Ensign Richard Nason

Origins

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Nason-13

Some think that Richard Nason came from Stratford-on-Avon, where there were many of his name at that time and where Nasons still are found. A Richard Nason was bapt. at Stratford-on-Avon, 3 Aug. 1606, son of John Nason, who married Elizabeth Nason on 28 Oct 1600. Other than the similarity of names and the fact that the birth year works out there is no evidence that they are the same person.

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Biography

Richard married Sarah Baker, 1635 in Dover, New Hampshire. He was living at pipe Stave Landing, Kittery, Maine in 1639. 1649 was a Juryman. 1655 Richard was hailed to york, for not attending church. 1659 he was fined 5 pounds and disenfranchised for entertaining Quakers. 1665 Richard was accused of blasphemy, for wihich he was placed under a 40 pound bond for good behavior. He was subsequently elected Deputy to the General Court the following year, but the court refused to seat him. Ensign in 1653. He held the office of selectman and other offices. Richard owned 200 acres of land. His will dated 14 July 1694, probated 15 March 1696/1697. Ricard Nason's will omits mention of two sons who predeceased him: Richard Jr., killed by Indians, and Jonathan, Killed by his brother, Baker, in 1691. There was a jury trial, and Baker was acquitted, 1693.

Family

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Nason-13

Marriages and Children

Richard Nason married first Sarah.1 He married second Abigail, widow of Nicholas Follett, after 1663.1

The name of his first wife was Sarah, and the fact that she had children named John and Baker, as well as the 1645 incident mentioned in the bio immediately below, suggests that she was of the Baker family.

All by first marriage to Sarah Nason

1. Baker Nason 1635 - ?
2. Charles Nason 1636 - ?
3. Richard Nason 1639 - ?
4. John Nason 1640 - ?
5. Benjamin Nason 1641 - 1714
6. Joseph Nason 1642 - ?
7. Sarah Nason 1643 - ?
8. Jonathan Nason 1648 - ?
9. Mary Nason 1655 - ?

Nason's second wife was Abigail, widow of Nicholas Follet.

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Richard Nason was from Rainsford Island, England.2 He was one of the founders of Kittery, York County, Maine, which then embraced South Berwick, and at which place his brothers Joseph, John and Benjamin also settled.2 Richard was a militant Quaker who was constantly in difficulty after Massachusetts took over the government.1

Additional Data Richard Nason was on the Coroner's jury in 1647; jury in 1649 and 1653; ensign 1653; town commissioner 1654; a trustee for Gorges 1662; selectman 1659, 1666, 1667, 1668 between 1647 and 1668.1

Richard Nason, was made freeman by appearing before the commissioners at Kittery and submitting to the government of Massachusetts on 16 November 1652.3,1

Richard Nason was disenfranchised for entertaining travelling Quakers in 1653.1

In 1655, Richard Nason was charged with blasphemy. He was in danger of losing his life, but the General Court decided that he was not so guilty that he ought to die.1

Richard Nason was in court for absence from meeting 1655, 1663, 1670, 1671, 1675, as were four of his sons in 1685.1

Richard Nason was elected a Deputy to the General Court in 1656, but was not allowed to sit and the town was censured for choosing him.1

Richard Nason was rejected as Selectman in 1669.1

Richard Nason was charged with being abusive toward officers in 1678.1

In 1694, Richard Nason deeded the homestead to sons Benjamin and Baker.1

Richard Nason made his will on 14 July 1694 mentioning his wife, though not by name, children, John, Joseph, Benjamin, Baker, Sarah Nason, and others.1,4 Click to view image

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Although the Nason genealogy has been traced from Maine to England, the family origins most likely stem from the European continent. The strongest indications point to Venice, specifically the island of Murano, where the Nason family became famous for their glassware. Hand-blown glass has been a Venetian speciality since at least the 1200s, and Nason glass is among the finest. It is noted in passing that Michelangelo incorporated a lunette with the name "Naason" in his painting of the Sistine Chapel in Rome in 1508-12. One guess as to the connection is that a Nason ancestor left Venice in the fifteenth century for France or Holland, whence some of his descendents went to England. There also were Nasons in the Low Countries. The best known is the artist Pieter Nason, who was born in The Hague in 1612 and died about 1689, whose portraits and still-lifes can be found in museums today. This individual is a contemporary of Richard Nason, and therefore certainly not an ancestor, but the family connection may yet be found.

