GENERATION 9

GENERATION 8

Biography

JONATHAN RICHARDSON, son of STEPHEN RICHARDSON and LYDIA GILBERT, was born before Sep. 10, 1674, the date of JONATHAN GILBERTS's will, probably at Stonington, New London, CT, in that year. His parents most likely had been married only a short time when the Winthrop letter was written, Sep. 25, 1673. He was named for grandfather, JONATHAN GILBERT, who mentions him in his will: "I give to my daughter Lydia Richelson 20 shillings." "I give my grand child Jonathan Richelson 5 pounds."

There is no record of his baptism as there were no church records kept at Stonington prior to June 3, 1674. The Rev. James Noyes had been holding regular services there for ten years, being paid by the town, but no church organization was formed that year.

He married, in 1696, ANN EDWARDS, daughter of RICHARD EDWARDS and ELIZABETH TUTTLE, of Hartford, and they resided at the homestead on the Connecticut side of the Pawcatuck River. He died May 7, 1700, and the inventory of his estate shows that be owned the homestead, except that his mother had a life estate in one-half of it. Also that he had a right to lands at "Quanabooge" (Quiambog). The inventory taken May 23, 1700, states that he left a "widow and two children, Jonathan and Amos the eldest two years and an half old, the youngest half a year. Mrs. Ann Richardson made oath that she had made a true exhibition of his estate." The inventory shows that be was not a slaveholder, as his uncle, Captain Hallam, was, and as some of the Richardson family were later.

ANN was the aunt of Jonathan Edwards, the noted divine.

On May 23, sixteen days after his death, his grandmother GILBERT made her will at Hartford, which contained these provisions:

"And further the 1/7th part of the 1/5th part legacy here given unto Lydia Chapman shall be paid to the sons of my late grandson Jonathan Richelson decd when they attain the age of 21 ...... And my mind and will is that the rest of the fifth part Legacy given to my daughter Lydia, not otherwise disposed of to the heirs of the late Jonathan Richelson decd shall be equally divided amongst the children of my said daughter Lydia, which she had by her husband Richardson decd, minors."

It should be noted that the Christian name of LYDIA CHAPMANS's first husband, STEPHEN RICHARDSON, is not mentioned in the will. The author of the Gilbert Family was apparently misled by this will into supposing that Lydia Gilbert married Jonathan Richardson, and others, including the Richardson Memorial, and even Savage's Dictionary, made the same error.

The children of JONATHAN and ANN were both baptized in the First Church at Hartford, Hartford, CT. The records of baptism are: "Jonathan son to Jonathan Richardson Nov. 21, 1697," and "Amos June 23, 1700 son to Widowe Richardson."

In 1702, ANN married, second, William Davenport of Hartford. By a former wife he had one child only, William. They moved to Stonington before 1708, and from there to Coventry, Tolland, CT, after 1718. Mr. Davenport died in Coventry, 1742, in the seventy-seventh year of his age.