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   Page 5 of 10

RICHARDSON HISTORY

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

1. Generation 5

    Stephen Richardson, b. 15 Aug 1649 Woburn, MA

 

2. Endnotes

 

 

5th Generation

{STEPHEN RICHARDSON}⁵

(Samuel⁴, Thomas³, Thomas², Thomas¹)

b. 15 Aug 1649 Woburn, MA

d. 20 Mar 1718 Woburn, MA age 69

m. 02 Jan 1675

Abigail Wyman

b. ~1659 Woburn, MA

d. 17 Sep 1720 Woburn, MA age 61

 

Woburn, MA First Burial Ground.  Gravestone: "Here lyes ye body of Mrs. Abigail Richardson,
wife of Mr. Stephen Richardson, aged 60 years, who died September 17th, 1720."

 

       

 

Woburn First Burial Ground. Gravestone: "Here lyes the body of Mr. Stephen Richardson,
aged about 67 years, died March ye 20th, 1717-18."

 

        

 

  

    Stephen Richardson:

He resided in Woburn, which then included Burlington and a part of Wilmington. His land extended into Billerica, which then joined Woburn. He was freeman, 1690 and died March 20, 1718, aged 69.

His will is dated Aug. 15, 1713; Proved April 22, 1718; recorded Middlesex Probate Record, XV. 157-163. It is very long, occupying six folio pages. In it he mentions as living, wife Abigail, daughters Abigail, Vinton, and Prudence Kendall, sons Stephen, William, Francis, Timothy, Seth, Daniel, and Solomon. His widow Abigail died Sept. 17, 1720, aged 60.[28]

       Abstract of his will:

"I Stephen Richardson Senior of Woburn ... Yeoman, being aged, and under deceases of Nature, do ... ordain ... this ... my Last will and Testament ... in the following manner ...

Item .. My Will is and I do hereby Give ... unto my Dearly Beloved Wife Abigail .. all .. my personal Estate .. the free use and improvement of my dwelling House and orchard .. during the time that Shee Shall Remain my Widdow and I do .. Appoin t my Son Daniell Richardson to keep .. for my Wife two Cowes .. until my Son Solomon doth arrive the age of one and twenty years .. Besides what I .. gave unto my Eldest Son Stephen Richardson Deceased .. I further Give unto the surviving children of my Said Son Stephen .. To my Son William Richardson .. To my Son Francis Richardson, besides what I have formerly possessed him of upon marriage and otherwayes which I account his full portion out of my Estate I further give unto him five shillings as a token of my love .. To my daughter Abigail Vinton .. To my Son Timothy Richardson .. To my Daughter Prudence Kendall .. To my son Seth Richardson .. to my Daughter Mary Richardson .. To my two Sons belonging to my Brother Samuel Richardson Deceased."

Signed.  Dated 12 Aug 1713, proved 3 Apr. 1718.  (He left all of his property to his sons, Daniel and Solomon, and took five pages to do so.)  Wit.: Joseph Richardson, Jr. , Stephen Richardson, Jr., Thomas Richardson, and James Towle.  (Middlesex Probate 19143).[29]

 

1660 - The restoration of Charles II to the throne of England. Puritans lost the privilege of freedom of worship, and it was declared illegal to conduct divine service except in accordance with the forms of the Church of England. John Bunyan was a Puritan pastor who was imprisoned for non-conformist worship practice. In 1678 he wrote his masterpiece Pilgrim's Progress, an allegory of the pilgrimage of a soul in search of salvation, which became the most widely read book in the English language after the Bible.

1662 - The Day of Doom is published.

The first books published in the New World were Puritan, published in Cambridge and Boston. The very first of these was The Whole Book of Psalms. Another best seller, published in 1662 and reprinted many times thereafter, was The Day of Doom, Or a Poetical Description of the Great and Last Judgment, written by Michael Wigglesworth, a Puritan minister. Two of its 224 dreary stanzas are presented here as an example of how graphically and grisly it describes the eternal punishment of the damned and marvelously epitomizes the heavy Puritan emphasis on law and judgment:

Whom having brought, as they were taught,

unto the brink of Hell,

(That dismal place far from Christ's face

where Death and Darkness dwell;

Where God's firece ire kindleth the fire,

and vengeance feeds the flame

With piles of Wood, and Brimstone flood,

that none can quench the same,)

With Iron bands they bind their hands

and cursed feet together,

And cast them all, both great and small,

into that Lake forever,

Where day and night, without respite,

they wail, and cry, and howl

For tort'ring pain, which they sustain

in Body and in Soul.

