Richard Higgins

Males by Lydia Chandler: Benjamin, Jonathan (2)

Males by Mary (Widow) Yates: Eliakim, Jediah, Zera, William & Thomas (5)

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Disputed Parentage

Vol 46 (1915) of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, published an account of Richard Higgins forbears. It named Edward Higgins and Julian Meals as his parents and his birth 1 Aug 1603.[1] This pedigree was repeated as one of two possibilities in Richard Higgins by Katharine Chapin Higgins.[2] In 1924 Katherine Higgins published a supplement to the first Book.[3] In it she states "The pedigree quoted from Mr. Monnette, although given out in good faith, is a fraudulent compilation." She goes on to explain why it was fraudulent. Included as part of the fraud was information from the notorious Gustav Anjou.[4]

There is a second possibility mentioned by Mrs. Higgins. Mrs. Higgins employed Charles H Pope to investigate. Because Richard was a tailor and took an apprentice in 1634. He discovered a record for a Richard Higgins, son of Robert Higgins of Leominster, Hereford, mercer, apprenticed to Philip Ruddock of London for seven years beginning 23 April 1627. [2] Anderson discusses this possibility saying that it is possible but far from proven.[5]

After Lydia's death, which was probably shortly after Benjamin's birth, Richard married in Eastham Mary Yates, the widow of John Yates; her maiden name is unknown.[5] They had 9 children:[5]

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https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Higgins-214

Profile last modified 14 Nov 2020 | Created 14 Sep 2010 | Last significant change: 15 Nov 2020

Richard Higgins (abt. 1609 - 1675)

Richard Higgins aka Higgens, Higins Hickens

Born about 1609 in England

Son of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]

[sibling%28s%29 unknown]

Husband of Lydia Chandler — married [date unknown] [location unknown]

Husband of Lydia (Chandler) Higgins — married 27 Nov 1634 in Plymouth, Plymouth Colony

Husband of Mary (Unknown) Whitehead — married about Oct 1651 (to about 1675) in Eastham, Barnstable Co; Plymouth Colony

Father of Jonathan Higgins, Benjamin Higgins, Mary (Higgins) Looker, Eliakim Higgins, William Higgins, Jediah Higgins Sr, Zerah Higgins, Thomas Higgins, Lydia Higgins, Rebecca (Higgins) Martin, Sarah (Higgins) Moore and Ruth (Higgins) Tuttle

Died 21 Jun 1675 in Piscataway, Middlesex County, New Jersey

00:55: Kay (Johnson) Wilson deleted a comment from Kay (Johnson) Wilson on the page for Richard Higgins (abt.1609-1675)
Richard Higgins migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1620-1640).

Richard Higgins } immigrated to New England between 1621 and 1640 and later departed for New Jersey

Richard Higgins was born in England about 1609, based on the 1634 date of his first marriage.[5] He migrated to Plymouth Colony in 1632, appearing in the 1633 list of freemen. [5] [6] It is not known on which ship he came. [2]

On 7 Oct. 1633 he purchased from "Thomas Little his now dwelling howse and misted, for and in consideration of twenty-one bushels of merchantable corne, whereof twelve bushels to be pd in hand, & the remainder at harvest next ensuing." [7][8]

On 25 Mar. 1633 Richard was taxed 9s and on 27 Mar. 1634 he was taxed another 12s.[9]

On 1 Apr. 1634 Samuel "Godberson" [Godbertson], son of "Godbar Godberson" of New Plymouth, deceased, was apprenticed to Richard Higgins, tailor, for the term of seven years.

William Bradford was Samuel's guardian and agreed to pay Richard "six bushels of corne and a cowe calfe" this present year or the next. Richard was to teach Samuel his trade and to give him the calf and half her offspring at the end of the seven year term.[10][11] Richard sold this apprenticeship to John Smaley who was also a tailor, 31 Aug. 1639. [12]

"December 11, 1634 Richard Higgins & lidia Chandler wer maried" [13]

Richard and Lydia Chandler had two children, both born in Plymouth:[5]

Jonathan, b. July 1637 Benjamin, b. June 1640.

On 13 Jan. 1633/4 Richard purchased from John Barnes "one dwelling house and twenty acres of land, being lately in the possession of Edward Holman, with all the fence, boards, timber (squared and unsquared) (belonging to the same) in consideration of ten pownd starling to be paid in currant English money or beaver at the rate it shall passe at the day of payment which is the 20th of March in the year of our Lord 1634. And also that the said Richard shall possesse the said John and his heirs of 20 acres of land in Scituate in some convenient place." [14][15]

On 14 Mar. 1635/6 Mr. Hicks, George Watson and Richard were granted the rest of the Island Creek for haying.[16] They were granted land for haying on 20 Mar. 1636/7.[17]

On 2 May 1637 Richard was one of the committee to lay out highways in Plymouth, Duxbury and Eele River. [18]

On 7 Aug. 1638 Richard was one of the jury in the case of John Weeks vs. George Russell for slander. On 3 Dec. 1639 Richard posted a bond of 20/6 for Samuel Chandler who was accused of slander against the governor and the government. The bond was released. [19] Richard was on the jury several times while living in Plymouth[20] and was a member of the "Grand Inquest" in June of 1644.[21]

In Mar. 1638/9 Richard was granted 40 acres of land on the southeast of Great South Pond and two pieces of marshland southwest of the other grant.[22] Richard swapped land with John Smaley in June 1640. [23] On 2 Nov. 1640 Richard was granted 6 acres in South Meadows. His property on Manomet Pond was confirmed to him on 30 Nov. [24]

After Lydia's death, which was probably shortly after Benjamin's birth, Richard married in Eastham Mary Yates, the widow of John Yates; her maiden name is unknown.[5] They had 9 children:[5]

Mary, b. Eastham September 27, 1652 Eliakim, b. Eastham October 20, 1634 Jadia, b. Eastham March 1656/7 Zera, b. June 1658 Thomas, b. January 1661 Lydia, b. July 1664 Rebecca, b.c. 1666 Ruth, b.c. 1671 Sarah, b.c. 1673 Richard Higgins one of the seven first settlers of Eastham, Massachusetts in April 1644; the others were Thomas Prince, John Doane, Nicholas Snow, Josias Cook, John Smalley, and Edward Bangs.[25] RIchard was chosen deputy in 1649, 1661 and 1667, and was selectman three years.[25]

In Feb. 1643 Richard was one of the people who was appointed to make traps to kill the wolves in the area. "The Names of the Freemen of eich Towne. Plymouth (1643)... Richard Higgins." "August, 1643. The Names of all the Males that are able to beare Armes from xvj. Yeares old to 60 Yeares, wthin the sevrall Towneshipps. Plymouth... Richard Higgins." [26]

In 1644 several families moved to Nauset (Eastham): "The Court doth grant unto the church of New Plymouth, or those that go dwell at Nausett all the tract of land lying between sea and sea, from the purchaser's bounds at Namskaket to the herring Brook at Billingsgate". 5 Mar. 1644/5. [27]

On 3 Mar. 1643/4 Richard sold a half acre of marsh at Hobb's Hole to Gyles Rickett for 40/. In Aug. 1645 he sold his house, garden and orchard near Brownes Rock to John Churchwell for £12 provided that "it shall be lawful for the said Richard to take away the boards that line the inward room and the bedstead and board overhead, and some fruit trees in the orchard so that he leaves the said John Churchwell 30 trees."[28] Richard moved to that part of Eastham called Pochet which was next to Nauset Beach in what is now East Orleans. He is listed as an inhabitant of Eastham in 1658. [29]

Richard was one of the representatives to the General Court at Plymouth beginning in 1647 until 1665. [30] He was also one of the surveyors of highways on 5 June 1651. [31] In 1658 he was one of four men chosen to settle the boundary between Barnstable and Yarmouth. [32] He was a selectman for Eastham in 1666, 1667 and 1668. [33]

Between 1659 and 1669 Richard bought and sold numerous parcels of land and obtained many land grants.

"June 1, 1659. Whereas it is and order of court that every town in this colony is to choose two or three men for the oversight and disposal of poor children, this town hath chosen Edward Bangs, Nicholas Snow and Richard Higgins according to order." [34]

"1659. Richard Higgins has one little black mare which was Job Cole's with a blaze down the face and a little white hair above her hoofs before, burn marked with an E on the right shoulder. Dec. 23, 1659."[35]

"May 15, 1660. Mr. John Doane, Richard Higgins and Thomas Paine with the surveyors are to appoint what particular highways are to be mended and those that are most concerned in the ways are to mend them by the appointment of the abovesaid for the present year." [36]

"Court of June 13, 1660. Richard Higgins one of a committee to dispose of the trade at Kennebeck." [37]

"Dec 13, 1660. Richard Higgins undertook to provide a company for to cut up the third fish" (whale).[38]

"The mark of Richard Higgins (for his cattle) is a piece cut off the hind side of the left ear, to the top of the ear, and a slit cut in the side of the ear slanting downwards. Jan. 22, 1660/1." [39]

"24 10th mo. 1667. Richard Higgins and Benjamin Higgins were on a jury of inquest as to the deaths of Robert Chapell, James Nichols, and William Pidell, cast ashore upon Cape Cod." [40]

"To all people to whome these presents shall come. Know ye that I Richard Higens of Eastham in the Government of New Plimoth in New England in America, Taylor... grant unto my son Benjamine Higens of the Towne of Eastham abovesaid, Husbandman, a parcell of upland and meadowing the upland containing twentie acres be it more or less lying at a place commonly called Poche, the which upland lieth next to the lot of Job Cole and was bought and exchanged by the said Richard Hignes of Jonathan Sparrow as appears by a deed... And two acres of marsh or meadowing, be it more or less, which was formerly Mr. William Bradfords deceased, that Richard Higens hath and lieth at the harbor's mouth... 4th day of the 5th mounth 1669

Richard Higens in the presence of us Nath: Bacon John Scudder"(16) [41]

In 1669 a group of people moved from the Cape to New Jersey because of religious and political differences with the establishment at Plymouth or because of the fact that land was more available in New Jersey. Richard seems to have moved to New Piscataway because of the last reason.

"Know all men by these presents that I Richard higgens of New Piscataway in the province of New Jersey, yeoman, for the sum of nine pounds sterling to him paid... to Benjamin Higgens of Eastham in the jurisdiction of New Plimouth... land at a place called little Billingsgate." Dated 20 Nov. 1672. [42]

On 8 Mar. 1677/8 Mary had her deceased husband's claims to land laid out to her in the western part of old Piscataway township near the Raritan River consisting of 254 acres.

Samuel Moore Sr. of Woodbridge, NJ obtained a license to marry Mary, but for some reason the marriage never took place and she married Isaac Whitehead. In her son Thomas' will in Dec. 1702 she received "the Parlor or Rooms where she now lives and also one-third part of the orchard during her natural life."[43]

He owned land in Eastham and Piscataway, New Jersey, where he moved a few years before his death, which was between Nov. 20, 1674, and June 1, 1675.[5]

Sources

↑ The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Volume 46, pages 390-391 ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Higgins, Katherine Chapin. Richard Higgins : a resident and pioneer settler at Plymouth and Eastham, Massachusetts, and at Piscataway, New Jersey, and his descendants, 1918, p. 26. This research is mentioned positively in the entry on Richard Higgins in The Great Migration Begins (pp. 928-932). ↑ Higgins, Katherine Chapin. Supplement to Richard Higgins and His Descendants. (Worcester, Massachusetts: Printed for the Author, 1924) p. 5 ↑ Reference in the 1918 book to Anjou is made on dq=%22richard+higgins%22+++england+%22julian++meals%22+%22edward+Higgins%27&source=bl&ots=rchWsU1d4x&sig=MNtk_a5VcmltrEZlvFC_QKIkWBw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi0pL2Txd7MAhUDzz4KHcKgCDwQ6AEILDAD#v=onepage&q=Anjou&f=false p. 389 ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2010), (Originally Published as: New England Historic Genealogical Society. Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III, 3 vols., 1995), pp. 928ff. ↑ [Plymouth Colony Records] Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, in New England; printed by order of the legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by New Plymouth Colony, by Nathaniel Bradstreet Shurtleff and David Pulsifer. Vols 1-12 published 1855-1861. p. 4 Note: also on the 7 Mar 1636/7 list of freemen ↑ Richard Higgins And His Descendants- Katherine Chapin Higgins, Worcester, 1918, p.26- citing Plymouth Colony Records- Vol. I, fol. 16 ↑ Plymouth Colony Records p. 16 ↑ Plymouth Colony Records [vol 1. p. 11; Vol 1, p. 28 ↑ Plymouth Colony Records vol 1. pp. 29, 30 ↑ Richard Higgins And His Descendants- Katherine Chapin Higgins, Worcester, 1918, p.27- Citing Plymouth Colony Records- Vol. I, fol. 29 ↑ Plymouth Colony Records- Vol. I, pp. 129-30 ↑ Plymouth Colony Records Vol. I, p. 72 ↑ Richard Higgins And His Descendants- Katherine Chapin Higgins, Worcester, 1918, p.27- quoting Plymouth Colony Records- Vol. I, fol. 24 ↑ Plymouth Colony Records p. 24 ↑ Plymouth Colony Records p. 40 ↑ Plymouth Colony Records p. 56 ↑ Plymouth Colony Records- Vol. I, p. 58 ↑ Plymouth Colony Records- Vol. I, pp. 137-8 ↑ eg. Plymouth Colony Records Vol 2 p. 117 ↑ Plymouth Colony Records Vol. II p. 71 ↑ Plymouth Colony Records Vol 1 p. 115 ↑ Plymouth Colony Records- Vol. XII, fol. 59 ↑ Plymouth Colony Records- Vol. I, fol. 115,p. 168 166 ↑ 25.0 25.1 Pratt, Enoch. A comprehensive history, ecclesiastical and civil, of Eastham, Wellfleet, and Orleans : County of Barnstable, Mass., from 1644 to 1844, W.S. Fisher and Co., Yarmouth, Massachusetts, 1844, pp. 8-20. ↑ Records of the Colony of New Plymouth- Nathaniel Shurtleff, M.D., Boston, 1857, pp.173-4, 187-8- quoting Plymouth Colony Records- Vol. I, fol. 189 ↑ History of Harwich- p.29 ↑ Higgins Genealogy- p.30- quoting Plymouth Colony Records- Vol. XII, fol. 59, 107, 111 ↑ Records of the Colony of New Plymouth- Nathaniel Shurtleff, M.D., Boston, 1857, p. 201 ↑ Plymouth Colony Records- Vol. II, fol. 117; III, 32, 80, 115, 135, 187; IV, 90 ↑ Plymouth Colony Records- Vol. II, fol. 168 ↑ Plymouth Colony Records- Vol. III, fol. 175 ↑ Plymouth Colony Records- Vol. IV, fol. 124, 146, 182 ↑ Richard Higgins And His Descendants- Katherine Chapin Higgins, Worcester, 1918, p. 33 ↑ Richard Higgins And His Descendants- Katherine Chapin Higgins, Worcester, 1918, p. 33 ↑ Richard Higgins And His Descendants- Katherine Chapin Higgins, Worcester, 1918, p. 34 ↑ Richard Higgins And His Descendants- Katherine Chapin Higgins, Worcester, 1918, p. 31- quoting Plymouth Colony Records- Vol. III, fol. 195 ↑ Richard Higgins And His Descendants- Katherine Chapin Higgins, Worcester, 1918, p. 34 ↑ Richard Higgins And His Descendants- Katherine Chapin Higgins, Worcester, 1918, p. 34 ↑ Richard Higgins And His Descendants- Katherine Chapin Higgins, Worcester, 1918, pp. 34-5 - quoting Plymouth Colony Records- Vol. IV, fol. 176 ↑ Land Grants, 1659-1710, Town of Eastham- Plymouth Colony Land Records- Vol. III, fol. 147 ↑ Book of Land Grants of Eastham- p.98 ↑ New York Genealogical & Biographical Record- Vol. 47, pp. 21-2

See Also:

A Comprehensive History, Ecclesiastical and Civil, of Eastham, Wellfleet, and Orleans: County of Barnstable, Mass From 1644 to 1844. Author: Rev Enoch Pratt of Brewster (Yarmouth, W.S. Fisher and Co. 1844.) Index type Sources:

Source: Title: American Marriages Before 1699 Author: Ancestry.com Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1997.Original data - Clemens, William Montgomery. American Marriage Records Before 1699. Pompton Lakes, NJ, USA: Biblio Co., 1926.Original data: Clemens, William Montgomery. American Marriag Note: Source: Title: Family Data Collection - Deaths Author: Edmund West, comp. Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2001. Source:Family Data Collection - Marriages Author: Edmund West, comp. Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2001. Source: Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s Author: Gale Research/search Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2010.Original data - Filby, P. William, ed. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s. Farmington Hills, MI, USA: Gale Research, 2010.Original data: Filby, P. William, ed.

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Gustav Anjou Fraud ?

Vol 46 (1915) of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, published an account of Richard Higgins' forbears. It named Edward Higgins and Julian Meals as his parents and his birth 1 Aug 1603.[1] This pedigree was repeated as one of two possibilities in Richard Higgins by Katharine Chapin Higgins.[2] In 1924 Katherine Higgins published a supplement to the first Book.[3] In it she states "The pedigree quoted from Mr. Monnette, although given out in good faith, is a fraudulent compilation." She goes on to explain why it was fraudulent. Included as part of the fraud was information from the notorious Gustav Anjou.[4]

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It is difficult to find solid reliable documented information on Richard Higgins regarding his place of birth, his early life, his date of immigration and his place of burial. I have not been able to verify any of that with any certainty.* Here are 3 different Richard Higgins from findagrave.com:

....................................................................................

http://www.evelynsfamily.com/getperson.php?personID=P1703&tree=evel...

Evelyn's Family

Richard Higgins[1]

Male Abt 1609 - 1675 (~ 66 years)===

Name Richard Higgins [2]

Born Abt 1609 England

Gender Male

Arrival 1632 Plymouth, Massachusetts

Married 23 Nov 1634 Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States

Died 21 Jun 1675 Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States

Person ID P1703 Evelyn's Family | Pickett Branch

Last Modified 23 Mar 2017

Family 1 Mary,

  b. 1626,   d. 2 Dec 1702, Elizabeth, Essex, New Jersey, United States  (Age 76 years) 

Married 10 Oct 1651 Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States

Children

	1. Mary Higgins,   b. 27 Sep 1652, Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States.  d. 30 Jan 1723, Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States  (Age 70 years)  [natural]

Last Modified 23 Mar 2017

Family ID F370 Group Sheet | Family Chart

Family 2 Lydia Chandler,

  b. 1613,   d. 1650, Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States (Age 37 years) 

Children

	1. Benjamin Higgins,   b. 1 Jul 1640, Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States 

d. 14 Mar 1691, Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States (Age 50 years) [natural]
Last Modified 23 Mar 2017

Family ID F371 Group Sheet | Family Chart

Sources

[S-2134535819] Ancestry Family Trees, (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.), Ancestry Family Trees.

http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=8835213&pid=...

[S-2135033621] Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s, Gale Research, (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006.Original data - Filby, P. William, ed.. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s. Farmington Hills, MI, USA: Gale Research, 2006.Original data: Filby, P. William, ed.. Passe), Place: Plymouth, Massachusetts; Year: 1632; Page Number: 37.

Arrival date: 1632 Arrival place: Plymouth, Massachusetts

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RH # 1

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/123060022/richard-higgins

Richard Higgins

BIRTH 1 Dec 1613
Worcester, City of Worcester, Worcestershire, England

DEATH 21 Jun 1675 (aged 61) Piscataway, Middlesex County, New Jersey, USA

BURIAL Cove Burying Ground Eastham, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, USA

Son of Robert E. Higgins and Julian Meals

Birth: Abt 1613

Death: Died: Bef 1 Jun 1675, Piscataway, Middlesex Co., New Jersey, USA

adult

Marriage (1): Lydia CHANDLER on 23 Nov 1634 in Eastham, Barnstable Co., Massachusetts, USA

Marriage (2): Mary (Unknown) Whitehead in Oct 1651 in Eastham, Barnstable Co., Massachusetts, USA

Spouse

Lydia Chandler Higgins 1615–1650

Inscription

TO THE MEMORY OF RICHARD HIGGINS ONE OF THE SEVEN FOUNDERS OF THE TOWN AND CHURCH OF EASTHAM THEN CALLED NAUSET. JUROR AND SELECTMAN OF THE TOWN.

ELECTED DEPUTY TO THE GENERAL COURT OF PLYMOUTH FOR SEVEN SESSIONS 1647 - 1653 - 1655 - 1657 - 1658 - 1660 - 1665

A RESIDENT OF PLYMOUTH FROM 1663 TO 1644. A RESIDENT AT POCHET IN EASTHAM FROM 1644 TO 1649. A PLANTER AT NEW PISCATAWAY IN EAST JERSEY IN 1669. HE DIED BEFORE 1675.

THROUGH FIVE SONS AND THREE DAUGHTERS HE BECAME THE FOREFATHER OF THE HIGGINS FAMILY ON THESE SHORES AND IN NEW JERSEY, MAINE AND CON NECTICUT.

HIS DESCENDANTS ERECT THIS MEMORIAL AUGUST 26, 1916 Gravesite Details Richard Higgins was one of the founders of Eastham. He moved to New Jersey where probably he is buried. He is listed here for the historical record. ……………………………………. RH #2

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7864412/richard-higgins

Richard Higgins

BIRTH 1 Aug 1603 Leominster, Herefordshire Unitary Authority, Herefordshire, England

DEATH 21 Jun 1675 (aged 71) Piscataway, Middlesex County, New Jersey, USA

BURIAL Saint James Episcopal Church Cemetery Edison, Middlesex County, New Jersey, USA

I did not create the memorial but inherited it from a now deceased member, Wade Schultz. Wade's interest was in old burial stones of America from the 17th and early 18th centuries. Occasionally he did make mistakes, but the majority of the time he appears to have been meticulous. However, I have not been able to determine the sources he used or his rationale for placing Richard Higgins in the Saint James Episcopal Church Cemetery.

It is difficult to find solid reliable documented information on Richard Higgins regarding his place of birth, his early life, his date of immigration and his place of burial. I have not been able to verify any of that with any certainty.

• ****************************************************************************************************** I. The following is the information that was on the Richard Higgin's memorial when I inherited it:

Richard HIGGINS Birth: 1 Aug 1603 in Leominster, Leominster (Herefordshire) England Death: 21 Jun 1675 in Piscataway, Middlesex, New Jersey. Married 1st: 23 Nov 1634 Lydia, daughter of Edward Chandler. She died in 1650. Married 2nd: 1651 Mary Yates, widow of John Yates of Eastham.

RIchard and Mary had 9 children: Mary (Higgins) Looker, Eliakim, Jadiah, Zera, Thomas, Lydia, Rebecca (Higgins) Martin, Ruth (Higgins) FitzRandolph Tuttle, & Sarah (Higgins) More. Source: Anderson's Great Migration Study Project.

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https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5079411/richard-higgins

Higgins Family Burying Ground-Kingston ∼
I did not create the memorial but inherited it from a now deceased member, Wade Schultz. Wade's interest was in old burial stones of America from the 17th and early 18th centuries. Occasionally he did make mistakes, but the majority of the time he appears to have been meticulous. However, I have not been able to determine the sources he used or his rationale for placing Richard Higgins in the Saint James Episcopal Church Cemetery.

It is difficult to find solid reliable documented information on Richard Higgins regarding his place of birth, his early life, his date of immigration and his place of burial. I have not been able to verify any of that with any certainty.

• ****************************************************************************************************** I. The following is the information that was on the Richard Higgin's memorial when I inherited it:

Richard HIGGINS Birth: 1 Aug 1603 in Leominster, Leominster (Herefordshire) England Death: 21 Jun 1675 in Piscataway, Middlesex, New Jersey. Married 1st: 23 Nov 1634 Lydia, daughter of Edward Chandler. She died in 1650. Married 2nd: 1651 Mary Yates, widow of John Yates of Eastham.

RIchard and Mary had 9 children: Mary (Higgins) Looker, Eliakim, Jadiah, Zera, Thomas, Lydia, Rebecca (Higgins) Martin, Ruth (Higgins) FitzRandolph Tuttle, & Sarah (Higgins) More. Source: Anderson's Great Migration Study Project.

