MARYLAND CONNECTION Part 3 (My 6th Great-grandparents)

 

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           

               

6^th Great-grandparents

Benjamin Richards

BIRTH: 1710, Baltimore County, Maryland, USA

DEATH: unknown, Franklin County, Virginia, USA

BURIAL: Richards Cemetery, Callaway, Franklin County, Virginia, USA

MARYLAND ROOTS

• Benjamin was the first-born son of Edward Richards [1678] and Mary Head [1690]. His birth was recorded in St. Paul's Parish of Baltimore County MD. Benjamin first lived in the Dorchester County area on the east side of Chesapeake Bay.
• In 1729 Benjamin's father, Edward, sold property he owned in Dorchester County and prepared to move his family. They settled, perhaps late in 1729, and associated with the Gunpowder Meeting of Quakers north of Baltimore [in present-day Cockeysville]. In 1730 Benjamin had a tract named "Spring Garden" surveyed for future purchase according to Maryland Land records. This was probably the year he married Ann.

MARRIAGE

• Benjamin married Ann Merryman [1711], the daughter of Charles Merryman Jr. [1680-1722] and Jane Long [1675-1739],
• though the exact date is unknown to me. They had the following children:

1. Edward [25 June 1731] MD

2. Ruth [27 April 1733] MD

3. Charles [23 Feb 1747] MD

4. unknown daughter

5. unknown daughter

• In January of 1737, Benjamin purchased the 50 acre tract "Spring Garden" [see record at upper left].
• From a document describing the Hampstead Historical District for the Maryland Historical Trust:
• "The first land to be owned by a white man in the present Hampstead District was surveyed on January 5, 1737 for Benjamin Richards and patented to him on February 7, 1738 for 50 acres."
• Then, by 1739, both Benjamin and father Edward moved onto their properties "Spring Garden" and "Rattlesnake Ridge" that would grow into, first, a wagon stop named Spring Garden, and then the town of Hampstead MD, in what is present Carroll County. They, along with Isaac Wright, founded a Quaker Meeting there.

MOVE TO VIRGINIA

• Benjamin sold "Spring Garden" to William Stiles in April of 1750 in preparation for moving his family. The Edward Richards Bible records: "April the 27 1750 Benjamin Richards took his journey with all his family to go to Stanton River in Virginia with his wife and two sons and three daughters. And Dickey boys."
• Benjamin and his son Edward Richards [1731] appear on the 1750 tax records of old Lunenburg County Virginia.
• Benjamin [47 yrs. old] and son Edward [27 yrs. old] appear on the Settler's map of Franklin County. Benjamin was designated as living "below 5 mile mountain". The location is approximately 12 miles due west of Rocky Mount VA [about 3 miles south west of Callaway VA]. Edward's property was about 6 miles south of Rocky Mount.

TAX ROLLS

• 1799 and 1800 Tax rolls of Franklin County VA still have Benjamin Richards listed, along with son Edward 69 yrs. old, grandsons Shadrack 40 yrs. old and Waitman 35 yrs. old. Benjamin would have been 90 years old.

RICHARDS CEMETERY

• There is a Richards cemetery that coincides with the "below 5 mile mountain" description of Benjamin's homestead [Google search locates it there], and though the stones are buried or lost [as told to me by a local resident]; I believe he and other family are buried there.
• Anyone viewing this memorial with further information on Benjamin or his descendants are invited to contact me. HGR---a grateful descendant.

LINEAGE:

• Edward Richards [1678] Manchester, Lancashire England/MD

 

Ann Merryman Richards

BIRTH: 1711, Maryland, USA

DEATH: unknown, Franklin County, Virginia, USA

BURIAL: Richards Cemetery, Callaway, Franklin County, Virginia, USA

• Ann was the daughter of Charles Merryman Jr [1680-1722] and Jane Long [1675-1739], who were married June 24 1702, Baltimore County, Maryland.
• She married Benjamin Richards [1710] MD, probably circa 1730 in old Baltimore County Maryland in the town of Hampstead.

Their children were:

1. Edward [1731] MD

2. Ruth [27 April 1733] MD

3. Charles [23 Feb 1747] MD

• [Ann's father-in-law, Edward Richards [1678-1755]; recorded in his Bible that there were other children born to Benjamin and Ann--though their names were not given.]

Ann's father's estate:

• Charles Merryman 17.187 A BA £86.15.7 Aug 3 1739
• Payments to: William Hall who married a daughter (unnamed, her portion), Benjamin Richards who married a daughter (unnamed, her portion), Joseph Cross who married a daughter (unnamed, her portion), Charles Merryman (son, his portion), Jemima Merryman (daughter, her portion), Ketdemie Merryman (daughter, her portion), accountant (1/3).
• Executrix: Jane Knight, wife of Benjamin Knight.
• Benjamin and Ann removed their family into Virginia in 1750, where Benjamin & son Edward appeared on the tax roll. By 1755 they had moved into newly forming Franklin County VA, where they settled to the end or their lives. Son Edward became a prominent plantation owner and livestock breeder just a few miles south east of Rocky Mount in Franklin County.

NOTE: [Burials in the "Richards" cemetery are speculative. The cemetery stones are lost to time, and only the location is known. Please contact me if you have information that would be helpful.]

LINEAGE:

• Charles Merryman Jr. [1680] Lancaster Co VA
• Charles Merryman Sr. [1655] Lancaster Co VA

Thank you Harold Richard for your work on this

Copyright Roy Richard

MARYLAND CONNECTION Part 2 (My 7th Great-grandparents)

 

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           

 

7^th 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.  (per Harold Richards)

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

MARYLAND CONNECTION Part 1 (My 8th Great-grandparents)

 

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           

               

MARYLAND CONNECTION - 8^th Great-grandparents

John Richards

BORN: 1650, Manchester, Lancashire, England

DEATH:

BURIAL:

Mary Kidder Richards

BORN: 1650, Lancashire, England

DEATH:

BURIAL:

 

William Head II

BORN: 1660, Calvert, Maryland, USA

DEATH: 14 Jun 1718, Maryland, USA

BURIAL:

Ann Bigger Head

BORN: 1676, Calvert, Maryland, USA

DEATH: 1721, Prince George's, Maryland, USA

BURIAL:

 

Capt Charles Merryman Sr.

BIRTH: 1655, Lancaster County, Virginia, USA

DEATH: 22 Dec 1724 (aged 68–69), Baltimore County, Maryland, USA

BURIAL: Old Saint Pauls Cemetery, Baltimore, Baltimore City, Maryland, USA

• Charles was the husband of Mary Haile Merryman 1659-1709
• Also husband of Mary Matson
• Daughter Elizabeth Merryman born abt 1702
• He was the son of John Merryman and Audrey Merryman
• He was Captain of the Militia in 1696 (Ref: Maryland archives, vol 30, page 544)
• Will of Charles Merryman
• 16 Jan 1724 Probated 14 Jan 1725
• Baltimore Co. MD
• SLC Family History Microfilm 0012847 Probate Records of MD Vol 17-18 1721-1726

(Find A Grave https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/29969022/charles-merryman)

Mary Haile Merryman

BIRTH: 1652, York, Virginina

DEATH: 12-22-1709, Baltimore, Maryland

BURIAL:

 

Thomas Long

BORN: 1654, London, England

DEATH: Sept. 1691, Baltimore, Maryland

BURIAL:

 

Jane Peake Long

BIRTH:

DEATH:

BURIAL:

 

Copyright Roy Richard