Richard Waldron (colonel)

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Richard Waldron
Born
Richard Waldron

1650
Dover, New Hampshire
Died3 November 1730 (age 80)
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Occupationmerchant, judge, councilor, mill owner, Colonel of the New Hampshire militia
Spouse(s)Hannah Cutt, Eleanor [1] or Ellenor Vaughan
ChildrenSamuel, Richard, Margaret, William, Ann, Abigail, Eleanor [a]
Parent(s)Richard Waldron

Richard Waldron (1650 – 3 November 1730) was a military officer, politician, and business man of the Province of New Hampshire. He maintained the position of the Waldron family in Dover and colonial New Hampshire through intermarriage with other leading families and inheritance or purchase[3] of many of the positions once held by his father. He was the first of his line to adopt "Waldron" as opposed to "Walderne", the spelling that his father and previous generations had used.

Birth and offices[]

Richard Waldron was born in 1650 in Dover, New Hampshire.[4] "A son of Major Richard Waldron, [he] ... early removed to Portsmouth. He was chosen a representative in the General Assembly in 1691, and a member of the Royal Council in 1692. He was a justice of the Court of Common Pleas from 1702 until 1706; judge of Probate from 1708 to 1730, and held the commission of Colonel in the Provincial Militia.[1] Col. Waldron's mercantile education was received in Charlestown, Mass., under George Willoughby."[4]

The Dominion of New England which encompassed all of New England in 1686 "seemed willing to cooperate with any individuals among the local elite who accepted their rule. Richard Waldron Jr., for example, purchased several offices which left him with formal authority in Dover almost as great as that previously exercised by his aging father."[3]

Family[]

His first wife was Hannah, daughter of President John Cutt.[b] He married (second) at Portsmouth, 6 February 1692/3 Eleanor (or Ellenor) daughter of Major and grand niece of John Cutt and a cousin, once removed, of Hannah.[6] She was the mother of all her husband's children except Samuel, her cousin Hannah's child. Her children included Richard Waldron (Secretary).[7]

Contest with natives[]

He "was busy fighting Indians."[8] In 1704 "a group of marauding Abenakis and Penacooks went after Richard Waldron, Jr. at his home in Dover, and although the provincial leader was not at home, killed several other colonists in the neighbourhood."[9]

Ousted[]

"Very shortly after [1715] Colonel Waldron and his friends succeeded in giving the Lieutenant-Governor Usher his quietus, but in the moment of victory the colonel was dismissed from the Council for being 'very much concern'd' in stealing the king's mast timber.[10] He retained his place as judge of common pleas, Secretary of the Province, and clerk of the Council, however, finding means to shift the duties and salary of the last to [his son] Richard, until on 11 January 1716/17, he had him officially sworn into that office."[11]

He died on 3 November 1730[12] in Dover.[1]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Daughter Eleanor died age 20 "from the effects of drinking too much cold water after dancing[2]
  2. ^ She died in childbirth Feb 14, 1682, and infant son and only child Samuel died 11 months later.[5]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c Hodgdon 1918, p. 6.
  2. ^ Hodgdon 1918, p. 9.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b Daniell 1981, p. 97.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Howard 1892, p. 485.
  5. ^ Hodgdon 1918, pp. 6-7.
  6. ^ Howard 1892, p. 21.
  7. ^ "Pepperell Manuscripts". The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. 19. New England Historic-Genealogical Society. 1865. p. 223 (footnote).
  8. ^ Shipton, Clifford K (1937). "Class of 1712". Sibley's Harvard Graduates. 5. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society. p. 653. hdl:2027/pst.000004731528.
  9. ^ Daniell 1981, p. 108.
  10. ^ Headlam, Cecil, ed. (1928). Calendar of state papers, Colonial series. America and West Indies. 1714–1715. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. p. 284.
  11. ^ Bouton, Nathaniel, ed. (1869). New Hampshire Provincial Papers. III. Manchester: John B Clarke. pp. 641, 660, 682.
  12. ^ Howard 1892, p. 421.
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