Page prepared by Donald Richardson, PhD(1937-2015)
from file provided by Max Maxfield.
Questions
or Comments ?
Every man is a bundle of his ancestors - Emerson.
THE NAME RICHARDSON
According to Camden's "Remains," Richard the Little, son
of Lord Belward, soon after the Norman conquest had a son called John
Richard-son,
taking his father's name with the addition of son for his surname. "Hence
came the name and family of Richardson." This is quoted in the "Richardson
Memorial," and gives color to the erroneous supposition that the different
families by the name of Richardson have descended from a common ancestor
by that name. Nor does it add much to our knowledge to know that Richard
was a Norman name. At the time that surnames came into use in England
about
the thirteenth or fourteenth century, Richard was a common Christian name
among all classes. As Richard Grant White states, "the conquerors'
language yielded to the strength and the foothold of the English speech,
but their names were diffused all over England, and within less than a
century and a half had almost wholly driven the English names out of the
country." Charles W. Bardsley, an English authority on names, says,
"The Norman list was really a small one but it took possession of
the whole of England. * * * * Various methods to secure a personality
arose.
The surname was adopted and there were John Atte-wood, John the
Wheelwright
John the Bigg, and John Richard's son in every community. Among the middle
and lower classes these did not become hereditary till so late as 1450
or 1500." Next to John and William, Richard was one of the names most
frequently used during the four hundred years preceding the Reformation,
and presumably hundreds of Richardson families derived their name from
ancestors who had been christened Richard, but had no connection with each
other. In Burke's "General Armory" for 1844 is given a description
of the arms of twenty-one different Richardson families, but it is not
known that any of the early settlers by that name, in America, had the
right to use arms.
From: "AMOS RICHARDSON - of - BOSTON AND STONINGTON "
By Rosell L. Richardson. Second Edition PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. NEW
YORK,
1906.