• ****************************************************************************************************** II. The following is the most accurate information to date on Richard Higgins from "The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633" by Robert Charles Anderson:

RICHARD HIGGINS

ORIGIN: Unknown MIGRATION: 1632 FIRST RESIDENCE: Plymouth REMOVES: Eastham 1645, Piscataway 1670

OCCUPATION: Tailor (he took Samuel Godbertson as apprentice to learn trade of tailor on 1 April 1634 [PCR 1:29]; in a deed acknowledged on 25 March 1669 he calls himself "Richard Higgens of Eastham ... tailor" [PCLR 3:147]).

FREEMAN: In "1633" Plymouth list of freemen after those admitted 1 January 1634/5 [PCR 1:4]. In Plymouth Colony list of 7 March 1636/7 [PCR 1:53]. In Plymouth section of 1639 Plymouth Colony list of freemen; his name was then erased and "Rich[ard] Higgenson" was added to the "Nawsett [Eastham]" section of the same list [PCR 8:174, 177]. In Eastham section of 1658 list of freemen [PCR 8:201]. (He was not in the 29 May 1670 list of Plymouth freemen.)

OFFICES: Committee on highways, 2 May 1637 [PCR 1:58]; grand jury, 5 June 1644 [PCR 2:71]; petit jury, 4 Sept. 1638, 7 Sept. 1642, 7 March 1642/3, 5 March 1643/4, 1 June 1647 [PCR 2:117, 7:9, 32, 34, 37]; deputy for Eastham to Plymouth General Court, 1647, 1653, 1655, 1657, 1658, 1660, 1665 [PCR 2:117, 3:32, 80, 115, 135, 187, 4:90]; Eastham selectman 1666, 1667, 1668 [PCR 4:124, 146, 182]; coroner's jury, 24 Dec. 1667 [PCR 4:176]; Eastham surveyor of highways, 5 June 1651 [PCR 2:168]; committee on bounds between Barnstable and Yarmouth, 11 March 1657/8 [PCR 3:175]; committee on Kennebec trade, 13 June 1660 [PCR 3:195]. In Plymouth section of 1643 Plymouth Colony list of men able to bear arms [PCR 8:189].

ESTATE: Assessed 9s. in the Plymouth tax list of 25 March 1633 and 12s. in the list of 27 March 1634 [PCR 1:11, 28]. Purchased house from Thomas Little 7 October 1633, and house and 20 acres of upland from John Barnes 13 January 1633/4 [PCR 1:16, 24]; granted 40 acres of upland and two parcels of meadow 4 March 1638/9, and earlier grant of 20 acres at Manomet Pond confirmed 30 November 1640 [PCR 1:115, 168]. Most of this land was sold to John Churchill 18 August 1645 [PCR 12:111; see also PCR 12:59, 107]. Katharine Chapin Higgins quotes extensively from and also summarizes much information about the landholding of Richard Higgins, both at Eastham and Piscataway, referring to Eastham town record, Plymouth Colony deeds, and Piscataway town records [Higgins (1918) pp. 32-36; Higgins (1924) pp. 5-7]. Richard Higgins died within a few years of his arrival in New Jersey, and no will has survived, but his widow is called executrix of his estate [PCLR 5:139]. The widow acquired much land in the period after Richard's death and before her marriage to Isaac Whitehead [Higgins (1918) pp. 38-41].

BIRTH: By about 1609 based on date of first marriage.

DEATH: Piscataway after 20 November 1674 [PCLR 4:165] and before 1 June 1675 [PCR 5:169-70].

MARRIAGE: (1) Plymouth 11 December 1634 Lydia Chandler (Eastham records give this date as 23 November, but the Plymouth record is clearly to be preferred), probably daughter of EDMUND CHANDLER ; she died probably shortly after the birth of Benjamin in 1640, and certainly before Richard Higgins remarried. (2) Eastham October 1651 Mary (_____) Yates, widow of John Yates of Eastham [MD 8:13]; she survived her second husband and married (3) at Piscataway as his second wife Isaac Whitehead, she having recanted her intention to marry Samuel Moore Sr. of Woodbridge [NYGBR 47:21]. She was living in 1702 when her son Thomas allowed her a life tenancy in part of his home [NYGBR 47:22].

CHILDREN: With first wife [PCR 8:27]

i JONATHAN, b. Plymouth July 1637; m. (1) Eastham 9 January 1660 Elizabeth Rogers [MD 6:15, 7:16]; m. (2) by 1680 Hannah Rogers [NEHGR 123:147-48; MF 2:161, 163; NYGBR 46:393]. (The two wives of Jonathan Higgins were sisters, a situation that was considered incestuous by the Puritans and strenuously discouraged; but the evidence presented by Anne Borden Harding in 1969 indicates that in this instance the two wives were sisters [NEHGR 123:147-48].)

ii BENJAMIN, b. Plymouth June 1640; m. Eastham 24 December 1661 Lydia Bangs [MD 8:12], daughter of EDWARD BANGS .

With second wife [PCR 8:27]

iii MARY, b. Eastham 27 September 1652 [PCR 8:27]; m. William Looker of Elizabethtown, New Jersey, and was supported as "a lame and distracted woman the wife of one Wm. Looker, late of Elizabeth Towne, brewer" by her mother and brother Eliakim Higgins [NYGBR 47:24]. (Claims that she had an earlier husband who was a Bradford have no basis.)

iv ELIAKIM, b. Eastham 20 October 1654; m. Piscataway 15 May 1684 Alice Newbould [NYGBR 46:394; Monnette 227].

v JADIAH, b. Eastham March 1656/7; m. 12 May 1684 Mary Newbold [NYGBR 46:394, citing unknown source (place of marriage not noted)].

vi ZERA, b. June 1658; m. Piscataway 25 December 1680 Elizabeth Oliver [NYGBR 46:394; Monnette 227].

vii THOMAS, b. January 1661; m. Piscataway 9 July 1690 Elizabeth Hull [NYGBR 46:394; Monnette 227].

viii LYDIA, b. July 1664; no further record.

ix REBECCA, b. say 1666; m. Piscataway 28 April 1683 Thomas Martin [NYGBR 46:394; Monnette 227].

x RUTH, b. say 1671; m. (1) Woodbridge 23 April 1692 Isaac FitzRandolph [Monnette 249]; m. (2) 1695 Stephen Tuttle [NYGBR 46:394, 47:31 (accounting for her first husband's estate as "Ruth Tuttle")].

xi SARAH, b. say 1673; m. Woodbridge 26 October 1693 Samuel Moore [NYGBR 46:394; Monnette 249 (says 1702 or 1693)].

ASSOCIATIONS: The contention that the first wife of Richard Higgins was daughter of EDMUND CHANDLER is based in part on the frequent early interactions of Higgins with Chandler and his son Samuel. Richard Higgins was with Edmund Chandler creditor of estate of Godbert Godbertson, 1633 [MD 1:157]; with Samuel Chandler, creditor of estate of John Thorpe, 1633 [MD 1:160]; and surety for Samuel Chandler in court case of 3 December 1639 [PCR 1:137-38].

In 1639 John Smalley took over from Richard Higgins the apprenticeship of Samuel Godbertson (both men were tailors) [PCR 1:129-30]. The association between Smalley and Higgins continued in 1640 with an exchange of Plymouth land [PCR 12:59]. Higgins and Smalley migrated about the same time to Piscataway, and continued together in land transactions there.

COMMENTS: Two hypotheses have been set forth on the English origin of Richard Higgins. Orra E. Monnette published one, which was based on family papers, as verified by Gustave Anjou. This proposal was refuted in 1918 and 1924 by Katharine Chapin Higgins, and the ever-gullible Monnette was clearly taken in by the ever-mendacious Anjou.

The alternate suggested origin, that the immigrant was the Richard Higgins who was apprenticed as a tailor in 1627, is at least possible and has some attractions, but is far from being proved. The claim that Higgins came in 1623 cannot be true, since he did not participate in any of the land grants made to this group of immigrants. The claim that he came in 1629 on the Talbot is not impossible, but is not supported by any documentary evidence.

Higgins was a member of the 1644 committee to explore settlement of Eastham, but his actual move probably dates from his sale of Plymouth land in 1645. His last records in Eastham are in 1669, and he does not appear in the 29 May 1670 Plymouth Colony list of freemen, so he apparently moved to Piscataway in late 1669 or early 1670.

A son William is recorded in Plymouth vital records as born 15 December 1654, an impossible date given the birth date for Eliakim; this William is not seen again, and is probably an erroneous entry. Rebecca is called daughter of Richard and Mary in her marriage record in 1683; given this date of marriage she must have been born in Eastham, even though there is no record of her birth there. The last two children, Ruth and Sarah, were presumably born after the move to Piscataway; they are included as children of Richard and Mary since they have the surname Higgins in their marriage records, and Thomas Higgins is coadministrator with Ruth on the estate of her first husband.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE: All substantial research on Richard Higgins was published between 1915 and 1926. Orra E. Monnette had published a Lengthy article in 1915 and 1916 ["Richard Higgins of Plymouth and Eastham, Mass., and Piscataway, N. J., and Some of His Descendants," NYGBR 46:387-94, 47:20-32]. In 1918 Mrs. Katharine Chapin Higgins published privately Richard Higgins: A Resident and Pioneer Settler at Plymouth and Eastham, Massachusetts, and at Piscataway, New Jersey and His Descendants (Worcester MA), and followed this in 1924 with a Supplement [cited herein as Higgins (1918) and Higgins (1924)]. This round of publication terminated in 1926 with an editorial note in NYGBR incorporating Monnette's objection to Chapin's (and Bartlett's) rejection of his (and Anjou's) suggested English connection [NYGBR 57:298-99].

Other items published more recently have not added to our knowledge of Richard Higgins [John Ralph Higgins, "The Higgins Genealogy: Twelve Generations: From Massachusetts to California: 1632-1972" (Los Gatos, California, 1972); Vivian Higgins Morse, An American Family and its Ancestor Predecessors (Baltimore 1973); and Anne Farrell Higgins Wood, "The Story of Many Descendants of the Brothers Ichabod and Richard Higgins: 1603-1979" (n.p. 1979)].

(The preceding is from "The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633" by Robert Charles Anderson [Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995], vol II, G - O, pp. 928-932: https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2496/images/42521_...)

• ****************************************************************************************************** III. "Descendants of Richard HIGGINS - from Ireland or England to America" by Vicki L. Winfield (http://www.angelfire.com/ok5/vicky_winfield/HigginsFamily/GenHiggin...) - I add for anyone's interest this the "Notes" section done by Vicky L. Winfield on Richard Higgins. Some of it repeats what has already been presented. She has gathered a lot of different information. Reading it shows the conundrum of determining which Richard Higgins immigrated to America. The readers can determine on their own the validity of the evidence presented:

1. Richard HIGGINS

Plymouth Freeman

Ttook Samuel Godbertson as Taylor apprentice

Committee on highways

Petit Jury

Grand Jury

Deputy for Eastham to Plymouth General Court

Eastham surveyor of highways

Committee on Bounds t'wen Barnstable & Yarmouth

Committee on Kennebec Trade

Eastham selectman

Coroner's Jury1 _MILT 2 DATE 1643 2 PLAC Plymouth Colony List of men able to bear arms

MY NOTES:

Males by Lydia Chandler: Benjamin, Jonathan (2)

Males by Mary (Widow) Yates: Eliakim, Jediah, Zera, William & Thomas (5)

Females by Mary [Widow] Yates: **Rebecca, **Sarah, Lydia, Mary & Ruth (5)

Mary (Widow) Yates - her maiden name is Unknown

There seems to be 12 children - yet in the Genealogical Register of Plymouth Families by William T. Davis (Boston, MA: Damrell & Upham, 1899) it states there were 9 children. Johnathan & Benjamin by Lydia Chandler

---

Mary, Eliakim, William, Judah, Zeruiah, Thomas & Lydia by Mary Yates. I have NOT found a "William" except in the Genealogical Register of Plymouth Families, page 134. Pioneer Irish in New England (Michael O'Brien; New York, NY: P.J. Kennedy & Sons, 1937), Chapter XII page 203 states he was the father of six sons and four daughters. ???? I have 7 sons and five daughters. ???? Jonathan, Benjamin, Eliakim, William, Jediah, Zera & Thomas

---

Mary, Lydia, Rebecca, Ruth & Sarah. vlww

Pioneer Irish in New England, CHAPTER XII, page 203 Taylor.Plymouth Colony Records, Vol. 1, p. 37.40 He married (1) Lydia Chandler on November 23, 1634, and (2) Mary Yates in October, 1661, and was the father of six sons and four daughters. He is described as a man of giant strength and integrity of character, and we are told, he was the ancestor of nearly all the Higginss in Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Another New England historian says: Richard Higgins, the ancestor, was of Celtic origin, but seems to have emigrated to America from England, though some of his descendants claim he came from the North of Ireland. [Ibid., Vol. 6.41] Some of them settled in the Saco Valley, and an historical investigator of that region in commenting upon an assertion by a member of the family that his ancestor came from England and presumably was an Englishman, remarks that the Higgins families of Saco all smack of old Ireland, and he asks, did they come from Belfast, Dublin or Cork, via Liverpool, and is this the way they came from England? Saco Valley Families and Settlements, by Rev. Gideon T. Ridlon, p. 727.42 Source Information: O'Brien, Michael J., LL.D. Pioneer Irish in New England. New York, NY: P. J. Kennedy & Sons, 1937.

