Richard Graves

Richard Graves (1) came to Massachusetts in the good ship Abigail, arriving in July 1635 after an arduous journey. He was 23 when he sailed from England, which means that he was born about 1612. He settled in Salem and owned land there by 1637. He apparently died sometime between 1665 and 1669.

He was at least a part-time pewterer, but his name is known mainly because he was a perennial ne'er-do-well of delightfully irresponsible character. His pewter has long since disappeared, but his travels in the Puritan atmosphere mark a man who seems to have been out of step with time and place.

He married Dorothy

---

. From the Essex Co. Quarterly Court Records, vol. 4, p. 169: "Writ: Dorithy Graves, relict of Richard Graves v. John Neal, executor of the will of Francis Lawes; for refusing to, not delivering or laying out her thirds or of dower in a house and a parcel of land now occupied by said Neale, which was the land formerly of her said husband; dated 15:4:1669." Sources for this are: (1) New England Marriages, Torrey, and (2) Vital Records, Salem, Savage.

From American Pewter: "Remains only Richard Graves, of Salem; and here, at least, is one seventeenth-century American pewterer of whose activities we have a record and whose character is not hidden from us. I quote once more from Mr. Dow's invaluable four pages ('Notes on the Use of Pewter in Massachusetts during the Seventeenth Century' by George Francis Dow, pub. in July 1923 issue of Old Time New England, the bulletin of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities):

'Graves came to Massachusetts in the Abigail, arriving in July, 1635. He settled at Salem and was a proprietor there in 1637. Sometimes he is styled "husbandman." He got into trouble with the authorities very soon, and in December 1638, was sentenced to sit in the stocks for beating Peter Busgutt in his own house.... In 1641 Graves was brought into court again, and William Allen testified that "he had herd Rich Graves kissed Goody Gent twice". Richard confessed that it was true, and for this unseemly conduct was sentenced to be fined and whipped... He was presented at a quarterly court on February 28th 1652-3 for "oppression in his trade of pewtering" and acquitted of the charge. Then he was accused of neglecting to attend the ferry carefully, so that it would seem that pewtering occupied only part of his time. This he acknowledged, but said that he had not been put to it by the Court and also that it was necessary to leave the ferry when he went to the mill, a quite apparent fact. He seems to have been a somewhat reckless fellow in his dealings with his neighbors, for he was accused of taking fence rails from Christopher Young's lot and admonished by the Court. At the same time he was fined for stealing wood from Thomas Edwards and for evil speeches to him, calling him "a base fellow, & yt one might Runn a half pike in his bellie & never touch his hart"....

In 1645 he was in Boston in connection with some brazen molds that were in dispute. A Mr. Hill and a Mr. Knott were concerned in the affair, and very likely the molds were for pewterers' use. On another occasion, a few years later, when Graves went to Boston, he got drunk at Charlestown, and in consequence was mulct by the Quarterly Court. Only a month later he was complained of for playing at shuffle-board, a wicked game of chance, at the tavern kept by Mr. Gedney in Salem, but this time he escaped the vengeance of the law, for the case against him was not proved. He was still pursuing his trade of pewterer in 1665 when he so styled himself in a deed to John Putnam, and some time between that date and 1669 he passed out of reach of the courts to that bourne from which no pewterers ever return.'"

Mrs. Hill says Richard Graves was America's first pewterer. There are no known pieces of pewter from 17th and early 18th century America, since so much pewter was melted down to make bullets during the Revolution.

Pioneers of Massachusetts states he was a husbandman (farmer). Children - Graves

2. Ruth Graves, m. Henry Keskeyes, 7 June 1656. She may have been one of 3 children baptized 14 March 1641.

3. John Graves, bapt. 14 March 1641.

4. child (possibly Abigail Graves), bapt. 14 March 1641.

5. Joseph Graves, bapt. 16 Oct. 1642.

6. Benjamin Graves, bapt. 6 Aug. 1645.

7. Elizabeth Graves, bapt. 6 Aug. 1645, d. 1 Feb. 1661.

+8. Mary Graves, bapt. 16 April 1648, m. George Thomas, 28 Dec. 1667.

9. Richard Graves, bapt. 6 Oct. 1650.

10. Hanna (or Hannah) Graves, bapt. 15 Aug. 1652.

11. Deliverance Graves, bapt. 16 July 1654.

http://www.gravesfa.org/gen117.htm