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ton (ca. 1618-ca.1669/70), a prominent Quaker
on the Western Shore; appointed by Meeting to
correspond with Friends in Barbadoes, 1680. OC-
CUPATIONAL PROFILE: planter; merchant. PUBLIC
CAREER. LEGISLATIVE SERVICE: Lower House,
Anne Arundel County, 1676-1682 (Security and
Defense 2), 1682-1684 (Laws 2). LOCAL OFFICE:
commissioned to survey and manage the building
of the Londontowne Courthouse, Anne Arundel
County. STANDS ON PUBLIC/PRIVATE ISSUES: fined
in 1662 for refusing to serve in the militia; active
in efforts of Quakers to obtain relief from re-
quirement of oaths and military service; argued
in favor of making West River Landing a port of
entry for the area, 1683. WEALTH DURING LIFE-
TIME. LAND AT FIRST ELECTION: 500 tO 1,000 acres
in Anne Arundel County. WEALTH AT DEATH. DIED:
will probated on May 28, 1698, in Anne Arundel
County. PERSONAL PROPERTY: TEV, £655.8.5
(including 13 slaves and merchandise worth
£119.5.6); FB, £603.0.0. LAND. 975 acres in Anne
Arundel County.
RICHARDSON, WILLIAM (1735-1825) BORN
on August 17, 1735, in Talbot County. NATIVE:
fourth generation. RESIDED: in Dorchester (later
Caroline) County; at "Gilpin Point," Great
Choptank Hundred, Caroline County, by 1776.
FAMILY BACKGROUND. FATHER: William Richard-
son of Talbot County, a Quaker and a planter,
son of Daniel Richardson (1670-1722) of Talbot
County, grandson of William Richardson (?-1698).
MOTHER: Ann, a Quaker, daughter of Sarah Webb
(?-1758). BROTHERS: Daniel (?-1788), eldest son,
who married Mary; Joseph; Benjamin; and Peter
(?-1780), who married Sarah. SISTER: Susannah
(Laurana, Luranah), who married William Dick-
inson (?-1782). FIRST COUSINS: John Dickinson
(ca. 1726-1789); Henry Dickinson (?-1789); and
Margaret Dickinson, who married Philip Walker
(?-1791). MARRIED by 1765 Elizabeth Green (?-
1811). CHILDREN. SONS. Capt. William, Jr. (?-
1831), who married first, in 1790, Elizabeth,
daughter of Henry Dickinson (?-1789), and sec-
ond, Henrietta; Daniel Peter, who married in 1819
Catherine Medcalf; Joseph, clerk of Caroline
County in 1818 and 1824, who married in 1818
Elizabeth Orrell; and Thomas. DAUGHTERS. Ann
Webb, who married Gen. William Potter (?-1847),
son of Zabdiel Potter (?-1793); Mary, who mar-
ried James Price; and Elizabeth. PRIVATE CAREER.
EDUCATION: literate. RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION.
Protestant; Quaker ancestry. SOCIAL STATUS AND
ACTIVITIES: Gent., by 1774; Esq., by 1793; foun-
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der and supporter of Washington College. OC-
CUPATIONAL PROFILE: engaged in overseas trade
and operated ships to England; probably also a
planter; owned a granary. PUBLIC CAREER. LEG-
ISLATIVE SERVICE: Lower House, Dorchester
County, 1771 (Accounts), 1773-1774 (Accounts
1, Cv, 2, 3; Laws to Expire 2); Conventions, Car-
oline County, 1st, 1774, 5th, 1775, 6th-8th, 1775-
1776 (did not attend the 6th Convention), 9th,
1776 (seat declared vacated on August 17, 1776,
upon his acceptance of a colonel's commission in
the Flying Camp). OTHER STATE OFFICES: deputy
treasurer of the Eastern Shore, ca. 1780; Con-
stitution Ratification Convention, Caroline
County, 1788; treasurer of the Eastern Shore,
1789-1801, 1813-1825; associate justice, 4th Dis-
trict Court, Caroline County, 1791-1793 (re-
signed). LOCAL OFFICES: justice, Caroline County,
appointed 1774; deputy commissary, Caroline
County, 1774-1777; clerk, Caroline County, 1777-
at least 1790; Maryland Senate elector, Caroline
County, elected 1791. MILITARY SERVICE: colo-
nel, 4th Maryland Battalion of the Flying Camp,
July-December 1776 (first active service was at
the Battle of Harlem Heights, New York, 1776);
assisted Henry Hooper, Jr. (ca. 1727-1790) in
quelling insurrection of Tories in Somerset and
Worcester counties, ca. 1777; colonel, 5th Mary-
land Regiment, Maryland Line, December 1776-
October 1779 (resigned). ADDITION AL COMMENT:
When the British attacked Philadelphia in 1777,
Richardson was commissioned to remove the
Continental Treasury from there to Baltimore.
Richardson was in the army and was away from
Maryland from June 1780 until the end of March
1782. During part of this time he was held captive
in England. Richardson was apparently on a mer-
chant vessel in 1781 when it was captured by the
British. He hired a privateer to transport him and
a Dr. Hindman to France, where they were again
captured. Both Richardson and Hindman were
later released, no charges having been proved
against them. OUT OF STATE SERVICE: presidential
elector, 1789, 1792. STANDS ON PUBLIC/PRIVATE
ISSUES: manumitted two slaves in his will. WEALTH
DURING LIFETIME. PERSONAL PROPERTY: assessed
value £658.0.0, including 15 slaves and 18 oz.
plate, 1783; 36 slaves, 1790; 37 slaves, 1798. LAND
AT FIRST ELECTION: 613 acres in Dorchester County
(the remainder of 770 acres acquired by purchase
or patent). SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN LAND BE-
TWEEN FIRST ELECTION AND DEATH: resurveyed
all of the tracts he possessed at first election for
a net gain of 367 acres, 1788 and 1795, all of which
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