Notes for Richard HUTCHINSON

The Descendants of Richard Hutchinson of Arnold, Nottinghamshire, England

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Notes for Richard HUTCHINSON

Birth: Date: The date of his birth is ascertained from a deposition on file in the
office of the Essex County Court, Salem, Mass., where in a case of
Cromwell vs. Ruck, 1660, he states his age as being 58 years. He
emigrated to America in 1634, with his wife Alice, and four children,
and settled in Salem Village, now Danvers, in the vicinity of Whipple and
Hathorne's hill. There is some evidence, however, gleaned from the town
records of Salem, that he may have primarily settled in the town proper,
from the fact that in July 25, 1689, one Philemon Dickerson was granted
four poles of land "neere Richard Hutchinson's house, to make tan pitts
and to dress goates skinnes and hieds." As tanning was not known to
have been carried on in Salem Village at so early a period, much time has
been spent in discovering this locality, but without avail; as after this,
his name seems to have disappeared from the records of Salem. In 1636,
Mr. Hutchinson received a grant of 60 acres of land from the town, and
Apr. 3, following, 20 acres more. In the same year he was appointed on a
committee to survey Jeffrey's Creek (now Manchester), and Mackerell
Cove. April 17, 1637, it was voted "that in case Ric'd Huchenson shall
sett up plowing within 2 years he may haue 20 acres more to bee added
to his pportion." This appears to be in consequence of the great scarcity
of ploughs, there being but thirty-seven in all the settlements. In 1648,
at Salem Village, he bought of Elias Stileman, his farm of 150 acres, for
£15. The records do not show him to have been officially engaged in
many matters of public trust, but he was undoubtedly a man of
indomitable perseverance, great vigor of mind and physical endurance, a
strict disciplinarian in religious affairs, a thorough agriculturist, and as
he had amassed a large landed estate, he had, before the close of his life,
divided much of his property among his children. He and his wife were
members of the first ch., Salem, as early as 1636, on whose records he
is first mentioned in connection with the baptism of his dau. Abigail.
(Derby, pp. 6-7)

On the decease of [James Standish], Mr. Hutchinson was appointed
administrator. (Derby, p. 7)

At [his] third marriage he must have been at least 79 years of age, and
certainly 66 on his second. (Derby, p. 7)

!His will was signed Jan. 19, 1679, and proved Sept. 28, 1682. His
widow survived him, and shortly after married for her third husband,
Thomas Roots, of Manchester, whose Will was proved Nov. 27, 1683. She
was living as late as March 1683-4. (Derby, p. 7)

Richard, yeoman, Salem, propr. 1636; adm. chh. 4 (2) 1647. Bought a farm
in 1648 and .sold half of it to Nathaniel Putnam in 1651. [Es. De. and
Files.] He deposed 11 Feb. 1681-2, ae. about 80 years. Wife Alice memb.
chh. before 1636. He m. 2, Oct. 1668, Susanna, widow of Samuel Archard;
she d. Nov. 26, 1674. He m. 3, Sarah, widow of James Standish. Ch.
Abigail bapt. 25 (10) 1636, Hannah bapt. 20 (11) 1638, John b. in May, [Es.
Files,] bapt. 2 (5) 1643, (had a deed of part of his father's est. in 1666.)
Will dated 19 June, 1679, prob. 26 (7) 1682; wife to be made
comfortable for one of her age by son Joseph; to have what she had when
they married if she wish to remove; he beq. to son-in-law Anthony Ashby
and dau. Abigail, his wife; son-in-law Daniel Boardman and dau. Hannah,
his wife; sons-in-law Nathaniel Putnam, Thomas Hale and James
Hadlock; gr. ch. Bethia Hutchinson and Sarah Hadlock; servant, Black
Peter; son Joseph exec. [Genealogy in Es. Inst. Coll. IX.] (_The Pioneers
of Massachusetts, by Charles Henry Pope, pp. 249-250).

In Vol I, the "Story of the Hutchinsons, by John Wallace Hutchinson,"
published in 1896, it is written: "Richard Hutchinson with his wife Alice
and four children, emigrated to this country in 1634 and settled in Salem
Village, now Danvers, Massachusetts.