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Nason = Nasson. The name probably evolved from a Scandinavian surname.

Richard Nasonne was born in Aug. 1606 in Wellesbourne , Eng. This was the first of our Nason ancestors to come to America. He reached the shores of Massachusetts in 1627 via the "RELIGIOUS" ship The Warwick which sailed from either England or Ireland. He was one of 27,000 landsmen who revolted against the King's newest tax levy to refurbish his tattered fleet. England had engaged the French and to some extent the Spanish, disseminating them but leaving himself in a precarious position. Thus a tax on farmers was levied. Richard may have sailed from Eng. to deserted Rainsford Island at the age of 20 or 21. The island was an 11 acre outpost of sprawling Boston Harbor that could have served as a mini-Ellis Island for passengers, crew and goods from around the globe. It was no small decision for Richard to leave his home and sail to the Americas. But he was intelligent and later showed that he in no way lacked spirit.

He built a tavern on his farm in Kittery, Maine in 1629 and began raising his 10 children. He was a farmer,[Planter] and often assisted in surveying . He added to his own income by buying and selling property, as well as other such endeavors as making barrel stoves and hoops. He settled at Pipestave Landing on the Salmon Falls River in the Berwick section of Kittery, Maine in 1631, owning 3 stockades and 200 acres of land in town.

In 1639 Richard Nason was living at Pipestave Landing. In 1645 he & his wife had a dispute with her father, Richard Baker, who was tried in New Hampshire and fined 5 shillings "for beating Richard Nason that he was black and blue and for throwing a fire shovel at his wife."

In 1649 Nason served as a juryman. In 1653 he was an Ensign, later Selectman, and held other town offices in Kittery. In 1655 he was charged at York with not attending church meetings and in 1659 was fined 5 and disenfranchised for entertaining Quakers. In 1665 he was accused of blasphemy. Philip Chesley of Oyster River was witness against him. The General Court did "not judge him so guilty of that fact as that by our lawe he ought to die," but he had to post a 40 (pound?) bond for good behaviour. The inhabitants of Kittery elected him Deputy to the General Court the folling year, but the court refused to seat him and called the people of Kittery to account for electing him. He owned 200 acres, and in his old age lived with his son Benjamin in York County, ME.

Indian Attack:

In October, 1675, after the second attack on Tozier's house the Indians went southward to Sturgeon Creek Maine (now Eliot) where says tradition Richard Nason Jr was killed in his own doorway and his son Richard, third of the name, was carried to Canada. This is a very early date fo a Canadian captivity. The boy, only seven years old, may have been kept in the Maine woods and taken later to Canada, or the date of the capture may be wrong. His name is amoung "thos Remaining" in 1695, which implies the later captivity.

Richard was brought to St. Francois-du-Lac, Quebec, sold to a frenchman, whose daughter he married and his name was changed to Jacques Ritchot (when he was 9 yrs. old) when he was baptized in the Catholic Church, as were some other children taken captive at that time. In 1710 "Richard Nasson of New England living in Saint Francois Married to a French woman and having children" is naturalized. The Nason Geneology says he lived to an advanced age and was much esteemed for his virtues.

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Will

• Richard's Will: I give and bequeath unto by beloved wife whatsoever was her former husbands Nicholas Follets as allsoe one of my best beds and furniture belonging unto it and two Chests and Eight poinds in Siller Curant Money of New England to be paid out of the whole Estate
• Moreover I give unto my Said wife one third of all the Indian Corn that Shall be left after my decease/ 2ly/ I will that those that Shall Enjoy my houseing Lands and Stock Shall pay unto my sd wife Twelve pounds in money yearly for her maintenance duering her Life/ 3ly/
• All my other Estate whether in Moveables as beding money granery or whatsoever Else not before given I will that it Shall be Equaly divided between my own Children and Children in Law
• vizt/ John nason, Joseph Nason, Benjamin nason, Baker nason, Sarah Child, Mary Witham, Nicholar Follet and Sarah Meader
• And I doe herein nominate ordayne and appoynt my son Benjamin nason and Nicholas Follet to be my Executors both or Either of them in Case of Mortallity or absence att sea
• In Testimony whereof I have unto this my will put my hand and Seale this fourtheenth day of July one thousand Six hundered ninety and four and in ye Sixth yeare of ye Reigh of our Soveraign Lord and Lady/ King William & Queen Mary over England Scotland france and Ireland Defendrs of ye faith. Signed & Sealed In presents of us John Tucher Obadian Morse Richard Nason (his Seale) his mark Henry Crown notary Publick for this Province New Hampsr Recorded 15 March, 1696-7.

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From Old Kittery and Her Families. Author: Everett S. Stackpole. Publication: Lewiston, Maine: Press of Lewiston Journal Company, 1903. Page 625. < Archive.Org>; < GoogleBooks >

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Richard Nason was living at Pipe Stave Landing in 1639 where he had a 200 acre grant of land and ran an ordinary.

References

1. Old Kittery and Her Families, Everett S. Stackpole, Lewiston, Maine: Press of Lewiston Journal Company, 1903. Page: p. 625. < Archive.Org>; < GoogleBooks > (has errors)
2. http://fam.eastmill.com/f109.htm#f567166029
3. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Nason-13#_note-0 cites
   1. Everett S. Stackpole, Old Kittery and Her Families, Lewiston, Maine: Press of Lewiston Journal Company, 1903, p. 625.
   2. Stackpole, Everett "Old Kittery and Her Families" p.624. pub. Lewiston Journal Press, 1903
   3. "United States: Maine Province & Court Records" Vol. 1: p.108 (1647 jury list) p. 139 (1650 jury list) p.170 (October 1651 court order record) p.226 (Estate Inventory Appraisal). These court records cover Colonial Period ca. 1600-1775. 420p. Reprinted (FamilySearch.org ; online digital book site) https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/526679-prov...
   4. Mass. Archives- Vol. 3, pp. 202-3, 209
   5. Mass. Archives- Vol. 3, p.341
   6. Mass. Archives- Vol. 38B, p.242b
   7. York Deeds-Vol. I, pt. 1, fol. 58
   8. Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire (1979; orig. 1928-39), p. 505.
   9. Mass. Archives- Vol. 3, p.288
   10. York Deeds- Vol. III, fol. 28
   11. York Deeds- Vol. V, pt. 1, fol 115
   12. York County Probate- docket No. 13976
   13. York County, Maine Probate Records, No. 1, 1687-1707, database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89JS-L9Z3-Y : 6 April 2021), FHL microfilm 007600380, image 43-45, Page 33-35.
   14. Pope, Charles Henry: "Pioneers of Maine and New Hampshire 1623 to 1660"; page 146 (Nason)
   15. New England Marriages prior to 1700; page 529
   16. familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/c/l/a/Alan-Clark-MN/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0495 Alan Clark Family Tree]
   17. nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/02/baker-nason-murdered-his-brother-1691
   18. familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/b/a/u/Michael-V-Baumeister-San-Diego/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0080.html Michael V Baumeister Family Tree (FamilyTreemaker)
4. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Baker-475 cites
   1. John Baker's profile < link > (citing Anderson's The Great Migration Begins) says that he arrived in Dover in 1639
   2. Sybil Noyes, Charles Thornton Libby, and Walter Goodwin Davis, Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire (five parts, Portland, Me., 1928-1939; reprinted, Baltimore, Md., 2002), page 505. GDMNH says that Richard Nason married his second wife, the widow Abigail Follett, "after 1663" and that Abigail's children were named in Richard's will, made 12 Jul 1694.

American-Canadian Genealogist American-Canadian Genealogical Society of New Hampshire (Originally called The Genealogist) Vol 17, #2 (No. 48) Spring 1991. “Nason dit Ritchot.” By Roger Lawrence #1. Page 87-89.

1. Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: Nov 24 2021, 16:05:07 UTC
2. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/L8HK-M9S
3. New England Marriages to 1700. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008.) Originally published as: New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015. < AmericanAncestors > Vol. 2, Page 1080.
4. Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire. Author: Noyes, Sybil, Charles T. Libby, and Walter G. Davis (Publication Date: 1928-1939) Reprint Date: 2002. Pages: 795 pp. “Nason.” Page 505. < AncestryImage >