Richard Norman1 
b. circa 1580, d. 1653
8th great-grandfather of Ruth Minerva Fairfield.
10th great-grandfather of Laura Jane Munson.
- Family Background:
- Fairfield and Allied Families
- Appears on charts:
- Pedigree for Ruth Minerva Fairfield
Richard Norman was born circa 1580 in England.1 He probably died soon after he, as Richard Norman "the elder," made over his house and ten acre lot in "Marvellhead upon Darbe Fort side" to his son Richard in 1653.2
Richard Norman came to America as an employee of the Dorchester Company, a group of capitalists and adventurers who established a small colony at Cape Ann in 1623. It is not certain that he was an original member of this settlement, which undoubtedly received additions from England from time to time, but we know that he and his family were among those who, upon the failure of the Cape Ann venture, moved to Naumkeag in 1626 under the leadership of Roger Conant and were established there upon the arrival of the Endicott migration in 1628. Testifying in 1680, Richard Brackenbury of Beverly, aged eighty, said that he came to New England with the late Governor Endicott and that when "wee came ashore at the place now called Salem ... wee found living (there) Old Goodman Norman and his sonn... and others" who "owned that they came over upon the account of a company in England called by the name of Dorchester Company or Dorchester Merchants; they had sundry houses built at Salem...and they declared that they had a house built at Cape Ann for the dorchester company."3 These pre-Endicott settlers became known in Salem history as the "old planters."
Richard Norman participated in the various grants made to the colonists in 1636, 1637 and 1640, and he had undoubtedly received a previous allotment of land of considerable size, as it is recorded that he and his son John sold one hundred acres to Capt. William Trask in 1636, and that Governor Endicott bought land near the head of Bass River, originally granted to Richard Norman and others, which purchase was confirmed to the governor by grant in 1643.
Norman was probably not of the Puritan persuasion and in 1650 we find him living on "Darby Fort side" (Marblehead) where he may possibly have settled some years previously, beyond the immediate influence of the Salem church-state, and where his defective fences caused his appearance in court.4
Richard Norman's wife testified against Richard Cooke in 1645, but unfortunately her name was not recorded.5
Richard Norman came to America as an employee of the Dorchester Company, a group of capitalists and adventurers who established a small colony at Cape Ann in 1623. It is not certain that he was an original member of this settlement, which undoubtedly received additions from England from time to time, but we know that he and his family were among those who, upon the failure of the Cape Ann venture, moved to Naumkeag in 1626 under the leadership of Roger Conant and were established there upon the arrival of the Endicott migration in 1628. Testifying in 1680, Richard Brackenbury of Beverly, aged eighty, said that he came to New England with the late Governor Endicott and that when "wee came ashore at the place now called Salem ... wee found living (there) Old Goodman Norman and his sonn... and others" who "owned that they came over upon the account of a company in England called by the name of Dorchester Company or Dorchester Merchants; they had sundry houses built at Salem...and they declared that they had a house built at Cape Ann for the dorchester company."3 These pre-Endicott settlers became known in Salem history as the "old planters."
Richard Norman participated in the various grants made to the colonists in 1636, 1637 and 1640, and he had undoubtedly received a previous allotment of land of considerable size, as it is recorded that he and his son John sold one hundred acres to Capt. William Trask in 1636, and that Governor Endicott bought land near the head of Bass River, originally granted to Richard Norman and others, which purchase was confirmed to the governor by grant in 1643.
Norman was probably not of the Puritan persuasion and in 1650 we find him living on "Darby Fort side" (Marblehead) where he may possibly have settled some years previously, beyond the immediate influence of the Salem church-state, and where his defective fences caused his appearance in court.4
Richard Norman's wife testified against Richard Cooke in 1645, but unfortunately her name was not recorded.5
Children of Richard Norman
- John Norman+6 b. s 1612, d. 1672
- Margaret Norman+7 b. s 1613, d. a 1690
- Susanna Norman7 b. s 1615
- Florence Norman+ 7 b. s 1619, d. 1672
- Lieut. Richard Norman+8 b. s 1623, d. 11 Aug 1683
Citations
- [S849] Walter Goodwin Davis, "Norman, of Salem and Marblehead," Massachusetts and Maine Families in the Ancestry of Walter Goodwin Davis (1885-1966): A Reprinting in Alphabetical Order by Surname, of the Sixteen Multi-Ancestor Compendia, (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1996), Vol. III, 44, originally published in The Ancestry of Sarah Stone (1930).
- [S849] Walter Goodwin Davis, "Norman, of Salem and Marblehead," Massachusetts and Maine Families, Vol. III, 44, citing Records and Files, etc., III: 368, originally published in The Ancestry of Sarah Stone (1930).
- [S849] Walter Goodwin Davis, "Norman, of Salem and Marblehead," Massachusetts and Maine Families, Vol. III, citing Essex Deeds, 5: 107, originally published in The Ancestry of Sarah Stone (1930).
- [S855] George Francis Dow, ed., Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, 9 vols. (Salem: Essex Institute, 1911-1973). Transcribed and Abstracted from the Original Manuscript by Harriet S. Tapley, I: 194.
- [S849] Walter Goodwin Davis, "Norman, of Salem and Marblehead," Massachusetts and Maine Families, Vol. III, 44, 45, originally published in The Ancestry of Sarah Stone (1930).
- [S849] Walter Goodwin Davis, "Norman, of Salem and Marblehead," Massachusetts and Maine Families, Vol. III, 46, originally published in The Ancestry of Sarah Stone (1930).
- [S849] Walter Goodwin Davis, "Norman, of Salem and Marblehead," Massachusetts and Maine Families, Vol. III, 45, originally published in The Ancestry of Sarah Stone (1930).
- [S849] Walter Goodwin Davis, "Norman, of Salem and Marblehead," Massachusetts and Maine Families, Vol. III, 49, originally published in The Ancestry of Sarah Stone (1930).