"The first official notice made of him is in the town records, when it is
stated that in recognition of his public spirit, as being the possessor and
introducer of the first plow brought into this country, he was granted
one hundred and forty acres of land by the town authorities.

"He was a thorough agriculturist, and by assiduous devotion to his
occupation and economy in living. he acquired a large landed estate,
which on his death was divided according to the terms of his will.

"He and his wife are recorded as members of the first church in Salem.
He married three times, the last when he was seventy nine years of age.
He was born in 1602 and died in 1682."

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From _Massachusetts and Maine Families in the Ancestry of Walter
Goodwin Davis (1885-1966)_, by Walter Goodwin Davis with an
Introduction by Gary Boyd Roberts, Genealogical Publishing Co, Inc.,
Baltimore, Maryland, 1996, pp. 2:320-21:

He may very possibly be identical with that Richard Hutchinson who
married Alice Bosworth at Cotgrave, co. Nottingham, and who was the
father of three daughters baptized in neighboring parishes between 1628
and 1630, two of whom bore the names of Richard Hutchinson's two
oldest daughters with him in Salem. The descent from an armorial
family of Hutchinson of Arnold and Newark, co. Nottingham, provided for
him, is, however, insufficiently proven to be acceptable.

Hutchinson applied for admission as a freeman and was sworn March 4,
1634/5. For the first few years after its arrival the family seems to
have lived in the thickly settled part of Salem, as it is recorded that
Philemon Dickerson was granted land for tanpits near Richard
Hutchinson/s house in 1639. Before this, however, he had begun to
accumulate the large acreage in the heavily forested section, later
known as Salem Village and Danvers, which became his homestead. In
1636 and 1637 he was granted a total of one hundred acres, the last
twenty being on condition that he "shallo sett up plowing within 2
years." Clearing the land was a lengthy process. Adjoining this land
were two hundred acres granted to Mr. (Edmund) Freeman and one hundred
acres granted to John Thorndike, both of which Hutchinson acquired,
giving him a farm of four hundred acres. On June 6, 1648, he bought from
Elias Stileman an adjoining farm of one hundred and fifty acres, now the
center of Danvers, and on February 21, 1649, with his son-in-law
Nathaniel Putnam he bought from William Haynes one-half (one hundred
and fifty acres) of the Pease farm. His final important purchase was
made in partnershhip with John Putnam, John Hathorn and Daniel Ray on
October 31, 1662, when they bought from "Worshipful Major Hathorn" and
Capt. Richard Davenport two farms of about two hundred and eighty acres
each, all of which made him one of the greatest land owners of the place
and time.

Hutchinson's public services were slight. In 1636/7 with Richard
Brackenbury and Thomas Lathrop he viewed "what Inlands their is
betwixt Jeffreys creeks and Mackerell Cove, 4 or ffyve miles," in what is
now Manchester. He was admitted to Salem church in 1647. His
appearances in court, both as plaintiff and defendant, were in minor
causes, but as a witness in Cromwell v. Rush in 1660 he gave the
interesting information that his age was then about fifty-eight years.

In 1661 Hutchinson and his son-in-law Nathanial Putnam went to
Ipswich to arrange a marriage between Hannah Hutchinson and Daniel
Boardman with Boardman's father. To further the match Thomas
Boardman agreed to give Daniel a deed for one-half of his dwelling,
orchard and land, and if Daniel should die without issue Hannah was to be
paid a £100 jointure after which his whole estate was to be at his
father's disposal. After the marriage Boardman built a new house and
offered Daniel his choice of that or the old one to live in, but he dalayed
giving a legal conveyance and his son finally sued for it.

Hutchinson disposed of much of his property to his children in his
lifetime. He and his wife Alice conveyed half of the Stileman farm to
Nathaniel Putnam in 1651. On May 16, 1666, he gave to his son Joseph
one quarter of the Stileman farm "where are now his dwelling house,
barn and land already broken up," the apple trees in the old orchard and
three hundred other acres. On the same day he deeded to his son John the
family homestead and all the meadow purchased of Capt. Davenport. In
1680 he mad a gift to his son-in-law James Hadlock which was
confirmed by Joseph Hutchinson in 1704.

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