of ye Meadow between John Damon Jr. and Samuel Boreman.

Item: 4 acres in Beaver Meadow between Goodman Churchill & Jonathan Damon.

Item : 8 acres at Rocky Hill.

Item : my Lott of 50 acres or there abouts in ye Woods or West Division.

Further, my Will is, with reference to these my three sons, John, Joseph & Jonathan, that my wife their Mother shall have the thirds of all the yearly products & Increase of such of the Lands bequeathed unto them as are improveable at my Decease, and this she shall have during her life.

Item : I do give to my daughter Mary, besides ye £10 above mentioned, £20 more wch my Executor and Adms. shall pay out of my other Estate.

Item : I do give to my daughter Grace £20, which shall in like manner be paid by my Executors when she shall come to age.

Item : I give to my daughter Sarah £20 when she shall come to age.

Item : I do give to my 2 youngest sons, Jacob and Isaac, this house in which I now dwell.

Item : 5 acres of Land at the Pond, 5 acres more or less of Meadow Ground within ye Meadow Gate.

Item : 4 acres of Land in ye Plaine between Lands of Mr. Robbins & John Dickinson.

Item : 4 acres of my Pasture at the South Field, which is the remainder from yt before bequeathed. All which Houseing &: Lands shall be equally divided between these my 2 sons, Jacob and Isaac, after the decease of their Mother.

I give unto my three older sons my Carpenter Tooles.

I appoint my wife sole Executrix. I desire Mr. Bulkeley, my brother John Belding, my Brother Emanuel Buck, and my Cousin Michael Griswold to be Overseers.

John X Ryley. Ls.

Witness : Gershom Bulkeley, Michael Griswold.

Research Notes

It should be noted that Torrey erred in stating that he died in 1679 when he actually died in 1674. The error obviously occurred from a mistranscription of the probate date in the original copy, since 4 was mistread as 9 (it also looked corrected to make it look like 4).

Short biographies of John Riley exist in a number of published books (see Secondary Sources at end of page).

His name appears in records spelt in many different ways: Riley, Rilee, Rilie, Rilye, Rylee, Ryley, Ryly, Rily, and other variations. His original will had it as "Rily" (John signed with his mark, not a signature), and for his inventory it was "Rilie". Manwaring transcribed it as "Ryley", which may have been the spelling used in the probate record book.

Origin

A previous merged profile had a birth date of 12 May 1625, however this was without source. Similary a previously stated birth place of "Stepney, London, Middlesex, England" was unsourced.

John Riley is sometimes claimed to have come from Ireland, and that his wife's name was Grace O'Dea. This claim is unfounded.

DNA

A descendant of John Riley, Sr. has been yDNA tested. If you have a direct paternal line to this John Riley, please consider having your male Riley tested at FTDNA. This is not the same as an autosomal DNA test (FTDNA's family finder, AncestryDNA, 23&Me, and MyHeritageDNA are all autosomal DNA tests and are not the same as the yDNA test. Males carry the Y sex chromosome and it gets passed down through the sons). Please contact Dorothy Phelps privately about this.

