Richard BAILDON

Other Events and Attributes:

• Also Known As: Richard Beldon
• Fact: Name spelled Belden, Bayldon and Belding

Notes:

On a list of those taking the oath of allegiance,March 26, 1913, is this entry: "Richard Bayldon aged 19 years born at Kippax in Comm. Ebor, (i.e., Count of York) intending to pass over for Bredaugh (Breda) to be a soldier under Capen Blundell." His name is signed Richard BAYLDONN with an extra n and a flourish. It is of little importance that his age is given inaccurately; the record shows his spelling of the name and his taste for adventure. He was involved in controversies over the settling of his father's estate in 1624, after which he disappears from English records. His identification with the man who is found at Wethersfield in 1641 rests upon these considerations. Richard BAYLDON was a younger son by a second wife in a large family of only moderate wealth. He had his fortune to make. Opportunities were not plentiful in England and if he had failed to win a competence after years of effort, if his wife had died and his home ties were broken, and if his sympathies were strongly with the Puritan party, it was quite natural that he should take his sons and set out for American, as others ere doing all around him. The emigrant seems to have been such a man. His name upon his arrival and presumably at his direction is spelled Richard BAYLDEN. It was an uncommon name borne as far as appears by no other family in England. The age of his sons and other circumstances would indicate that he was in the neighborhood of 50 years old. His eldest son bore the name of the deceased brother William. Those were days of careless pronunciation and phonetic spelling, and the name is soon spelled in various ways on the records and by members of the family, BELDEN and BELDING predominating. Richard is found acquiring and disposing of land and duly taking his part in the affairs of the new community until his death in 1655, when he left his family a considerable landed estate. The rapier, or gentlemen's sword, mentioned among his effects, was a weapon for which he could have found small use in Wethersfield and was doubtless a relic of his early days.

Richard married Margaret ACKRENDEN on 09 Dec 1622 in Kippax, Yorkshire, England. Margaret was born between 1591 and 1602 in Yorkshire Co., England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Susan BELDEN was born in 1623.
2. Samuel BELDEN was born in 1632; died on 03 Jan 1713 in Hatfield, Hampshire, Massachusetts, USA.
3. Sara BELDEN was born in 1630 in Woodsworth, Yorks, England.
4. John BELDEN was born about 1634; died on 27 Jun 1677 in Wethersfield, Hartford, Conn..
5. Mary BELDEN was born in 1625.
6. Grace BELDEN was born in 1627.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Baptism: 20 May 1571, Gisburn, Yorkshire, England

Lawrence married ? UNKNOWN. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]