Benjamin Richards (1710 - aft. 1799)

Born 1710 in St. Paul's Parish, Baltimore County, Maryland

Husband of Ann (Merryman) Richards — married about 1730 in St. Paul's Parish, Baltimore County, Maryland

Descendants

Died after 1799 after age 89 in Franklin County, Virginia

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Raymond Nichols [send private message] and Malcolm Bliss [send private message]

Biography

• Benjamin and his family moved from Maryland to Virginia.

In January of 1737, Benjamin purchased the 50 acre tract "Spring Garden"

^[1] "The first land to be owned by a white man in the present Hampstead District was surveyed on January 5, 1737 for Benjamin Richards and patented to him on February 7, 1738 for 50 acres."

Then, by 1739, both Benjamin and father Edward moved onto their properties "Spring Garden" and "Rattlesnake Ridge" that would grow into, first, a wagon stop named Spring Garden, and then the town of Hampstead MD, in what is present Carroll County. They, along with Isaac Wright, founded a Quaker Meeting there.

MOVE TO VIRGINIA

Benjamin sold "Spring Garden" to William Stiles in April of 1750 in preparation for moving his family. The Edward Richards Bible records: "April the 27 1750 Benjamin Richards took his journey with all his family to go to Stanton River in Virginia with his wife and two sons and three daughters. And Dickey boys."

Benjamin and his son Edward Richards [1731] appear on the 1750 tax records of old Lunenburg County Virginia.

Benjamin [47 yrs. old] and son Edward [27 yrs. old] appear on the Settler's map of Franklin County. Benjamin was designated as living "below 5 mile mountain". The location is approximately 12 miles due west of Rocky Mount VA [about 3 miles south west of Callaway VA]. Edward's property was about 6 miles south of Rocky Mount.

TAX ROLLS

1799 and 1800 Tax rolls of Franklin County VA still have Benjamin Richards listed, along with son Edward 69 yrs. old, grandsons Shadrack 40 yrs. old and Waitman 35 yrs. old. Benjamin would have been 90 years old.

Research Notes

• All though I have seen it on several family trees, I can't find any source for the middle name of Waitman.
• For 3 more images contributed by Harold G. Richards, click on the "Find A Grave" link.

Sources

1. ↑ From a document describing the Hampstead Historical District for the Maryland Historical Trust:

• 1790 Document: Personal Property Tax List, 1789, Book B [Virginia State Library]; Call Number: FHL Film 2024443; Page Number: 16; Family Number: 19 Source Information Ancestry.com. U.S., Census Reconstructed Records, 1660-1820 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
• 1799 Tax Rolls, Franklin County, Virginia ; [It lists Benjamin, his son Edward and his grandson Shadrack]
• Early Colonial Settlers of Southern Maryland and Virginia's Northern Neck Counties
• https://colonial-settlers-md-va.us ; [Search: Benjamin Richards; Person ID: 1125805]
• Find A Grave ; https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/63813467

Acknowledgments

• Thank you to Malcolm Bliss for creating WikiTree profile Richards-3012 through the import of Malcolm Bliss Family Tree_AutoBackup_2013-05-29_01.ged on May 29, 2013.
• Thanks to Raymond Nichols for starting this profile.