Page prepared by John H. Coats
Richard Smith was an early English settler in the Virginia Colony. In 1650 he purchased 250 acres of land in Northampton County on Virginia’s Eastern Shore from James Davis. In 1651, He received a patent for 500 acres of land lying to the south of the present-day town of Pungoteague and in 1653 a patent was issued to him which included 200 additional acres at the head of the Davis land. Patents were reissued for these parcels in 1660.
Richard married two times. The name of his first wife is unknown. Children:
i. Alice - married Nathaniel Bradford circa 1660.
ii. Susanna - married Robert Richardson after the death of her father.
He married 2nd a widow Bradford, mother of Nathaniel Bradford above.
Richard’s will was probated on 31 Jan 1659/60 (Northampton Co. Deeds, Wills 1657-66, pg. 36), the two parcels of land whose patents were reissued in 1660 were left to his daughters, Alice and Susanna. His second wife had evidently died before 1660 since she is not mentioned in his will.
References for the Richard Smith family include: "Adventures of Purse and Person, Virginia 1607-1624/5." A. Jester. 1987; "Original List of Persons of Quality who went from Great Britian to the American Plantation 1600-1700." J.C. Hotten. 1931; "Virginia’s Eastern Shore." Vols. I and II. R. T. Whitelaw. 1989; "Ye Kindome of Accawmacke or the Eastern Shore of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century." J. C. Wise; and County Court Records of Accomack and Northampton County, Virginia.