Thomas Richardson II
Thomas Richardson was born in Billerica on September 3, 1747, a son of Jonathan Richardson and Abigail (Farmer) Richardson and a great-grandson of Sergt. Thomas Richardson, who had come from Woburn and succeeded John Parker as tenant of the Church Farm. His father had been orphaned at four, when the first Jonathan Richardson died in 1720, and had married Abigail Farmer in 1739/40. On December 3, 1772 Thomas married Judith Kendall, daughter of Reuben Kendall, who lived west of the Shawshin on the Wilmington road.
Richardson was a man of business from his early twenties. In 1770 he bought from John White a farm near Content Bridge on the road to Tewksbury, with a share in the saw mill there, the beginning of the family's interest in what became Richardson's Mills in East Billerica. On February 4, 1778 his father deeded him, for 560 pounds, "my Homestead Farm of about fifty acres" with "all the Buildings thereon standing and being Excepting the east end of my Dwelling house which I reserve for my Use and for my Wife during our natural Lives," together with outlying meadow and woodlots. This is the Thomas Richardson House, which stood at the corner of Webb Brook and Allen Roads until 1994. The same day Thomas and Judith sold his own homestead farm near Content Bridge, forty-six acres "with one quarter part of the saw mill," to his brother Oliver Richardson for 266 pounds. A "yeoman" in 1778, he was a "gentleman" by 1786, when he sold seventeen acres near the Widow Hosley's to Samuel Danforth.
He next turned to the river. After the Revolution the mill privilege at North Billerica, first granted to Christopher Osgood, was known as "Richardson's," and on March 25, 1794 the proprietors of the Middlesex Canal bought his title to it; the canal company held it until 1851, when it was sold to the Talbots. On May 16, 1795 he bought from the housewright Reuben Duren about twenty acres at the Corner, where the roads from Boston and from Salem crossed the Concord River, "with all the Buildings," for 500 pounds. Hazen records simply that "He kept a tavern at the corner." Richardson's Tavern prospered for years, and his son-in-law Josiah Stevens later managed it.
Thomas Richardson was chosen a selectman in 1797. At the sale of pews in the new meeting house that December, Lt. Thomas Richardson and Lt. William Baldwin bought pew 60 on the floor for $120.25 and a gallery pew together. Among his children were Sarah, who married Jacob Kendall; Lydia, who married Artemas Rogers; Anna, who married John Thompson of Boston in 1814; and Thomas (born August 31, 1796), who lived in Mobile from 1817 to 1828 and was an alderman there, then became a partner in Cyrus Alger's iron foundry in Boston, whose daughter Olivia he married, and served as a representative and as an alderman of Boston. The Historical Commission's survey gives the elder Thomas's death as about 1827. After his death his heirs conveyed the tavern to his daughter Lydia Rogers and to Elizabeth Richardson of Boston, and it was sold in 1836.
References
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), Genealogical Register p. 119: Jonathan Richardson (no. 12) and his children, Thomas (no. 21) b. 1747, Oliver (no. 22)
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), Genealogical Register p. 120: Thomas Richardson (no. 21), m. 1772 Judith Kendall, "He kept a tavern at the corner"; son Thomas
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), Genealogical Register p. 118: Jonathan Richardson (no. 6), d. 1720, son of Sergt. Thomas (no. 1)
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 279: the North Billerica mills known as "Richardson's"; the Middlesex Canal bought his title March 25, 1794
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 307: selectmen list, Thomas Richardson 1797
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 264: sale of pews in the 1797 meeting house, Lt. Thomas Richardson and Lt. William Baldwin
- Vital Records of Billerica, births p. 160: Thomas, son of Jonathan and Abigail Richardson, Sept. 3, 1747; son Thomas, 1796
- Vital Records of Billerica, marriages p. 281: Judith Kindall (Kendall) and Thomas Richardson, Dec. 3, 1772
Deed References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Property | Recorded |
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| March 22, 1786 | Warranty | Thomas Richardson of Billerica, yeoman, and Judith Richardson his wife | Oliver Richardson of Billerica, husbandman, his brother | Details | Richardson Homestead 78 Gray St |
93/377 (South) |
For 266 pounds, "the several pieces of Land hereafter mentioned. The first is my homestead farm lying in said Billerica containing forty six acres," beginning "at the road to Tewksbury at the Southeast corner of said Land at Jonathan Richardson's meadow," by land bought of Jonathan French and of James Lewis, west on William Needham and the heirs of Benjamin Needham to the corner at the road "near Sheldons folly (so called)," on the road across the brook to Samuel Brown's land, "then on said road to the corner where we began near Content Bridge with one quarter part of the saw mill thereon standing with all the appurtenances thereto belonging with all the other buildings thereon standing"; also nine and a quarter acres "near my Dwelling House" bought of Josiah Richardson, bounded westerly on the road to Tewksbury, by Nehemiah Kittredge, John French and Samuel Baldwin; six acres by William Needham's lot and Jonathan Richardson's meadow; two thirds of a great swamp lot in Tewksbury laid out to Caleb Farley; and four acres in Mill Meadow by William Kidder, John French and the Long Pond brook. Dated Feb. 4, 1778, acknowledged March 11, 1778; recorded March 22, 1786. Billerica town book 8, pages 53-55 (Southern Registry Book 93 Page 377). The same day in 1786 was recorded Samuel Brown's deed to Oliver of Jan. 2, 1779, five acres of upland near the upper end of "Richardson's content meadow" (town book 8/52, S. 93/376).
