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RICHARDSON HISTORY

Copyright © 2006 Bruce Richardson

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

1. Generation 10

    Francis Richardson, b. 15 Sep 1806

2. Endnotes

 

 

 

10th Generation

 

{FRANCIS RICHARDSON}¹⁰

(Asa⁹, John⁸, Thomas⁷, Francis⁶, Stephen⁵, Samuel⁴, Thomas³, Thomas², Thomas¹)

b. 15 Sep 1806 Nelson, NH

d. 21 Mar 1869 Amherst Twp., MN age 62, Stricture of Bowels

buried Lenora Cemetery, Lenora, Fillmore, MN

m1. 31 Jan 1833 Jefferson Co., NY

Catherine Perrine

b. 12 Jun 1801 Spotswood, Middlesex, NJ

d. 27 Sep 1854 Monroe, Green, WI age 53

1st husband: Robert Little b. ABT 1797, m. 15 Jan 1826

Children of 1st marriage: Charlotte Little, James L. Little

m2. bef 22 Dec 1855

Maria (Betsey M.) McWayne

b. 1812 NY

d. 19 Feb 1887 Cape Vincent, NY Typhoid Pneumonia

buried Arsenal St. Protestant Cem., Watertown, Jefferson, NY

 

 

                               

                                        Francis Richardson                                           Catherine

 

The first wife of Francis and mother of his children, Catherine Perrine, was a descendant of French Huguenot ancestor, Daniel Perrin, who came to America in 1665 from Isle of Jersey, France.  Huguenot was the name given to the Protestants of France.  They were mercilessly persecuted throughout their history and in the late 17th century conditions became so intolerable many fled to various countries, including the English Colonies of North America.

 

Catherine’s parents, Robert and Catherine, lived in Monmouth Co., New Jersey.  Catherine’s mother was baptized in and her father is buried at the historic Old Tennent Presbyterian Church.  The Old Tennent Church, Manalpan Twp., Monmouth Co, NJ, was first established in 1692 by a group of Scottish Dissenters who had fled their home land to escape James II's severe persecution for their beliefs.  The present building was built in 1751.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                        Old Tennent Church

  

               

                                  In Memory of ROBERT PERRINE

                                          who departed his life

                                           September 18, 1821

                               Aged 60 years __ months and 21 days

 

Robert was a Captain in the War of 1812: “Robert Perrine Capt. 2d Regiment N.J.  Detached Militia (Middlesex Co.).  Commissioned Sept. 6, 1814 until relieved; discharged Dec. 5, 1814”[1]

 

Catherine’s [wife of Francis] grandfather was Joseph Perrine:

 

“Was one of the original founders of what is now known as Spottswood, NJ, which entire tract, including Matchaponix, belonged to him and his brothers, and comprised over 1000 acres.  His homestead is in fair state of preservation [1910], and is located on the road from Englishtown to Spottswood, and now in the possession of Luther Dey of Englishtown.  Was one of the organizers of the historic St. Peter's Episcopal church, at Spottswood, and Vestryman from 1768 to his death.  Died intestate [no will], wife appointed administratrix on Sept. 12, 1791 (see Liber 32 of Wills, p. 463, Trenton); both buried in Story's Burying Ground, near Freehold.  Was a "Minute Man" in the War of the Revolution.  The following quaint epitaph is from his tombstone:

  "In Memory of Joseph Perrine, who died on Sept. 4, 1791.

         "Now my soul knoweth what to do,

           "Thus shall I with boldness stand,

         "Numbered with the faithful few,

           "Owned and saved at thy right hand."[2]

 

Catherine’s grandfather on her mother’s side, John Anderson, was also a Revolutionary War veteran and a man of distinction.  Per the William M. Mervine book on John Anderson and descendants:

He was elected a member of the Committee of Safety, June 6, 1774; chosen a deputy to the provincial Convention at New Brunswick, July 19, 1774, and a member of the Committee of Observation, March 6, 1775.  Elected First Lieutenant of the Third Battalion of Monmouth County Militia, Febrary 7, 1776.  Resigned Capt., 4th Battalion, 2nd Est., Nov. 28, 1776.

 

From another source, The Anderson, Perrine, ... Families by Henriette Smith, 1902, we learn of an amazing incident involving George Washingtion during his march through New Jersey:

"The night preceding the battle of Monmouth, Gen. Washington was entertained by Capt. Anderson.  The brave leader of the Patriot army paced the porch floor a greater part of the night, watching for the approach of the British troops."

 

Catherine’s mother, Catherine, is buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery in Rochester, NY alongside her son Robert of that place:

                      

                     

 

 

 The 1840 Federal Census finds Francis and Catherine and their six children living on a farm near Clayton, Jefferson, NY, probably quite near his father Asa who was living near Clayton at the time.  We know the family was still there as late as 1847 because of the existence of School Records, an abstract of which includes the following of their children:

 

TOWN OF CLAYTON

CLAYTON CENTER SCHOOL

DISTRICT 17

 

This Book belongs to District No. 17, in the town of Clayton; and it should be placed in the hands of each teacher, by the trustees, at the commencement of his term, and delivered to the trustees at the end of the said term, by the teacher.

 

A list of the scholars who attended the district school of district No. 17, in the town of Clayton, during the term commencing the 17th day of Nov. 1845, and the number of days the respectively attended the same. 

…..

  11/17/1845    RICHARDSON       CLEMENTINE     

 5/02/1846     RICHARDSON       CLEMENTINE     

            1847     RICHARDSON       CLEMENTINE     

  11/17/1845    RICHARDSON       JAMES          

             1847    RICHARDSON       JAMES           

 5/02/1846     RICHARDSON       JOHN A.        

            1847     RICHARDSON       JOHN A.        

  11/17/1845    RICHARDSON       JOHN ASA       

             1847    RICHARDSON       MARY           

  11/17/1845    RICHARDSON       ROBERT          

 5/02/1846     RICHARDSON       ROBERT         

            1847     RICHARDSON       ROBERT         

 5/02/1846     RICHARDSON       SARAHETTE[3]      

 

Land records of 1847 indicate Francis sold his property, so this is likely the year the family moved to Wisconsin.[4]

 

The 1850 Federal Census shows the family living in Monroe, Green County, Wisconsin:

 

       Name                 Age  Occupation Value of Real-estate  State of Birth

Francis Richardson   43     Farmer                   2,000                 Mass. [in error]

Katherine                    48                                                               NJ

James                           21    Carpenter                                         NY

Clementine                 16                                                               NY

Mary C.                        14                                                               NY

Robert                         12                                                               NY

John A.                        10                                                               NY

Sarah F.                         7                                                               NY

Handly                         4                                                                NY

 

Francis had purchased 100 acres of land in October of 1846 (evidently, going on ahead of the family as his children were still in school in Clayton) from his brother Josiah Vining Richardson already living in Monroe.  In August of 1847 Francis purchases another 30 acres.  In March of 1854 Francis buys a lot in the town of Monroe, only 4 blocks from the town square.  This is the same year that Catherine dies on September 24th.

 

Both Catherine and Francis had wealthy brothers living in Monroe, Wisconsin before they arrived, so it’s not difficult to ascertain why they decided to move their family there from New York.

 

Of Catherine’s brother John Lloyd Perrine:

 

In the fall of 1847, Mr. Perrine came to this county and first settled in Monroe; afterwards he opened up a farm in the town of Washington..... Mr. Perrine has been successful and by his own industry has accumulated a good property, and is in the enjoyment of a good home.[5]

 

John went through five wives before “giving up the ghost.”  His last years were spent in the town of Monroe where he is buried without a gravestone.  Catherine’s other brother was Joseph Perrine, manifestly a man of means.  The same History of Green County says of Joseph:

 

Joseph Perrine, one of the pioneers of Green County, is a native of Middlesex Co., N.J., born May 20, 1806. … Joseph Perrine, subject of this sketch, learned the mason's trade in New York City, where he took contracts and employed at times as many as sixty men. ...  Mr. Perrine came to the county in limited circumstances and has been successful in amassing a considerable property.[6]

 

Considerable property, indeed!  Upon the organization of the First National Bank of Monroe in January 1864, Joseph is listed as a director.  There are a great many land transactions on record for Joseph in Monroe County Courthouse.

 

According to my observation, his tombstone is the second tallest in the entire large cemetery of Greenwood in Monroe.  It is of highly polished granite and appears as if it were new:

 

               

                   Joseph Perrine born May 20, 1806

                 DIED JULY 20, 1885 AE 79 YRS. 2MS.

 There is a bronze marker on a rod that says:  War 1812 U.S. Veteran

 

 

An 1853 Wisconsin Gazette gives us a description of Monroe in the very days Francis and Catherine and their brothers and families lived there:

 

Monroe, Green county is 40 miles south from Madison.  Population 900, with 200 dwellings, 7 stores, 3 hotels, 2 mills, 4 waggon, 5 blacksmiths, 4 cabinet, 4 shoe and 4 carpenter shops, 1 broom and 1 chair factory, 2 lath saws, and several turning lathes connected with machinery at the mills, 1 Methodist and 1 Christian church.  Monroe is surrounded by a rich farming country and large tracts of the best quality of timber.  The location is very healthy.  The flouring mill runs 4 run of stone, and with the saw mill, is driven by steam.

 

 

                

                                                   Monroe, Green, Wisconsin

 

Remarkably, on the 1st day of September, the very month that his wife Catherine dies (September 24th), Francis is in Fillmore County, Minnesota in the year 1854 purchasing 80 acres of land, and again in October purchasing another 240 acres.  On October 15, 1855 he takes out a land patent, i.e. a grant by the government giving exclusive title to a portion of public land.  This is interesting also in terms of how early our Richardson ancestry was involved in the settlement of the Territory of Minnesota, which didn’t become a state until 1858.

 

A History of Minnesota notes:

 

"The surveys of public lands of the territory west of the Mississippi were not begun till the season of 1853, and it was not till 1855 that the first installment of lands, 1,178,003 acres in the extreme southeastern corner of the state, was offered for sale."[7]  [must have been 1854 as that is when Francis first purchased land]

 

Francis settled in the township of Amherst in Fillmore County Minnesota.  Today the area is populated with Amish people.  Horse and buggies are a common sight.  The town of Harmony, about 5 miles SW, is a noted enclave of Amish people.  Francis’s property abutted a feeder creek of the Root River, an area very picturesque with rolling hills and patches of woods.

 

                   

 

At the death of Catherine, Francis was left to raise the family on his own (the youngest, Handly, was almost 9 years old), so it comes as no surprise that shortly thereafter Francis appears with a new wife, Maria.  A property transaction of Dec. 22, 1855 lists Maria as his wife.

 

Maria (Betsey) McWayne was from the Cape Vincent area of Jefferson County, NY, about twelve miles to the SW of the area Francis resided near Clayton Center. 

 

                   

 

In 1860 Minnesota took a Special Agriculture Census which reveals the name of owner, acres and cash value of land, value of machinery, livestock, produce, and value of animals slaughtered.  In the Agriculture Schedules Fillmore Co., Amherst Township, Francis Richardson:

 

Acres of Land 40 improved, 160 unimproved, cash value of farm 1200, 3 horses, 2 Milch cows, 3 other cattle, 4 swine, value of livestock 200, bushels of wheat 411, bushels of Indian Corn 400, bushels of oats 650, bushels of Irish potatoes 60, lbs. of butter 200, tons of hay 5, value of animals slaughtered 35.

 

In comparing Francis’s holdings to others of the area, one can deduce that he was a bit above average in terms of prosperity.

 

The 1870 Agriculture Schedules give an indication of the wherewithal of the widowed Maria:

 

Acres of land Improved 52, woodland 30, other unimproved 28, present cash value of farm 2000, of farming implements & machinery 100, Total amount of wages paid during the year including value of board 100, horses 3, milch cows 3, other cattle 1, swine 6, value of all live stock 400, bushels spring wheat 500, bushels of Indian Corn 500, bushels of oats 525, lbs. butter 150, tons hay 8, estimated value all farm production, including betterments and additions to stock 140.

 

Francis is buried in Lenora cemetery, a small cemetery associated with the first church built in Fillmore County, Lenora United Methodist Church, built 1856 and rebuilt in 1865.  It is the oldest Methodist church in the State of Minnesota.  It is still occasionally used for special services.  In all probability, Francis and family attended this church.

 

 

                       

                                                      Lenora Methodist Church

  

 

 

                          

                                       Interior of Lenora Methodist Church   (2004)

 

  

                                          

                                                          Lenora Cemetery

 

It was the excited discovery of learning that my great-great-grandfather was Francis Richardson, that he had lived in Fillmore County, Minnesota, was buried there, and the eventual finding of his gravestone (above) in 1999 that ignited the fires and gave impetus to my genealogy researches.

