Richard Booth (abt. 1607 - abt. 1687)

Born about 1607 in England [uncertain]

Husband of Elizabeth (Hawley) Booth — married about 1640 in Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony

Descendants

Died about 1687 at about age 80 in Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut

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Richard Booth is currently protected by the Puritan Great Migration Project for reasons described in the narrative. Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: PGM

Richard Booth may or may not have arrived by 1640. He is protected by the PGM project because of known errors in his parentage.

CONTROVERSY: The parents of Richard Booth have not been verified as there is no agreement as to Richard's origins. There is more than one Richard Booth in English records, from different locations, with different christening records, hence different parents. See the discussion below, especially the notes of Donald Jacobus, a highly respected genealogist of early CT families. He has been detached from his previous parents of Richard Booth and Elizabeth Brooke.

Biography

Richard Booth was born at England, 1607-8. He is sometimes identified as baptized Great Budworth, Cheshire, 21 August 1608^[1] and otherwise said at Derbyshire, 1607/1608. The date and location of Richard's birth has not been documented. Donald Lines Jacobus argued (1952) that he likely came from Derbyshire (rather than Cheshire) because so many others --including his brother-in-law (settled Stratford in the 1630s) came from Derbyshire and the great number of Booths in Derbyshire records of the period.^[2]

Jacobus (1952) wrote,^[3]

Three statements or theories relating to Richard Booth have found wide acceptance, simply because they are found in print. These are that Richard was from Cheshire, England; that he was a brother of Robert Booth of Maine and of John Booth of Southold, Long Island; and that he was probably married twice. No actual evidence has been seen to support any of these statements, and some of them are probably incorrect.

It was somewhat natural, in the early days of genealogical study, to try to connect Richard Booth with the well-known family of that name in Cheshire, but his origin is as much a matter of speculation today as it ever was. His brother-in-law, Joseph Hawley was from Parwick, Derbyshire, and an origin in that county has recently been discovered for William Beardsley who came to New England in 1635 and was an original settler in Stratford in 1639. Hence we are more inclined to believe that Richard Booth was a member of the Derbyshire contingent than that he came from Cheshire. Certainly the Booth surname is frequently and prominently found in the records of County Derby ..."

We are without definite records of more than one wife of Richard Booth, who because of certain records mentioning relationship is deduced to have been a sister of Joseph Hawley and mother of the Booth children.  In the lack of a will or specific records, we may theorize that Richard was married once, twice, or even more times.  The conclusion that he was twice married is based on a single record that refers to "my now wife", the assumption being that this invariably implied the existence of an earlier wife.  Often it did, but in other cases, it was merely a legal bit of verbiage intended to distinguish a man's present wife from any other wife, whether a previous one or one he might acquire in the future.  Hence the implications of the term are far from certain. 

Richard Booth was one of the original settlers of Stratford, Connecticut.

Jacobus notes that although Stratford was settled in 1639, early records are so few that it is difficult to assign a specific date to the arrival of the early settlers. He concludes that Booth and brother-in-law Joseph Hawley were living there prior to 1650 and most likely arrived ca 1641 or shortly after. While the children's birthdates begin in 1641, they weren't recorded in Stratford records as a group until 1649, and no location is given thus not useful as evidence of Richard's arrival.

Although the list of the 17 original proprietors of the town has been lost, evidence points to Richard Booth as one of them. In 1724, Ambrose Tompson age 72 and Ebenezer Boothe age 72 (son of Richard Booth) complain of injustice in the distribution of land, stating: "Our parents we suppose were actually or virtually among some of the very first settlers of the town of Stratford, which was settled with very great difficulty and charge, as we have been informed. The expense of one of our parents for watching and warding and other charges, cost more than L40, money."^[4]

Richard Booth's name appears often in the town records of this day as "townsman" or selectman, and in other commissions of office and trust.  The prefix Mr before his name in the colonial records, indicates, under the rigid adjustment of social rank then observed, a position decidedly influential and respectable.  His large landed property he divided in this lifetime, among his children.  He left no will.  The latest mention of him extant, is a March 1688-89, in his 82nd year.  As the Congregational Burial Ground, west of Main Street, was opened in 1678, he was doubtless buried there as was his son Joseph, who outlived him not more than 12 to 15 years. 

He owned, through grant and purchase, extensive property which he divided in his lifetime among his children. He was one of the owners who received land by 1670 in the section known as Nichols' Farms, where one branch of his descendants lived for several generations. Like others, his lands were spread over a considerable area, not necessarily adjoining one another. His home lot #29 was located on the west side of Main St., between Joshua Judson and Adam Hurd and across the street from Isaac Nichols, Sr. It was the fifth below the Bridgeport road.

On March 15, 1687/88, he states he was about 81 and speaks of "my now wife", perhaps indicating he had an earlier wife. His first wife was Elizabeth Hawley, sister to Joseph Hawley the first town clerk and another early settler.

No recorded will has been found but his children's names and birthdates are recorded at Stratford.

