John Richards (abt. 1631 - abt. 1712)

Born about 1631 in Connecticut [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Lidia (Stocking) Richards — married about 1656 in Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut

Descendants

Died about Jul 1712 at about age 81 in Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut

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Biography

John Richard was the son of Thomas Richards. Thomas Richards was on the original list of undivided lands at Hartford.^[1]

In 1655 the town of Hartford paid John Richards £4-01-11.^[2]

He married Lydia Stocking by 1656.^[3]

John Richards was chosen as one of the two chimney lookers for the south side of Hartford for the 1657 year.^[4] In February 1660/61 it was recorded that John paid the town 10 shillings.^[5] John Richards improved an acre of land at Hartford in 1669.^[6]

On 8 April 1658, John Winthrop Jr. treated "Richards, John, his wife Lidia, she is Goodman Stockin's daughter."^[7] On 14 June 1658 he treated "Richards, a girl of 1 1/2 years, daughter of John".^[8]

On 12 June 1671 (his mother) the "widow Richards'" estate was taken, and John was one of the heirs.^[9]

Lydia and John Richards were both named in her father's 1673 will, and Lydia was bequeathed £14.^[9] This will was later declared to have "no value" and Lydia was to receive £41,^[10] which was later revised to £42.^[11]

John Richards senior was one of the witnesses to Paul Peck's will on 25 June 1695.^[12]

Family

Lydia married John Richards by 1656. They had:

1. a daughter, b. abt. 1656
2. John
3. Thomas
4. Samuel

Research Notes

The Stocking Ancestry states that Lydia "convented" with the church at Hartford on 12 July 1712 (and that John Richards was living at that time).^[13] This doesn't align with the Historical Catalogue of the First Church in Hartford. The Stocking Ancestry has a number of minor errors in it, and this may be one of them. There was a Lydia Richards who convented in 1696. The primary source will need to be reviewed.

Sources

1. ↑ Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society Vol. 6, Hartford Town Votes: Volume 1: 1635-1716 (Hartford: The Connecticut Historical Society, 1897), p. 20, citing p. 5.
2. ↑ Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society, vol. 6, p. 114, citing p. 86.
3. ↑ Anderson, Robert C.The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England 1634-1635 , Volume VI R-S (2009), 540-45 (George Stocking), at 544; digital images by subscription, AmericanAncestors.org.
4. ↑ Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society, vol. 6, p. 115, citing p. 89.
5. ↑ Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society, vol. 6, p. 133, citing p. 105.
6. ↑ Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society, vol. 6, p. 161, citing p. 142.
7. ↑ Anderson, p. 544, citing Winthrop's Medical Journal p. 102.
8. ↑ Anderson, p. 544, citing Winthrop's Medical Journal p. 116.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} Manwaring, Charles William A Digest of the Early Connecticut Probate Records (Hartford: R. S. Peck & Co., 1904-1906), vol. 1, pp. 226-227, citing Hartford Probate Records vol. 3, p. 101.
10. ↑ Manwaring, vol. 1, p. 367, citing Hartford Probate Records vol. 4, p. 78.
11. ↑ Anderson, p. 544, citing Connecticut State Library, New England Colonial Records, vol. 53, p.51-52 (FHL #3667).
12. ↑ Manwaring, vol. 1, pp. 494-495, citing Hartford Probate Records vol. 5, p. 217.
13. ↑ Stocking, Charles Henry Wright, The Stocking Ancestry (Chicago: Lakeside Press, 1903) pp. 5.