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| March 31, 1794 | Warranty | Jonathan Richardson of Billerica, yeoman, and Abigail his wife | His son Thomas Richardson of Billerica, yeoman | Details | Thomas Richardson House 36 Webb Brook Rd |
115/269 (South) |
For 560 pounds, "several parcels of Land. The first is my Homestead Farm of about fifty acres," beginning "at a stake and stones by the Road at Ebenezer Richardson's corner," south and east on the road to the land of Col. Tompson, then by his land and "the Thirds of the Widow Hosley," westerly by Capt. Daniel Stickney and Ebenezer Richardson back to the road, "and all the Buildings thereon standing and being Excepting the east end of my Dwelling house which I reserve for my Use and for my Wife during our natural Lives then to revert to him the said Thomas." Also thirty acres in Tewksbury near Jonathan Foster's, about fifteen acres of meadow and upland by Samuel Danforth and William Tarbell, seven acres of pasture on the road to Woburn, two and a half acres on Fox Hill, seven acres bought of Samuel Whiting Jr. on Marshall's lane, a lot called Graves with Shawshin meadow, and seven acres of Content Meadow above Content Bridge. Dated Feb. 4, acknowledged March 11, 1778 before William Stickney; recorded at Cambridge March 31, 1794. Billerica town book 9, pages 84-87 (Southern Registry Book 115 Page 269).
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| August 26, 1786 | Warranty | Thomas Richardson of Billerica, gentleman, and Judith his wife | Samuel Danforth of Billerica, yeoman | Details | Thomas Richardson House | 94/203 (South) |
For 190 pounds, "a certain Tract or parcel of land ... containing by Estimation seventeen acres more or less," beginning "at a heap of Stones by the highway leading by the Widow Martha Hosly's dwelling house," northerly by Joseph Kendall as the stone wall stands, westerly by Kendall and Josiah Crosby to a brook, over the brook to Capt. Daniel Stickney and by the brook to "an Old Dam," easterly by Stickney and the Widow Hosley, north by Hosley to William Tompson Esq. and easterly to the highway; also ten and a quarter acres by William Tarbell, Oliver Crosby and Asa Richardson, and three quarters of an acre by the Widow Hosley's land and the road, with a right of way through the lands of Josiah Crosby, Nehemiah Kittredge and Asa Richardson. No buildings are mentioned. Dated and acknowledged March 28, 1786 before Edward Farmer; recorded Aug. 26, 1786. Billerica town book 8, pages 71-73 (Southern Registry Book 94 Page 203).
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| May 18, 1795 | Warranty | Reuben Duren of Billerica, housewright, and Mary Duren his wife | Thomas Richardson of Billerica, gentleman | Details | Tavern at the Corner | 116/511 (South) |
For 500 pounds, "a Certain tract or Parcel of Land lying in said Billerica Twenty acres more or less bounded Southerly on the County Road leading from Billerica to Chelmsford begining at a Town Road from the Foardway so called to Billerica Meeting House thence Westerly to Concord River by the Old Bridge so Called, thence down said River to Land of John Shed, thence Easterly said Land to sd Town Road thence Southerly by said Road to the first mentioned Road or Bounds with all the Buildings thereon, reserving for myself the Crains and Trammils in the House and the Lathes Benches and Vices in the shope." Dated and acknowledged May 16, recorded May 18, 1795, witnesses Isaac Stearns and Stephen Parker. Billerica town book 9, pages 160-161 (Southern Registry Book 116 Page 511).
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted.