Richard Dever (abt. 1635 - 1701)

Born about 1635 in England [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Grace (Fitzmorris) Deaver — married 1657 in Province of Maryland

Descendants

Died 5 Feb 1701 at about age 66 in Anne Arundel County, Province of Maryland

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Biography

Richard Dever was a Maryland colonist.

Origin

This surname is spelled as: Deaver, Deavor, Deavour, Devoir, Diver and Dever in early Maryland records. The year he was born and the place of origin are not proved. Richard arrived in Maryland as an indentured servant as proved by his 1658 demand for a warrant that states he has earned 100 acres for himself and his wife Grace since their period of indenture was complete.^[1] Since the typical term of indenture during this time period was about 4 years, that would place Richard Deaver in Maryland by about 1654.

Occupation

Richard Deaver was a joiner. A record from the Court of Chancery in SEP 1663 states that an indentured servant name Francis Gunby bound himself to work for Richard Deaver in Maryland as a joiner for four years and receive a share of the profits. Gunby complained that he was sold from one settler to another and the conditions of his contract were not respected. There is no record of how the suit turned out.^[2] In addition to this record stating Richard was a joiner, another Provincial Court record from about 1666 states that Richard Deaver kept an ordinary (tavern) at his property on the Choptank River on the eastern shore.^[3]

Property

Richard's first effort to purchase land ended up in a court case due to the change caused by the Puritan rebellion and the takeover of the Provincial government in 1659. Before 1659 Richard purchased a tract in Anne Arundel from Archibald Archbuckle who was assigned the land by another colonist who died after Richard had paid for it, but before the land transfer was completed so Richard took Archbuckle to court. ^[4] More information about his early land purchases can be found in Anne Arundel deeds that were brought to court after the courthouse burned down in Annapolis in 1703. The deeds show that Richard & Grace Deaver sold the land mentioned above bought from Archbuckle and some other tracts in 1666 to Ralph Williams. Both he & Grace signed with their mark. ^[5]

Patents

Richard Deaver must have been a hard worker, because once his indenture was up he managed to purchase 885 acres of land using the patent process in both Anne Arundel and Talbot counties. His first patent dated 12 DEC 1662 was for 250 acres in Anne Arundel County on the north side of the Severn River near a meeting house. He gained this land by purchasing the warrants from other settlers which he then put together with the name Deaver's Purchase.^[6] His second tract for 150 acres was entered in the rolls the next day and was also in Anne Arundel County located near Ferry Creek. He called this plantation Barren Neck.^[7] His largest tract was 300 acres on the eastern shore in Talbot County on the Choptank River named Deaver's Choice. ^[8]

Richard waited almost forty years before he claimed his final tract called Devours Range or this tract was claimed by his son Richard Jr. This 220 tract was located about 3 miles from Herring Creek Bay and bordered land occupied by William Burgess at the time of the patent in 1683.^[9] It is difficult to tell what happened to all of these tracts after or during Richard's lifetime because the courthouse in Annapolis burned to the ground in 1703 destroying all the land records.

Marriage & Family

We know that Richard was married to a woman named Grace by 1658 and the two lived together for 44 years and died within two months of each other in 1703. Their deaths are recorded together in the register of St. James Parish which was located in the Herring Bay area of Anne Arundel County:

Richard Devor Senr d. 5 FEB 1701, bur. 8 FEB 1701/2

Grace Devor Senr. widow d. 15 APR 1702 bur. 18 APR 1702

The records of St. James Parish also have the following entries presumed to be their grandchildren:

Nicholas White and Grace Deivour m. 24 NOV 1698

Richard Deivour Jr. and Ann Parents of Stephen Deivour son b. 26 DEC 1689 and bapt. 24 AUG 1698 and Richard Deivour son b. 10 JUN 1692 and bapt. 24 AUG 1698.

Richard Devor and Mary -?- m. 23 NOV 1703 (this can't be the Richard b. 1692)

Thomas son of Richard Deavor and Mary bapt. 26 DEC 1708

Richard Devor and Mary Shierbett m. 16 NOV 1711

Stephen Deavor and Mary Smith m. 7 JAN 1710

Benjamin son of Richard Deavor and Mary bapt. 8 OCT 1710

Anthony Musgroves m. Margaret Deavor 25 NOV 1707

Daniel Fowler and Ann Devor m. 23 NOV 1711^[10]

More research is needed, but there is an inventory listed in the index for Richard Deaver in 1697 in Anne Arundel, so it appears that Richard Jr. died before his father. The Richard who married in 1703 was the son of John Deaver.

Richard and Grace appear to be the parents of the following children who would've been born between 1658 and 1680:

1. Richard Deaver died in Anne Arundel Co. 1697
2. John Deaver died in Baltimore Co. 1731
3. Gilbert Deaver died in Calvert Co. 1720

Sources

1. ↑ Maryland Patents Liber Q folio 72
2. ↑ Archives of Maryland Vol. 49, preface [1]
3. ↑ Archives of Maryland Vol. 49 preface 24 [aomol.msa.maryland.gov]
4. ↑ Archives of Maryland Vol. 41 pg. 317 [2]
5. ↑ Anne Arundel Deeds Liber IT 5 folio 82
6. ↑ Maryland Patents Liber 5 folio 626
7. ↑ Maryland Patents Liber 5 folio 625
8. ↑ Maryland Patents Liber 10 folio 491
9. ↑ Maryland Patents Liber CB 3 folio 156
10. ↑ Wright, F. Edward, “Anne Arundel County Church Records of the 17th & 18th Centuries” Westminster, MD: Willow Bend Books 2002

Maybe ----Deavers are of French descent, Norman-French. Various spellings are DeVer, De Vere, Dever, Deaver, Van de Ver and Van de Vere.going to England, where they spent a short time, and came to American before the Revolutionary War.

Upon their arrival in American they dropped the prefix VAN, and one brother spelled his name Deaver, while the other, who went to another part of the country, spelled it Dever. Brittany Coast in the north of France, and at the head of 67 men, went with William the Conqueror in 1066 for the Norman conquest of England. That was the beginning of the family in England. Robert de Vere signed the document in the name of King John. Veres had spread over England, Scotland and Ireland, and the name had taken on some of the modern day spellings of. Scotland and landing in Ann Arundell County, Maryland, December 12,1657.of the family, which spread to the South and West.

10. “The Dever and Related Families,” Book, Penny and O. D. Linder, McClain printing Company, 212 Main St., Parsons, WV 26287, Pub.1998, 1998, ISBN 0-9627513-2-4, Dever & Related Families by P&OD Linder S10.jpg. ebook Notes for Richard DEVER