 

In searching for an obituary in the newspaper for Francis, I came across this ominous admonition in the March 26, 1869 edition of the Preston Republican (Preston is nearest newspaper to Amherst, MN) that gives a flavor of the times in the year which Francis died:

“What harm is there,” said a young man, “in playing a game of cards for amusement?”

It leads to the formation of bad habits gambling, drinking, swearing; and it is attended by loss of time, loss of health, loss of reputation, loss of peace, loss of fortune, and loss of both body and soul.

 

 

           Children of Francis & Catherine:

James C. Richardson [Little]  [from Catherine’s first marriage] b. 01 Apr 1829 NY, d. 12 Jul 1899 Tacoma, WA, age 70,  
    buried Old Tacoma Cem., Tacoma, WA

      m. 25 Dec 1852 Leona M. Cady b. 21 May 1835 VT, d. 11 Aug 1884 Washington D.C., age 49,
      buried Congressional Cem., Washington D.C.
Clementine Richardson b. 16 Nov 1833 NY, d. 15 Jul 1922 Witchita, KS,

   age 88, buried Walnut Hill Cem., Kingman, KS

      m. 19 Sep 1852 Levi M. Smith b. 27 Apr 1830 Fayette Co., PA, d. 9 Jul 1899 Kingman Co., KS, age 69,
      buried Walnut Hill Cem., Kingman, KS

Mary Catherine Richardson b. 15 Jan 1836 NY, d. 21 Sep 1906 CA, age 70, buried Newcastle Cem., Newcastle, CA

   m. 3 Oct 1855 Fillmore Co., MN Warren Jacob Howell b. 3 Sep 1821 NY, d. 21 May 1898 Santa Cruz, CA, age 76,
   buried Newcastle Cem., Newcastle, CA

Robert Perrine Richardson b. 03 Nov 1837 NY, d. 29 Jun 1920, age 82, Memphis, TN, buried Forest Hill Cem., Memphis, TN

   m. 09 Oct 1859 Amherst Twp., Fillmore Co., MN Martha A. (Abbey) Ruggles b. Mar 1843 WI, d. bef 1910

John Asa Richardson b. 04 Aug 1839 NY, d. 25 May 1907 Mason City, IA, age 67,
    buried Elmwood Cem. Mason City, IA

      m. 14 Feb 1864 Amherst  Twp., Fillmore, MN Nellie Stevens (sister of Handly’s wife Josephine),
      b. 13 Oct 1841 Concord, NH, d. 17 Jul 1910 Mason City, IA age 68, buried Elmwood Cem. Mason City, IA

Sarahett B. Richardson b. 04 Jun 1841 NY, d. 23 Feb 1923 Kingman Co., KS, age 81 years,
   buried Walnut Hill Cem., Kingman, KS

      m. 19 Apr 1857 Fillmore Co., MN Annanias (Bud) Lashmet b. 1832 Schulyer Co., IL, d. 1921 Kiowa, KS, age 89,
      buried Riverview Cem., Kiowa, KS

         His 1^st marriage: m. Betsey b. ABT 1831 PA

{Handly Bushnell Richardson} b. 15 Oct 1845 Jefferson Co., NY, d. 22 Nov 1916 Worthington, MN, age 71,
   buried Tracy Cem., Tracy, MN

     m. 13 Oct 1867 Amherst Twp., Fillmore Co., MN Josephine Deborah Stevens (sister of Nellie) b. 16 Jun 1849 Concord, NH,
     d. 10 May 1915 Worthington, MN age 65, buried Tracy Cem., Tracy, MN

Ten lineal generations of Richardsons are delineated in this genealogy.  What an incredible heritage we have!  With rare exceptions, the record betrays and conveys that our Richardsons that colonized and pioneered this land of the free and home of the brave were exceptional, exemplary people, strong in spirit, firm of faith, truly a heritage to be proud of.  They were, as we are--truly blessed of the Lord.

 

“For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;

his faithfulness continues through all generations.”

Psalm 100:5

 

 

Copyright © 2006 Bruce H. Richardson. This data file may not be copied except for small quotations used with citation of source.

 

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