Sources

1. ↑ Collect. of the Conn. Hist. Soc., vol. 22, p. 64, citing book no. A, p. 195.
2. ↑ Collect. of the Conn. Hist. Soc., vol. 22, p. 69, citing book no. A, p. 201.
3. ↑ Collect. of the Conn. Hist. Soc., vol. 22, p. 83, citing book no. B, p. 8.
4. ↑ Collect. of the Conn. Hist. Soc., vol. 22, p. 86, citing book no. B, p. 12.
5. ↑ Collect. of the Conn. Hist. Soc., vol. 22, p. 99, citing book no. B, p. 22.
6. ↑ Collect. of the Conn. Hist. Soc., vol. 22, p. 106, citing book no. B, p. 29.
7. ↑ Collect. of the Conn. Hist. Soc., vol. 22, p. 109, citing book no. B, p. 33.
8. ↑ Collect. of the Conn. Hist. Soc., vol. 22, p. 111, citing book no. B, p. 35.
9. ↑ Collect. of the Conn. Hist. Soc., vol. 22, p. 115, citing book no. B, p. 39.
10. ↑ Collect. of the Conn. Hist. Soc., vol. 22, p. 118, citing book no. B, p. 42.
11. ↑ Collect. of the Conn. Hist. Soc., vol. 22, p. 122, citing book no. B, p. 47.
12. ↑ Collect. of the Conn. Hist. Soc., vol. 22, p. 162, citing book no. B, p. 86.
13. ↑ Collect. of the Conn. Hist. Soc., vol. 22, p. 164, citing book no. B, p. 88.
14. ↑ Collect. of the Conn. Hist. Soc., vol. 22, p. 197, citing book no. B, p. 122.
15. ↑ Collect. of the Conn. Hist. Soc., vol. 22, p. 202, citing book no. B, p. 126.
16. ↑ Collect. of the Conn. Hist. Soc., vol. 22, p. 219, citing book no. B, p. 143.
17. ↑ Collect. of the Conn. Hist. Soc., vol. 22, p. 234, citing book no. B, p. 157.
18. ↑ Collect. of the Conn. Hist. Soc., vol. 22, p. 239, citing book no. B, p. 161.
19. ↑ Collect. of the Conn. Hist. Soc., vol. 22, p. 248, citing book no. B, p. 171.
20. ↑ Collect. of the Conn. Hist. Soc., vol. 22, p. 141, citing book no. B, p. 65.
21. ↑ Collect. of the Conn. Hist. Soc., vol. 22, p. 144, citing book no. B, p. 68.
22. ↑ Collect. of the Conn. Hist. Soc., vol. 22, p. 156, citing book no. B, p. 80.
23. ↑ The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut (Hartford: F. A. Brown, 1852), vol. 2, p. 520.
24. ↑ Collect. of the Conn. Hist. Soc., vol. 21, p. 199, "List of Families in Wethersfield with Quantity of Grain in Possession of Each".
25. ↑ ^{25.0 25.1 25.2} Manwaring, Charles William. A Digest of the Early Connecticut Probate Records (R.S. Peck & Co., Hartford, 1904), vol. 1, pp. 229-230, citing Hartford Probate Records vol. 3, pp. 130-132.
26. ↑ Hartford Probate Packets, no. 4497 "Riley, John - Wethersfield - 1674". "John Rily Last Will".
27. ↑ Hartford Probate Packets, no. 4497 "Riley, John - Wethersfield - 1674". "John Ryleys Inventory".
28. ↑ Manwaring, vol. 1, p. 230, citing Court Record, p. 143.

• Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society (The Connecticut Historical Society and the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut, Hartford 1860-1928), vol. 21 "The Wyllys Papers", vol. 22 "Records of the Particular Court of Connecticut 1639-1663 ".
• Hartford Probate District. Probate Packets. Digital images of microfilm. FamilySearch, DGS film 007627864.

Transcribed Sources:

• Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records, Vol. 52, Wethersfield 1634-1868.
• Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records, Vol.37, Rocky Hill 1765-1854.

Secondary Sources:

• Hinman, Royal Ralph. A Catalogue of the Names of the Early Puritan Settlers of the Colony of Connecticut (Hartford: E. Gleason, 1846), p. 69.
• Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England (Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1862), vol. 3, p. 542.
• Case, Lafayette Wallace. The Goodrich Family in America (Fergus Printing Co., Chicago, 1889), p. 36.
• Stiles, Henry Reed. The History of Ancient Wethersfield, Connecticut (Grafton Press, New York, 1904), vol. 1 pt. 1 p. 291, vol. 1 pt. 2 p. 581.
• Cutter, William Richard. New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial (Lewis Historical Publishing Co., New York, 1913), p. 157.
• Torrey, Clarence Almon. Torrey’s New England Marriages Prior to 1700 (Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. Baltimore, 1985), p. 625. "RILEY, John (-1679) & Grace [BUCK?] (1624-1703); b 1646; Wethersfield, CT."
  Note: it says John died in 1679, but since he died in 1674, I suspect it's a mis-transcription, 4 can look like 9 if written sloppily).
• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/139566336/john-ryley-riley : accessed 26 June 2022), memorial page for John Ryley Riley (1620–Jun 1674), Find A Grave: Memorial #139566336, citing Wethersfield Village Cemetery, Wethersfield, Hartford County, Connecticut, USA ; Maintained by Dorothy (contributor 47601262) .
  Note: No gravestone photo attached.