John Rickard (1652 - 1726)

Born 16 Sep 1652 in Plymouth, Plymouth Colony

Ancestors

Husband of Mary (Snow) Rickard — married about 1676 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts

Descendants

Died 11 Oct 1726 at age 74 in Plympton, Plymouth, Province of Massachusetts Bay

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Potential for Mistaken Identity

It is this John Rickard who became known as "Deacon John Rickard" in early Plymouth Colony records. He should not be confused with John Rickard who was born five years later on November 24, 1657, son of John Rickard, Sr. and Hester (Barnes) Rickard. The other John Rickard was often called "John Rickard, son of John Rickard" or "John Rickard Jr." To distinguish the two men, records referred to this John Rickard as "John Rickard, son of Giles Rickard" or "John Rickard Sr." It was the other John Rickard, "son of John Rickard," who married Mary Cooke, not the subject of this profile. Many earlier genealogies and family trees have confused these two contemporary men whose names were homonyms and who were also first cousins.

Biography

This John Rickard was the second son of Giles Rickard, Jr. and his wife Hannah (Dunham) Rickard. He was born in Plymouth, Plymouth Colony, New England, on September 16, 1652.^[1][2]

The children of John Rickard, Sr., are logged in records of the town of Plymouth, which give their mother's name as Mary.^[3] Mary's identity is uncertain. Records indicate that Mary Cooke married John Rickard in about 1678, but both John Rickard Sr. and his cousin John Rickard Jr. had wives named Mary, and there has been some uncertainty as to which cousin Mary Cooke married. In an article entitled "Which John Rickard married Mary Cooke?" in the August 1983 Mayflower Quarterly, Eugene Stratton presented evidence that Mary Cooke's husband was John the son of John (i.e., John Rickard Jr.). This conclusion is based in part on a comparison of signatures. The will of John Rickard, son of Giles, is missing from its envelope at the Register of Deeds, but Stratton identified an earlier document that carries this man's signature. In 1714 he signed a document as administrator for the estate of his unmarried sister, Mercy Rickard. The signature is distinctly different from two other surviving signatures of "John Rickard," the signature on the will of the John Rickard who died in 1712 (who could not have signed a document in 1714) and the signature of John Rickard on a 1701 guardianship document for Josiah Doty. The similarity of the latter two signatures identifies them as belonging to the same man, and because the orphan Josiah Doty was the son of Mary Cooke's sister Elizabeth, there is a good basis for identifying the John Rickard who adopted Josiah Doty as the John Rickard who was married to Mary Cooke. Thus, this man (John Rickard, son of Giles) is not the John Rickard who married Mary Cooke.^[4]

It has long been conjectured that the wife of John Rickard Sr. (this man) was Mary Snow, daughter of William Snow and his wife Rebecca Brown.^[5] Although it is not proven by marriage records or other sources, this identification is reasonably likely, considering that Mary Snow survived to a mature adulthood (she was still living and apparently was married as of 1699 when her father made his will), and records indicate several other connections between the two families. Robert Wakefield quoted Shaw's Families of the Pilgrims: Peter Brown as stating that Mary Snow "probably married John Rickard, but conclusive proof has not been discovered." Wakefield speculated that "this opinion is apparently based on the fact that Mary's sisters Hannah and Rebecca married Giles and Samuel Rickard" (brothers of John Rickard). He stated, "While possible, this assumption is not accepted by by the Mayflower Society."^[6] Mary Snow is identified here as John Rickard's wife.

John Rickard may have had an earlier wife. Torrey indicates a marriage to Hester Dunham "by 1677,"^[7] and the Dunham Genealogy similarly indicates a marriage to "Hester D.",^[1] but no records have been found that mention this woman.

Children of John Rickard, Sr., and Mary Snow recorded on Plymouth town records were:^[8]

1. Mary (or Marcy), born 27 October 1677 in Plymouth;^[9] she may be the Mary Rickard who married Jabez Eddy in 1700 and died in 1711^[10]
2. Lydia, born 12 July 1679
3. John, born 29 December 1681 in Plymouth^[11]
4. Joseph, born 7 February 1683 in Plymouth^[12]
5. Mercy (or Marcy) born 14 May 1687 in Plymouth
6. Joanna (aka Joannah) born 22 September 1691 in Plymouth
7. Abigail born 22 May 1694 in Plymouth
8. Rebeckah (Rebecca) born 3 January 1699 in Plymouth^[13]

The Plymouth Church Records also list the baptisms in 1686 of Eliezer, an infant son who died that same week,^[14] and in 1690 of Patience, "daughter of John & Mary Rickard senior".^[15]

