Richard HIGGINS

1603 - 1675  (71 years)

• Name	Richard HIGGINS  [1]
  Born	1 Aug 1603	England
  Gender	Male
  Died	21 Jun 1675	Piscataway, Middlesex Co, NJ
  Person ID	I5204	adkinshorton
  Last Modified	2 Jan 2013

  
  

  Father	Edward HIGGINS,   b. 7 Sep 1545, Bridstone, England ,   d. Between 1604 and 1638  (Age 58 years)
  Mother	Julian MEALS,   b. Abt 1582, Bridstone, England ,   d. 1 Aug 1603, Langley Parish, Stroke Hundred, Hertford, England  (Age ~ 21 years)
  Family ID	F24972	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 1	Lydia CHANDLER,   b. 1614, Duxbury, Plymouth Co, MA ,   d. 1651, Eastham, Barnstable Co, MA  (Age 37 years)
  Married	23 Nov 1634	Eastham, Barnstable Co, MA   [2]
  	From "Richard Higgins and His Descendants", by Mrs. Katharine Chapin Higgins, 1918: Having now a good house and twenty aacres of land, and being a tailor with an apprentice, Richard Higgins bethought himself of a wife and his eye fell upon Lydia chandler, daughter of Edmund Chandler, of Duxbury and Scituate. She was favorable to his suit, and on December 11, 1634.*, they were married and went to housekeeping in the house bought of John Barnes.... *The date of marriage was Nov. 23, 1634, according to Eastham records.
  Children	1. Jonathan HIGGINS,   b. Jul 1637, Plymouth, Plymouth Co, MA ,   d. 1715, Eastham, Barnstable Co, MA  (Age ~ 77 years) + 2. Benjamin HIGGINS,   b. Jun 1640, Eastham, Barnstable Co, MA ,   d. 14 Mar 1690/91, Eastham, Barnstable Co, MA  (Age ~ 50 years)
  Family ID	F24968	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 2	Mary,   b. Abt 1627, Cape Cod, Barnstable Co, MA ,   d. Abt 1680, Piscataway, Middlesex Co, NJ  (Age ~ 53 years)
  Married	Oct 1651	Eastham, Barnstable Co, MA
  Children	+ 1. Mary HIGGINS,   b. 27 Sep 1652, Eastham, Barnstable Co, MA ,   d. 23 Jan 1728/29, Elizabethtown, Union Co, NJ  (Age 76 years)   2. Eliakim HIGGINS,   b. 20 Oct 1654, Eastham, Barnstable Co, MA ,   d. 1698, Elizabethtown, Union Co, NJ  (Age 43 years)   3. William HIGGINS,   b. 15 Dec 1654, Eastham, Barnstable Co, MA ,   d. Yes, date unknown   4. Jediah HIGGINS,   b. 5 Mar 1656/57, Eastham, Barnstable Co, MA ,   d. Yes, date unknown   5. Zerah HIGGINS,   b. 1658, Eastham, Barnstable Co, MA ,   d. Yes, date unknown   6. Thomas HIGGINS,   b. 1 Jun 1661, Eastham, Barnstable Co, MA ,   d. 2 Dec 1702  (Age 41 years)   7. Lydia HIGGINS,   b. Jul 1662, Eastham, Barnstable Co, MA ,   d. Yes, date unknown   8. Rebecca HIGGINS,   b. 1663, Eastham, Barnstable Co, MA ,   d. Yes, date unknown   9. Ruth HIGGINS,   b. 1668, Eastham, Barnstable Co, MA ,   d. Abt 1709  (Age 41 years)   10. Sarah HIGGINS,   b. 1670, Piscataway, Middlesex Co, NJ ,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Family ID	F24969	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  Sons Johnathan and Benjamin were by first wife, Lydia Chandler. It is said Richard had 10 children by his second wife, Mary Yates. Richard came to Plymouth in 1633. Doug Couch notes 2008: In initial online records viewed, Robert Higgins was given as husband of Julian Meals, daughter of Christopher Meals and Elizabeth. While this relationship may exist at some point, more documented records show that this Julian Meals was married to Edward Higgins (given as Robert's father in the online records), with a quote from Julian's gravestone, verifying her marriage to Edward. Thus, the relationship has been unlinked from Robert and relinked to Edward.

