MARYLAND CONNECTION
My oldest granddaughter recently started attending Notre
Dame University of Maryland in Baltimore. Most of our family research has
centered around Missouri and parts south, but just before my sister Sula passed
she found the proof of the missing link in the Richard family. That of Edward
Richards (1678-1755). He came from England and lived in Baltimore for a time.
John Richards
Mary Kidder Edward
Richards
William Head Benjamin
Richards
Ann Bigger Mary
Head
Charles Merryman Sr
Mary Haile Charles
Merryman Jr
Thomas Long Ann
Merryman
Jane Peake Jane
Long
7th
Great-grandparents
Edward Richards
BIRTH: 10 Apr 1678, Lancashire, England
DEATH: 22 Sep 1755 (aged 77), Hampstead, Carroll County,
Maryland, USA
BURIAL: Richards Family Burial Ground, Carroll County,
Maryland, USA
ENGLAND
- Edward's parents are not known to me. I found a Richard and
Hester Richards of Manchester, Lancashire England whose names are noted in an
English baptismal record with a son, Edward Richards, baptized in the year
1684. This family is a possible connection, but as yet unconfirmed.
EMIGRATION
- Edward is found first in the new world living in the Chesapeake Bay area in Maryland. I do not know the date of his arrival. His first-born son Benjamin was birthed in 1710 and recorded in St. Paul's Parish of Baltimore County MD. Edward and wife Mary Head, born in Calvert County MD must have been married prior to 1710.
- Edward was a carpenter by trade, and a Christian by faith and motivation.
LAND IN DORCHESTER
- Edward, on 2nd of August 1720, ordered the survey of 100 acres in Dorchester County Maryland, a tract named "Downs". It was patented on September 10th 1724.
- On the 5th of July of 1729 Edward sold his 100 acres, "Downs", in Dorchester Maryland [east of Chesapeake Bay] to Francis Sherwood who lived in Talbot County Maryland [just north of Dorchester]. Edward and Mary were no doubt living in Dorchester at the time, and were preparing to relocate.
QUAKER BOTTOM
- Edward Richards had 100 acres surveyed 28 August 1729 that he named "Spring Garden", and patented July 18 1730. The land lay in an unsettled area 25 miles north west of Baltimore.
- In 1729 Edward & family [all his children except the last had been born] removed about 120 miles north west to a place called "Quaker Bottom" [it lay in present-day Cockeysville] above the town of Baltimore. There, a group of Quaker Friends [a Christian sect] were already worshiping together and became the original Gunpowder Meeting.
- Edward & family must have stayed at the Gunpowder Meeting through 1738.
- "The congregation was given permission [by the overseeing committee] to form a monthly meeting in 1739."
- Quoted from Maryland Historical Trust.
- [this location less than 14 miles north of present-day Baltimore on I-83.]
NEW BEGINNINGS
- In 1737, his son Benjamin purchased 50 acre tract called "Spring Garden". Around 1739 Edward and first-born son Benjamin moved their families onto "Spring Garden" and "Rattlesnake Ridge" [Edward had it surveyed July 18, 1738], and formed a Quaker meeting there [8.3 miles north west of present-day town of Butler]. Those tracts grew from an uninhabited area into first a village used as a wagon stop named "Spring Garden", and then later Hampstead MD. It lies about 25 miles north west of Baltimore, and about 52 miles north west of Washington, D.C.
- [I'm indebted to Arthur C. Tracey, Hampstead MD historian and land tract researcher.]
- "The first settlers in the area [of Hampstead] were of English descent and derived the town's name from the Richards family in England. Edward Richards is generally regarded as the first white man to have settled the area on 50 acres known as 'Rattlesnake Ridge'. Settlers of Scottish and German descent soon followed.
- The earliest tracts of land patented in the region were 'Spring Garden' in 1730, 'Rattlesnake Ridge' in 1739, and 'Wee Bit' in 1739." [Joan Prall: "Hampstead: Its Heart and History"]
BURIAL GROUND RESURRECTED
- The following article appeared in the Baltimore Sun on April 16, 2004:
- "Several decades ago, the Richards family burying ground located on Rattlesnake Ridge was overgrown and practically inaccessible. Development of the area helped bring about the restoration of the cemetery that dates back to the 1750s and the final resting place of Edward Richards, whose family founded the town of Hampstead, and Henry Bussard, the founder of Mount Airy."
