Cousin Ebenezer Richardson

If there was ever a color of justice in the public opinion, he was the most abandoned wretch in America. ~ John Adams

Ebenezer Richardson

Our cousin Ebenezer Richardson (4C7X) was born in Woburn in 1718. He descended from the three Richardson brothers who helped found that town. His father, Timothy (3C8X), had been wounded in the disasterous battle of Lovewell's Pond in 1725. We wrote about that incident in our 'Lovewell's Fight" post. Ten years after the battle, Timothy died, leaving two thirds of his properties in Woburn and Stoneham to his oldest son, seventeen year old Ebenezer.

If Ebenezer had lived his life out quietly on his father's property in Woburn, things might have turned out differently for him. As it was, he became one of the most reviled men in all of Massachusetts Colony. J.L. Hall in his 1775 Boston blog puts it succinctly:

In a nutshell, Ebenezer Richardson of Woburn (born in 1718) married a local widow with children and a comfortable estate, then got her sister pregnant, kept quiet while a local minister was blamed for the illegitimate child, waited until his first wife died, billed her estate for the care of her kids, and went to Boston with the sister to get married. In the middle of those events he was put in jail and escaped; It's not surprising that Richardson became unpopular in Woburn.

first marriage

In 1740, when he was twenty-two, Ebenezer Richardson married Rebecca Fowle, a widow with three children. Rebecca, who just happened to be twelve years older than Ebenezer, evidently liked Richardson boys. Her late husband was Phineas Richardson (1C9X), grandson of our immigrant ancestor, Thomas Richardson (9GGF). Phineas was Ebenezer's second cousin.

Phineas, who had done quite well for himself, died in 1738 leaving a large estate which took many years to finally be settled. Cousin Phineas had six children, two with a former wife and four with Rebecca. After Rebecca and Ebenezer were married, Ebenezer took over the administration of his cousin's estate. It appears he was handsomely paid for this duty.

In 1742, Rebecca's younger sister Keziah, who will feature heavily in Ebenezer's story, married and gave birth to a daughter just months after her marriage.

The next year, 1743, was the year Ebenezer inherited two-thirds of his father's estate, making him a somewhat wealthy man in his own right. That very same year, however, it became obvious that Ebenezer might be wealthy, but he was not generous. Evidently, Ebenezer saw no reason why he should have to pay for the support of his cousin Phineas' children. Records show a receipt, signed by Ebenezer, where he received payment from Phineas' oldest son for the support of his minor brothers and sisters who were then living with Ebenezer.

While I can find no record of the event, Ebenezer's wife Rebecca died sometime before 1752 when a scandal of epic proportions hit Woburn.

"a wretch of wretches prov'd with child"

The above quote is a line from a poem subsequently written about Ebenezer. It refers to his role in the scandal that rocked Woburn in 1752. That was the year that Ebenezer's sister-in-law Keziah Fowle Henshaw, who had been widowed for over five years, gave birth to a child. Naturally, the town's tongues wagged endlessly about the possible father. Old grievances played a part in the succeeding events. Colonel Roland Cotton had been fueding with Woburn's minister, Reverand Edward Jackson, for years. Cotton claimed that the midwife who attended Keziah's birth, had pegged Jackson as the father. Cotton and his brother, the Reverend Josiah Cotton called Jackson "a vile, wicked man, a fornicator, and unfit to be minister."

When the good Reverend Jackson threatened to sue the Cottons for slander, Col. Cotton immediately backtracked. He sent an apology, stating that his accusation was "Malisiousely Contrived Made and Published With an Intent Unjustly to procure your Removal from the Ministerial Office." Quite the apology, but not good enough to stop Reverend Jackson who forged on with his lawsuit. While the suit was working its way up from the Court of Common Pleas in 1752 to the Superior court in 1754, the real cause of all the furor had slipped quietly out of town.

On January 4th, 1754, the marriage intention of Ebenezer Richardson and Keziah Henshaw was published in a Boston newspaper. The happy couple were married on May 15, 1754. When news of the marriage hit Woburn, scandalized tongues commenced wagging about the now much more probable father of Keziah's out-of-wedlock child, Cousin Ebenezer Richardson.

in Boston

Already reviled in his hometown of Woburn, Ebenezer would go on to reach grand new heights of loathsome infamy in the eyes of his neighbors in Boston. He began by ensconsing himself firmly in the pockets of British officials when he became a confidential informer for the Attorney General's office. Tattling on your fellow townspeople might be seen as the lowest of the low but, for Ebenezer, there was still room to grow.