Deacon John Rickard, son of Giles Rickard, died in Plympton, Massachusetts, on October 11, 1726, "in his 74th year."^[16]

Probate

His will is dated 27 September 1726 in Plympton and proved on 12 January 1726/27. He mentions his wife (but does name her), and his children, John, Joseph, Mary Eddy, Lydia Tilson, Mercy Tilson, Joanna Donham, Rebeckah Platt, and his grandchildren, Mary Rickard, wife of Giles Rickard, Samuel Ransome, James Rickard, John Rickard (son to Joseph Rickard), Joseph Rickard (son to Joseph Rickard), and Deborah Rickard (daughter to Joseph). His inventory was taken on 21 November 1726 in Plympton.^[17]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Deacon John Dunham of Plymouth, Massachusetts, 1589-1669, and His Descendants: Page 13 V. - Hannah Dunham m Giles Rickard Issue: John Rickard, b Sep 16 1652 m Hester D . Issue: Abigail Richard, m Nathaniel Jackson
2. ↑ Plymouth Vital Records, page 660. "John the son of Gyles Rickard Jr. born [date blank] 1652"
3. ↑ Plymouth (Massachusetts) Vital Records, accessed at Ancestry.com (p. 26) and on Book One, p. 15, at AmericanAncestors.org (New England Historic Genealogical Society)
4. ↑ Stratton, Eugene A. "Which John Rickard married Mary Cooke?", Mayflower Quarterly, v. 49, p. 122, August 1983.
5. ↑ For example, see Torrey, p. 1275: "RICKARD, John & Mary [?COOKE]/SNOW (-1715+), ca 1677 1676?; Plymouth."
6. ↑ Wakefield, "The Tilson Family of Plymouth Colony," page 39, footnote
7. ↑ Torrey, p. 1275. "RICKARD, John (?1652-1726, Plympton) & Hester [DUNHAM], by 1677; Plymouth"
8. ↑ Plymouth (Massachusetts) Vital Records, accessed at Ancestry.com (p. 26) and on Book One, p. 15, at AmericanAncestors.org (New England Historic Genealogical Society)
9. ↑ Plymouth Vital Records, page 669: "Mary the daughter of John Rickard son of Gyles Rickard was born the 27th of Oct 1677"
10. ↑ “New England Marriages Prior to 1700” by Clarence Almon Torrey, Pg. 242, and “The Eddy Family in America” compiled by Ruth Story Devereux Eddy, Pg. 61
11. ↑ Plymouth Vital Records, page 671: "John, the son of John Rickard, the son of Gyles Rickard, was born the 29th of Dec. 1681"
12. ↑ Plymouth Church Records, page 254 reports the baptism in 1683 of "Joseph son of John & Mary Rickard Junior," but this assignment to John Jr. is assumed to be an error, because Plymouth Vital Records names his father as John Sr., and there is no mention of Joseph in the will of John Rickard Jr.
13. ↑ Plymouth Vital Records gives the birthdate as 3 January 1699. It is not clear whether this is an old-style or new-style date.
14. ↑ Plymouth Church Records, page 258. "Eliezer, son of John & Mary Rickard senior; it dyed the same weeke."
15. ↑ Plymouth Church Records, page 268
16. ↑ Vital Records of Plympton, Massachusetts, p. 506.
17. ↑ "Massachusetts, Plymouth County, Probate Records, 1633-1967," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-897D-FH49 : 20 May 2014), Probate records 1724-1731 and 1838-1842 vol 5-5T > image 161-162 of 596; State Archives, Boston.

• Plymouth Church Records, Vol 1, Part V. In: Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Volume 22. Published in Boston, 1920.
• Torrey, Clarence Almon. New England Marriages Prior to 1700.
• A Tree of Life - Mary Snow.
• Vital Records of Plympton, Massachusetts, published online by New England Historic Genealogical Society on AmericanAncestors.org
• Wakefield, Robert S. "The Tilson Family of Plymouth Colony." The American Genealogist, vol. 69 (1994), pages 37 ff.
• Dunham, Isaac Watson. Deacon John Dunham of Plymouth, Massachusetts, 1589-1669, and His Descendants (Bulletin Print, Norwich, Conn., 1907)

Acknowledgments

• WikiTree profile Pickerd-1 was created through the import of greenwald-millerGEDCOM.ged on 27 September 2010.
• WikiTree profile Rickard-60 was created through the import of fitzmaster032511.ged on 27 March 2011.
• WikiTree profile Rickard-186 created through the import of Oct 14 2012.ged on Nov 10, 2012 by Pam Carter. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Pam and others.
• WikiTree profile Rickard-445 was created by David Sylvester through the import of DunhamRobbins.ged on Oct 19, 2014.