- In April 2004, the burial ground was rededicated in a ceremony attended by the Mayor of Hampstead and several descendants of the Richards' family."
FAMILY
Edward and Mary had these children:
1. Benjamin [1710] +Ann Merryman
2. Matthew [1711] +Maria Corem Carmack
3. Ann [1717] +? Morgain
4. Sarah [1719] +? Phippen
5. Daniel [1719] +Catherine Carmack
6. Elizabeth [1721] +? Simons
7. Rachael Sue [1723] +? Sice
8. Patience [1724] +Thomas Story
9. Richard [1725] +Sarah Hooker
10. Lydia [1727] +William Winchester
11. Stephen [1728] +Mary Elizabeth Carmack
12. Mary [1732] +Christopher Vaughn
FOUNDERS
- Edward's children were instrumental in settling and beginning towns nearby. Richard founded the town of Manchester MD. Lydia married William Winchester, who founded Westminster MD. Mary wedded Christopher Vaughn, who was credited with laying out and platting the ground which became Hampstead [which Edward and son Benjamin first settled].
HIS BOOK, THE HOLY BIBLE
- Edward's personal Bible survives. It is kept in trust at the Carroll County Historical Society in Westminster MD. It was professionally photographed in 1978 at the direction of Descan Harley Richards [1900] OH/IN, who had the Bible at that time, for preservation. I have photo-copies of the pages of the Bible on which personal notes/records were written. The Bible was printed in 1670.
- In his Bible, Edward wrote this: "His book. I pray for grace therein to look, and in looking may increase that grace as never with me may cease."
- To that I can only say "Amen." HGR---a grateful descendant.
(Thank you Harold G. Richards for this research)
Mary Head Richards
BIRTH: 1 Feb 1690, Calvert County, Maryland, USA
DEATH: 20 Jan 1785 (aged 94), Hampstead, Carroll County,
Maryland, USA
BURIAL: Richards Family Burial Ground, Carroll County,
Maryland, USA
- Mary was born in Calvert County MD of parents unknown to me at this time. She married Edward Richards [1678-1755] of Manchester, Lancashire England before 1710. Edward had come to the new world and ported in Chesapeake Bay. Their first-born son, Benjamin; was born in Maryland in 1710.
Edward and Mary had these children:
1. Benjamin [1710] +Ann Merryman
2. Matthew [1711-27 Nov 1751] + Maria Corem Carmack
3. Ann [1717] +? Morgain
4. Sarah [1719] +? Phippen
5. Daniel [1719-31 Oct 1787] +Catherine Carmack
6. Elizabeth [1721] +? Simons
7. Rachael Sue [1723] +? Sice
8. Patience [1724] +Thomas Story
9. Richard [1725] +Sarah Hooker 14 July 1754
10. Lydia [1727] +William Winchester
11. Stephen [1728] +Mary Elizabeth Carmack
12. Mary [1732] +Richard Vaughn
- After living in Dorcester County until 1729, the family moved to join a forming Gunpowder Quaker Meeting about 15 miles north west of Baltimore. In 1739, Edward moved his family 13 miles further north west to land he had purchased. There they began a Quaker Meeting and settled for good.
- First-born son Benjamin took his family and moved to Virginia in 1750. Mary lost her son Matthew to an early death in 1751, then her husband Edward succumbed in 1755.
- Mary lived on thirty years after Edward had died. He had made provision for her in his will, and was no doubt looked after by her married sons and daughters who lived nearby.
(Thank you Harold G. Richards for this research)
Charles Merryman
Jr.
BIRTH: 1680, Lancaster County, Virginia, USA
DEATH: 17 May 1722 (aged 41–42), Baltimore County, Maryland,
USA
BURIAL: Old Saint Pauls Cemetery, Baltimore, Baltimore City,
Maryland, USA
- Charles was the husband of Jane (Long) Merryman 1675-1739
- He was ths son of Capt. Charles Merryman, Sr. and Mary (Haile) Merryman
- Will dated Dec 25, 1720. Estate probated June 23, 1722 Baltimore Co., Maryland
(Thank you Harold G. Richards for this research)
Jane Long Merryman
BIRTH:
DEATH:
BURIAL:
Copyright Roy Richard
No comments:
Post a Comment