GENEALOGICAL REGISTER of PLYMOUTH FAMILIES, page 134 HIGGINS, RICHARD, Plymouth, 1633, m., 1634, Lydeon Chandler, and had Jonathan, 1637; Benjamin, 1640. He removed to Eastham, 1644, and m., 2d, 1651, Mary Yates, by whom he had Mary, 1652; Eliakim, 1654; William, 1655; Judah, 1657; Zeruiah, 1658; Thomas, 1661; Lydia, 1664. Source Information: Davis, William T. Genealogical Register of Plymouth Families. Boston, MA: Damrell & Upham, 1899.

Database: American Marriages Before 1699 Name Spouse Marriage Date Marriage Place CHANDLER , Lydia Higgins, Richard 11 December 1634 Plymouth, Mass. HIGGINS, Richard Chandler, Lydia 23 November 1634 Plymouth, Mass. Source Information: Clemens, William Montgomery. American Marriage Records before 1699. Pompton Lakes, NJ: Biblio Co., 1926.

Immigration Library - Appendixes of The Real Founders of New England Appendix A, page 153 ?HIGGINS, Richard, boy with Edward Wynne at Newfoundland, 1622; if same one, Plymouth, 1623, or perhaps Salem, 1629; Plymouth, 1633; Eastham, Mass.; New Piscataqua, N.J., 1669; dead in 1677; widow Mary and children. Description: Contains the following works: Appendixes of the Real Founders of New England; Scandinavian Immigrants in New York 1630-1674. Source Information: Ancestry Incorporated. Immigration Library. Salt Lake City, UT: Ancestry Incorporated, 1996.

Appendixes of The Real Founders of New England Appendix A, page 153 ?HIGGINS, Richard, boy with Edward Wynne at Newfoundland, 1622; if same one, Plymouth, 1623, or perhaps Salem, 1629; Plymouth, 1633; Eastham, Mass.; New Piscataqua, N.J., 1669; dead in 1677; widow Mary and children. Description: This appendix covers the early settlers in New England up through about 1630. Primarily about the Salem and Plymouth colonies, settlers are listed and the ship on which they arrived. Source Information: Bolton, Charles Knowles. Real Founders of New England; Stories of their Life along the Coast, 1602-1628 [Appendixes Only]. Boston, MA: F. W. Faxon Co., 1929.

SOURCE for below article: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995. "The Great Migration Begins Sketches - "PRESERVED PURITAN - RICHARD HIGGINS ORIGIN: Unknown MIGRATION: 1632 FIRST RESIDENCE: Plymouth REMOVES: Eastham 1645, Piscataway 1670 OCCUPATION: Tailor (he took Samuel Godbertson as apprentice to learn trade of tailor on 1 April 1634 [PCR 1:29]; in a deed acknowledged on 25 March 1669 he calls himself "Richard Higgens of Eastham ... tailor" [PCLR 3:147]). FREEMAN: In "1633" Plymouth list of freemen after those admitted 1 January 1634/5 [PCR 1:4]. In Plymouth Colony list of 7 March 1636/7 [PCR 1:53]. In Plymouth section of 1639 Plymouth Colony list of freemen; his name was then erased and "Rich[ard] Higgenson" was added to the "Nawsett [Eastham]" section of the same list [PCR 8:174, 177]. In Eastham section of 1658 list of freemen [PCR 8:201]. (He was not in the 29 May 1670 list of Plymouth freemen.) OFFICES: Committee on highways, 2 May 1637 [PCR 1:58]; grand jury, 5 June 1644 [PCR 2:71]; petit jury, 4 Sept. 1638, 7 Sept. 1642, 7 March 1642/3, 5 March 1643/4, 1 June 1647 [PCR 2:117, 7:9, 32, 34, 37]; deputy for Eastham to Plymouth General Court, 1647, 1653, 1655, 1657, 1658, 1660, 1665 [PCR 2:117, 3:32, 80, 115, 135, 187, 4:90]; Eastham selectman 1666, 1667, 1668 [PCR 4:124, 146, 182]; coroner's jury, 24 Dec. 1667 [PCR 4:176]; Eastham surveyor of highways, 5 June 1651 [PCR 2:168]; committee on bounds between Barnstable and Yarmouth, 11 March 1657/8 [PCR 3:175]; committee on Kennebec trade, 13 June 1660 [PCR 3:195]. In Plymouth section of 1643 Plymouth Colony list of men able to bear arms [PCR 8:189]. ESTATE: Assessed 9s. in the Plymouth tax list of 25 March 1633 and 12s. in the list of 27 March 1634 [PCR 1:11, 28]. Purchased house from Thomas Little 7 October 1633, and house and 20 acres of upland from John Barnes 13 January 1633/4 [PCR 1:16, 24]; granted 40 acres of upland and two parcels of meadow 4 March 1638/9, and earlier grant of 20 acres at Manomet Pond confirmed 30 November 1640 [PCR 1:115, 168]. Most of this land was sold to John Churchill 18 August 1645 [PCR 12:111; see also PCR 12:59, 107]. Katharine Chapin Higgins quotes extensively from and also summarizes much information about the landholding of Richard Higgins, both at Eastham and Piscataway, referring to Eastham town record, Plymouth Colony deeds, and Piscataway town records [Higgins (1918) pp. 32-36; Higgins (1924) pp. 5-7]. Richard Higgins died within a few years of his arrival in New Jersey, and no will has survived, but his widow is called executrix of his estate [PCLR 5:139]. The widow acquired much land in the period after Richard's death and before her marriage to Isaac Whitehead [Higgins (1918) pp. 38-41]. BIRTH: By about 1609 based on date of first marriage. DEATH: Piscataway after 20 November 1674 [PCLR 4:165] and before 1 June 1675 [PCR 5:169-70]. MARRIAGE: (1) Plymouth 11 December 1634 Lydia Chandler (Eastham records give this date as 23 November, but the Plymouth record is clearly to be preferred), probably daughter of EDMUND CHANDLER; she died probably shortly after the birth of Benjamin in 1640, and certainly before Richard Higgins remarried. (2) Eastham October 1651 Mary (_____) Yates, widow of John Yates of Eastham [MD 8:13]; she survived her second husband and married (3) at Piscataway as his second wife Isaac Whitehead, she having recanted her intention to marry Samuel Moore Sr. of Woodbridge [NYGBR 47:21]. She was living in 1702 when her son Thomas allowed her a life tenancy in part of his home [NYGBR 47:22]. CHILDREN: With first wife [PCR 8:27] i JONATHAN, b. Plymouth July 1637; m. (1) Eastham 9 January 1660 Elizabeth Rogers [MD 6:15, 7:16]; m. (2) by 1680 Hannah Rogers [NEHGR 123:147-48; MF 2:161, 163; NYGBR 46:393]. (The two wives of Jonathan Higgins were sisters, a situation that was considered incestuous by the Puritans and strenuously discouraged; but the evidence presented by Anne Borden Harding in 1969 indicates that in this instance the two wives were sisters [NEHGR 123:147-48].) ii BENJAMIN, b. Plymouth June 1640; m. Eastham 24 December 1661 Lydia Bangs [MD 8:12], daughter of EDWARD BANGS. With second wife [PCR 8:27] [******MY NOTES: Children i & ii were children of Lydia Chandler - Children iii through xi were children of Mary [_____] Yates due to the assumption of Lydia's death in 1640 and Richard marrying Mary October of 1651. vlww******] iii MARY, b. Eastham 27 September 1652 [PCR 8:27]; m. William Looker of Elizabethtown, New Jersey, and was supported as "a lame and distracted woman the wife of one Wm. Looker, late of Elizabeth Towne, brewer" by her mother and brother Eliakim Higgins [NYGBR 47:24]. (Claims that she had an earlier husband who was a Bradford have no basis.) iv ELIAKIM, b. Eastham 20 October 1654; m. Piscataway 15 May 1684 Alice Newbould [NYGBR 46:394; Monnette 227].

• ** v JADIAH, b. Eastham March 1656/7; m. 12 May 1684 Mary Newbold [NYGBR 46:394, citing unknown source (place of marriage not noted)]. vi ZERA, b. June 1658; m. Piscataway 25 December 1680 Elizabeth Oliver [NYGBR 46:394; Monnette 227]. vii THOMAS, b. January 1661; m. Piscataway 9 July 1690 Elizabeth Hull [NYGBR 46:394; Monnette 227]. viii LYDIA, b. July 1664; no further record. ix REBECCA, b. say 1666; m. Piscataway 28 April 1683 Thomas Martin [NYGBR 46:394; Monnette 227]. x RUTH, b. say 1671; m. (1) Woodbridge 23 April 1692 Isaac FitzRandolph [Monnette 249]; m. (2) 1695 Stephen Tuttle [NYGBR 46:394, 47:31 (accounting for her first husband's estate as "Ruth Tuttle")]. xi SARAH, b. say 1673; m. Woodbridge 26 October 1693 Samuel Moore [NYGBR 46:394; Monnette 249 (says 1702 or 1693)]. ASSOCIATIONS: The contention that the first wife of Richard Higgins was daughter of EDMUND CHANDLER is based in part on the frequent early interactions of Higgins with Chandler and his son Samuel. Richard Higgins was with Edmund Chandler creditor of estate of Godbert Godbertson, 1633 [MD 1:157]; with Samuel Chandler, creditor of estate of John Thorpe, 1633 [MD 1:160]; and surety for Samuel Chandler in court case of 3 December 1639 [PCR 1:137-38]. In 1639 John Smalley took over from Richard Higgins the apprenticeship of Samuel Godbertson (both men were tailors) [PCR 1:129-30]. The association between Smalley and Higgins continued in 1640 with an exchange of Plymouth land [PCR 12:59]. Higgins and Smalley migrated about the same time to Piscataway, and continued together in land transactions there. COMMENTS: Two hypotheses have been set forth on the English origin of Richard Higgins. Orra E. Monnette published one, which was based on family papers, as verified by Gustave Anjou. This proposal was refuted in 1918 and 1924 by Katharine Chapin Higgins, and the ever-gullible Monnette was clearly taken in by the ever-mendacious Anjou. The alternate suggested origin, that the immigrant was the Richard Higgins who was apprenticed as a tailor in 1627, is at least possible and has some attractions, but is far from being proved. The claim that Higgins came in 1623 cannot be true, since he did not participate in any of the land grants made to this group of immigrants. The claim that he came in 1629 on the Talbot is not impossible, but is not supported by any documentary evidence. Higgins was a member of the 1644 committee to explore settlement of Eastham, but his actual move probably dates from his sale of Plymouth land in 1645. His last records in Eastham are in 1669, and he does not appear in the 29 May 1670 Plymouth Colony list of freemen, so he apparently moved to Piscataway in late 1669 or early 1670. A son William is recorded in Plymouth vital records as born 15 December 1654, an impossible date given the birthdate for Eliakim; this William is not seen again, and is probably an erroneous entry. Rebecca is called daughter of Richard and Mary in her marriage record in 1683; given this date of marriage she must have been born in Eastham, even though there is no record of her birth there. The last two children, Ruth and Sarah, were presumably born after the move to Piscataway; they are included as children of Richard and Mary since they have the surname Higgins in their marriage records, and Thomas Higgins is co-administrator with Ruth on the estate of her first husband. BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE: All substantial research on Richard Higgins was published between 1915 and 1926. Orra E. Monnette had published a Lengthy article in 1915 and 1916 ["Richard Higgins of Plymouth and Eastham, Mass., and Piscataway, N.J., and Some of His Descendants," NYGBR 46:387-94, 47:20-32]. In 1918 Mrs. Katharine Chapin Higgins published privately Richard Higgins: A Resident and Pioneer Settler at Plymouth and Eastham, Massachusetts, and at Piscataway, New Jersey and His Descendants (Worcester MA), and followed this in 1924 with a Supplement [cited herein as Higgins (1918) and Higgins (1924)]. This round of publication terminated in 1926 with an editorial note in NYGBR incorporating Monnette's objection to Chapin's (and Bartlett's) rejection of his (and Anjou's) suggested English connection [NYGBR 57:298-99]. Other items published more recently have not added to our knowledge of Richard Higgins [John Ralph Higgins, "The Higgins Genealogy: Twelve Generations: From Massachusetts to California: 1632-1972" (Los Gatos, California, 1972); Vivian Higgins Morse, An American Family and its Ancestor Predecessors (Baltimore 1973); and Anne Farrell Higgins Wood, "The Story of Many Descendants of the Brothers Ichabod and Richard Higgins: 1603-1979" (n.p. 1979)]." MY NOTE: *** annotates "our" ancestor Jediah (JADIAH) Higgins 1] PCR - Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England, Nathaniel B. Shurtleff and David Pulsifer, eds., 12 volumes in 10 (Boston 1855-1861) 2] PCLR - Plymouth Colony Deeds (from microfilm=semi Volume 1 has been published as Volume 12 of PCR) 3] MD - Mayflower Descendant, Volume 1 through present (1899-1937, 1985 ) 4] NYGBR - The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Volume through present (1869 ) 5] NEHGR - New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 1 through present (1847 ) 6] MF - Mayflower Families (the 'silver' books) 7] Monnette - Orra Eugene Monnette, First Settlers of Ye Plantations of Piscataway and Woodbridge, Olde East New Jersey, 1664-1714, parts 1-7 (Los Angeles 1930-1935) 8]

The Great Migration Begins Sketches: JOHN BARNES " On 13 January 1633/4 John Barnes sold to Richard Higgins the dwelling house and twenty acres of land which Barnes had recently bought of Edward Holman, and Higgins is to pay Barnes Ł10 and "shall possess the said John & his heirs of 20 acres of land at Scituate" [PCR 1:24]. Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England, Nathaniel B. Shurtleff and David Pulsifer, eds., 12 volumes in 10 (Boston 1855-1861)" Source Information: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995.

The Great Migration Begins Sketches: EDMUND CHANDLER Children with First Wife: 2nd child (prob.) LYDIA, b. say 1614; m. Plymouth 11 December 1634 RICHARD HIGGINS [PCR 1:32]. Third, when Samuel Chandler was charged with slander against the Plymouth government in 1639, one of his bondsmen was Richard Higgins, who had married in 1634 at Plymouth Lydia Chandler. If she married at the normal age, Lydia would have been born about 1614, and so could well have been a sister of Samuel. Source Information: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995.

The Great Migration Begins Sketches: PRESERVED PURITAN - JOHN SMALLEY "Memorandum, the last day of August, 1639, that Richard Higgens for & in consideration that John Smalley shall teach Samuell Godbertson the trade of a tailor, as far as in him lieth, & principally employ him therein" [PCR 1:129-30]. On 11 June 1640 John Smalley and Richard Higgens exchanged two parcels of meadow of one acre each [PCR 12:59]. ASSOCIATIONS: In 1639 John Smalley took over from RICHARD HIGGINS the apprenticeship of Samuel Godbertson (both men were tailors) [PCR 1:129-30]. The association between Smalley and Higgins continued in 1640 with an exchange of Plymouth land [PCR 12:59]. Both men moved to Eastham and then to Piscataway at about the same times." Source Information: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995.

The Great Migration Begins Sketches: PRESERVED PURITAN - GODBERT GODBERTSON "CHILDREN WITH 2ND WIFE i SAMUEL, b. Leiden about 1622; placed himself as an apprentice to Richard Higgins, tailor, for seven years, 1 April 1634 [PCR 1:29]; remainder of apprenticeship, until 1 April 1641, transferred to John Smalley, 31 August 1639 [PCR 1:129]; apparently m. by about 1657 _____ _____. (The only evidence that Samuel Godbertson, son of Godbert Godbertson, married is the death at Middleborough on 17 April 1699 of "Samuell Cutbird aged about 42 years" [ MiddleVR 1:3], who was born at the right time to be son of Samuel Godbertson.)" 1] MiddleVR - Middleborough, Massachusetts Vital Records, Barbara Lambert Merrick and Alicia Crane Williams, eds., 2 vols. (Boston 1986, 1990)

The Great Migration Begins Sketches: PRESERVED PURITAN - JOSIAS COOKE "In response to a petition by Mr. John Done, Josias Cooke, Richard Sparrow, and Richard Higgens, the court on 6 October 1657 consented to allow them land about thirteen English miles from Rehoboth provided they observed the orderly purchase from the native proprietors [PCR 3:123, 142, 4:67]."

The Great Migration Begins Sketches: PRESERVED PURITAN - JOHN DOANE "At an unknown date (but acknowledged 2 July 1669) "John Doan" of Eastham, husbandman, exchanged land with "Richard Higgens" of Eastham, Doane receiving three acres of meadow and Higgins receiving four acres of meadow at Billingsgate [PCLR 5:140]."

The Great Migration Begins Sketches: PRESERVED PURITAN - MANASSEH KEMPTON "On 24 July 1662 "Mannasses Kemton of ... Plymouth ... yeoman" sold to "Richard Higgens" of Eastham "twelve acres of upland ground lying at Nausett in the township of Eastham aforesaid with six acres of meadow ..., with two acres of meadow at the harbor's mouth, with two acres of meadow at Billingsgate," and on the same day he sold to Lieutenant Joseph Rogers of Eastham "forty acres of upland ... at a place called Barly Neck in the township of Eastham" [MD 17:166-67, citing PCLR 2:2:99-100].

RECORDS --OF THE-- TOWN OF PLYMOUTH. PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE TOWN. VOL. 1. 1636 TO 1705. CLEARFIELD COMPANY Originally published Plymouth, 1889 Reprinted for Clearfield Company, Inc. by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. Baltimore, Maryland 1995 International Standard Book Number: 0-8063-4562-4 Made in the United States of America Page 16 "It is agreed That wolfe traps be made according to the order of the Court in manner following, 1 That one trap be made at Joanes River by the Governors famyly Mr Prences and Mr Hanburies and mathew ffuller and Abraham Pearce 2 That one be made at Playne Dealing2 by Mr Combe Mr Lee ffrancis Billington Georg Clark John Shawe and Edward Dotey. 3 That one be made at Wellingsly by the Inhabits there with the help of Goodman Dunhame 4 That one be made at broken wharfe3 by Manassah Kempton Edward Banges Richard Higgens Nathaniell Morton Nicholas Snow Anthony Snow John Jenkins Willm ffallowell Robte ffinney John and Ephraim Morton."

Lydia CHANDLER

1 BIRT 2 DATE 1609 2 PLAC Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts

GENEALOGICAL REGISTER of PLYMOUTH FAMILIES, page 134 HIGGINS, RICHARD, Plymouth, 1633, m., 1634, Lydeon Chandler, and had Jonathan, 1637; Benjamin, 1640. He removed to Eastham, 1644, and m., 2d, 1651, Mary Yates, by whom he had Mary, 1652; Eliakim, 1654; William, 1655; Judah, 1657; Zeruiah, 1658; Thomas, 1661; Lydia, 1664. Source Information: Davis, William T. Genealogical Register of Plymouth Families. Boston, MA: Damrell & Upham, 1899.

"...... MARRIAGE: (1) Plymouth 11 December 1634 Lydia Chandler (Eastham records give this date as 23 November, but the Plymouth record is clearly to be preferred), probably daughter of EDMUND CHANDLER; she died probably shortly after the birth of Benjamin in 1640, and certainly before Richard Higgins remarried. ..................... CHILDREN: With first wife [PCR 8:27] i JONATHAN, b. Plymouth July 1637; m. (1) Eastham 9 January 1660 Elizabeth Rogers [MD 6:15, 7:16]; m. (2) by 1680 Hannah Rogers [NEHGR 123:147-48; MF 2:161, 163; NYGBR 46:393]. (The two wives of Jonathan Higgins were sisters, a situation that was considered incestuous by the Puritans and strenuously discouraged; but the evidence presented by Anne Borden Harding in 1969 indicates that in this instance the two wives were sisters [NEHGR 123:147-48].) ii BENJAMIN, b. Plymouth June 1640; m. Eastham 24 December 1661 Lydia Bangs [MD 8:12], daughter of EDWARD BANGS. With second wife [PCR 8:27] ..................................... [******MY NOTES: Children iii through xi were children of Mary (______) Yates - vlww******] ASSOCIATIONS: The contention that the first wife of Richard Higgins was daughter of EDMUND CHANDLER is based in part on the frequent early interactions of Higgins with Chandler and his son Samuel. Richard Higgins was with Edmund Chandler creditor of estate of Godbert Godbertson, 1633 [MD 1:157]; with Samuel Chandler, creditor of estate of John Thorpe, 1633 [MD 1:160]; and surety for Samuel Chandler in court case of 3 December 1639 [PCR 1:137-38]. ..........." SOURCE: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995. "The Great Migration Begins Sketches - "PRESERVED PURITAN - RICHARD HIGGINS

Database: American Marriages Before 1699 Name Spouse Marriage Date Marriage Place CHANDLER , Lydia Higgins, Richard 11 December 1634 Plymouth, Mass. HIGGINS, Richard Chandler, Lydia 23 November 1634 Plymouth, Mass. Source Information: Clemens, William Montgomery. American Marriage Records before 1699. Pompton Lakes, NJ: Biblio Co., 1926.

2. Jonathan HIGGINS

JONATHAN, b. Plymouth July 1637; m. (1) Eastham 9 January 1660 Elizabeth Rogers [MD 6:15, 7:16]; m. (2) by 1680 Hannah Rogers [NEHGR 123:147-48; MF 2:161, 163; NYGBR 46:393]. (The two wives of Jonathan Higgins were sisters, a situation that was considered incestuous by the Puritans and strenuously discouraged; but the evidence presented by Anne Borden Harding in 1969 indicates that in this instance the two wives were sisters [NEHGR 123:147-48].) SOURCE: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995. "The Great Migration Begins Sketches - "PRESERVED PURITAN - RICHARD HIGGINS

Elizabeth ROGERS

JONATHAN, b. Plymouth July 1637; m. (1) Eastham 9 January 1660 Elizabeth Rogers [MD 6:15, 7:16]; m. (2) by 1680 Hannah Rogers [NEHGR 123:147-48; MF 2:161, 163; NYGBR 46:393]. (The two wives of Jonathan Higgins were sisters, a situation that was considered incestuous by the Puritans and strenuously discouraged; but the evidence presented by Anne Borden Harding in 1969 indicates that in this instance the two wives were sisters [NEHGR 123:147-48].) SOURCE: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995. "The Great Migration Begins Sketches - "PRESERVED PURITAN - RICHARD HIGGINS

Hannah ROGERS

JONATHAN, b. Plymouth July 1637; m. (1) Eastham 9 January 1660 Elizabeth Rogers [MD 6:15, 7:16]; m. (2) by 1680 Hannah Rogers [NEHGR 123:147-48; MF 2:161, 163; NYGBR 46:393]. (The two wives of Jonathan Higgins were sisters, a situation that was considered incestuous by the Puritans and strenuously discouraged; but the evidence presented by Anne Borden Harding in 1969 indicates that in this instance the two wives were sisters [NEHGR 123:147-48].) SOURCE: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995. "The Great Migration Begins Sketches - "PRESERVED PURITAN - RICHARD HIGGINS

3. Benjamin HIGGINS

"........... BENJAMIN, b. Plymouth June 1640; m. Eastham 24 December 1661 Lydia Bangs [MD 8:12], daughter of EDWARD BANGS. With second wife [PCR 8:27] .............." SOURCE: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995. "The Great Migration Begins Sketches - "PRESERVED PURITAN - RICHARD HIGGINS

Lydia BANGS

"........... BENJAMIN, b. Plymouth June 1640; m. Eastham 24 December 1661 Lydia Bangs [MD 8:12], daughter of EDWARD BANGS. With second wife [PCR 8:27] .............." SOURCE: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995. "The Great Migration Begins Sketches - "PRESERVED PURITAN - RICHARD HIGGINS

Mary YATES Mrs.