It may be possible that Ulysses S. Grant descended from Richard Booth.^[5]

Richard Boothe's name and those of his descendants are prominent on Stratford records. His home lot, 29 indicates his settlement there among the earliest, but probably before his marriage in 1640. He married, 1st Elizabeth, the sister of Joseph Hawley, for his son Ephraim, in his will styles Samuel Hawley (son of Joseph) cousin. He was one of the proprietors of the township and received a division of land located in various parts of the town, as did the other proprietors. He was probably[??] married twice and had eight children. The latest mention of him extant is in March 1688/89, in his 82d year.^[6]

Early American Census shows Richard in Stratford, Fairfield Co CT in the years 1650,1655, 1658 & 1669.

Research Notes

(a) WikiData reference The Peerage gives a baptism date 5 Mar 1607, citing Burke's Peerage and Gentry. The reference in Burke's has not been found, but the baptism is cited above.

(b) A previous version of this profile attributed the quote that follows to Jacobus, but this was not confirmed. "The Booth chart compiled by George Munson Booth of Chicago, Ill., states that Richard was bapt. at Great Budsworth, co. Cheshire, Eng., Aug. 1608, a son of Edward (d. 1628), who was a son of William of Twemlow, co. Cheshire (by his wife Ellen, dau. of John Davenport of Davenport), who was a son of Edward of Twenlow, who was a son of Sir William Booth of Dunham Massie, co. Cheshire (d. 1519). The earlier generations of this pedigree are authentic, but I know not the authority for the connection of this line with Richard of Stratford."

Sources

1. ↑ Baptism: "Cheshire Diocese Of Chester Parish Baptisms 1538-1911"
   FindMyPast Image - FindMyPast Transcription (accessed 20 November 2023)
   Richardus Both baptism on 21 Aug 1608 (born 1608), son of Edwardi Both, in Great Budworth, Cheshire, England.
2. ↑ Donald Lines Jacobus, The Genealogy of the Booth Family ... (Pleasant Hill, Mo.: Eden C. Booth, 1952), 1-3; digital images, Hathi Trust
3. ↑ Donald Lines Jacobus, The Genealogy of the Booth Family ... (Pleasant Hill, Mo.: Eden C. Booth, 1952), 1-3; digital images, Hathi Trust.
4. ↑ "Stratford, CT Town Acts p.102," not further identified.
5. ↑ National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Volume 75:236??
6. ↑ p. 120 History of Stratford by Orcutt

• Gary Boyd Roberts, Ancestors of American Presidents, preliminary edition (Santa Clarita, Calif.: Carl Boyer, 3rd, 1989). Note: also the 2009 edition.

• Donald Lines Jacobus, The Genealogy of the Booth Family ... (Pleasant Hill, Mo.: Eden C. Booth, 1952), 1-3; digital images, Hathi Trust; Note: Jacobus was a respected, professional genealogist and author. He does not cite specific sources except to say "Authorities Aside from Original Sources Consulted". Under this title, he lists a number of local histories and other Booth genealogies as well as original town and church records.

• Booth Family Vol III compiled by John N Booth 1966 (uses Jacobus)

• Vital Records of (CT Towns of) Stratford, Newtown, Fairfield, Woodbury, Weston, Berlin, Farmington, Roxbury, etc.

• Church Records (Congregational & Episcopalian) of Stratford, Hungtington, and Trumbull, Redding, Roxbury, South Britain, Easton, New Britain, Southington.

• History of Stratford by Orcutt

• Probate Records of Fairfield Stratford, Danbury, Woodbury, Farmington.

• Land Records Stratford, Newtown, Scattering

• Cemetery inscriptions, Hale Collection, State Library Hartford, many towns

• Family Records, State Library Hartford, CT In many cases his dates differ from Orcutt's History of New Milford p. 657-58.

• MSS: Booth Collection, Kate S. Fogarty, Fairfield Historical Society

• Pattersosn Genealogy, D. Williams Patterson, CT Historical Society and numerous printed sources and family histories. see p 115-116

• Booth Line-Armericana 1920, "Russell-Baldwin Families"--(The Booth Line)," Americana (American Historical Magazine)  ; Jan-Dec 1920 Vol. 14:82 (Jan-Dec 1920): 79-83 Note: Assumption of the English ancestry of Richard Booth of Stratford is not proven.

• Colonial Connecticut Records, 1636 - 1776 (https://archive.org/details/publicrecordsofc00unse/page/522/mode/2up?q=Richard+Booth). "[Stratford] A list of Freemen as they are reputed amongst us.." 7 Aug 1669.

• Frederic Haines Curtiss, A Genealogy of the Curtiss Family Being a Record of the Descendants of Widow Elizabeth Curtiss who Settled in Stratford, Conn. 1639-40, Boston, Rockwell & Churchill Press, 1903, p. 2.

• Donald Lines Jacobus, History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield, CD-Local and Family Histories: CT, 1600's - 1800's, (Produced in collaboration with the Genealogical Publishing Company, 2000), vol 1, p 87, 412.

• Hawley, Elias. The Hawley Record (E. H. Hutchinson & Co., Buffalo, N.Y., 1890) Page 436
• Thomas L. Mindrum, "Richard Booth of England and Stratford, Connecticut, and his son Ephraim Booth of Stratford" Connecticut Ancestry, reference volume 292 (2021), pages 86-89. Accessed via ConnecticutAncestry.org March 22, 2022

• Find A Grave: Memorial #6913368: Old Congregational Burying Ground, Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut