Capt. Josiah Richardson

Cpt. Josiah Richardson, III?

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Richardson-1760

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Vital Records of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849 Vital Records of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849 Vital Records of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849 Vital Records of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849. Published by the Essex Institute, Salem, MA, 1914 0 Footnote Vital Records of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849 ShortFootnote Vital Records of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849 Bibliography Vital Records of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849.

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131 Page 131 Chelmsford births. Richardson, Josiah, s. Josiah, May 5, 1691.

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The Richardson Memorial John Adams Vinton, The Richardson Memorial John Adams Vinton, The Richardson Memorial John Adams Vinton. The Richardson Memorial. 0 Footnote John Adams Vinton, The Richardson Memorial ShortFootnote John Adams Vinton, The Richardson Memorial Bibliography John Adams Vinton. The Richardson Memorial.

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59-60 Page 59-60 Captain Josiah Richardson, eldest son of Lieut. Josiah and Mercy (Parish) Richardson, of Chelmsford; born there, May 5, 1691; married, first, 1712, Lydia. She died in childbirth, March 28, 1737. Second, Elizabeth French, of Dunstable; published April 1, 1738. She died Dec. 15, 1771.

He was an active, capable, businessman. His name often occurs on the Dracut records. He began to live in that town about 1710, when in his twentieth year. His name is placed against lot No. 10, as taken by him, under date of Jan. 2, 1710, probably 1710-11. At a general town-meeting, held Oct. 27, 1712, leave was warranted to him to be a settled inhabitant in the town of Dracut, on the lot which his father - who died Oct. 17, 1711 - took up with the consent of the committee of the General Court. This lot, No. 10, was thus bounded: It had Merrimack River on the south; the "Solomon lot" on the west; on the north and east it had marked trees. It was one of the fifteen lots that lay between Mr. Belcher's farm and Mr. Winthrop's farm, and near Walker's Brook, and was "the thirtieth part of the undivided land required in the township of Dracut." This description shows how sparsely settled Dracut was at that time. Part of this lot he sold in 1712 to Joseph Richardson, his second cousin, son of Thomas Richardson.

March, 1714, he was chosen surveyor of highways. March, 1715, chosen fence-viewer. In 1720, one of a committee of three to receive "the money" for the town of Dracut. In 1728, he was one of the board of selectmen, and again in 1731. In 1749, selectman, assessor, and town clerk; also in 1755 and 1756. In 1752, town treasurer; again in 1753 and 1754. In 1749, he is, on the records, I believe for the first time, called "Captain Josiah Richardson."

In October, 1749, the town had recently built a meeting-house, and it was voted that the man paying the highest tax on real and personal estate in town should have the first choice of a pew; the man paying the next highest tax the second choice, and so on. Capt. Josiah Richardson had the second choice. The pews were not to be re-sold without consent of the town.

His will is dated Aug. 17, 1773; proved Dec. 31, 1776. In the will he calls himself "gentleman," and gives his daughter Hannah Hildreth fifty pounds lawful money, in full of her portion. He then gives to his granddaughter, Sarah Richardson, daughter of his son Josiah Richardson, late of Dracut, deceased, twenty pounds lawful money. Then to his son Ephraim Richardson, £36.13.4., lawful money, this being the amount of a note signed by the said Ephraim in favor of the testator; this to be in full of said Ephraim's portion of the estate. To his son Moses, a deed of land and money. Next, to the children of his son David, late of Dracut, deceased, land and money. Next, to his late son Jonathan, late of Dracut, deceased, land and money. Next, to the children of his second daughter, Lydia Cummings, late of Ipswich, deceased, he gives six pounds apiece. Next, to his daughter Mercy Colburn, late of Dracut, deceased, to her children, land and money. The remainder of the estate, after the payment of the testator's just debts and funeral charges, he gives in equal shares to his two executors, Uriah Colburn and Obadiah Richardson. Uriah Colburn was his grandson, son of his daughter Hannah. Obadiah Richardson was also his grandson, son of his son Moses. All this is from a copy of the will, now before me.

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Laura M. Cooper Laura M. Cooper Laura M. Cooper Laura M. Cooper. 0 Footnote Laura M. Cooper ShortFootnote Laura M. Cooper Bibliography Laura M. Cooper.

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Page Josiah Richardson was born on 5 May 1691 in Chelmsford, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. He was the son of Lieut. Josiah Richardson and Mercy Parish. He married Lydia circa 1711. Lydia Richardson died in 1737, and on 1 April 1738 marriage intention for Josiah Richardson and Elizabeth French was published at Dracut. He died between 17 August 1773 and 31 December 1776, the dates of the making and proving of his will.

On 17 October 1711, he was admitted as an inhabitant of Dracut, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, settling on a large tract on the Merrimack River. He was devoted to the public service of the town, serving as selectman, town clerk and treasurer.

Josiah's father died intestate in 1711 leaving an estate valued at £514:4:0, less payments of £78:2:7. The probate judge ordered the widow's dower of one-third of the estate set off on 17 November 1712 and directed that the other two-thirds be carefully valued as he had granted the request of the eldest son, Josiah Richardson, to which the widow and the guardians of the minor children had consented, that Josiah should buy the said two-thirds. He entered a bond for £500, with his brother-in-law Ephraim Hildreth as his surety on 16 July 1718, to pay "the several sums ordered" to his brothers Robert, Zachariah and William Richardson, and his sisters Mercy Hildreth, the wife of Ephraim Hildreth, and Hannah Richardson. In 1749 he paid the second highest tax. Calling himself gentleman in his will of 1773, he named two grandsons, Uriah Coburn and Obadiah Richardson executors.

Walter Goodwin Davis, "Richardson, of Chelmsford," Massachusetts and Maine Families in the Ancestry of Walter Goodwin Davis (1885-1966): A Reprinting in Alphabetical Order by Surname, of the Sixteen Multi-Ancestor Compendia, (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1996), Vol. III, 3: 227, originally published in The Ancestry of Sarah Hildreth (1958).