Edward Richards (Massachusetts politician)

Edward Richards was an early settler of and nine term selectman in Dedham, Massachusetts.[1][2]

Richards was born circa 1610 -1615.[2] He was the brother of Nathaniel Richards and, through his wife Susan, was brother-in-law of John Hunting.[2] He traveled in 1632 on board the Lyon from England to Massachusetts with his brother Nathaniel and settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts until 1636.[2] Nathaniel then moved to Connecticut to found Hartford, but Richards instead moved to Dedham with his wife and brother-in-law.[2] He signed the Dedham Covenant and was a member of First Church and Parish in Dedham.[2]

Though Dedham was intended to be a Utopian commune, and there was little disparity in wealth, Richards went by the title of "Gent" and, unlike others, aspired to a manor.[2] He received large tracts of land, second only to the minister, John Allin.[2] Before moving to Dedham, he purchased a large estate to use as his home and did not receive a house lot, as other settlers did.[2] He then purchased and was distributed other tracts of land, one of which became known as Broad Oak.[2][3]

He died in May 1684. In his will, he left his home to his second son, Nathaniel, and not his oldest, John.[lower-alpha 1] It is suspected that this was because Nathaniel had given Richards more grandsons and thus would be in a better position to transmit the family name down through successively more prosperous generations.[5]

Notes
  1. The home in 1861 was the home of Rev. Ebenezer Burgess, the minister of the Allin Congregational Church.[3][4] Morse locates it as being "two miles west of the Court House."[4] As of 2019, Burgess Lane is located 2.5 miles west of the Norfolk Superior Court.

References
  1. Worthington 1827, p. 79-81.
  2. Morse 1861, p. 105.
  3. Richards 1942, pp. 42-54.
  4. Morse 1861, p. 105-106.
  5. Morse 1861, p. 106.

Works cited
  • Morse, Abner (1861). A Genealogical Register of the Descendants of Several Ancient Puritans, V. 3: The Richards Family. H.W. Dutton. Retrieved 18 November 2019.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Worthington, Erastus (1827). The history of Dedham: from the beginning of its settlement, in September 1635, to May 1827. Dutton and Wentworth. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
  • Richards, Arthur Wescate (1942). Genealogy: the James Francis Richards branch of a Richards family of New England; that of Edward Richards, Dedham, Massachusetts, 1635-1684. Sarasota, Florida: Star Printing Company.
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