Holbrook line: Richard Langer, Immigrant

Richard Langer is another of those "quiet men" who lived their lives, for the most part, under the radar so that 350-400 years later, there are few traces of his life.  Fortunately, he left a will in Hingham, Massachusetts Bay Colony, when he died on January 25, 1661, and that tells us pretty much everything we know about him.

His birth year is given as about 1595, variously at either Cambridge, Cambridgeshire or Beaminster, Dorset, England.  I don't find anything that would support either location but someone must have found something, in order to be willing to hazard these guesses.

We don't know when Richard arrived in the Colony, or whether he married in England or in his new home land.  This leads me to guess that he may have come as an indentured servant, but that is only a guess.  We do know, from a history of Hingham, that he arrived there in 1636 but it isn't clear whether he arrived directly from England or whether he had been in another part of the colony.  In the entire book, this is the only reference to him, so as stated earlier, he led a quiet life.

Hingham was a subject of religious controversy in the middle 1640's but there is no indication as to which side Richard was on, or whether in fact he took sides at all.  Still, it would have affected his life as neighbors opposed neighbors.  We can only hope there was a satisfactory outcome to the dispute.  

In his will, there is no mention of a wife so she died before him, but how long before that is a mystery.  We know he had three daughters because they are mentioned in his will.  His will left all of his lands to his grandson, Joshua Lincoln, who was about 16 at the time of Richard's death.  He also left a green rug to his daughter Margaret (Joshua's mother) with instructions that she was to give 4 shillings to each of her two sisters, Dinah and Elizabeth.  The will is dated February 20, 1659, 23 months before he died.

I don't have death dates for Thomas and Margaret Langer Lincoln's children, but it looks like Joshua would have had several brothers and sisters who would have been living when Richard wrote his will. Joshua must have been his "favorite", to have been given all the land.

His estate showed two house lotts, a great lott and a lott of meadow, valued at a total of 21 pounds, two shillings.  This was a small estate.  There is no mention of personal property, so perhaps he was living with Margaret and Thomas when he died.  He may have given his daughters other items or money earlier, if this was the case.

As you can guess, I'd like to know more about this ancestor of ours.One fun fact, especially appropriate to this week, is that his descendant is John Hancock, he of the large signature on the Declaration of Independence. 

The line of descent is:

Richard Langer-Margaret
Margaret Langer-Thomas Lincoln
Sarah Lincoln-Thomas Marsh
Thomas Marsh-Mary Burr
Deborah Marsh-Isaac Lazell
Deborah Lazell-Levi Rockwood
Susannah Rockwood-Nahum Holbrook
Joseph Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants