Richard Everitt (abt. 1618 - bef. 1668)

Born about 1618 in England [uncertain]

Husband of Mary (Winch) Everett — married 29 Jun 1643 in Springfield, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Descendants

Died before 4 Sep 1668 before about age 50 in Jamaica, New York [uncertain]

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Richard Everitt migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Directory, by R. C. Anderson, p. 109) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Disambiguation

There were two Richard Everetts with wives Mary who were early settlers of New England. The other Richard (Everard) Everett (1597-1682) was married to Mary_____ is known only to have lived in Dedham. THIS Richard was married to Mary Winch and resided in Springfield and possibly Jamaica, New York. While a Richard Everett of Rustdorp/Jamaica is well documented and likely had at least three sons who are equally well documented in Jamaica^[1], there is no absolute proof that Richard Everett of Jamaica was the same Richard Everett of Springfield so there may have actually been three Richard Everetts in New England (Dedham/Watertown, Springfield and Jamaica, NY).

Biography

An unsupported birth date of 14 May 1612 at Essex, England has been asserted on this profile. Running any query for a similar name at a similar date in England returns many possible christening record matches from a variety of counties and as described below, he is also asserted (without source) to come from Holland. Using the standard WikiTree estimate for 25 years old at first known marriage of 1643^[2]) that would place his birth year at about 1618. Again, given that there were at least two and possibly three Richard Everetts in New England and without certainty that Richard of Jamaica was Richard of Springfield who married in 1643, ascertaining his birth year is impossible.

Dean Crawford Smith^[3] gives the other English variations of his name as "Everard", "Evered" and "Everod".

Peter Ross in "History of Long Island" (Vol 3) asserts without source that three brothers "came from Holland to New England, one of whom did not long survive. John settled in Massachusetts and Richard in Rusdorff, Long Island and from him the Long Island Everitts are descended".^[4] If you would like to add another nickel to the stack of nickels you keep for every time you hear the "three brothers came to America" story, please do so now (but not to the stacks for "fought for Cromwell" or "disgraced younger son of a noble family who changed his name").

Marriages & Children

This profile shows (without reliable primary source) a wife Phoebe Smith married about 1650 apparently based on the Rootsweb site shown below, which has no source for this information. No actual record of a wife of Richard of Springfield other than Mary Winch has been found. No record of the death of this Mary (in Jamaica or anywhere else) has been found. No record of a marriage before or after 1643 for Richard Everett has been found. No record of a death of "Phebe Everett" in Jamaica, New York has been found.

The Rootsweb site noted in "See Also" asserts only a surname of Smith, that they married about 1651, that she was born 1632 at New Haven, CT (untrue as New Haven was not settled until 1638) and that she died 1 May 1712 at Jamaica (all unsourced). Clearly more research in this area is needed.

Torrey in "New England Marriages to 1700"^[5] treated Richard of Dedham and Richard of Springfield as the same man and therefore asserted that he had a first wife Mary Unknown and a second wife Mary Winch. As explained below in "Research Notes" it is extremely unlikely that those were the same man. IF Richard of Springfield was Richard of Jamaica, then the only proven marriage is to Mary Winch in Springfield in 1643.^[2]

A well-sourced list of children has apparently not been created. Dean C. Smith only details the children of the couple of Dedham and Stearns & Whitcher provides essentially the same list, apparently based on Dedham records again with the belief that there was only one Richard Everett. Based on the attached Everett children who do have primary sources such as wills in Jamaica, New York and the appearance of John and Nicholas in a 1686 Jamaica town charter (see below) it is possible that he had:

1. John
2. Nicholas
3. Richard

However, no source appears that proves these were children of the Richard Everett who originally lived in Springfield. The will of Nicholas Tanner of Rusdorp, written 2 Sep 1658 bequeathed to "Richard Everard's children", also showing that Richard had multiple children in Jamaica.^[6]

Settler of Jamaica, NY aka Rustdorp?

As stated above, there is no proof of the origins of Richard Everett of Jamaica, NY. He was not the man of Dedham who died in that location, but there is no proof that he was the man of Springfield, Mass. There is no record of the birth of his likely children, nor of the name or death of his wife (if it was other than the Mary Winch of the 1643 Springfield marriage).

In his "History of Long Island", Peter Ross lists 14 men who petitioned NY governor Stuyvesant for consent to settle on a tract of land on Long island that they had purchased from local natives. Richard Everett appears on this list; Stuyvesant issued the warrant for settlement on March 21 1656. While Richard also may have had a son Richard "Jr", the son was almost certainly too young to have been this original settler. In a following 1686 patent defining the limits of the township, the names Nicholas and John Everett appeared, likely sons of Richard.^[7]

Richard appears in Volume 1 of "Jamaica Town Records" in many places (as do John, Nicholas and the presumed Richard Jr) starting on page 1 when he was granted land^[1] and continuing for many subsequent entries.

The first entry in the Town Records that are clearly for the younger Richard "Evarit" appear on 28 Oct 1681 when the elder Richard was deceased.^[1] (p. 52 of the source).

Death & Estate

An abstract of the probate of "Richard Everett, of Jamaica in North Ryding of Yorkshire upon Long Island" appears in "Abstracts of wills on file in the Surrogate's Office, City of New York, 1665-1801"^[8] stating:

Richard Everett, of Jamaica, died intestate. Abraham Smith appointed administrator, September 4, 1668. Children mentioned but not named.

An image of the original probate^[9] confirms that his children were under 21 since Smith was assigned to administer the estate "in Trust for his (Richard's) Children". The document says nothing of a widow of Richard so presumably she was dead by this date.

