Richard Gurney (c. 1630 – October 1691)
Weymouth, Massachusetts proprietor and Freeman 1681; son of John Gurney-1, the colonial emigrant; one of his sons died at the Mendon massacre of 1675.
Highlights
- One of the early proprietors of Weymouth. The published History of Weymouth records Richard Gurney holding lands in the town from before 1642–44 — "in the East field," "in the mill field," and "on the east side of Great Pond." A 1683 town meeting voted him a six-acre town common grant on the west side of the Pond "to build a house & fence" (Hist. of Weymouth, p. 251). He is one of a handful of named landholders in seventeenth-century Weymouth from whom the family's continued Plymouth County presence directly descends. 5
- His son John was killed at the Mendon massacre of 1675. The Mendon attack of 14 July 1675 was the first major violence of King Philip's War. John Gurney Jr. (G12's son) was among the dead. A second son, Zachariah, served in a King Philip's War relief company. 6
- Admitted Freeman in 1681. Becoming a Freeman of Massachusetts Bay required formal church membership and entitled the holder to vote and hold public office. Richard's 1681 admission, after some four decades in Weymouth, marks his place in the community as a recognized adult member of the New England covenant. 3
- Land at Braintree on the Abington–Bridgewater line passed to son Benjamin (G11). The land that anchored the family's Plymouth County identity in the early eighteenth century — and on which Granny Gurney's fire incident gave its name to a local swamp — was likely inherited by Benjamin from Richard, in turn likely inherited from John Gurney-1 (G13), the colonial emigrant. 7
Children
| Name | Dates | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Benjamin Gurney | c. 1676 – 1738/9 | G11 in direct line. 7 |
| John Gurney Jr. | – d. July 1675 | Killed at the Mendon massacre, 14 July 1675. 6 |
| Zachariah Gurney | Served in a King Philip's War relief company. 6 |
Narrative
Richard Gurney is the second-generation American Gurney — brought from England as a small child by his father, John Gurney (G13), the colonial emigrant first recorded in Weymouth in 1641. Richard's adult life unfolded entirely at Weymouth, on the south shore of Massachusetts Bay, where the town's published history preserves him as a holder of land "in the East field," "in the mill field," and "on the east side of Great Pond" from before 1642–44 — the family's earliest documented New England property record. In 1681 he was admitted a Freeman of Massachusetts Bay, and in 1683 the Weymouth town meeting granted him six acres on the west side of the Pond "to build a house & fence." He married Rebecca Taylor — named in her father's will, proved 1688 — and the family lived through the convulsive decades of King Philip's War and its aftermath.
The most personal mark of those years on the family is bleak. Richard's son John Gurney Jr. was among the dead at the Mendon massacre of 14 July 1675, the first major violence of King Philip's War, when a group of Nipmucs attacked the small frontier town of Mendon and killed several inhabitants. A second son, Zachariah, served in the colony's relief companies during the same conflict. Richard himself remained in Weymouth, neither soldier nor displaced, until he died intestate in October 1691.
The land that linked Richard's generation to his grandson and great-grandson Benjamins (G11 and G10) is the small but persistent Plymouth County thread of the family's seventeenth- and eighteenth-century life. The land near the Abington–Bridgewater line that passed to son Benjamin (G11) — and that gave rise to "Granny Gurney's Swamp" two generations later — was likely an inherited piece of John Gurney-1's New England estate, channelled through Richard. Without that line of descent, none of the Cummington / New York / Indiana chapters of this family would exist.
Citations
- Birth c. 1630–1634 in England, son of John Gurney (G13) and Mary.
data/ancestors v26.json, G12 and G13 entries. For G13's emigration and family see John Gurney case file. ↩ - Died October 1691, Weymouth, Massachusetts, intestate.
data/ancestors v26.json, G12 entry. ↩ - Admitted Freeman 1681; land grants from before 1642–44. History of Weymouth, Massachusetts (the 1923 four-volume town history). Source ID:
history-of-weymouth. ↩ - Rebecca Taylor named in her father's will, proved 1688.
data/ancestors v26.json, G12 entry. Specific Taylor will reference and Plymouth Probate citation not yet captured here. ↩ - History of Weymouth, particularly p. 251 for the 1683 town-meeting grant of six acres on the west side of the Pond. Source ID:
history-of-weymouth. ↩ - Mendon massacre, 14 July 1675 — opening of King Philip's War. John Gurney Jr.'s death and Zachariah Gurney's service in relief companies recorded in
data/ancestors v26.json, G12 entry; corroborated by Sprague, Genealogies of Braintree (Source ID:sprague-braintree) for the John Gurney-1 family. ↩ - See Benjamin Gurney (G11) fact sheet for the Abington-line continuation. ↩