  
  

• Sources

  [S18767] Richard Higgins and His Descendants. "Richard Higgins was born in England. Nothing is known of his childhood and youth, nor of the causes which led him to migrate to New England. How he reached Plymouth is unknown. It has been said that he arrived there in the ship "Anne" in 1623 in company with Nicholas Snow and that he returned to England, sailing again for New England about 1632, and again reaching Plymouth. This is most improbably. Nicholas Snow did come in the "Anne" in 1623, and in the autumn of that year lands were assigned to the men who were her passengers. Snow's name is among them, but not that of Richard Higgins. Bradford says that some who came in this ship were so bad that he was obliged to send them back at the first opportunity. If Richard Higgins were of this class, he would not have been readmitted ten years later. It is to be noticed that some who came in the "Anne" were Richard Higgins's friends and associates later at Eastham, but this can be accounted for without assuming that they were fellow-passengers in the "Anne". The most probably view is that Richard Higgins was a passenger on one of the several ships which arrived at Salem, Mass., during the years 1629-32, most of whose passengers afterward settled at Plymouth. There is no evidence that Richard Higgins was ever at Leyden, Holland, at any time. He arrived at Plymouth in time to raise or to purchase some corn of the crop of 1633. He was then apparently a man of full age, possessing a trade, --that of a tailor, -- but no family. On Oct. 7, 1633, he bought of 'Thomas Little his now dwelling howse and misted, for and in consideration of twenty-one bushels of merchantable corne, whereof twelve bushels to be pd in hand, & the remainder at harvest next ensuing.' March 1, 1633 (six or seven months later), he was taxed 9 shillings, and on March 27, 1634, he was taxed 12 shillings in corn, or two bushels. In 1633 or 1634 he was admitted freeman, that is, qualified to serve as a deputy and to vote for officials of the Colony government. (It may be that he took only the oath of fidelity at this time. In March, 1636, he certainly was a freeman of the Colony.) He soon took more important action. April 1, 1634, Samuel Godberson, son of Godbert Godberson of New Plymouth, deceased, was duly apprenticed to Richard Higgins, aforesaid, tailor, for the term of seven years from April 1, 1634. Samuel was a ward of the Colony, and Bradford agreed to deliver to Higgins 'six bushels of corne and a cowe calfe this present year or the next'; Higgins was to deliver to said Samuel the calf and half her increase at the expiration of the term of seven years. Meanwhile Richard Higgins had acquired a better dwelling place. January 13, 1633-4, John Barnes sold to Richard Higgins and his heirs forever 'one dwelling house and twenty acres of land, being lately in the possession of Edward Hobman, with all the fence, boards, timber (squared and unsquared) (belonging to the same) in consideration of ten pownd starling to be paid in currant english money or beaver at the rate it shall passe at the day of payment which is the 20th of March in the year of our Lord 1634. And also that the said Richard shall possesse the said John and his heirs of 20 acres of land in Scituate in some convenient place.' Having now a good house and twenty aacres of land, and being a tailor with an apprentice, Richard Higgins bethought himself of a wife and his eye fell upon Lydia chandler, daughter of Edmund Chandler, of Duxbury and Scituate. She was favorable to his suit, and on December 11, 1634.*, they were married and went to housekeeping in the house bought of John Barnes.... *The date of marriage was Nov. 23, 1634, according to Eastham records. 'Last day of August 1639. That richard Higgins for and in consideration that John Smaley shall teach Samuel Godbertson the trade of a taylor, as far as in him lyeth, and principally to employ him therein, hath assigned and set over all the residue of his term, which is until April 1641; Richard to find Samuel apparel and John Smaley meate drinke and lodging for sd term.' We can only conjecture the reason why Richard Higgins wished to be rid of his apprentice. The most probably reason is that his increasing duties as farmer and citizen made it necessary for him to discontinue his work as a tailor. Possibly it was the competition introduced by John Smalley, who was evidently also a tailor. There being insufficient business for two tailors in Plymouth, Higgins may have decided to retire from the field and leave it to Smalley. They were good friends and fellow planters at Eastham later, and it was doubtless a friendly arrangement. '3 December 1639. Richard Higgins of Plymouth, taylor, was bound (gave bond) for xx li in the case of Samuel Chandler, accused of slanders against the govr and govt'. The bond was afterward released.... In 1642, 1643, and 1644 