"MARRIAGE: ........ (2) Eastham October 1651 Mary (_____) Yates, widow of John Yates of Eastham [MD 8:13]; she survived her second husband and married (3) at Piscataway as his second wife Isaac Whitehead, she having recanted her intention to marry Samuel Moore Sr. of Woodbridge [NYGBR 47:21]. She was living in 1702 when her son Thomas allowed her a life tenancy in part of his home [NYGBR 47:22]. CHILDREN: [******MY NOTES: Children i & ii were children of Lydia Chandler - vlww******] iii MARY, b. Eastham 27 September 1652 [PCR 8:27]; m. William Looker of Elizabethtown, New Jersey, and was supported as "a lame and distracted woman the wife of one Wm. Looker, late of Elizabeth Towne, brewer" by her mother and brother Eliakim Higgins [NYGBR 47:24]. (Claims that she had an earlier husband who was a Bradford have no basis.) iv ELIAKIM, b. Eastham 20 October 1654; m. Piscataway 15 May 1684 Alice Newbould [NYGBR 46:394; Monnette 227].

• ** v JADIAH, b. Eastham March 1656/7; m. 12 May 1684 Mary Newbold [NYGBR 46:394, citing unknown source (place of marriage not noted)]. vi ZERA, b. June 1658; m. Piscataway 25 December 1680 Elizabeth Oliver [NYGBR 46:394; Monnette 227]. vii THOMAS, b. January 1661; m. Piscataway 9 July 1690 Elizabeth Hull [NYGBR 46:394; Monnette 227]. viii LYDIA, b. July 1664; no further record. ix REBECCA, b. say 1666; m. Piscataway 28 April 1683 Thomas Martin [NYGBR 46:394; Monnette 227]. x RUTH, b. say 1671; m. (1) Woodbridge 23 April 1692 Isaac FitzRandolph [Monnette 249]; m. (2) 1695 Stephen Tuttle [NYGBR 46:394, 47:31 (accounting for her first husband's estate as "Ruth Tuttle")]. xi SARAH, b. say 1673; m. Woodbridge 26 October 1693 Samuel Moore [NYGBR 46:394; Monnette 249 (says 1702 or 1693)]. SOURCE: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995. "The Great Migration Begins Sketches - "PRESERVED PURITAN - RICHARD HIGGINS

Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey Vol22 Author: William NelsonCall Number: F133.N42This book contains the marriage records of New Jersey. Bibliographic Information: Nelson, William. Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey Vol.22. The Press Pringitn and Publishing Co. New Jersey. 1900. MARRIAGE RECORDS, 1665-1800EDITED, WITH AN HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION ON THE EARLY MARRIAGE LAWS OF NEW JERSEY, AND THE PRECEDENTS ON WHICH THEY WERE FOUNDED, BY WILLIAM NELSON. PATERSON, N. J.: THE PRESS PRINTING AND PUBLISHING CO., 269 MAIN STREET.1900. "Page 59 Another instance, due to the fickleness of human nature, was when a license was issued to Samuel Moore, of the town of Woodbridge, and Mary Higgins, widow of Richard Higgins, of New Piscataway, September 6, 1678, a marginal entry informing us: "This is null one of the persons recanting the agreement."2 The record is silent as to whether it was the anxious bridegroom or the coy widow who "recanted" even after the license had been obtained.3 "

4. Mary HIGGINS

"...... MARY, b. Eastham 27 September 1652 [PCR 8:27]; m. William Looker of Elizabethtown, New Jersey, and was supported as "a lame and distracted woman the wife of one Wm. Looker, late of Elizabeth Towne, brewer" by her mother and brother Eliakim Higgins [NYGBR 47:24]. (Claims that she had an earlier husband who was a Bradford have no basis.) ..........." SOURCE: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995. "The Great Migration Begins Sketches - "PRESERVED PURITAN - RICHARD HIGGINS

William LOCKER

SOURCE: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995. "The Great Migration Begins Sketches - "PRESERVED PURITAN - RICHARD HIGGINS

5. Eliakim HIGGINS

"...... MARY, b. Eastham 27 September 1652 [PCR 8:27]; m. William Looker of Elizabethtown, New Jersey, and was supported as "a lame and distracted woman the wife of one Wm. Looker, late of Elizabeth Towne, brewer" by her mother and brother ELIAKIM HIGGINS [NYGBR 47:24]. (Claims that she had an earlier husband who was a Bradford have no basis.) ..........." SOURCE: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995. "The Great Migration Begins Sketches - "PRESERVED PURITAN - RICHARD HIGGINS

SOURCE: State of New Jersey Index of Wills, Inventories, Etc.; Author: David S. Crater; Call Number: F133.N54 vol.3; This book contains an index of wills of New Jersey. ; Bibliographic Information: Carter, David S. State of New Jersey Index of Wills, Inventories, Etc.1913. Page 1424 Higgins, Eliakim. Vol. 8, p. 345. B. F of Deeds, p. 595. Middlesex. Inv. 1698. Higgins, Mary, Eliakim. Vol. 8, p. 191. Middlesex. Bond 1682. MY NOTE: Is this 'our' Eliakim??????

Alice NEWBOULD

SOURCE: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995. "The Great Migration Begins Sketches - "PRESERVED PURITAN - RICHARD HIGGINS

6. William HIGGINS

GENEALOGICAL REGISTER of PLYMOUTH FAMILIES, page 134 "HIGGINS, RICHARD, Plymouth, 1633, m., 1634, Lydeon Chandler, and had Jonathan, 1637; Benjamin, 1640. He removed to Eastham, 1644, and m., 2d, 1651, Mary Yates, by whom he had Mary, 1652; Eliakim, 1654; WILLIAM, 1655; Judah, 1657; Zeruiah, 1658; Thomas, 1661; Lydia, 1664." Source Information: Davis, William T. Genealogical Register of Plymouth Families. Boston, MA: Damrell & Upham, 1899.

MY NOTES: There seems to be no other record (that I can find) mentioning this William Higgins. vlww

"...... A son William is recorded in Plymouth vital records as born 15 December 1654, an impossible date given the birthdate for Eliakim; this William is not seen again, and is probably an erroneous entry. Rebecca is called daughter of Richard and Mary in her marriage record in 1683; given this date of marriage she must have been born in Eastham, even though there is no record of her birth there. The last two children, Ruth and Sarah, were presumably born after the move to Piscataway; they are included as children of Richard and Mary since they have the surname Higgins in their marriage records, and Thomas Higgins is co-administrator with Ruth on the estate of her first husband. ..........." SOURCE: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995. "The Great Migration Begins Sketches - "PRESERVED PURITAN - RICHARD HIGGINS

8. Zera HIGGINS

SOURCE: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995. "The Great Migration Begins Sketches - "PRESERVED PURITAN - RICHARD HIGGINS

Elizabeth OLIVER

SOURCE: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995. "The Great Migration Begins Sketches - "PRESERVED PURITAN - RICHARD HIGGINS

9. Thomas HIGGINS

"...... Eastham October 1651 Mary (_____) Yates, widow of John Yates of Eastham [MD 8:13]; she survived her second husband and married (3) at Piscataway as his second wife Isaac Whitehead, she having recanted her intention to marry Samuel Moore Sr. of Woodbridge [NYGBR 47:21]. She was living in 1702 when her son THOMAS allowed her a life tenancy in part of his home [NYGBR 47:22]. .......... THOMAS, b. January 1661; m. Piscataway 9 July 1690 Elizabeth Hull [NYGBR 46:394; Monnette 227]. ........" SOURCE: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995. "The Great Migration Begins Sketches - "PRESERVED PURITAN - RICHARD HIGGINS

State of New Jersey Index of Wills, Inventories, Etc Author: David S. Crater Call Number: F133.N54 vol.3 This book contains an index of wills of New Jersey. Bibliographic Information: Carter, David S. State of New Jersey Index of Wills, Inventories, Etc.1913. "Page 1424 Higgins, Thomas. Vol. 9, pp. 195-198. B. 1, p. 37. Middlesex. W. 1704." MY NOTE: Is this 'our' Thomas???????

Elizabeth HULL

SOURCE: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995. "The Great Migration Begins Sketches - "PRESERVED PURITAN - RICHARD HIGGINS

10. Lydia HIGGINS

SOURCE: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995. "The Great Migration Begins Sketches - "PRESERVED PURITAN - RICHARD HIGGINS

11. Rebecca HIGGINS

"...... REBECCA, b. say 1666; m. Piscataway 28 April 1683 Thomas Martin [NYGBR 46:394; Monnette 227]. ............ A son William is recorded in Plymouth vital records as born 15 December 1654, an impossible date given the birthdate for Eliakim; this William is not seen again, and is probably an erroneous entry. Rebecca is called daughter of Richard and Mary in her marriage record in 1683; given this date of marriage she must have been born in Eastham, even though there is no record of her birth there. The last two children, Ruth and Sarah, were presumably born after the move to Piscataway; they are included as children of Richard and Mary since they have the surname Higgins in their marriage records, and Thomas Higgins is co-administrator with Ruth on the estate of her first husband. ..........." SOURCE: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995. "The Great Migration Begins Sketches - "PRESERVED PURITAN - RICHARD HIGGINS

Thomas MARTIN

SOURCE: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995. "The Great Migration Begins Sketches - "PRESERVED PURITAN - RICHARD HIGGINS

12. Ruth HIGGINS

"...... RUTH, b. say 1671; m. (1) Woodbridge 23 April 1692 Isaac FitzRandolph [Monnette 249]; m. (2) 1695 Stephen Tuttle [NYGBR 46:394, 47:31 (accounting for her first husband's estate as "Ruth Tuttle")]. .............. A son William is recorded in Plymouth vital records as born 15 December 1654, an impossible date given the birthdate for Eliakim; this William is not seen again, and is probably an erroneous entry. Rebecca is called daughter of Richard and Mary in her marriage record in 1683; given this date of marriage she must have been born in Eastham, even though there is no record of her birth there. The last two children, Ruth and Sarah, were presumably born after the move to Piscataway; they are included as children of Richard and Mary since they have the surname Higgins in their marriage records, and Thomas Higgins is co-administrator with Ruth on the estate of her first husband. ..........." SOURCE: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995. "The Great Migration Begins Sketches - "PRESERVED PURITAN - RICHARD HIGGINS

Isaac FITZRANDOLPH

SOURCE: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995. "The Great Migration Begins Sketches - "PRESERVED PURITAN - RICHARD HIGGINS

13. Sarah HIGGINS

"...... SARAH, b. say 1673; m. Woodbridge 26 October 1693 Samuel Moore [NYGBR 46:394; Monnette 249 (says 1702 or 1693)]. ................... A son William is recorded in Plymouth vital records as born 15 December 1654, an impossible date given the birthdate for Eliakim; this William is not seen again, and is probably an erroneous entry. Rebecca is called daughter of Richard and Mary in her marriage record in 1683; given this date of marriage she must have been born in Eastham, even though there is no record of her birth there. The last two children, Ruth and Sarah, were presumably born after the move to Piscataway; they are included as children of Richard and Mary since they have the surname Higgins in their marriage records, and Thomas Higgins is co-administrator with Ruth on the estate of her first husband. ..........." SOURCE: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995. "The Great Migration Begins Sketches - "PRESERVED PURITAN - RICHARD HIGGINS

Samuel MOORE

SOURCE: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995. "The Great Migration Begins Sketches - "PRESERVED PURITAN - RICHARD HIGGINS

Family Members

Parents Julian Elizabeth Meals Higgins 1582–1603

Spouses Lydia Chandler Higgins 1615–1650 (m. 1634)

Mary Yates Higgins Whitehead (m. 1651)

Children Jonathan Higgins 1637–1711

Benjamin Higgins 1640–1691

Mary Higgins Snow 1652–1729

Eliakim Higgins 1654–1698

Photo Jedediah Higgins 1656–1715

Zerah Higgins 1658 – unknown

Thomas Higgins 1661–1702

Anne Higgins Pridmore 1663–1704

Lydia Higgins 1664 – unknown

Rebecca Higgins Martin 1666 – unknown

Ruth Higgins FitzRandolph Tuttle 1671 – unknown

Sarah Higgins Moore 1673 – unknown

• ****************************************************************************************************** II. The following is the most accurate information to date on Richard Higgins from "The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633" by Robert Charles Anderson:

RICHARD HIGGINS

ORIGIN: Unknown MIGRATION: 1632 FIRST RESIDENCE: Plymouth REMOVES: Eastham 1645, Piscataway 1670

OCCUPATION: Tailor (he took Samuel Godbertson as apprentice to learn trade of tailor on 1 April 1634 [PCR 1:29]; in a deed acknowledged on 25 March 1669 he calls himself "Richard Higgens of Eastham ... tailor" [PCLR 3:147]).

FREEMAN: In "1633" Plymouth list of freemen after those admitted 1 January 1634/5 [PCR 1:4]. In Plymouth Colony list of 7 March 1636/7 [PCR 1:53]. In Plymouth section of 1639 Plymouth Colony list of freemen; his name was then erased and "Rich[ard] Higgenson" was added to the "Nawsett [Eastham]" section of the same list [PCR 8:174, 177]. In Eastham section of 1658 list of freemen [PCR 8:201]. (He was not in the 29 May 1670 list of Plymouth freemen.)

OFFICES: Committee on highways, 2 May 1637 [PCR 1:58]; grand jury, 5 June 1644 [PCR 2:71]; petit jury, 4 Sept. 1638, 7 Sept. 1642, 7 March 1642/3, 5 March 1643/4, 1 June 1647 [PCR 2:117, 7:9, 32, 34, 37]; deputy for Eastham to Plymouth General Court, 1647, 1653, 1655, 1657, 1658, 1660, 1665 [PCR 2:117, 3:32, 80, 115, 135, 187, 4:90]; Eastham selectman 1666, 1667, 1668 [PCR 4:124, 146, 182]; coroner's jury, 24 Dec. 1667 [PCR 4:176]; Eastham surveyor of highways, 5 June 1651 [PCR 2:168]; committee on bounds between Barnstable and Yarmouth, 11 March 1657/8 [PCR 3:175]; committee on Kennebec trade, 13 June 1660 [PCR 3:195]. In Plymouth section of 1643 Plymouth Colony list of men able to bear arms [PCR 8:189].

ESTATE: Assessed 9s. in the Plymouth tax list of 25 March 1633 and 12s. in the list of 27 March 1634 [PCR 1:11, 28]. Purchased house from Thomas Little 7 October 1633, and house and 20 acres of upland from John Barnes 13 January 1633/4 [PCR 1:16, 24]; granted 40 acres of upland and two parcels of meadow 4 March 1638/9, and earlier grant of 20 acres at Manomet Pond confirmed 30 November 1640 [PCR 1:115, 168]. Most of this land was sold to John Churchill 18 August 1645 [PCR 12:111; see also PCR 12:59, 107]. Katharine Chapin Higgins quotes extensively from and also summarizes much information about the landholding of Richard Higgins, both at Eastham and Piscataway, referring to Eastham town record, Plymouth Colony deeds, and Piscataway town records [Higgins (1918) pp. 32-36; Higgins (1924) pp. 5-7]. Richard Higgins died within a few years of his arrival in New Jersey, and no will has survived, but his widow is called executrix of his estate [PCLR 5:139]. The widow acquired much land in the period after Richard's death and before her marriage to Isaac Whitehead [Higgins (1918) pp. 38-41].

BIRTH: By about 1609 based on date of first marriage.

DEATH: Piscataway after 20 November 1674 [PCLR 4:165] and before 1 June 1675 [PCR 5:169-70].

MARRIAGE: (1) Plymouth 11 December 1634 Lydia Chandler (Eastham records give this date as 23 November, but the Plymouth record is clearly to be preferred), probably daughter of EDMUND CHANDLER ; she died probably shortly after the birth of Benjamin in 1640, and certainly before Richard Higgins remarried. (2) Eastham October 1651 Mary (_____) Yates, widow of John Yates of Eastham [MD 8:13]; she survived her second husband and married (3) at Piscataway as his second wife Isaac Whitehead, she having recanted her intention to marry Samuel Moore Sr. of Woodbridge [NYGBR 47:21]. She was living in 1702 when her son Thomas allowed her a life tenancy in part of his home [NYGBR 47:22].

CHILDREN: With first wife [PCR 8:27]

i JONATHAN, b. Plymouth July 1637; m. (1) Eastham 9 January 1660 Elizabeth Rogers [MD 6:15, 7:16]; m. (2) by 1680 Hannah Rogers [NEHGR 123:147-48; MF 2:161, 163; NYGBR 46:393]. (The two wives of Jonathan Higgins were sisters, a situation that was considered incestuous by the Puritans and strenuously discouraged; but the evidence presented by Anne Borden Harding in 1969 indicates that in this instance the two wives were sisters [NEHGR 123:147-48].)

ii BENJAMIN, b. Plymouth June 1640; m. Eastham 24 December 1661 Lydia Bangs [MD 8:12], daughter of EDWARD BANGS .

With second wife [PCR 8:27]

iii MARY, b. Eastham 27 September 1652 [PCR 8:27]; m. William Looker of Elizabethtown, New Jersey, and was supported as "a lame and distracted woman the wife of one Wm. Looker, late of Elizabeth Towne, brewer" by her mother and brother Eliakim Higgins [NYGBR 47:24]. (Claims that she had an earlier husband who was a Bradford have no basis.)

iv ELIAKIM, b. Eastham 20 October 1654; m. Piscataway 15 May 1684 Alice Newbould [NYGBR 46:394; Monnette 227].

v JADIAH, b. Eastham March 1656/7; m. 12 May 1684 Mary Newbold [NYGBR 46:394, citing unknown source (place of marriage not noted)].

vi ZERA, b. June 1658; m. Piscataway 25 December 1680 Elizabeth Oliver [NYGBR 46:394; Monnette 227].

vii THOMAS, b. January 1661; m. Piscataway 9 July 1690 Elizabeth Hull [NYGBR 46:394; Monnette 227].

viii LYDIA, b. July 1664; no further record.

ix REBECCA, b. say 1666; m. Piscataway 28 April 1683 Thomas Martin [NYGBR 46:394; Monnette 227].

x RUTH, b. say 1671; m. (1) Woodbridge 23 April 1692 Isaac FitzRandolph [Monnette 249]; m. (2) 1695 Stephen Tuttle [NYGBR 46:394, 47:31 (accounting for her first husband's estate as "Ruth Tuttle")].

xi SARAH, b. say 1673; m. Woodbridge 26 October 1693 Samuel Moore [NYGBR 46:394; Monnette 249 (says 1702 or 1693)].

ASSOCIATIONS: The contention that the first wife of Richard Higgins was daughter of EDMUND CHANDLER is based in part on the frequent early interactions of Higgins with Chandler and his son Samuel. Richard Higgins was with Edmund Chandler creditor of estate of Godbert Godbertson, 1633 [MD 1:157]; with Samuel Chandler, creditor of estate of John Thorpe, 1633 [MD 1:160]; and surety for Samuel Chandler in court case of 3 December 1639 [PCR 1:137-38].

In 1639 John Smalley took over from Richard Higgins the apprenticeship of Samuel Godbertson (both men were tailors) [PCR 1:129-30]. The association between Smalley and Higgins continued in 1640 with an exchange of Plymouth land [PCR 12:59]. Higgins and Smalley migrated about the same time to Piscataway, and continued together in land transactions there.

COMMENTS: Two hypotheses have been set forth on the English origin of Richard Higgins. Orra E. Monnette published one, which was based on family papers, as verified by Gustave Anjou. This proposal was refuted in 1918 and 1924 by Katharine Chapin Higgins, and the ever-gullible Monnette was clearly taken in by the ever-mendacious Anjou.

The alternate suggested origin, that the immigrant was the Richard Higgins who was apprenticed as a tailor in 1627, is at least possible and has some attractions, but is far from being proved. The claim that Higgins came in 1623 cannot be true, since he did not participate in any of the land grants made to this group of immigrants. The claim that he came in 1629 on the Talbot is not impossible, but is not supported by any documentary evidence.

Higgins was a member of the 1644 committee to explore settlement of Eastham, but his actual move probably dates from his sale of Plymouth land in 1645. His last records in Eastham are in 1669, and he does not appear in the 29 May 1670 Plymouth Colony list of freemen, so he apparently moved to Piscataway in late 1669 or early 1670.

A son William is recorded in Plymouth vital records as born 15 December 1654, an impossible date given the birth date for Eliakim; this William is not seen again, and is probably an erroneous entry. Rebecca is called daughter of Richard and Mary in her marriage record in 1683; given this date of marriage she must have been born in Eastham, even though there is no record of her birth there. The last two children, Ruth and Sarah, were presumably born after the move to Piscataway; they are included as children of Richard and Mary since they have the surname Higgins in their marriage records, and Thomas Higgins is coadministrator with Ruth on the estate of her first husband.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE: All substantial research on Richard Higgins was published between 1915 and 1926. Orra E. Monnette had published a Lengthy article in 1915 and 1916 ["Richard Higgins of Plymouth and Eastham, Mass., and Piscataway, N. J., and Some of His Descendants," NYGBR 46:387-94, 47:20-32]. In 1918 Mrs. Katharine Chapin Higgins published privately Richard Higgins: A Resident and Pioneer Settler at Plymouth and Eastham, Massachusetts, and at Piscataway, New Jersey and His Descendants (Worcester MA), and followed this in 1924 with a Supplement [cited herein as Higgins (1918) and Higgins (1924)]. This round of publication terminated in 1926 with an editorial note in NYGBR incorporating Monnette's objection to Chapin's (and Bartlett's) rejection of his (and Anjou's) suggested English connection [NYGBR 57:298-99].

Other items published more recently have not added to our knowledge of Richard Higgins [John Ralph Higgins, "The Higgins Genealogy: Twelve Generations: From Massachusetts to California: 1632-1972" (Los Gatos, California, 1972); Vivian Higgins Morse, An American Family and its Ancestor Predecessors (Baltimore 1973); and Anne Farrell Higgins Wood, "The Story of Many Descendants of the Brothers Ichabod and Richard Higgins: 1603-1979" (n.p. 1979)].

(The preceding is from "The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633" by Robert Charles Anderson [Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995], vol II, G - O, pp. 928-932: https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2496/images/42521_...)

• ****************************************************************************************************** III. "Descendants of Richard HIGGINS - from Ireland or England to America" by Vicki L. Winfield (http://www.angelfire.com/ok5/vicky_winfield/HigginsFamily/GenHiggin...) - I add for anyone's interest this the "Notes" section done by Vicky L. Winfield on Richard Higgins. Some of it repeats what has already been presented. She has gathered a lot of different information. Reading it shows the conundrum of determining which Richard Higgins immigrated to America. The readers can determine on their own the validity of the evidence presented:

1. Richard HIGGINS

Plymouth Freeman

Ttook Samuel Godbertson as Taylor apprentice

Committee on highways

Petit Jury

Grand Jury

Deputy for Eastham to Plymouth General Court

Eastham surveyor of highways

Committee on Bounds t'wen Barnstable & Yarmouth

Committee on Kennebec Trade

Eastham selectman

Coroner's Jury1 _MILT 2 DATE 1643 2 PLAC Plymouth Colony List of men able to bear arms

MY NOTES: Males by Lydia Chandler: Benjamin, Jonathan (2) Males by Mary (Widow) Yates: Eliakim, Jediah, Zera, William & Thomas (5) Females by Mary [Widow] Yates: **Rebecca, **Sarah, Lydia, Mary & Ruth (5) Mary (Widow) Yates - her maiden name is Unknown There seems to be 12 children - yet in the Genealogical Register of Plymouth Families by William T. Davis (Boston, MA: Damrell & Upham, 1899) it states there were 9 children. Johnathan & Benjamin by Lydia Chandler

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Mary, Eliakim, William, Judah, Zeruiah, Thomas & Lydia by Mary Yates. I have NOT found a "William" except in the Genealogical Register of Plymouth Families, page 134. Pioneer Irish in New England (Michael O'Brien; New York, NY: P.J. Kennedy & Sons, 1937), Chapter XII page 203 states he was the father of six sons and four daughters. ???? I have 7 sons and five daughters. ???? Jonathan, Benjamin, Eliakim, William, Jediah, Zera & Thomas

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Mary, Lydia, Rebecca, Ruth & Sarah. vlww

Pioneer Irish in New England, CHAPTER XII, page 203 Taylor.Plymouth Colony Records, Vol. 1, p. 37.40 He married (1) Lydia Chandler on November 23, 1634, and (2) Mary Yates in October, 1661, and was the father of six sons and four daughters. He is described as a man of giant strength and integrity of character, and we are told, he was the ancestor of nearly all the Higginss in Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Another New England historian says: Richard Higgins, the ancestor, was of Celtic origin, but seems to have emigrated to America from England, though some of his descendants claim he came from the North of Ireland. [Ibid., Vol. 6.41] Some of them settled in the Saco Valley, and an historical investigator of that region in commenting upon an assertion by a member of the family that his ancestor came from England and presumably was an Englishman, remarks that the Higgins families of Saco all smack of old Ireland, and he asks, did they come from Belfast, Dublin or Cork, via Liverpool, and is this the way they came from England? Saco Valley Families and Settlements, by Rev. Gideon T. Ridlon, p. 727.42 Source Information: O'Brien, Michael J., LL.D. Pioneer Irish in New England. New York, NY: P. J. Kennedy & Sons, 1937.

