Richard Seymour
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Richard Seymour (1604 - 1655)

Richard Seymour
Born in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, Englandmap
Ancestors ancestors
Husband of — married 18 Apr 1631 in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, Englandmap
Descendants descendants
Died at about age 50 in Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut Colonymap
Profile last modified | Created 13 Sep 2010
This page has been accessed 9,043 times.
The Puritan Great Migration.
Richard Seymour migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Directory, by R. C. Anderson, p. 301)
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Discuss: pgm

Contents

Biography

Richard Seymour was baptized on 27 January 1604[1] in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, England, one of five known children and three sons of Robert Seymour and Elizabeth Waller.
On 18 April 1631, when he was twenty-seven, he married Mercy Ruscoe in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, England. She bore him six known children, four sons and two daughters:
  1. Thomas Seymour bap 15 Jul 1632, Sawbridgeworth, Herts.[2]
  2. Mary Seymour bap 9 Jan 1635, Sawrbidgeworth, Herts, buried 3 Apr 1635[2]
  3. Mercy Seymour bap 8 Jul 1636, Sawbridgeworth, Herts.[2]
  4. John Seymour b probably at Hartford, Connecticut[2]
  5. Zachariah Seymour, # Zachariah Seymour b abt 1642, Hartford, Connecticut[2]
  6. Richard SeymourHe married Mercy Ruscoe b Hartford, Connecticut[2]
In, 1655, when he was fifty-one, Richard died of unknown causes in Norwalk, Fairfield County, Connecticut.
Richard was baptized on 27 January 1604 in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, England.[3][1]
In Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, England on April 18, 1631, Richard married Mercy Ruscoe. (Daughter of Roger and Sarah Ruscoe) [4][5][6][7]

Migration

He and his family resided in Hartford, Connecticut by 1639. Richard received an allotment of land by the "courtesie of the town.” A chimney viewer by occupation,[8] he was named Hartford chimney surveyor for the north side in 1646.[9]
Richard and his former neighbors in Sawbridgeworth, the Ruscoes, later removed to Norwalk in 1650 where he was among many who made an agreement with Captain Patrick and Roger Ludlow “for the settlinge and plantinge of Norwalke.” As one of the planters of Norwalk, Richard Seymour's name appears in the indenture dated February 15, 1651, between the Planters and Runckinheage and other Indians.[2]
Richard's home in Norwalk was well situated at present day Fitch St. & East Ave., only a short distance from the roadbed of the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad. In his time his house was directly opposite the meeting house and the Parade Ground, and on the highway leading from Stamford to Fairfield. Richard was elected Selectman on March 29, 1655; however, he did not hold this position very long since his will was executed later that same year on July 29, in which he is described “very week & sike.”[2][10]

Death and burial

Richard died between 29 Jul 1655, when his will was written, and 10 Oct 1655, when his will was proved.[3] Richard Seymour of Norwalk, Connecticut in his will gave his entire estate to his wife Mercy Seymour. At 21, John, Zachary and Richard to have £40. Control of this given to the mother.[11]
Burial: 1655 Probably in Norwalk, Fairfield Co., Connecticut. His name is on the Founders of Hartford Memorial in the old cemetery there, but was probably not buried there.
Mercy Semer remarried 25 Nov 1655 to John Steele in Farmington.[12]


Children[13]

  1. Thomas bpt 15 July 1632 Sawbridgeworth
  2. Mary bpt 9 Jan 1634/5, buried 3 Apr 1635
  3. Mercy bpt 8 July 1636; d. y.
  4. John b. say 1639; d. at Harford 1713; m. Mary Watson
  5. Zachariah b. abt 1642 d. Wethersfield 1702; m. Mary Gritt
  6. Richard b. say 1645; d. Farmington 1710; m. Hannah Woodruff

Research Note

There are no references to Richard in the early Colonial Records of Connectiut, Vol 1, 2. His son Richard is mentioned.