Richard Higgins was a juryman in several petty cases. In 1643 his name was among those of men from sixteen to sixty years old, capable of bearing arms, and there is no doubt that he engaged in the military training and exercises then in use, but there is no record of his serving in actual warfare as a soldier. During the twelve years of more of his residence in Plymouth, we see him acquiring land, and performing his civil duties, and there is reason to believe that his standing in the community was good, and indeed increasingly good, during the whole period. He soon took a step which showed his enterprise and increased still further his influence in the Colony. He left Plymouth with six other men, and setttled at Nauset, later the town of Eastham. In August, 1645, he sold for twelve pounds his dwelling house, outhouse and buildings with garden and orchard situated near Brownes Rock, provided 'it shall be lawful for the said Richard to take away the boards that line the inward room and the bedstead and board overhead, and some fruit trees in the orchard so that he leaves the said John Churchwell 30 trees.'... This throws light upon the kind of dwelling Higgins possessed at Plymouth, and some of its furnishings. The house apparently contained but two rooms, an outer which was the kitchen and living room, and an inner which was both parlor and bedroom. Neither room was plastered, but the inner room was lined and ceiled with good boards, and had a bedstead in the corner, which was built into the structure of the house. There may have been a loft overhead, and there was certainly a large chimney at the kitchen end of the house. Such houses were common in the early settlements in New England. The roof was probably thatched, but may have been boarded or shingled. This house was at the extreme south-eastern end of the village, where Eleazer Churchill were living in 1701, and possibly one of them occupied the ancient dwelling then. Hobbs Hole and Barnes Point and Ouberry are near-by, as shown by the map in Davis' "Landmarks of Plymouth". There is no recodr to show whether Lydia Chandler, the first wife of Richard Higgins, was living in 1645 or not, but probably she was living and accompanied him to Nauset. She was, however, deceased by 1650. It has been asserted that she was not a daughter of Edmund Chandler for the reason that she is not mentioned in the latter's will of 1662. This is not a potent argument, as she was not living at the making of the will, and therefore not likely to be mentioned by the testator. That she was a daughter of Roger Chandler, as alleged by another, has no confirmation in any record thus far discovered. The records discovered at Leyden, Holland and published by Dexter ("The Endland and Holland of the Pilgrims", p. 609), mention Edmond Chandler, say-weaver, draper and then pipe-maker in Leyden from November 11, 1613, to April 17, 1626. He married before March 26, 1619, but no children's name are mentioned. The Leyden records also mention Roger Chandler, who married at Leyden, July 21, 1615, Isabella Chilton. He was from Colchester, co. Essex, and a say-weaver while at Leyden. At the census taken at Leyden, October 15, 1622, Roger Chandler and his wife Isabella, and two children, Samuel and Sarah, are mentioned, but there is no mention of Edmond or his family, although the record mentions his being at Leyden in April, 1626. If Lydia Chandler was daughter of Edmond, she must have been born several years before that child of his who was buried in St. Peter's Church at Leyden, March 26, 1619, to have been of marriageable age in 1634. Both Edmond and Roger Chandler migrated to America about 1629 or 1630, and settled at Duxbury, which is near Plymouth and under its jurisdiction at that time. Richard Higgins located in that part of Eastham known as Pochet, the most fertile tract in the town, on the outer or ocean side of the peninsula, but separated from the open Atlantic by a quiet bay and the long barrier now called Nauset Beach. It must have been greatly exposed to wind and deluged with spray when easterly storms prevailed, and none too productive as tillable land. Daniel Cole, Lieut. Joseph Rogers and others were his nearest neighbors here. This part of the town is now called East Orleans, and is a mile or two east from the village of Orleans, the earliest and oldest village in the town of Eastham, a town which originally covered much more territory than now.... John Yates and his wife Mary (her maiden name unknown) were of Duxbury, where their son John was born August 15, 1650. They soon removed to Eastham, where John, the father, died in 1651, administration on his estate being granted to hiw widow Mary Yates on June 8, 1651. Richard Higgins and Mrs. Yates found themselves congenial, and in October, 1651, they were married. There were now three boys in the Higgins household, Jonathan and Benjamin, sons of Richard Higgins, and John