Hello:

In the process of trying to find documentary proof of my descent from Henry Wyche I found this site and several others regarding William Richards.   I am descended from William Richards through his son James.  I do have the transcript of Frances Maybury's will where he mentions his daughter Amey Richards.  Have you found  or could point me in the direction of any other documentation that helps to support the connection between William and Amey?  This is the only "link" to Henry Wyche for which I do not have sufficient documentation.   I learned from the Warren County genweb site that many of the marriage bonds of that time never made it to the courthouses.  The clerks or justices of the peace kept the documents at their locations sometimes several miles from the courthouse.  So whether the county was burned or not is irrelevant is such cases.

I am in the DAR and do have a copy of an application that was verified in 1974 for William Richards.  It did not provide any new information than you already have.  I will order the data file to see what "proof" has been submitted over the years.  It did however list children for the first unknown wife, John, James, and a daughter named Harriet with "this name is traditional only and was supposed to have remained a spinster" added.  I think that she must really be the wife of Willis. 

After looking at the book Old Kent Count [Virginia] Some Accounts of the Planters, Plantations, and Places, Vol. 1, and the PDF file found on-line discussing Elizabeth (Wilson) Clark Richards (1700-1785),  I do not believe that the DAR applications are correct.   The William Richards who was the Captain of the King and Queen County militia/minutemen was the son of William Byrd Richards.  This William Richards was also a member of the Continental Congress (he is mentioned in several records regarding the Continental Congress) and was married to Martha Lowery/Loury.     We still could be related to this branch of Richards.  Robert Byrd was married to a Frances Williamson.  They were the parents of William Byrd who was the father of Ann Byrd who married John Richards.  John and Ann were the parents of William Byrd Richards.     Fast forward, in North Carolina, John Richards (George's brother) named a son Williamson.  He also had sons named Willis and William, family names?

I have looked at whatever I could find in Bute/Warren/Franklin/Granville Counties.  I also looked at a site (www.richardsdata.net) a young man, (perfect candidate for the DNA project) put together about the Richards.  He is a direct descendent of George Richards of Granville/Bute/Franklin County.  After looking at what he wrote, and the wills of George, and his brother John, and who their children and their brother William's  were and who they married, It looks like our William may be the son of George. 

I also looked at a site about North Carolina in the Revolutionary War (www.carolina.com/NC/Revolution/patriots_nc_capt_william_richards.html).  I looked at everyone named Richards and Mabry who would have participated.  I think our William is the Captain William Richards who was in the Franklin County Militia but fought with the Granville County Militia (George lived in Granville County) at the battle of Guilford Courthouse.  David Mabry, Amey's brother, was also in the Franklin County Militia, as were Stephen Richards, James Richards, etc.  The service of Captain William Richards is supported by the  Rev. War pension of John Hudgins W7835, another member of the Franklin County Militia.  I hope to get this DAR record straightened out. 

I am sorry that this is such a ramble.  Thanks for any information that you may have regarding Amey Mabry Richards.  I do plan to order your book(Mr. Hill's) . My daughter is adopted and I do keep all information that I can for her.  I have been working on her genealogy as time permits.  Do not have too much time - she is 2.   

Annette

Annette,

I also descend from William by way of his son James.  The connection to Amey Mabry is a bit tenuous, but what I have is documented in the following paragraphs, but first a bit of history.  William Richards had three sons by a marriage that occurred before he married Nancy Mercer in 1799.  William’s marriage to Nancy is well documented in the Georgia records by a marriage bond signed by William and Jacob Mercer as well as deeds and other legal documents.  William’s sons by his marriage prior to Nancy Mercer were James, John, and Willis Richards.  John joined the Texas fight to gain independence from Mexico and was killed with Fannin in the massacre at Goliad in 1836.  The country/state of Texas gave the heirs of John Richards 2400+ acres of land for his service in the revolution.  Our Richards family tried to claim this bounty starting in about 1860 and a case was in Federal Court in 1898.  Much of what we know about the early Richards family is contained in documents filed to support the family’s claim to the Texas land.