GENEALOGICAL REGISTER of PLYMOUTH FAMILIES, page 134 HIGGINS, RICHARD, Plymouth, 1633, m., 1634, Lydeon Chandler, and had Jonathan, 1637; Benjamin, 1640. He removed to Eastham, 1644, and m., 2d, 1651, Mary Yates, by whom he had Mary, 1652; Eliakim, 1654; William, 1655; Judah, 1657; Zeruiah, 1658; Thomas, 1661; Lydia, 1664. Source Information: Davis, William T. Genealogical Register of Plymouth Families. Boston, MA: Damrell & Upham, 1899.

Database: American Marriages Before 1699 Name Spouse Marriage Date Marriage Place CHANDLER , Lydia Higgins, Richard 11 December 1634 Plymouth, Mass. HIGGINS, Richard Chandler, Lydia 23 November 1634 Plymouth, Mass. Source Information: Clemens, William Montgomery. American Marriage Records before 1699. Pompton Lakes, NJ: Biblio Co., 1926.

Immigration Library - Appendixes of The Real Founders of New England Appendix A, page 153 ?HIGGINS, Richard, boy with Edward Wynne at Newfoundland, 1622; if same one, Plymouth, 1623, or perhaps Salem, 1629; Plymouth, 1633; Eastham, Mass.; New Piscataqua, N.J., 1669; dead in 1677; widow Mary and children. Description: Contains the following works: Appendixes of the Real Founders of New England; Scandinavian Immigrants in New York 1630-1674. Source Information: Ancestry Incorporated. Immigration Library. Salt Lake City, UT: Ancestry Incorporated, 1996.

Appendixes of The Real Founders of New England Appendix A, page 153 ?HIGGINS, Richard, boy with Edward Wynne at Newfoundland, 1622; if same one, Plymouth, 1623, or perhaps Salem, 1629; Plymouth, 1633; Eastham, Mass.; New Piscataqua, N.J., 1669; dead in 1677; widow Mary and children. Description: This appendix covers the early settlers in New England up through about 1630. Primarily about the Salem and Plymouth colonies, settlers are listed and the ship on which they arrived. Source Information: Bolton, Charles Knowles. Real Founders of New England; Stories of their Life along the Coast, 1602-1628 [Appendixes Only]. Boston, MA: F. W. Faxon Co., 1929.

SOURCE for below article: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995. "The Great Migration Begins Sketches - "PRESERVED PURITAN - RICHARD HIGGINS ORIGIN: Unknown MIGRATION: 1632 FIRST RESIDENCE: Plymouth REMOVES: Eastham 1645, Piscataway 1670 OCCUPATION: Tailor (he took Samuel Godbertson as apprentice to learn trade of tailor on 1 April 1634 [PCR 1:29]; in a deed acknowledged on 25 March 1669 he calls himself "Richard Higgens of Eastham ... tailor" [PCLR 3:147]). FREEMAN: In "1633" Plymouth list of freemen after those admitted 1 January 1634/5 [PCR 1:4]. In Plymouth Colony list of 7 March 1636/7 [PCR 1:53]. In Plymouth section of 1639 Plymouth Colony list of freemen; his name was then erased and "Rich[ard] Higgenson" was added to the "Nawsett [Eastham]" section of the same list [PCR 8:174, 177]. In Eastham section of 1658 list of freemen [PCR 8:201]. (He was not in the 29 May 1670 list of Plymouth freemen.) OFFICES: Committee on highways, 2 May 1637 [PCR 1:58]; grand jury, 5 June 1644 [PCR 2:71]; petit jury, 4 Sept. 1638, 7 Sept. 1642, 7 March 1642/3, 5 March 1643/4, 1 June 1647 [PCR 2:117, 7:9, 32, 34, 37]; deputy for Eastham to Plymouth General Court, 1647, 1653, 1655, 1657, 1658, 1660, 1665 [PCR 2:117, 3:32, 80, 115, 135, 187, 4:90]; Eastham selectman 1666, 1667, 1668 [PCR 4:124, 146, 182]; coroner's jury, 24 Dec. 1667 [PCR 4:176]; Eastham surveyor of highways, 5 June 1651 [PCR 2:168]; committee on bounds between Barnstable and Yarmouth, 11 March 1657/8 [PCR 3:175]; committee on Kennebec trade, 13 June 1660 [PCR 3:195]. In Plymouth section of 1643 Plymouth Colony list of men able to bear arms [PCR 8:189]. ESTATE: Assessed 9s. in the Plymouth tax list of 25 March 1633 and 12s. in the list of 27 March 1634 [PCR 1:11, 28]. Purchased house from Thomas Little 7 October 1633, and house and 20 acres of upland from John Barnes 13 January 1633/4 [PCR 1:16, 24]; granted 40 acres of upland and two parcels of meadow 4 March 1638/9, and earlier grant of 20 acres at Manomet Pond confirmed 30 November 1640 [PCR 1:115, 168]. Most of this land was sold to John Churchill 18 August 1645 [PCR 12:111; see also PCR 12:59, 107]. Katharine Chapin Higgins quotes extensively from and also summarizes much information about the landholding of Richard Higgins, both at Eastham and Piscataway, referring to Eastham town record, Plymouth Colony deeds, and Piscataway town records [Higgins (1918) pp. 32-36; Higgins (1924) pp. 5-7]. Richard Higgins died within a few years of his arrival in New Jersey, and no will has survived, but his widow is called executrix of his estate [PCLR 5:139]. The widow acquired much land in the period after Richard's death and before her marriage to Isaac Whitehead [Higgins (1918) pp. 38-41]. BIRTH: By about 1609 based on date of first marriage. DEATH: Piscataway after 20 November 1674 [PCLR 4:165] and before 1 June 1675 [PCR 5:169-70]. MARRIAGE: (1) Plymouth 11 December 1634 Lydia Chandler (Eastham records give this date as 23 November, but the Plymouth record is clearly to be preferred), probably daughter of EDMUND CHANDLER; she died probably shortly after the birth of Benjamin in 1640, and certainly before Richard Higgins remarried. (2) Eastham October 1651 Mary (_____) Yates, widow of John Yates of Eastham [MD 8:13]; she survived her second husband and married (3) at Piscataway as his second wife Isaac Whitehead, she having recanted her intention to marry Samuel Moore Sr. of Woodbridge [NYGBR 47:21]. She was living in 1702 when her son Thomas allowed her a life tenancy in part of his home [NYGBR 47:22]. CHILDREN: With first wife [PCR 8:27] i JONATHAN, b. Plymouth July 1637; m. (1) Eastham 9 January 1660 Elizabeth Rogers [MD 6:15, 7:16]; m. (2) by 1680 Hannah Rogers [NEHGR 123:147-48; MF 2:161, 163; NYGBR 46:393]. (The two wives of Jonathan Higgins were sisters, a situation that was considered incestuous by the Puritans and strenuously discouraged; but the evidence presented by Anne Borden Harding in 1969 indicates that in this instance the two wives were sisters [NEHGR 123:147-48].) ii BENJAMIN, b. Plymouth June 1640; m. Eastham 24 December 1661 Lydia Bangs [MD 8:12], daughter of EDWARD BANGS. With second wife [PCR 8:27] [******MY NOTES: Children i & ii were children of Lydia Chandler - Children iii through xi were children of Mary [_____] Yates due to the assumption of Lydia's death in 1640 and Richard marrying Mary October of 1651. vlww******] iii MARY, b. Eastham 27 September 1652 [PCR 8:27]; m. William Looker of Elizabethtown, New Jersey, and was supported as "a lame and distracted woman the wife of one Wm. Looker, late of Elizabeth Towne, brewer" by her mother and brother Eliakim Higgins [NYGBR 47:24]. (Claims that she had an earlier husband who was a Bradford have no basis.) iv ELIAKIM, b. Eastham 20 October 1654; m. Piscataway 15 May 1684 Alice Newbould [NYGBR 46:394; Monnette 227].

• ** v JADIAH, b. Eastham March 1656/7; m. 12 May 1684 Mary Newbold [NYGBR 46:394, citing unknown source (place of marriage not noted)]. vi ZERA, b. June 1658; m. Piscataway 25 December 1680 Elizabeth Oliver [NYGBR 46:394; Monnette 227]. vii THOMAS, b. January 1661; m. Piscataway 9 July 1690 Elizabeth Hull [NYGBR 46:394; Monnette 227]. viii LYDIA, b. July 1664; no further record. ix REBECCA, b. say 1666; m. Piscataway 28 April 1683 Thomas Martin [NYGBR 46:394; Monnette 227]. x RUTH, b. say 1671; m. (1) Woodbridge 23 April 1692 Isaac FitzRandolph [Monnette 249]; m. (2) 1695 Stephen Tuttle [NYGBR 46:394, 47:31 (accounting for her first husband's estate as "Ruth Tuttle")]. xi SARAH, b. say 1673; m. Woodbridge 26 October 1693 Samuel Moore [NYGBR 46:394; Monnette 249 (says 1702 or 1693)]. ASSOCIATIONS: The contention that the first wife of Richard Higgins was daughter of EDMUND CHANDLER is based in part on the frequent early interactions of Higgins with Chandler and his son Samuel. Richard Higgins was with Edmund Chandler creditor of estate of Godbert Godbertson, 1633 [MD 1:157]; with Samuel Chandler, creditor of estate of John Thorpe, 1633 [MD 1:160]; and surety for Samuel Chandler in court case of 3 December 1639 [PCR 1:137-38]. In 1639 John Smalley took over from Richard Higgins the apprenticeship of Samuel Godbertson (both men were tailors) [PCR 1:129-30]. The association between Smalley and Higgins continued in 1640 with an exchange of Plymouth land [PCR 12:59]. Higgins and Smalley migrated about the same time to Piscataway, and continued together in land transactions there. COMMENTS: Two hypotheses have been set forth on the English origin of Richard Higgins. Orra E. Monnette published one, which was based on family papers, as verified by Gustave Anjou. This proposal was refuted in 1918 and 1924 by Katharine Chapin Higgins, and the ever-gullible Monnette was clearly taken in by the ever-mendacious Anjou. The alternate suggested origin, that the immigrant was the Richard Higgins who was apprenticed as a tailor

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https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/L7XR-MSB/richard-higgins-1603...

Richard Higgins
1 August 1603–21 June 1675 (Age 71)
Leominster, Herefordshire, England

The Life Summary of Richard

When Richard Higgins was born on 1 August 1603, in Leominster, Herefordshire, England, his father, Edward Robert Higgins, was 57 and his mother, Julian Elizabeth Meals, was 21. He married Lydia Chandler on 11 December 1634, in Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America. They were the parents of at least 2 sons. He lived in Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States in 1669 and Piscataway, Middlesex, New Jersey, United States in 1670. In 1669, at the age of 66, his occupation is listed as planter. He died on 21 June 1675, in Piscataway, Middlesex, New Jersey, British Colonial America, at the age of 71, and was buried in Saint James Episcopal Church Cemetery, Edison, Middlesex, New Jersey, United States.

Spouse

Richard Higgins
Male
1603–1675

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Male

Mary Bro