Richard Stites (abt. 1630 - 1702)

Born about 1630 in England [uncertain]

Husband of Mary (Underhill) Stites — married 14 May 1668 in Hempstead, Long Island, Nassau, New York

Descendants

Died 10 Mar 1702 at about age 72 in Hempstead, Nassau, New York

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Biography

Richard Stites was born between 1630 - 1640 Derbyshire, England^[1][2] He died 1702 Hempstead, Long Island, Nassau, New York, United States^[3]Richard was living 1657 Hempstead, Long Island, Nassau, New York when his name appears on the list of those having cattle in Rocaway Neck Pasture^[4] He was in Hempstead, Long Island, Nassau, New York in 1685 when he appears on the list of those who paid a tax of ¹ 2 Ùa per acre and was assessed for 152 acres^[5]

Richard married 14 May 1668, Hempstead, Long Island, Nassau, New York 14 May 1668 Hemstead, Long Island, Nassau Co, NY Mary Underhill Naylor,who was previously married to Thomas Naylor^[6][7]

Much of what is known about the life of Richard Stites comes from entries in Hempstead Town Records compiled first as The Annals of Hempstead by Henry Onderdonk published in 1878 and then later by Benjamin Hicks in the multi-volume Records of the Towns of North Hempstead and South Hempstead that first appeared in 1898. The Annals of Hempstead can now be found online at https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=yale.39002013506937;view=1up;seq=5 Full versions of the Town Records by Hicks are also available online via the Hathi Trust website.

There is a January 21, 1660 entry in the Annals that notes a suit by "Richard Stiles" against the widow Jane Washborne. The entry notes that "...in 1653, when he (Richard Stiles) went from Mr. Seaman's, he then agreed with William Washborne to do his labor weekly..." This is almost certainly Richard Stites and implies that Richard was John Seaman's servant at some point. There is no other reference in the Annals to Richard Stiles and in 1658 (or perhaps a bit earlier), Richard Stites purchased land from John Seaman for his farm on the north edge of the Hempstead Plain in what is now Old Westbury. According to the Westbury Village website (http://www.villageofwestbury.org/index.asp?SEC=25BD8F5E-47EE-4FEF-928B-F47883BFFC8E&Type=B_LOC ), Richard Stites "and his family" were the first English settlers in the region and had few neighbors for the first 10 years. Richard married Mary Underhill in 1668, and there is no record of who might have been living with him on the farm before that date. Family lore claims that Richard's father was John Stites and that John was with Richard on Long Island. However, there is no contemporary record of John's presence in Long Island and many parts of his story are clearly apocryphal (for example, it is claimed that John lived to be 122 years old). My best guess is that this John Stites was created by genealogists in the 19th century. Richard's father was probably Henry Stich (or Stiche), a collier who came to work in the Saugus Iron Works in Massachusetts in about 1647. Richard Stich/Stiche came to Saugus with Henry. Richard Stich was sued for a debt in Salem Court in 1650 but failed to appear. He probably left for Connecticut and eventually Long Island where his name is variously recorded as Richard Stites/Stich/Stiche/Stittes/Stitts (see below).

Richard was proprietor (land owner) in Hempstead as early as 1656 as evidenced by a letter that Hempstead proprietors wrote that year to Petrus Stuyvesant to protest that "tenths" (taxes due on land) should not have to be paid because peace with the Indians had been established only in the last year. Richard's name and mark appear clearly on the letter (see image attached to this profile).

Richard Stites appears in the Town Records of North and South Hempstead as Richard Stits (7X) or Stites (13X) or Stich (4X) or Stiche (1X) or Stittes (1X). The spelling of the name as Stich/Stiche suggest a very likely connection to Richard Stich/Stiche who appears in the Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts Court Records between 1647 and 1650. Richard Stich appears in the Massachusetts records in the company of Henry Stich (they are named together several times). Also, the Massachusetts records clearly indicate that Henry Stich is a collier (charcoal maker), an occupation that we know Richard Stites pursued from a note in the Hempstead records. Circumstantial evidence points very strongly to Henry Stich being the father (or possibly, grandfather) of Richard Stites (Stich).

If the Richard Stich who appears in the Salem Court Records is the same Richard Stich (aka Stites) who appears in the Hempstead Records, then it would seem that Richard's date of birth would have to be earlier than 1640. A more likely date is sometime around 1630. Richard is fined for swearing in Massachusetts in 1647 and sued for a debt in 1650. He was very clearly an adult (at least 13) by 1647 and probably came to Massachusetts in 1647 with Henry to work as a collier (or collier's helper) for the Iron Works that opened that year.

Richard was paid by the town of Hempstead to act as the cowherd for the "Easte Cowe Heerd," village cows that were put out to pasture on Cow's Neck (now Manhasset Neck) each summer (from May to October). Richard's contracts with the town for 1659 and for 1661 appear in the Town Records, Vol. 1, pages 98 and 148.

It seems very likely that Richard was married twice and lost his first wife sometime before 1668 when he married Mary Underhill (widow of Thomas Naylor). The dates of birth of Richard's chlldren are uncertain. It is quite possible that Henry, Benjamin, and Rebecca were the children of Richard and his first (unknown) wife. The fact that Henry and Benjamin both moved to West Jersey (Cape May) before Richard's death in 1702 might support the idea that they were not the children of Mary Underhill Naylor Stites.

Sources

1. ↑ New York Genealogical and Biographical Record: The Stites Family, Volume: 28 Author: Edmund J. James Publication: July 1897
2. ↑ John Littell, Family Records or Genealogies Of The First Settlers Of Passaic Valley (And Vicinity) Above Chatham - with Their Ancestors and Descendants As Far As C, 407, 1640.
3. ↑ New York Genealogical and Biographical Record: The Stites Family, Volume: 28 Author: Edmund J. James Publication: July 1897
4. ↑ New York Genealogical and Biographical Record: The Stites Family, Volume: 28 Author: Edmund J. James Publication: July 1897
5. ↑ New York Genealogical and Biographical Record: The Stites Family, Volume: 28 Author: Edmund J. James Publication: July 1897, citing "Annals of Hemstead, L.I., " pp. 24, 28, 38
6. ↑ Clarence Almon Torrey, New England Marriages Prior to 1700, (1985).
7. ↑ https://www.simonpg.com/d312.htm#P1100