Testimony was provided by James Patterson, husband of Eliza Richards, in August 1893 and recorded by J. H. Finks, clerk of the circuit court of the United States for the Northern District of Texas, in 1898. The testimony was used in the case of James O. Richards et al vs C. J. Sanders et al.  Eliza Richards Patterson was the daughter of James and Love Mercer Richards and granddaughter of William Richards.  Paterson said he was 84 years old when he gave his testimony.  Letters authored by Patterson in this same time period indicate he was lucid and extremely interested in this case. 

In his testimony, James Patterson says the following:  “…I have seen the reputed father of John Richards, his name was William.  I don’t know where he was born.  Said to be about 90 years old when he died.

Ans. 3 – I don’t know. I don’t know how old he was when his father died, he was the youngest of the full blood so said to be by his father and brother.  Married twice had 3 children by first marriage & 7 by second marriage, his first wife was Miss Mabry, his second wife was Miss Mercer; his first wife as the mother of James, 2. Willis, 3. John.  Second wife was mother 1^st Martin, 2^nd Amey, 3 Geo. W, 4 Sallie, 5 Elizabeth, 6^th Annis, 7^th Nancy, all of the whole blood survived John & all of the ½ blood except perhaps Amey (?).  I cannot say as to her.  All survived the father with the same exception and it may be that she did I am unable to say…”  Thus, the record identifies William’s first wife as “Miss Mabry”. 

Now to the North Carolina records.  One reference shows that an Amey Mabry married a William Richards.  You noted that you have a copy of Francis Mabry’s will in which he directs that “Francis Mabry Jr., Angelica Mabry, Amey Richards, Jesse Mabry, Elisabeth Mabry, David Mabry and wife are left to the devil.” I could not find my reference, but I think I remember that Francis Mabry was upset that these family members had chosen to join the Baptist Church.  Association with the Baptist Church fits the Mercer/Richards connection since many members of the Mercer family in early Georgia were missionaries and ministers of the Baptist Church.  Note that our Love Mercer Richards (James’ wife) was discussed in the Texas court papers.  Matilda M. (Richards) Crump, daughter of Willis Richards, noted “…I do not know where James Richards was married or who she was before the marriage.  She was a kind of missionary.  We called her Aunt Lovey.” 

Based on William’s Georgia head rights grant, it is possible that “Miss Mabry” died after William made the claim in 1785.  William claim for 400 acres based on his family indicates that he had four other persons in his household. Head rights grants allowed 200 acres for a man plus 50 acres for his wife, each child and each slave to a maximum of 1000 acres.  William’s three sons are documented, but the fourth person has not been conclusively identified and could be “Miss Mabry”.  Taking this thought a step further, if “Miss Mabry” was living at the time of the head rights grant, it is likely Jacob Mercer’s family would have known her since they were neighbors and likely worshipped together.  Note that the first girl born to William and Nancy Mercer Richards was named “Amey”.   This is an interesting bit of history.  Amey, could have been named for William’s first wife, but this is only speculation. 

After all this discussion you can see that one can make a circumstantial case that Amey Richards, daughter of Francis Mabry, was the wife of our William.  However, I cannot say with total certainty that this is the case.  I hope that this is of some help to you.  I also ask that if anyone finds errors of fact in this discussion, that these errors be noted so they can be corrected.

Several of us seriously question our William being the Captain Richards from the DAR records.  As to our William being the son of George Richards of Franklin County, N.C., I don’t think this connection can be proven without additional documentation.  We know from DNA, our William was kin to Stephen Richards who worked as Andrew Jackson’s interpreter in Northern Florida.  However, I have not seen evidence that this Stephen Richards is the Stephen who was a son of George.  More DNA evidence and more research are required to prove the link.

Steve Richards

Harvest, Alabama

Hi Richard,

I have a Stephen Richards/Sarah Noles in my line and they were in Jackson County, Florida but he was born in 1776 not 1796.  They were married 10 Mar 1820.  Here is a link to what I have:

www.familysearch.org/tree-data/pdf/family-group/LD1C-Y7P/spouse/DEF...

My Williams line also is from Jackson County. The Richards line is from my Great Grandmother's side.

I too have tested with FTDNA kit # 587532 if you want to compare. 

Mark