Research Notes

Anderson in his "Great Migration Directory" lists two Richard Everetts: One from Woolverstone, Suffolk who was in Dedham, Massachusetts by 1636 and one from an unknown origin who was in Springfield, Massachusetts by 1637 and then possibly moved on to Jamaica, New York. Dean Crawford Smith also believes these were two separate men and believes it unlikely that one man was "racing back and forth across Massachusetts in the 1630s and 1640s to conduct his life in two such distant places". To his credit, he also notes an earlier Everett researcher, Edward Franklin Everett who believed that they were the same man. Dedham and Springfield are about 90 miles apart.

• A man named Richard Everett from Essex, England settled in Springfield, Massachusetts with Wm. Pynchon, stayed in Springfield for almost 8 years, married and moved away without a trace. see p. 197.^[3]
• "Richard Everett of Springfield does not appear in the records there after the mid-1640s and may have moved to Jamaica on Long Island" This disappearance from records is one of the reasons some researchers believe there was only one man of this name in New England.
• Richard Everett of Springfield married Mary Winch.^[5]
• Richard Everett migrated 1637 from unknown destination; Springfield, Jamaica [NY] (possibly.) see source list below - ^[10][11]
• The argument for a single Richard Everett of Springfield/Dedham is documented in Stearns & Whitcher: "Genealogical and family history of the state of New Hampshire"^[12]. This account covers his arrival in 1636 through to his death and will in 1682. This book asserts that his first wife was Mary Unknown, apparently based on the Dedham church admittance and subsequent christenings in Dedham of Richard Everett and wife Mary. It goes on to claim that this Mary died and he remarried to Mary Winch in 1643 at Springfield. Richard of Dedham did have a wife Mary Unknown but again, Anderson and Smith both believe with good reason that these were two separate couples.

Specifically, records cited by Stearns & Whitchner include Richard owning property in Dedham and Cambridge in 1636 and attending a meeting in Watertown on 18 Aug 1636 as an early setteler (Dedham, Cambridge and Watertown are all very close together). At almost the same time (15 Jul 1636) he was witnessing a land deed 90 miles away in Springfield,^[13] and then 20 March 1636/37 he was tasked with laying out lots in Springfield. So where was he a resident, Springfield or Watertown/Dedham/Cambridge? This exemplifies the "racing back and forth across Massachusetts" that Dean C. Smith used as a basis to say that in fact, these were two different men.

• The only apparent source for a wife "Phebe Smith" (daughter of Nehemiah Smith of Marshfield, MA and later New London, CT) is a manuscript privately published by a DAR member. This is in very limited circulation and has not been reviewed for accuracy or sourcing.^[14] The profile of Nehemiah Smith has no source for a daughter named Phebe.

GREAT MIGRATION DIRECTORY Sources Keys to Anderson's sources may be found Here

SpTR 161;

Pynchon 206;

GM 2:453-454;

PGM 28:141-142;

Kempton Anc 4:197, 207.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Records of the town of Jamaica, Long Island, New York, 1656-1751 by Jamaica (New York, N.Y.); Frost, Josephine C; Long Island Historical Society Publication date 1914 Publisher Brooklyn, N.Y. : Long Island Historical Society Vol. 1 p. 1
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Vital Records of Springfield, Massachusetts: 1643 marriage of Richard "Eurett" and Mary Winch
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Dean Crawford Smith. The Ancestry of Eva Belle Kempton 1878-1908.New England Historic Genealogical Society (Boston 2000).p. 196
4. ↑ Ross, Peter.. A history of Long Island : from its earliest settlement to the present time. New York: Lewis Pub. Co., 1902. Vol. III. Biographical Vol. 3 p. 218 $subscription and free image courtesy of ancestry.com
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} New England Marriages 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. Vol. 1 p. 523
6. ↑ Abstracts of wills on file in the Surrogate's Office, City of New York, 1665-1801. V. 1 entry for Nicholas Tanner Vol. 1 p. 466
7. ↑ A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time by Ross, Peter. cn Publication date 1902 Publisher New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co. Vol. 1 p. 548
8. ↑ Abstracts of wills on file in the Surrogate's Office, City of New York, 1665-1801. V. 1 entry for Richard Everett Vol. 1 p. 9 citing "Abstract of Wills-Liber 1-2 page 33
9. ↑ New York, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1659-1999 for Richard Everett New York Wills, Vol 001, 1665-1683 $subscription and free image courtesy of ancestry.com
10. ↑ Robert Charles Anderson. "The Great Migration Directory" New England Historic Genealogical Society (2015) p. 109.
11. ↑ Great Migration 1634-1635, T-Y. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2012.) Originally published as: The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume VII, T-Y, by Robert Charles Anderson. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011. Vol. 7 p. 453,454 entry for Mary Winche
12. ↑ Genealogical and family history of the state of New Hampshire : a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation by Stearns, Ezra S; Whitcher, William F. (William Frederick), 1845-1918; Parker, Edward E. (Edward Everett), 1842-1923 Publication date 1908 page 1848
13. ↑ "Indian Deeds of Springfield" by Charles Stearns of Springfield, Mass The New England historical and genealogical register by New England Historic Genealogical Society Publication date 1874 Publisher Boston : New England Historic Genealogical Society Vol. 15, p. 141
14. ↑ The family of Richard Mills Everitt of Georgia Author: James H Elliott, Mrs. Publisher: Atlanta, Ga. : Daughters of the American Revolution, 1979 OCLC# 10851971

See also:

• Find A Grave: Memorial #84321612 a memorial with no sources or photos
• "Two Everett families of Northampton County (Pennsylvania)" by Alice Allen Everett at familysearch.org published in the "Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine" for a brief analysis of the (likely) two separate Richards of Dedham and Springfield and Jamaica.