Sources

  1. 1.0 1.1 Morris, Seymour. Richard Seymour of Hartford and Norwalk, Conn., and Some of His Descendants, The New England Historical & Genealogical Register (NEHGS, Boston, Mass., 1918) Vol. 72, Page 209.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Jacobus, D. Lines. (1939). A history of the Seymour family: descendants of Richard Seymour of Hartford, Connecticut, for six generations ; with extensive amplification of the lines deriving from his son John Seymour of Hartford. New Haven, Conn.: [Printed by the Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor company]. pg 21-28. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89058583543;view=1up;seq=51
  3. 3.0 3.1 North America, Family HIstories, 1500-2000: Richard Seymour of Hartford and Norwalk, Conn., and some of his descendants
  4. England, Select Marriages, 1538-1973
  5. England & Wales Marriages, 1538-1940
  6. U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900
  7. U.S., New England Marriages Prior to 1700
  8. Anon. "Richard Seymour," Geni.com URL: https://www.geni.com/people/Richard-Seymour/342361037210006211. Accessed 28 Nov 2018.
  9. Vol. 6 Hartford Town Votes Vol. 1 1635-1716 Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society (The Connecticut Historical Society and the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut, Hartford 1860-1928) land p. 19,chimney surveyor p. 83
  10. Web: Connecticut, Find A Grave Index, 1636-2013
  11. Pinney, Maria Watson. Richard Seymour, Hartford, 1640 : a paper read before the Connecticut Chapter Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America ... Publisher (New Haven : Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, [1903?])
  12. Farmington. Connecticut: Vital Records (The Barbour Collection), 1630-1870 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011.) From original typescripts, Lucius Barnes Barbour Collection, 1928. https://www.americanancestors.org/DB414/i/12536/158/139027228 p. 156
  13. Jacobus, Donald Lines, MA (compiler, editor.) History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield. (Fairfield, Conn.: The Eunice Dennie Burr Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution, 1930.) p.536




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Comments: 17

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Richard was listed on p. 46 of the Daughters of the American Colonists Lineage Book, Vol XIII, as well as p. 501 of Families of Early Hartford, Connecticut by Lucius Barnes Barbour.

In the Barbour book a daughter Mary is listed as having married Thomas Gridley 29 Sep 1644 and Dea. John Langdon of Farmington.

posted by Edward Trever
edited by Edward Trever
In 1906 there was an article published about Richard Seymour written by Morris Seymour. See https://books.google.com/books?id=2T0GAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA156 Evidently Morris Seymour is not the same person as Seymour Morris, the author of the 1918 article cited above. Very strange.
posted by Rick Pierpont
Probably a descendent of a Seymour whose mother married a Morris. War of 1812 application.
posted by Bobbie (Madison) Hall
Done. Thanks, T.S.
posted by Jillaine Smith
Should not son Thomas Seymour also be PGM? Born Hertfordshire bef 1632, in Conn by 1639 along with the PGM father.
posted by T Stanton
Seymour-3724 and Seymour-128 appear to represent the same person because: Similar vital statistics, same spouse, same child(ren), same residency.
posted by Mary Kathleen Meagher
What's the source for the recently changed death date? Per the narrative, he died before 10 Oct 1655 when his will was proven.
posted by Jillaine Smith
Why the unmerged match, Mary? They're clearly the same man. What needs resolving before they can be merged?
posted by Jillaine Smith
Thanks for the catch on the immigration date, That's what comes from relying on Ancestry indexes.

Re: Ancestral Roots. You're right that did not belong to that paragraph. I think Puritan Migration to CT, the Saga of the Seymour Family is where that paragraph comes from. It's new and isn't available to peruse on line. Records don't support the statements about arriving on the Increase making the references to Hooker doubtful.

I'd like to see the book to see whether the author can support such statements, or if he's just conjecturing, because Richard was in Hartford early.

I'm going to hide the paragraph.

posted by Anne B
Pages 133-134 of Ancestral Roots of Sixty Colonists who came to New England between 1623-1650, by Frederick Lewis Weis. does not seem to support the information you credit it to. Do you have a better source?
posted by Norm Lindquist
Richard's fourth child, Mercy, was babtised in England in 1836, so they could not have sailed on the Increase in 1835.
posted by Norm Lindquist
Seymour-3454 and Seymour-128 appear to represent the same person because: Same vitals. Fathers will also have to be merged.
posted by Jillaine Smith
Seymour-3454 and Seymour-128 appear to represent the same person because: same first name, last name, birth year, birth month, father, son, death year, death state.
posted by Anonymous Nagel

Rejected matches › Richard Seymour II (aft.1642-1710)