Page prepared by Dr. Donald Richardson
There were 3 Robert Richardsons who's birth were registered in the
m(1) "Euphen Skene: 4 Jan 1610 Curriehill, Mid. Co., Scot. son Robert b. 1613". m(2) "Elspeth Burne:a son Robert bpt. Edinburg Mid. Co. 1 Oct 1635.". m(3) "Agnes Richartsone: 7 Mar 1638 South Leigh, Mid. Co., Scot. a son Robert b.1639".
The last two sons born to Robert Richardson, he was listed as "Baronet". Thus, I started to research The Court of the Lord Lyon who hold Scottish Royal Titles and other references like: Cokayne's "Complete Baronetage", Lee's "Dictionary of National Biography", Burke's "Peerage" ...
In the 1600s there were only two Sir Robert Richardsons of Pencaitland who were Baronets -
father (?-1635) and son (1613-1640). Hence, Euphen (sic) could only have been Sir Robert (d1635) wife,
Agnes could only have been Sir Robert (d1640) wife, but
Elspeth (sic) could have been either of the Sir Roberts' wife. Both
Euphen's Robert and Elspeth's Robert were born in Edinburgh Parish and both were
Christened (which was usually done after babies had lived for a while), where
Sir Robert Richardson (d1635) lived, but Agnes' Robert was born in Canongate
Parish.
However, when you look at the
original document
regarding the birth of Robert Richardson 1 Oct 1635, it states that Elspeth Burne bore
the child of Sir Robert
Richardson of Pencaitland, but she was not his wife (I used more
genteel terms than in the original document). Elspeth named her
son Robert, after his
father, but since his last name was Richardson, the father had
to have acknowledged the child, under Scottish Law - Sir Robert Richardson did
honour the family's original motto: "Strength through Truth". Too bad young Robert was not
born in Wales, where he could have been legitimate, whether of not he was born
in wedlock, if the father had acknowledged him!
In 1634, Sir Robert (d1635) was "was old and in ill health and offended by his eldest son" Robert (d1640). But on the other hand in 1634, Robert (d1640), not yet a "Sir" (he became Sir Robert in April 1635 and young Robert was born 1 Oct 1635), was unmarried, and thus he is my most likely candidate for Elspeth's lover. Perhaps this liaison is why his father was offended. Elspeth Burne married a merchant, named Andrew Davisone (sic), on 29 Oct 1640, after her Sir Robert died. Unfortunately, Sir Robert (d1640) did not leave a will, but a document filed in 1642, shows mainly who he owed and who owed him - thus after Sir Robert (d1640) sold his inherited coal pits in Pencaitland and the 16,000 acre Nova Scotia property, I estimate that his estate, in today's currency, would have be in the millions!
Then could this Robert Richardson have stayed in Scotland and married? Here is a check of Scottish Church records:
You searched
for: Surname: "Richardson"; Use Soundex: On; Forename: "robert*"; Sex: "Male";
Date From: 01 January 1650; Date To: 31 December 1666; Page of 1 (4 records)
No Date Surname Forename Spouse Name/Frame No Sex Parish
City/County GROS Data Image Extract
1 01/06/1665 RICHARDSON ROBERT MARGARET BURRELL/FR991 M
Edinburgh EDINBURGH CITY/MIDLOTHIAN 685/001 0440 0078
2 07/07/1665 RICHARDSON ROBERT BARBARA STEILL/FR3735 M
Canongate EDINBURGH CITY/MIDLOTHIAN 685/003 0130 0142
3 18/06/1665 RICHARDSON ROBERT BARBARA STEILL/FR3827 M
Canongate EDINBURGH CITY/MIDLOTHIAN 685/003 0130 0325
4 21/01/1664 RICHARDSONE ROBERT CRISTAN BROUNE/ M Dysart
/FIFE 426/ 0030 0272
Which shows that the only Robert Richardson who married in Scotland did so after Robert Richardson (d1682) was in Virginia.
We note that, Robert Richardson (d1682) named his first son William, the name of Elspeth's father and named his daughter Elizabeth - Elspeth is the old Bible spelling of Elizabeth. I understand this convention, since I was also basically raised by my mother and I was named, in part, after her father (Charles). It appears that Robert Richardson (b1635), after learning to be a cordwainer (shoe maker), moved to Virginia in 1655 to seek his fortune. He ended up with a 2000 acre Plantation in Colonial Virginia, called Mount Ephraim, all on his own!