 

 

           Children of Stephen & Abigail:

Stephen Richardson b. 20 Feb 1675 Woburn, MA, d. 14 Jan 1712 Billerica, MA age 36

      m. ~1700 Susanna Wilson b. 11 Mar 1679 Woburn, MA

Francis Richardson b. 19 Jan 1677 Woburn, MA, d. 27 Jan 1677 Woburn, MA age 8 days

William Richardson b. 14 Dec 1678 Woburn, MA, d. 06 Sep 1749 Attleborough, MA age 70 Husbandman

      m. 15 Sep 1703 Rebecca Vinton b. 26 Mar 1683, d. Feb 1774 Attleborough, MA

      Buried Old Kirk Yard Cemetery, Attleborough, MA

 

           

 

{Francis Richardson} b. 15 Jan 1681 Woburn, MA, d. 31 Dec 1755 Attleborough, MA age 75

      m. 07 Jul 1708 Sarah Houghton

Timothy Richardson b. 06 Dec 1682 Woburn, MA, d. 18 Jan 1683 Woburn, MA

Abigail Richardson b. 14 Nov 1683 Woburn, MA, d. 21 Jun 1720 Stoneham, MA age 36, buried Woburn First Burial Ground,

   Gravestone: "Here Lyes ye Body of M'rs Abigail Vinton wife to Lieu't. John Vinton Aged 36 Years 5 M'o. & 6
   Da's De'cd May 20'th 1720"

      m. John Vinton Esq. b. ~1678 Malden, MA, d. 1760 Dudley, MA. A wealthy and influential man.

   

         

 

Prudence Richardson b. 17 Jan 1685 Woburn, MA, d. 1720 age 34

m. Samuel Kendall Lt. b. 29 Oct 1682 Woburn, MA, d. 13 Dec. 1764, buried Woburn First Burial Ground,

Gravestone: "Here lyes Buried the Body of Lieu't Samuel Kendall who

                         departed this life Decem'r the 13'th 1764 Aged 83 Years."

Received a lieutenant's commission from Gov. Belcher, 1732; was an original propietor of Townsend and Athol, MA and widely known.

Timothy Richardson b. 24 Jan 1687 Woburn, MA, d. 1 Jun 1777 Malden, MA

   m. 1713 Susanna Holden

Seth Richardson b. 16 Jan 1689 Woburn, MA, d. 01 Sep 1747 Attleborough,

   MA age 58, buried Old Kirk Yard Cemetery, Attleborough, MA

   m. Mary Brown b. 1687 Woburn, MA, d. 15 Jan 1752/53 Attleborough, MA

        A Bristol County land record of 1737 lists the bounds of the lands of Seth

 

      

 

     

Daniel Richardson b. 16 Oct 1691 Woburn, MA, d. 20 Apr 1749 Woburn,

   MA age 57, buried First Burial Ground, Woburn, MA

   Gravestone: "Here lyes Buried ye Body of M'r Daniel Richardson who Departed

                            this Life April 20'th A.D. 1749 Aged 57 Years 6 Months & 4 Day's."

      m. Joanna (Mousall) Miller

 

        

 

Mary Richardson b. 03 May 1696 Woburn, MA, d. bef 1713 Woburn, MA age <16

Rebecca Richardson b. 10 Jun 1698 Woburn, MA, d. 06 Sep 1711, Woburn, MA age 13

Solomon Richardson b. 27 Mar 1702 Woburn, MA, "became non compos mentis about 1730,"
   i.e. non competent mentally

Henry Richardson b. 1704 Woburn, MA

 

1688 - In December, King James II of England flees to France after being deposed by influential English leaders.

 

1689 - In February, William and Mary of Orange become King and Queen of England.

 

Thomas Richardson, 1st cousin in our direct line, b. 25 Sep 1684 of Woburn, MA, was one of only nine fighters who escaped unhurt of a famous 1725 Indian battle called Lovewell's Fight at Pigwacket Indian village. Timothy Richardson, 2nd cousin, b. 24 Jul 1687 of Woburn, MA, was badly wounded. Seth Wyman, later Captain Wyman, b. 13 Sep 1686 of Woburn, MA, 3rd cousin, became the acting commander of the battle and a hero who was later awarded a silver sword by the Lt. Govenor of the State of Massachusetts for bravery.[30]

 

The following account comes from The Richardson Memorial (mostly a quote from Sewall's History of Woburn). All the towns and rivers mentioned are in what is now New Hampshire, except Fryburg, which is just over the border in Maine:

During the war with the Abenaquis or Eastern Indians, from 1722 to 1726, the government of Massachusetts, for the protection of the frontiers, offered a bounty of 100 pounds for Indian scalps and captives. In pursuance of this encouragement, Capt. John Lovewell, of Dunstable, with a company of volunteers, undertook three expeditions; one in December, 1724, one in January and February, 1725, and a third in April and May 1725. They were under a commission from the Government of Massachusetts to which Province Dunstable then belonged.

 

About the 16th of April, 1725, Capt. Lovewell, with forty-six men, left Dunstable on a third expedition. They went up the Merrimack River, and its main branch, the Pemigewasset; and, when well up the latter stream, appear to have struck off eastward through the present town of Moultonborough to Ossipee Lake. At the Locality just named, a man, Benjamin Kidder, of Nutfield [Londonderry], being taken sick, they halted, constructed a rude Fort, for a place of refuge, if needed, and left the sick man, with the surgeon, and eight others, with a considerable amount of provision, in the fort. This reduced their number to 34, including the captain; two others from disability, having been left at Contoocook, now Boscawen.

 

The names of the men who now went forward, and took part in the fight, are these, Capt. John Lovewell, Lieutenants Joseph Farwell, and Johnathan Robins, Ensign John Harwood, Sergeant Noah Johnson, Robert Usher, and Samuel Whiting, all of Dunstable; Ensign Seth Wyman, Corporal Thomas Richardson, Timothy Richardson, Ichabod Johnson, and Josiah Johnson, of Woburn; Eleazar Davis, Josiah Davis, Josiah Jones, David Melvin, Eleazar Melvin, Jacob Farrar, and Joseph Farrar, of Concord; Jonathan Fry, of Andover, Chaplain; Sergeant Jacob Fullam, of Weston; Corporal Edward Lingfield, of Nutfield, now Londonderry; Jonathan Kittredge and Solomon Keys, of Billerica; John Jefts, Daniel Woods, Thomas Woods, John Chamberlain [who killed Paugus, the Indian chief], Elias Barron, Isaac Lakin, and Joseph Gilson, of Groton; Ebenezer Ayre, and Abiel Asten, of Haverhill. Four grandsons of Major Johnson are here included.

 

They soon came to the headwaters of the Saco River, thirty miles or more from their fort at Ossipee, and reached a pond or lake in the present town of Fryburg, by the side of which they encamped. The Pigwacket or Pequaket [Indian] villages were now near at hand.

Early in the morning of Saturday, May 8, while at prayers, they heard the discharge of a gun; and soon saw an Indian, they supposed, was placed there for a decoy. Marching toward the Indian, some of the men fired upon him. He returned fire, and the first shot mortally wounded Capt. Lovewell. Ensign Seth Wyman then fired, and killed the Indian.

Some delay now took place while the company were looking for their packs, which had been left in the rear, and covertly removed by the Indians. About ten o'clock in the forenoon, a large body of Indians rose, in two parties, in front and rear, and with a hideous yell, ran toward the English with arms presented. The English also presented arms, and ran to meet them. The Captain now dead, and the two Lieutenants soon after disabled by wounds, the command now devolved on Ensign Wyman for the remainder of the day.