Yates, a little more than a year old. To these in due course of time several more were added. Mrs. Mary Higgins was destined to survive her second husband, and to marry a third, whom she also survived, as will appear." Many other land transactions follow, which were not copied. "'April 27, 1659. A house lott which was John Smalley's lying next to Richard Higgins & Giles Hopkins, land in billingsgate' (now Wellfleet). The 130th wood lot was Set to and is the one of Richard Higgins of Eastham ... and lies in sd Eastham on the northerly side of the 129th lot of Benjamin Higgins.... The mark of Richard Higgins (for his cattle) is a piece cut off the hind side of the left ear, to the top of the ear, and a slit cut in the side of the ear slanting downwards. Jan. 22, 1660.... Deeds show that Richard Higgins alienated [sold] most of his land in Eastham during the early part of the summer of 1669.... Eastham offered but a limited amount of land, and by 1669 a considerable number of men had entered the town, and their numerous sons were now competing for the tillable land. Richard Higgins's eldest sons, Jonathan and Benjamin, had arrived at manhood and were rearing families of their own. They were likely to need all the land Richard had acquired. Richard's younger children were numerous and must be provided for. Probably he and they yearned for a less rigorous climate and a more fertile soil than the outer side of Cape Code afforded. Why New Jersey was selected in preference to Connecticut can only be guessed. A number of men with their families removed from the Cape to New Jersey in 1669, headed by Edward Fitz Randolph of Barnstable, and it is probably that Richard Higgins knew of this project to emigrate, and joined the company. He settled at New Piscataway, where he acquired a homestead and the rights of a proprietor. These rights netted in 1677 to his widow and children a total of two hundred and fifty-four acres of wild land, an amount they never could have acquired at Eastham. Richard Higgins lived about six years at New Piscataway. Neither the exact date nor the circumstances of his death are known, but it occurred between November 20, 1674, and June 1, 1675, probably nearer to the latter than the former.... The planters of New Piscataway settled there for peace and quiet and relief from all kinds of contentions. They had endured their share of inconvenience in New England from the severities of court justice and the intolerance of the established church order. Piscataway was from the first a plantation of pious people establishing homes in this new and unsettled township where they might enjoy the liberty of the gospel and the free exercise of their own convictions. The original pioneers to take up land in Piscataway came in 1666 from the northeasterly settlements in New England and New Hampshire, and they are said to have given the name of the New Hampshire river to their new plantation. They bought a large tract of land on the Raritan River from the Indians, comprising Piscataway and parts of other towns. Here in 1669 they were joined by several men from Cape Cod, including Richard Higgins and Benajah Dunham from Eastham and Edward Fitz Randolph, Samuel Bacon and Nicholar Bonham from Barnstable.... About four miles east of the center of New Brunswick [New Jersey] and one mile or a little more north of the river, lies the present tiny hamlet of Piscataway. A small stream known as the Mill Branch falls into the Raritan a mile southeast of this place. It was probably here or in the immediate vicinity that Richard Higgins first settled. Others have placed his home lot about three miles to the northwest, near the present station called Stelton.... It is more than two centures since any of the Higgins name lived there, Thomas Higgins, son of Richard, being the last, his brothers all removing from Piscataway, Jediah to the southwest, near Kingston, and Eliakim and Zerah to the northeast, at Woodbridge or Elizabethtown." ====below re relationship error correction re Richard's father being given as Robert==== "Edward Higgins, b. 7 Sept. 1545; m. 1598 Julian Meals, b. prob. Bridstone, County Hertford, England, 1582; d. Langley Parish, Stoke-hundred, Hertfordshire, England, 1 Aug. 1603. It appears that Edward Higgins was fifty-three and Julian was sixteen when they were married. In the church yard at Langley Parish, Stoke-hundred, a brass plate bears the following inscription: 'Here lies the body of Julian Higgins, wife to Edward Higgins, and dau. to Chris. and Elizabeth Meals, who lived in the Feare of God and died the Fayth of Christ, 1 Aug. Anno Dei 1603.' 'A most kind child, A wife most mild, A spouse and daughter deare; Though young of age, Modest and sage, Behold interred here.' Higgins Children: Jonathon, b. 1599 Thomas, b. 1600 Julian, b. 1601 Richard, b. 1 Aug. 1603, on the day of his mother's death" [S18767] Richard Higgins and His Descendants.