Allen line: Richard Church 1663-1730

Men who have the same name as more famous men and who lived in the same time period, roughly, as that more famous man, or his descendants, have a way of staying invisible.  Whether or not they actually donned a "Cloak of invisibility", the result seems to be the same-brief sightings and much mystery.  Such is the case with Richard Church. 

Richard was born in 1663 in Hartford, Connecticut, the son of John and Sarah Beckley Church. (I have seen one tree that gives him different parents but after looking at the locations, etc, and the fact that there is no documentation for this set of parents, I am not even going to mention them. Someone has convinced someone that our Richard Church ties back to the Mayflower Richard Church, and sadly, that is not the case. 

However, he is the grandson of Richard Church who was early in Hartford, Connecticut, so he has deep roots there.  John and Sarah are thought to have had at least 10 children, so that would have been another busy household.  Our Richard would have grown up learning farming skills, possibly a trade, learning to read and write, because that's what Puritan boys did, and absorbing as much as he could before his father died in 1691. 

Richard married Elizabeth Noble of Westfield, Massachusetts on March 3, 1691/92, around the time of his father's death.  Elizabeth was the daughter of Thomas and Hannah Warriner Noble.  I have not yet figured out how Richard and Elizabeth met.  Perhaps she was a visitor in Hartford, or perhaps Richard had some sort of trade that took him to Westfield.  I haven't found a reference to Richard in Westfield's history, other than the marriage, so my guess is that they went to live in Hartford County, where a Richard Church (not sure that he is ours, but it seems possible) had some land dealings in 1697.  He is noted on an index as being a grantor then. 

He was apparently in Colchester by 1705, or perhaps he never moved and Colchester was formed to include the land he lived on then.  Surprisingly, I don't find his name in the early Colchester history, but in 1714, the town had about 50 families living there (English families, as opposed to the natives who were still there) and his was surely one of them.  Richard and Elizabeth had 8 children together and all were entered in the Westfield records at birth.  That may or may not mean that the family lived there, but perhaps they did.  Or perhaps Elizabeth wanted to have them baptized in Westfield, for whatever reasson.  At any rate, they left Westfield and ended up in Colchester. 

Richard was  one of four town rate (tax) collectors in 1714, the town way warden in 1717, and a freeman of the town in 1729.  I haven't yet found any evidence of military activity but it's possible that he was involved in one or another of the wars that took place during his lifetime.  He would have been too young to participate in King Philip's War, but others are possibilities.  He would have always been conscious of the possibility of attacks, and would have trained for them all his life, as men did in those days. 

We don't know the cause of death for Richard, but his date of death is given as April 1, 1730.  His executor was his son James, and the estate was valued at 224 pound, 13 shillings and 9 pence.  I have not found a copy of the actual inventory, nor of his will.  However, Elizabeth lived for another 21 years so she probably received her one third until or unless she remarried.  I would love to know whether that inventory included his land, or whether there was separate land  The inventory might also give clues as to whether he had a trade separate from farming. 

So, these invisible men have won again!  There is much we would like to know about Richard-military history, life in Westsfield, if the family actually lived there, church of choice, literacy, and so much more.  But the glimpses we've found show a family man, one who stayed out of trouble, and built a small estate to share with his family.  The one clue to his status is that in the Colchester cemetery, he is listed as "Mr." Richard Church.  That is a courtesy title that was not listed often in the cemetery records of that time.  So he was somebody, even if he wasn't related to the more famous Richard Church.

The line of descent is

Richard Church-Elizabeth Noble

Jonathan Church-Ruth Hitchcock

Ruth Church-Stephen Noble

Ruth Noble-Martin Root

Ruth Root-Samuel Falley

Clarissa Falley-John Havens Starr

Harriet Starr-John Wilson Knott

Edit Knott-Edward Allen

Richard Allen-Gladys Holbrook

Their descendants