Richard SILVESTER

Father: Unknown
Mother: Unknown

Family 1: Naomi //

(1) Silvester, Albert Henry, "Richard Silvester of Weymouth, Mass., and Some of his Descendants," New England Historical and Genealogical Register volume LXXXV (Boston, MA: 1931), p. 247-265, 357-371.

  1. Lydia SILVESTER
  2. John SILVESTER
  3. Peter SILVESTER
  4. Joseph SILVESTER
  5. Dinah SILVESTER
  6. Elizabeth SILVESTER
  7. Israel SILVESTER
  8. Charity SILVESTER
  9. Naomi SILVESTER
  10. Richard SILVESTER
  11. Hester SILVESTER
  12. Benjamin SILVESTER
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Notes

Updated January 10, 2023. Compiled by Howder (www.howderfamily.com) from the following source(s):

(1) Massachusetts, U.S., Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index via Ancestry.com

- Name: Richard SILVESTER
- State: MA
- County: Massachusetts Colony
- Township: Freeman 19 Oct
- Year: 1630
- Database: MA Early Census Index

(3) U.S., New England Marriages Prior to 1700 via Ancestry.com

- Name: Richard SILVESTER
- Gender: Male
- Marriage Date: 1633
- Marriage Place: New England, USA
- Death Year: 1663
- Spouse: Naomi SILVESTER

(2) Massachusetts, U.S., Applications of Freemen via Ancestry.com

- Name: Richard SILVESTER
- Application Date: 1 Apr 1634
- Residence: Massachusetts, USA
- Original Source: C. R., Vol. I. p. 79

(4) Silvester, Albert Henry, "Richard Silvester of Weymouth, Mass., and Some of his Descendants," New England Historical and Genealogical Register volume LXXXV (Boston, MA: 1931), p. 247-265, 357-371.

- Came to New England, probably on the "Mary and John." Departed Plymouth, Co. Devon, England, March 30, 1630, and arrived Nantasket Roads, May 30, 1630.
- Settled in Wessagusset (which became the town of Weymouth, MA) prior to 1633
- Admitted as a freeman April 1, 1634
- On March 5, 1638/9 he was fined for selling "strong water," and on June 4, 1639 was fined "for speaking against the law about hogs, & against a particular magistrate" (later reduced for good behavior)
- Involved in religious controversy with Puritans; fined and disenfranchised
- Sold farm and moved to Marshfield in the Plymouth Colony about 1650, to a tract called "The Two Miles"
- Died between June 15 and September 27, 1663

(5) Deane, Samuel. History of Scituate, Massachusetts: From Its First Settlement to 1831. Boston, published by J. Loring, 1831. Pages 347-349.

"RICHARD SYLVESTER was in Weymouth 1633. We find that he gained and unfortunate notoriety, by espousing certain religious sentiments, too liberal for the age in which he lived. Mr. Robert LENTHAL, his minister at Weymouth, advanced the sentiment, 'That all baptized persons should be admitted to the Communion without further trial.' (Magnalia I. 222). This was heresy to be noticed by Government, and he was ordered to retract in presense of General Court; with which order he complied. Richard SILVESTER, who held the same opinion, adhered to it, and in consequence was fined and disfranchised by the Government. This put him upon removing from the Colony, and he came to Scituate in 1642... SYLVESTER settled in Marshfield, or rather in that part of Scituate called 'the Two Miles'."

(6)Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, Volumes 1-3; The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volumes 1-6. Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1996-2011; via Ancestry.com. Page 1677.

"Although he resided in Marshfield after his departure from Weymouth, Richard SILVESTER had several of his children baptized at the South Church in Scituate, in that part of Scituate which later became Norwell; presumably Richard or his wife had joined that church. This part of Scituate adjoining the northern part of Marshfield, so this church may have been more convenient to him than the Marshfield church; or perhaps it was more congenial to him, given his earlier actions in Weymouth, and the differences between the two churches in Scituate."

(7) Deetz, James & Patricia Scott Deetz, "The Times of their Lives; Life, Love, and Death in Plymouth Colony" (W. H. Freeman and Company: New York, NY, 2000), pages 92-95, 110.

- "... colony records show that there is a pattern of tensions within the immediate SYLVESTER family and that they litigated, and of conflicts with outsiders." (p. 93)
- Richard and his family had long-term issues with John PALMER Jr., over a land deal that didn't go well, and further complicated when Mr. PALMER broke off his engagement to Dinah SILVESTER.
- Richard's estate was valued at 244 pounds at his death, which was a fairly substantial amount compared to some of his neighbors. (p. 95)

(8) Family History, Volume S(4), Sylvester, Daughters of the American Revolution library, Washington, DC:

"The name SYLVESTER is of French origin and signifies 'Forest,' hence Coat-of-Arms an oak tree vertical and the crest of a lion vertical. We find that the family settled in England not long after the Conquest by William the Conqueror. Stephen Sylvester was among the Gentry of Norfolk, England. Gabriel Sylvester was D.D. Prebend of Litchfield Cathedral. John Sylvester of Norfolk went to fight the Saracens in the reign of Richard the 1. The first name in New England is Richard Sylvester, Gentleman, in Plymouth, Mass., 1633, who married Naomi [------], in 1632. This Richard took up his residence in Scituate, Mass., after being banished from Plymouth for his friendship with the family of the great Christian reformer, Anne Hutchinson. Richard was living in Scituate in 1642. He died in 1663."