Allen line: John Riley died 1684

 I wish I could share John's origins with you.  I have earlier written about his supposed grandfather, Joseph Riley, and his supposed father, John Riley who was married to Grace Buck.  I now find that I can't support those suppositions.  John and Grace are almost certainly not this John's parents, although it is possible that Joseph is his grandfather.  

Most of the "information" I found says that John was born in Wethersfield, Connecticut in 1646.  I think there was a John RIley born there, to John and Grace per above, but he was not our John Riley.  In the first place, our John was married by 1660, and I don't think a 14 year old boy was husband material.  Our John Riley appears to be older than he is given credit for.  He shows up in records for the first time in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1656, already an adult or he would not have been listed with a date of residence in town records.  

From that time on, we can see evidence of our John in Springfield in town records.  He was granted land in various town meetings in 1662, 1664, 1666, and 1668, plus he also purchased land from a previous owner.  In December of 1659 he was seated in the 9th row of the meeting house, and moved up to the eighth row in 1662.  He put up bond for a man by the name of William Hunter to be admitted to the town, and had land next to that of William Hunter.  I haven't yet determined whether Hunter was a relative, but it seems possible.  

John held minor offices in town, that of fence viewer some years, and hayward some years.  Both jobs required tact and people skills, but not necessarily education, and John signed with his mark, not a signature.  

I would also love to tell you who his wife is.  Almost every source I looked at said her name was Margaret O'Dea.  I have not been able to find anything that says who Margaret was, or when she arrived in Springfield.  She could have arrived as a servant, or as the daughter of someone who had remarried, and thus she could have been living in her step-father's home.  But John and Margaret did marry, and they had two daughters, Margaret and Mary.  One can find longer lists but these were the only two children listed in Springfield records, and we have no indication the family ever lived anywhere except Springfield.  

There was a John Riley listed as a soldier in December of 1675 under Captain Samuel Appleton.  The operations he was involved in were located around Hadley and Deerfield, so there is a possibility this is our John.  If he wasn't out in the field, he would have been in a garrison house in Springfield.  We don't know where Margaret and the girls were when the natives attacked Springfield during King Philip's War, but they were likely in one of the three garrisons in the town.  The girls were old enough to understand what was going on and probably helped the women of the town cook and clean during the ordeal.  

In 1678 and again in 1681 John was fined for missing the annual town meeting.  He may have been ill or there may have been bad traveling conditions.  There were several other men on the "no show" list each time, so there is also the possibility that this was a political statement.  We just don't know.  We do know that he paid his taxes, including "rates" for the pastor.  He gave wheat one year, and another year he gave Indian corn.  

I haven't been able to locate a will or inventory for John, but I get the sense that he was not in the upper crust of society.  He farmed, but whether or not he had another occupation is still to be determined.  He did, however, raise two daughters and provided for his family.  He died October 24, 1684 in Springfield, and Margaret died August 22, 1689.  

We don't know what the cause of death was for John, just that he "was sicke",  This was the third year in a row for what seems to be an excessive number of deaths for a small town, but I have no explanation, except that I know the crops were poor some of those years.  Townspeople may have been forced to eat spoiled grain, or malnutrition may have contributed to the deaths. 

Even though we don't know much about John Riley, not even his age, we do know that he was part of the town of Springfield for twenty eight years.  Surely his family was joined by other community members, including several other Allen ancestors, who mourned his death.

The line of descent is 

John Riley-Margaret

Mary Riley-Joseph Ely

Mary Ely-Thomas Stebbins

Ruth Stebbins-Samuel Hitchcock

Margaret Hitchcock-Richard Falley

Samuel Falley-Ruth Root

Clarissa Falley-John Havens Starr

Harriet Starr-John Wilson Knott

Edith Knott-Edward Allen

Richard Allen-Gladys Holbrook

Their descendants