Richard Cheever
Cordwainer of Boston, born at Canterbury, Kent, in 1660 by the family Bible, who at seven came over to his childless uncle Bartholomew Cheever in 1668. He marched with Capt. William Turner's company in King Philip's War, married Abigail in 1680, held town offices, and later rode express for the Council; he died between 1706 and 1709. Father of Susanna (Cheever) Rand.
Life
- 1660BornMercery Lane, Canterbury, Kent, England
The family Bible of his grandson William Downes Cheever: "Richard Cheever Was Born in Mercerey Lane in the Citty of Canterbury 1660." The tree's "b. 1656" is the birth date of Daniel Cheever's daughter Mary.
- 1680Married Abigail Milam7 Oct 1680
"Richard and Abigail Cheever was mareyed 7 October 1680" (the family Bible).
- 1706Diedbet. 1706 and 8 Aug 1709
Still riding for the Council in 1706; administration granted to his widow 8 Aug 1709. The Bible's "died in France, Taken in his Way Home to England, about the year 1704" is tradition, and so is the tree's "1704, Boston?"
Family
- Father
- James Cheever
His father has not been identified. He was a nephew of Bartholomew Cheever, so a grandson of Richard Cheever, glover, and Katharine Willyams of Canterbury (probable), through a son other than Daniel. Torrey (1934): his son James "may have been named for his father." A James Cheever, glover then milliner, was a freeman of Canterbury in 1638 and issued trade tokens there in 1657-1663.
inferredpossibleSources
- Clarence A. Torrey, on the Cheevers of Canterbury, The American Genealogist 11 (1934): 118-120
- Reasoning:
research/ellingwood/Ellingwood_Woodbury_Rand.md
Other claim · the Ancestry tree, after the family BibleDaniel Cheever of Cambridge✕disprovenHassam (1882): "The father of Richard Cheever could not have been Bartholomew's brother Daniel, for the names of the children of the latter are distinctly mentioned in the wills of the two brothers," all born in New England; Paige's list of Daniel's children has no Richard.
- Spouse
- Abigail Milam
Their children's births name Richard and Abigail; Abigail administered his estate in 1709.
1 child
Pedigree
Notes
Father of Susanna (Cheever) Rand. The family Bible tells how he came to Boston: his uncle Bartholomew Cheever, a cordwainer, “having no Children of his Own in 1667 He sent to Canterbury to his Brother … for One of his sons, the 2 first refused Coming his 3d & youngest son Richard then 7 year Old, accepted, and in 1668 Came over to his uncle” (source). Hassam called the Bible’s story “an amusing mixture of fact and fancy,” and its brother “Daniell” is wrong; but the Canterbury birth, the uncle and the voyage fit the records.
He became a cordwainer like his uncle. In the spring of 1676 he marched with Capt. William Turner’s company: “A List of Capt. William Turner’s men as they came from Boston and taken at Medfield 1675-6 … Richard Cheevers,” credited on 24 June 1676 (source). Turner’s company held the Connecticut River towns that spring, and Turner was killed after the Falls Fight of 19 May; whether Richard was at the fight is not shown. He married Abigail in 1680 and lived in the house Bartholomew had built in Conduit Street, near the Great Drawbridge, after the fire of 1679. He served Boston as surveyor (1683/4), tithingman (1685, 1694/5), sealer of leather (1691/2) and constable (1692/3), and later rode express for the Council: in 1702 “the treasurer was ordered to pay him £4 for his having been sent twice with expresses to Piscataqua,” and in 1703 he carried letters “on her Majesty’s service” to Ipswich, Plymouth, Newbury, Piscataqua and New London.
Bartholomew died in 1693. His will left Richard the Conduit Street house, which Richard sold in 1704, and, after the widow Lydia’s death, the use of Bartholomew’s own house and shop on Hanover Street until Richard’s son Bartholomew came of age; that house stayed in the family for two centuries. His estate was appraised at £2192 2s. 5d. when his widow took administration on 8 Aug 1709. Their children, all born at Boston: Bartholomew (1681, died young), Susanna (1682, m. Robert Rand), Bartholomew (1684, sugar baker), Mary (1686), Sarah (1689, m. Daniel Pecker), Mary (1691, m. Andrew Cunningham), Abigail (1694), Daniel (1696), James (1698), Hannah (1699) and Hannah (1702).
He is not a son of Ezekiel Cheever, the schoolmaster, nor of Daniel Cheever of Cambridge. Bartholomew’s will treats Ezekiel and Richard as two different “cousins”; Ezekiel was probably a first cousin of Bartholomew, which would make him Richard’s cousin once removed.
Open questions
- His baptism at Canterbury, about 1660, and his father’s name (James? Peter? John?).
- The full texts of Bartholomew Cheever’s will (Suffolk no. 2108, 1693) and Richard’s administration (no. 3189, 1709).
Research: research/ellingwood/Ellingwood_Woodbury_Rand.md.
Connections
- Notable ancestor
- Canterbury-born cordwainer of Boston, sent for by his uncle as a boy; a soldier of 1676 and an express rider for the Council
Richard Cheever is the 7x great-grandfather of Richard Everett Ellingwood Jr. Captains and soldiers.
- Small world