Richard Denton, Jr.

Biography

The very existence of Reverend Richard Denton's son, who was also named Richard, has been questioned. And, if he did exist, there is no written evidence of his birth date or which other child of Rev. Denton his birth may have followed or preceded. (For clarity, we will call this son of Reverend Richard Denton, Richard Junior.)

If Richard Denton Junior did exist, his wife is unknown (but she was not Ruth Tileston).

Although no sources have been found, his children are purported to be:

• 1. Caertje (aka Geertgie) DENTON b. betw. 1658 and 1666 in Jamaica, Queens CO, NY. Married Mr. Losee.
• 2. Phoebe DENTON b: betw 1659 and 1662 in Hempstead, LI, NY. Married 1) Richard Thorne 2) Richard Tupper.

Analysis of Existence and Birth Date

Richard Denton Junior's existence, his father and his brothers are shown by Charles Moore in his 1878 book, The Early History of Hempstead NY, at pages. 6-8 where he says:

In 1647, as appears by the town records, a division or allotment of land was first made under this patent (i.e.) three years alter its date [1644]." The 1647 list of the 1644 allotments included Rev. Denton and his sons, Nathaniel, Samuel, Daniel and Richard Junior.

The entry for Richard, Junior reads: "Denton, Richard, Jun., son of Rev. Richard."

https://ia800909.us.archive.org/17/items/earlyhistoryofhe00moor/ear...

Some genealogists have given 1629 or 1630 for Richard, Junior's year of birth. But none have provided any supporting evidence for those dates.

Walter Krumm, who did one of the most recent studies of Rev. Denton and his descendants was not convinced that Reverend Denton had a son named Richard, Junior. But, if he did, then Krumm believed he would have been the last born:

Between 1635 and 1640 the Dentons arrived in America although a record of their crossing is lacking; birth records of additional children, if any, have not survived. Later records in America do show that when the parents returned to England in 1658, three, possibly four, sons remained behind: Nathaniel, Samuel, Daniel, and maybe Richard, Jr., in that order. Descendants of the Rev. Richard Denton, by Walter C. Krumm in The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, 120 [1989]: p.12

The following is an abbreviated timeline for Rev. Denton's life after his Cambridge graduation in 1624. The baptisms of each of Rev. Denton's children listed below are supported by parish registers in Yorkshire and Lancashire. (Copies of the original parish records are included on the Geni Sources tab for Rev. Denton.) Rev. Denton lived in Turton/Bolton, Lancashire from about 1626 until about 1631 and Coley (near Halifax) from about 1631 until about 1639. There are no records of baptisms for a Richard Denton to a father named Richard Denton in either Turton/Bolton, Lancashire or Coley/Halifax while Rev. Denton lived in either location.

• • 1624 January (Gregorian) - BA degree from Cambridge
  
• • 1624 June 8 - Ordained a priest at Peterborough Cathederal
  
• • 1626 Jan 27 - posted to Turton after this date (death of prior priest, Gilbert Astley)
  
• • 1626 October - Rev. Denton married by this date (9 months before Tymothie's birth)
  
• • 1627 23 July - Tymothie baptised at Turton, Lancashire
  
• • 1629 March 9 - Nathaniell Denton baptised at Turton, Lancashire (Gregorian date)
  
• • 1631 May 29 - Samuel baptised at Coley
  
• • 1631 Jul 28 - Tymothie died at Coley
  
• • 1632 July 10 - Daniel baptised at Coley
  
• • 1634 Nov 30 - Phoebe baptised at Coley
  
• • 1637 Jan 6 - Peter baptised at Coley/Hipperholme (Gregorian date)
  
• • 1637 June 5 - Peter died at Coley
  
• • 1638 June 21 - Mary baptised at Hipperholme (near Coley)
  
• • 1640 April 10 - Rev. Denton received a deed for 15 acres of land in Wethersfield
  
• • 1641 - Denton family moved to Stamford, CT
  
• • 1644 - Rev. Denton and his sons received Hempstead land allotments
  
• • 1647 - Original settlers of Hempstead created a written record of their original 1644 allotments of land. First written evidence of Richard, Junior's existence.
  
• • 1685 - Samuel (b.1631) owned 240 acres and Richard, Jr. (b.c.1640) owned 50 acres in Hempstead

If there is no baptism record for Richard Denton Junior in Lancashire or Yorkshire, might there be a baptism record in America? Rev. Denton first lived in Wethersfield from about 1638 until 1641 but there are no remaining church records for Wethersfield during this period. As Henry Stiles in his History of Ancient Wethersfield (1904) said at p. 135:

The total absence of any church records during the first sixty-two years of its existence leaves us in complete ignorance of Wethersfield's religious history during that period... https://archive.org/details/historyofancient11adam/page/n6

After Wethersfield, Rev. Denton moved to Stamford sometime in 1641 and remained there until 1644. But Stamford kept good baptism records. Rev. Huntington in his History of Stamford Connecticut (1868) includes a chapter listing births, deaths and marriages in Stamford at page 155. The earliest baptism recorded in Stamford was for Jonathan Bell in September 1640 [sic]. But there are no births recorded of a Denton. https://archive.org/details/historyofstamfor00hunt/page/n8

Finally, the Denton family then moved to Hempstead in 1644. We
know that Richard, Junior was listed for the 1644 land allotments, suggesting he was born before that move to Hempstead.

Given the recording of a birth in Stamford as early as September 1640, before Rev. Denton moved there, it seems very unlikely Richard, Jr. could have been born in Stamford. But given the absence of records for Wethersfield from 1638 through 1641, Richard, Jr. could well have been born there with no record remaining.

Richard likely died after 1685 when he is shown as owning 50 acres in Hempstead. History of Long Island, Vol. 2, Thompson, 3rd Edition (1918) , p. 493-94.