General Notes

Richmond website:  http://richmondancestry.org/

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The following is from Joshua Bailey Richmond's "The Richmond Family"  The lineage from John ( 1) Richmond ("the first emigrant") through the final entries of the late 1800's is in little dispute (although errors have been found).  Please keep in mind that when reading the following, JBR wrote and compiled this genealogy in the 1890's.  Much research has transpired since then.

                             "INTRODUCTION."
                      "THE PRE-AMERICAN RICHMONDS."

"THE Richmond FAMILY had its origin in Brittany, France.  The name is derived from the French words riche and monte or monde, and is first given in early English history as Rychemonde , later as Richemount and Richmonte, and finally as Richmond.  The family name Richemonts may still be found in France."

"It is extremely difficult to follow ancestral lines previous to the founding of the Herald' s College by Richard III, in 1483, so much is tradition engrafted in history.  The credit for tracing our English ancestors is mostly due to the nephew of the compiler, Henry I. Richmond, Jr. who has spent much time, in this country and in England, examining old wills and records, to enable the Richmonds to "read their title clear" to ancestors who served by the side of William the Conqueror on Hastings Field.  Mr. Richmond's forte is Geology, which bears close relations to Genealogy, and he will not be satisfied until he discovers the bones of Richmonds in some ante-diluvian strats.  It is possible that he may give the family a more complete and revised history of the English Richmonds at some future time."

"The line of English ancestors given is also that of the Ashton-Keynes and other Wiltshire Richmonds, the former for five generations bore the alias of Webb, first assumed by William Richmond about 1430. when he married Alice, daughter and heiress of Thomas Webb of Draycott, Wiltshire, England."

"Francis Thackeray, uncle of William Makepease Thackeray, who descended from the Richmonds of Wiltshire, compiled the records of the ancestors of the Ashton-Keynes Richmonds.  These records correspond with our line with one exception, he claims that we descend through Roald, the son of Roaldus "le Ennase," while General Plantagenet-Harrison, in his "History of Yorkshire," states that we descend from Alan, son of Roaldus "le Ennase," claiming that his son Roald had no children."

"William Makepeace Thackeray wrote of Colonel John Richmond-Webb (whose name may be found in the Gazetteer of the English Army):  "He came of a very ancient Wiltshire family, which he respected above all families in the world; he could prove a lineal descent from King Edward I, and his first ancestor, Roaldus de Richmond, rode by William the Conqueror's side on Hastings Field.  'We were gentlemen,' Colonel Webb used to say, 'when the Churchills were horse-boys.'"

"Roaldus de Richmond was granted lands by the Crown in Yorkshire, and tradition informs us that this Richmond was a relative of Alan Rufus, but no positive proof of this statement has been found."

"Alan Rufus was a kinsman of the Conqueror, and was granted lands in Yorkshire.  He built Richmond Castle, and was the first Duke of Richmond."

"Tradition from many sources informs us that John Richmond was born in Ashton-Keynes.  The Reverend J. C. Richmond claims that he was allowed to take the old church records at Ashton-Keynes, Wiltshire, to his lodgings, as a special favor, and asserts positively that he found the date of the baptism of John Richmond in 1597."

"James Savage, in his Genealogical Dictionary, states:  "Family tradition brings this John from Ashton-Keynes, a parish of Wiltshire, four and one-half miles west from Crichlade, where he was baptized in 1597."  He died March 20, 1664, aged seventy years; therefore his birth occured in 1594."

"The compiler cannot state positively whether Ashton-Keynes, Radborne, or Christian Malford is the place of nativity of John Richmond, but it seems more than probable that he was born in the County, of Wiltshire, and there is no doubt that the Wiltshire Richmonds descended from the Yorkshire Richmonds, who came from Brittany with William the Conqueror."

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Joshua Bailey Richmond's genealogy has the following entry for Henry, alleged father to John (1): "HENRY Richmond alias WEBB."

"His second son was living, unmarried, in 1575 (G. 3, 107 Herald's Office).  He lived at Christian-Malford, Wilts; was married four times and had twenty-five children, according to a letter written by Oliffe Richmond of Ashton-Keynes (1679 –1757) to Rev. Silvester Richmond of Walton."  It further states that "John Richmond, eldest son, was an officer of distinction during the civil war."  Further research is being done (has been done?) to prove this father-son relationship and if in fact John/Henry descend alias Webb.

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