 

The fight was maintained with great obstinacy and resolution on both sides; Indians had every advantage, being supposed to be seventy, some say eighty in number, and enclosing the English on both front and rear. The latter, at the outset were, but thirty-four, all told, and of this number nine were slain, soon after the fight began. But the Indians suffered the most; forty of them were killed on the spot; eighteen more died of their wounds, and only twelve escaped injury. Of the thirty-four whites who engaged in the conflict only nine escaped unhurt. viz.: Ensign Seth Wyman, and Thomas Richardson, of Woburn, Daniel Melvin, Eleazar Melvin, and Joseph Farrar, of Concord, Joseph Gilson of Groton, Ebenezer Ayre and Abiel Asten, of Haverhill, and Edward Lingfield, of Londonderry. Nine were badly wounded, Viz.: Timothy Richardson and Josiah Johnson, of Woburn, Noah Johnson, and Samuel Whiting of Dunstable, John Chamberlain, Isaac Lakin, Eleazar Davis, Josiah Jones of Concord, Solomon Keys, of Billerica.

Woburn and the whole country, was in mourning for the precious lives lost in this encounter. But the power of the Indians of New England never recovered from the disaster they sustained.[31]

These were perilous times for the colonists living at the fringe of civilization. The Indians were being pushed out of their ancestral lands and taking a dim view of it. Robert Richardson, 3rd cousin in this direct line, was one such colonist who lived in a part of Dunstable, Massachusetts, near the border, which later became Litchfield, New Hampshire. The Richardson Memorial notes:

The country being kept almost constantly in alarm from the fear of hostile visits from the Indians, who often came unexpectedly, it was necessary to be always in a state of preparation for such visits. A large number of men in Dracut and vicinity were kept constantly armed and equipped; and since the Indians might come in winter, as well as summer, these men were supplied with snow shoes, at the expense of the province. The whole north regiment of Essex County was thus supplied in 1710. There were over fifty men thus supplied in the town of Haverhill, then including Methuen, and adjoining Dracut. They were known as "snow shoe men." In 1725, Robert Richardson had a company of "snow shoe men," some of whom went in pursuit of the Indians after the "Pigwacket Fight," May 8, 1725. They went because they were acquainted with the haunts and habits of the Indians.[32]

 

With valor is the memory of Lieut. James Richardson (1^st cousin in this direct line). He lived in Chelmsford, Mass. and was well acquainted with the Indians and thus in 1676 was put in command of a newly built fort at Lowell, Mass. owing to an increase of Indian hostilities in the area.

In the spring of 1677, the Indians were committing great ravages in Maine, and great anxiety and alarm was felt for the safety of the distant settlements in that region. Wells was attacked by the savages in April, although there was a garrison there, and the attack was several times repeated. The government of Massachusetts sent a force of forty soldiers and two hundred friendly Indians, from Natick and vicinity, under the command of Capt. Benjamin Swett, of Hampton then supposed to be in Massachusett s and Lieut. James Richardson, to check those incursions. These forces were embarked at Boston in vessels which were to ascend the Kennebec River, and the men after landing were to proceed to Tactic Fall snow Waterville and there take and destroy six Indian forts, said to be well supplied with ammunition. On the way, the vessels anchored off Black Point, in Scarborough, where Capt. Swett, June 28th, landed a party of men to try the valor of his company with some Indians that had been seen there. They were there joined by some of the inhabitants, so as to make ninety in all: The next day they fell into an ambuscade, and found themselves surrounded by great numbers of Indians, two miles from the fort, and in the midst of a swamp. The soldiers, many of whom were young and undisciplined, did not well abide the sudden onset. Lieut. Richardson was killed soon after the fray began. Many on both sides shared the same fate.[33]

Lieut. James Richardson, just mentioned, left three sons. The youngest, Ezekiel Richardson, b. 03 Sep 1667, met with an untimely and unusual death--literally at the hand of Edward Spalding. As recorded in The Richardson Memorial :

He died before completing his thirtieth year. As to the manner of his death the following extract informs us. Extract from court records; "At Charlestown, 26, Jan'y 1696, Edward Spalding [was] presented for that upon the 25th of November, 1696, at Chelmsford, near the house of Cornet Hills, innholder, he struck Ezekiel Richardson, of Chelmsford, with his fist, who instantly fell to the ground, and afterwards languished until the 27th of November, and then died."[34]

 

1692 - In May, hysteria grips the village of Salem, Massachusett s, as witchcraft suspects are arrested and imprisoned. A special court is then set up by the Governor of Massachusetts. Between June and September, 150 persons are accused, with 20 persons, including 14 women, being executed. By October, the hysteria subsides, remaining prisoners are released and the special court is dissolved.

Stephen⁵ (g’-grandfather in direct line) would have been 43 years old and his son, Francis⁶  (g’-grandfather in direct line) 12 years old during the famous Salem witch trials of 1692. Salem was only 12 miles away from their home in Woburn (see map) so they would have been keenly aware of goings on.

The witchcraft hysteria that swept through Essex County in 1691 to 1692 was set off by a combination of things, including the fear of witches brought over to the Massachusetts Bay Colony by the English settlers. Launching the hysteria was the bizarre, seemingly inexplicable behavior of two young girls; the daughter, Betty, and the niece, Abigail Williams, of the Salem Village minister, Reverend Samuel Parris. Rev. Parris had a West Indian slave named Tituba who was familiar with Voodoo. She entertained the Reverend's daughter, Elizabeth, age 9, and her friends with stories of witchcraft. Soon the girls were rolling on the ground and wailing like banshees, spellbound as if they were bewitched and soon the witch hunt in Salem Village (Danvers) was on. 

Villagers who had something against neighbors, or wished to confiscate land adjacent to their own property, convinced the impressionable girls that something was wrong or strange about the intended victims. Elizabeth Parris, and her friends, now over their heads and feeling power because the grown-ups believed their accusations against others when they were throwing their fits, testified against the suspected followers of the devil.

 

In all, 24 people died, 19 of them, including five men, were hanged on Gallows Hill in Salem Town as witches, beginning on July 19, 1692. Another man, who refused to confess, Giles Corey, age 80, had heavy stones laid on him to induce him to confess, and after two days was crushed to death.  This form of torture was actually illegal in Massachusetts after 1641 but used against Cory for "standing mute." 

 

           

  

Here is a sample of actual trial records to show how ridiculously contrived the charges were:

Elisabeth Johnson wickedly, feloniously and maliciously a covenant with the Devill did make by which diabolical covenant she gave herself both soule and body to the Devill and signed the Devill's book and by him was baptized and under him renounced her Christian baptism and God and Christ and owned the Devill to be her God and promised to serve and obey him forever, by which wicked covenant thee the said Elisabeth Johnson is become a detestable witch.[35]

 

      

                       Examination of a Witch, by T.H. Matteson, 1853 

 

In addition to such suspect misbehavior as detailed above, anyone who was "different" was fingered as a witch, such as Sarah Osborn, who had resorted to begging to support her family. Or Rebecca Nurse who was old, partly deaf, and couldn't defend herself.
 "Oh Lord, help me! It is false. I am clear.          
 For my life now lies in your hands......"

 

          

                    

Puritanism began to disintegrate in the latter part of the 17th century. The downfall can be attributed to many factors. Under Puritanism the agricultural village, with the centrally located church and homes, was the center of life in every community and the ideal economic and social unit that provided cohesiveness. But when thousands turned from agriculture to commerce, shipbuilding and fishing, when many villages grew into thriving cities, and when the farm (removed now from town) began to replace the common field, ministers lost control and things gradually came apart.

The temple of American Puritanism fell because it was built, had to be built, on the sands of human nature. When the pillars of the structure--political autonomy, the close alliance of Church and State, the control of education, orthodoxy, the stern code of morals, isolation--one after another began to sag, it was not so much the pillars themselves as the sand which caused the trouble. . . . As the decades of the seventeenth century passed, men's minds expanded to keep pace with new scientific discoveries, with new ideals of human rights, with new conceptions of man's relation to God.[36]

It must be said, however, that the influence and impress of Puritanism remains positive yet today. It was largely instrumental in molding the character of New England and subsequently that of the entire United States.