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The Lion-Heart... The Crucible... The tall tale... The Richards

        On June 10th, 1696 Daniel Richards, mariner of Lynn, released lands of inheritance at Spring Pond.  This is the earliest trace, old history books tell. 

He inherited Spring Pond Farm from his father Edward Richards.  The following story is extracted from the Richards Family History Websitetelling us interesting stories of a "tall tale" and of his daughter-in-law Elizabeth Basset-Proctor, an accused witch who survived the Salem Witch Trials, as mentioned in 'The Crucible'...
  
            "Edward Richards, chr. 26 Jan 1615/16 at St. Andrew's parish, Plymouth, Devonshire; d. 26 Jan 1689/90 Lynn MA

Edward seems to have arrived in Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts Bay Colony in the summer of 1633 or 1634 as a young, teenaged, indentured servant for Sir John Humphreys, probably as an apprentice 'joiner', a carpenter doing interior detail, working on the estate of the Assistant Governor.  He ended his indenture and took the Freeman's Oath in 1640.  Since there is no land title, it is likely that Edward was a squatter on the Humphreys estate, and was permitted to keep a small portion during the depopulation of New England when Puritans returned to fight in the English Civil War.  His homestead referred to as Spring Pond Farm in later years.

One of the earliest court documents for Edward was in July 1646 when he was charged for public lying, saying that he was one of ten pirates who stole a ship to come to New England. They killed the entire crew, and Edward was made captain.  When they were overtaken, all the pirates were killed but Edward, since he was a minor. For this tall tale he was fined 10 s, and made to apologize in church before the entire town.

In June 1670, as the town of Lynn began dividing common land, Edward was in court again as he "stood with a club to defend the land boundaries." .... His first wife, and mother of all recorded descendants, is still undocumented. His second wife, the widow Ann (Ballard) Knight brought to their marriage inheritance of an inn, qualifying all his family descendants today as members of the Descendants of Colonial Tavern Keepers- and in July 1675 the court renewed his license to keep an ordinary [inn].

Edward died just two years before the witchcraft delusion in neighboring Salem. His son Daniel was to marry a survivor of the hysteria, Elizabeth (Bassett) Proctor, helping raise her five children.  One of Edward's descendants, Joseph Richards, married Mary Bowden, a great granddaughter of a less fortunate martyr of 1692, Rebecca (Towne) Nurse.

Children:
1st mar. appx 1643, Lynn MA, phps Mary FARNSWORTH
1. John RICHARDS, b. appx 1645 in Lynn MA; d. appx March 1712/13, Lynn MA
2. Bathsheba RICHARDS, b. appx 1647 in Lynn MA; mar. 15 Apr 1667 in Lynn MA to Robert BRINSDON, of Boston MA

2nd mar. appx 1649, Lynn MA, to Ann [Ballard] KNIGHT
3. Daniel RICHARDS, b. appx 1653 in Lynn MA; int. 22 Sep 1699 in Lynn MA to Elizabeth BASSETT-PROCTOR, whose husband was killed in Salem witchcraft hysteria [see Arthur Miller's The Crucible]."

Surname:
The name 'Richard' itself is Norman, and did not appear in England until after the Conquest in 1066. The name was still considered 'foreign' among the people of England and Wales until the reign of Richard the Lion-Heart, 1189-1199. Then, common people throughout the realm began naming their sons after the short-lived, but heroic king. "
 


Thank you to Tom Osborn for sharing the link to the Richards family website.






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