Lawrence BELDON

Other Events and Attributes:

• Baptism: 20 May 1571, Gisburn, Yorkshire, England

Family/Spouse: ? UNKNOWN. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Also Known As: William Beldon

Notes:

Excerpt from "Connecticut Puritan Settlers": tradition says, that two brothers by the name of Belden, were among the first settlers of the colony of Conencticut, and that they made their first location at Wethersfield, but that one of them, (William), after a while, on the settlement of Norwalk, removed thither. As early as Feb. 7, 1641, and among the earliest grants, Richard had eight distnect tracts of land allotted to him by the town, and little or no mention is made of William, save that he had three sons, Samuel, Daniel and John, born by his first wife, Tomisin; yet Williams death is found in Wethersfield, about 1660, and Samuel and John are found at Norwalk, about 1673.

Source: Belden/Baildon by Stephen M. Lawson: William Belden, of Wethersfield, died in 1655. His will dated 27 March 1655, may be found in Hartford County Probate records, in the Particular Court for the years 1650-1663, Volume II, pages 69-70. No land records have been discovered for him although he is mentioned in several records.
Descendants believe William to be the first son of the emigrant Richard, and that he was born about 1622.
In the "Parish Registers of Heptonstall", by Edith Horsfall (Yorkshire Register Society 1925) as cited by Donald E. Poste, there is a William baptized 23 April 1609, shown as a son of Lawrance Beldon of Ayringden.
In this same Register, a Richard Beldon is mentioned although his birth is not shown. William and Richard have been shown as brothers, father and son, and also as cousins. A research agency in 1935, wrote that they were distant cousins, that William Belden came to America in 1646 and established a home in Wethersfield, Connecticut, where he married Thomasine Allen (?). The researcher (name and address now lost), as well as others, made the statement that all Beldens were descended from the large family of the name lving in York County, England.
Most writers have seemed inclined to accept as fact that Richard Belden was the son of Sir Francis Bayldon. Particularly in view of the English history of a Yorkshire manor and family, "Baildon and the Baildons, by Wm. Paley Baildon, ed. by Francis J. Baildon", we used the same assumption in our "Family Hustory of Judge Ellsworth B. Belden (1969).
If Richard Belden was the son of Sir Francis Baildon (Bayldon), then William Belden, of Wethersfield, was not his brother. As Richard was the only one named in Wethersfield records as having a house or land, we have placed William as Richard's first son......

"Belden Ancestry in England" by Stephen M. Lawson states that the parentage of Richard Belden (d. Aug. 1655, Wethersfield, Hartford Co, CT) has not been absolutely proved. The most probable BELDEN ancestry is presented here, summaried from a two part article "the English Ancestry of Richard Belden of Wethersfield, Connecticut, With the Probable Ancestry of William Belden of Wethersfield," by Paul C. REED in "The American Genealogist (76:1-2, Jan and Apr 2001). Refer to the "Appendix on the Belden English Ancestry". Which states the following: The parentage of Richard Belden (d. Aug. 1655, Wethersfield, Hartford Co., CT) has not been absolutely proved. the 'traditional' viewpoint is that he was the son of Sir Francis BAILDON and Margaret GOODRICK who was baptized May 26, 1591 at Kippax, Yorkshire, England. However, there is no documentary evidence identifying Richard BELDEN of Wethersfield as the Richard BAILDON baptized at Kippax. Researcher Paul C. Reed has written a two-part article published in "The American Genealogist" in January and April 2001 in which he concludes, "Richard Baildon, the son of Sir Francis Baildon, died in England. He was not the New England immigrant," and that "The best deduction that can be made is that Richard Belden, born about 1598-1599, was the eldest son of Lawrence Beldon, bnaptized shortly before the commencement of the Heptonstall registry."

Note: For the above reasons, I am putting William Belden as the son of Lawrence Beldon.

William married Thomasine (Tamsen) SHERWOOD in 1646 in Wethersfield, Hartford Co., Conn. Thomasine (daughter of Thomas SHERWOOD and Alice SEABROOK) was born on 24 Oct 1615 in Bocking, England; died on 04 Jan 1684 in Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Baptism: 22 Nov 1601, Aryingden, Heptonstall, Yorkshire

Other Events and Attributes:

• Baptism: 25 Oct 1606, Aryingden, Heptonstall, Yorkshire

Notes:

"Belden/Baildon" from the files of Stephen M. Lawson: John's name is not found in the 1641/2 Protestation Returns for Heptonstall, and he likely had relocated to Sowerby. Daughter Sarah BALDON (of Aryingden) was bap. may 4, 1634 at Heptonstall, Yorkshire.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Also Known As: Richard Beldon
• Fact: Name spelled Belden, Bayldon and Belding

Notes:

On a list of those taking the oath of allegiance,March 26, 1913, is this entry: "Richard Bayldon aged 19 years born at Kippax in Comm. Ebor, (i.e., Count of York) intending to pass over for Bredaugh (Breda) to be a soldier under Capen Blundell." His name is signed Richard BAYLDONN with an extra n and a flourish. It is of little importance that his age is given inaccurately; the record shows his spelling of the name and his taste for adventure. He was involved in controversies over the settling of his father's estate in 1624, after which he disappears from English records. His identification with the man who is found at Wethersfield in 1641 rests upon these considerations. Richard BAYLDON was a younger son by a second wife in a large family of only moderate wealth. He had his fortune to make. Opportunities were not plentiful in England and if he had failed to win a competence after years of effort, if his wife had died and his home ties were broken, and if his sympathies were strongly with the Puritan party, it was quite natural that he should take his sons and set out for American, as others ere doing all around him. The emigrant seems to have been such a man. His name upon his arrival and presumably at his direction is spelled Richard BAYLDEN. It was an uncommon name borne as far as appears by no other family in England. The age of his sons and other circumstances would indicate that he was in the neighborhood of 50 years old. His eldest son bore the name of the deceased brother William. Those were days of careless pronunciation and phonetic spelling, and the name is soon spelled in various ways on the records and by members of the family, BELDEN and BELDING predominating. Richard is found acquiring and disposing of land and duly taking his part in the affairs of the new community until his death in 1655, when he left his family a considerable landed estate. The rapier, or gentlemen's sword, mentioned among his effects, was a weapon for which he could have found small use in Wethersfield and was doubtless a relic of his early days.

Richard married Margaret ACKRENDEN on 09 Dec 1622 in Kippax, Yorkshire, England. Margaret was born between 1591 and 1602 in Yorkshire Co., England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• _DCAUSE: Plague
• Baptism: 17 Jun 1604, Aryingden, Heptonstall, Yorkshire

Other Events and Attributes:

• Baptism: 06 Dec 1611, Aryingden, Heptonstall, Yorkshire