With the Stamp Act defunct, England decided to try a new tact to gain revenue. In 1767, the British Parliament passed a series of measures designed to raise revenue by taxing goods imported to the American colonies. The Townshend Acts were every bit as unpopular as the Stamp Act had been but they presented a unique opportunity for Ebenzer whose tattling days were over. When his cover as a government informer had been blown, he found himself out of work. So when the British were looking for someone to enforce their new Acts, guess who they turned to? None other than our intrepid Cousin Ebenezer.

Because Ebenezer's new job involved enforcing laws against smuggling and helping to collect the new Townshend duties, he became quite well-known and extremely unpopular around Boston, especially with the newly formed resistance group, the Sons of Liberty. According to Hiller Zobel in his book The Boston Massacre, Ebenezer had earned the reputation of being "vile unmatched in Boston."

Below is a summons which Ebenezer delivered to the house of a presumed tax evader.

On the back, Ebenezer reported that he had left copies at both the accused's home and his workplace with his signature below.

February 22, 1770

In August of 1768, the merchants of many colonial cities, Boston included, had entered amongst themselves into nonimportation agreements to counter the Townshend Acts. That meant that no taxable items would be imported from or exported to Britain. The agreements had almost universal approval in the colonies and, with the charged political climate at that time, woe to any merchants who decided not comply.

By 1770, four Boston merchants had decided they would no longer respect the agreements. These men quickly found themselves objects of scorn by the general populace and they now faced the kind of harassment that Cousin Ebenezer had been subjected to for almost twenty years. So enormous was the infamy of British sympathizers that even young boys around town knew who they were and took every opportunity at hand to pester them.

Theopolis Lillie was just such a man. On the fateful day of February 22, Theophilus found a wooden hand with the loathsome word "importer" pointing directly at his shop. The sign, affixed to a post outside the shop, enraged Theophilus' neighbor and friend, our cousin Ebenezer Richardson. Ebenezer tried to persuade a teamster to drive his cart against the post to knock it down. The teamster was smart enough to refuse, especially since a crowd had formed around all the hulabaloo.

Among the crowd were a group of boys who taunted and razzed Ebenezer back to his own house next door. The crowd followed him, throwing trash and rubble as Ebenezer rushed inside yelling "By the eternal God, I'll make it too hot for you before tonight." One of the Patriots, Thomas Knox, called back at him "Come out, you damn son of a bitch! I'll have your heart out! Your liver!"

When the crowd wouldn't disperse, Ebenezer came out the front door with a gun shouting “as sure as there was a G[od] in heaven, he’d blow a Lane thro ’em.” He fired what seemed to be a blank shot with powder only. That scattered the boys, but only temporarily.

Lt. Governor Thomas Hutchinson, hearing about the commotion, "gave express directions to the Sheriff (our cousin Stephen Greenleaf) to go and suppress this unlawful assembly before the accident happened..." Hutchinson further said that Sheriff Greenleaf "did not think it safe to attempt it nor is there a J. of P. in the town who will appear upon such an occasion.” Needless to say, cowardly Cousin Stephen never showed.

Only a short while ensued after Ebenezer's warning shot before the boys were back, this time with bricks and stones that they threw at his windows.

Ebenezer, now thoroughly incensed, fired live buckshot haphazardly into the crowd of boys. One boy Christopher Seider, was killed and another seriously injured.

According the the Evening-Post, a bell was set ringing and a crowd surrounding Ebenezer's house, broke in and dragged him out. “[T]he first thought was to hang him up at once and a halter was brought and a sign post picked upon, but one who is supposed to have stirred up the tumultuous proceedings took great pains and prevented it.”

Ebenezer was hustled through the town “cruelly abused by the Mob...” At Faneuil Hall, Justices of the Peace questioned Ebenezer along with a multitude of witnesses on the scene before sending him over to the Boston jail. Even as Sheriff Greenleaf, who finally made an appearance, took Ebenezer to the jail "several attempts were made to get a Rope around Richardson's neck.”

reaction to the shooting

The death of Christopher Seider inflamed all of Boston and beyond. Future president John Adams wrote of Ebenezer, “If there was even a color of justice in the public opinion, he was the most abandoned wretch in America. Adultery, incest, perjury were reputed to be his ordinary crimes. His life would exhibit an atrocious volume.”

The Sons of Liberty took the gift of Ebenezer's horrendous deed and ran with it. The Boston Gazette, an extremely pro-Whig paper, reported the incident, calling Ebenezer "infamous" no less than three times in capital letters.

Note: In the legislative bodies of New England, Whigs were the liberal party supported by the Sons of Liberty. The Loyalists were Tories.

Three days later, the Gazette continued their attack:

On Thursday last in the forenoon, a barbarous murder extended with many aggravating circumstances, was committed on the body of a young lad of about eleven years of age, son to Mr. ___ Snider of this town. . .One Ebenezer Richardson, who has been many years employed as an under-officer of the customs, long known by the Name of an INFORMER, and consequently a person of a most abandoned character, it seems, took umbrage at the supposed indignity offered to the Importer, and soon became a party to the affair. . .

We are assured that not less than 11 [pieces of] shot were found in the body of the unfortunate boy, who was inhumanly murdered by the infamous Informer on Thursday last. It is hoped the unexpected and melancholy death of young Snider will be a means for the future of preventing any, but more especially the soldiery, from being too free in the use of their instruments of death.

the funeral

It's assumed that the Son's of Liberty planned and executed the grand affair that turned into the funeral of a poor boy born to German immigrants. As many as 2,000 people attended the funeral, the most of any funeral in the colonies to that date.

From the diary of John Adams on 26 Feb 1770:

When I came into Town, I saw a vast Collection of People, near Liberty Tree — enquired and found the funeral of the Child, lately kill’d by Richardson was to be attended. . .a vast Number of Boys walked before the Coffin, a vast Number of Women and Men after it, and a Number of Carriages. My Eyes never beheld such a funeral. The Procession extended further than can be well imagined. This Shewes, there are many more Lives to spend if wanted in the Service of their Country. It Shews, too that the Faction [illegible] is not yet expiring — that the Ardor of the People is not to be quelled by the Slaughter of one Child and the Wounding of another.

From the Boston Gazette:

The little Corpse was set down under the Tree of Liberty, from whence the Procession began. About Five Hundred School Boys preceded; and a very numerous Train of citizens followed. . .at least two thousand of all Ranks. . .The Pall was supported by six Youths. . . Upon this very mournful Occasion. . .the Sons of Liberty ordered a Board to be affix'd to Liberty Tree inscrib'd with the following. . .Thou shall take no Satisfaction for the Life of a MURDERER;---He shall surely be put to Death. Though Hand join in Hand, the Wicked shall not pass unpunish'd.

In 1966, a marker was placed in the Granary Burial Ground in Boston near the graves of Christopher Seider and the victims of the Boston Massacre which, as we will see, became inextricably linked.

the trial

The chances of a fair trial for Cousin Ebenezer were somewhere between zero and none. When asked by the Court if he was ready, Ebenezer told them he had applied to virtually every lawyer in town but not one would take his case. The constables had even refused to summon witnesses on his behalf. Further, he told the Court, "that the Jailer, had used him in so cruel a manner that he was even frequently debarred the Liberty of conversing with his friends, that every Newspaper was crowded with the most infamous and false libels against him in order to prejudice the minds of his jury. . ."

So worried about his chances was Ebenezer that, while he remained in jail awaiting his trial, he spent time reading an Anglican catechism preparing himself for an adult baptism.

The Court finally ordered the Advocate General, Ebenezer Fitch, to appear on Cousin Ebenezer's behalf. Fitch took the case, saying "that since the Court had peremptorily ordered him, he would undertake it, but not otherways.” Fitch made certain he was sick on the two occasions that the case was called to trial. The court then appointed Josiah Quincy who would go on to defend, along with John Adams, Thomas Preston in the Boston Massacre trials.

Ebenezer's main defense was that he had been protecting his home from attack by a mob.

The prosecution maintained that the crowd was mainly composed of "rowdy schoolboys" who had done nothing to endanger Ebenezer's life.

The case was finally heard on the 20th of April. The judges reviewed the evidence and instructed the jury that the verdict should be no more than manslaughter. One in the crowd yelled out "Damn that Judge, if I was nighthim (nigh to him), I would give it to him." Others called out that they hoped no jury would dare to acquit him.

According to prosecutor Robert Treat Paine, a mob of people outside the courtroom “designed to have hanged the Prisoner as he came out... and they provided an Halter, ready at the Door..." They were foiled in their attempt. The Court had ordered Sheriff Greenleaf to lock Ebenezer in the courtroom until the crowd dispersed.

The jury came in with their verdict the next day. In spite of the judges' admonitions, they found Ebenzer guilty of murder. When the verdict was read "the Court Room resounded with Expressions of Pleasure; 'till, even one of the Faction, who had some of the Feelings of Humanity not quite erased, cried out, 'for Shame, for shame Gentlemen!' This hushed the clamorous Joy."

The judges postponed Ebenezer's sentencing until May 29. Newly appointed Governor Hutchinson then postponed it indefinitely.

aftermath

Following Ebenezer's trial, Governor Hutchinson wasted no time writing London to ask for a pardon. When the pardon was finally granted in March of 1772, Ebenezer had been in jail for a little over two years. The Governor wisely waited until the Boston populace were at a town meeting. Ebenezer was then quickly and quietly taken to court where, on his knees, he pleaded for his pardon, paid a fine of £500 and “fled with precipitation and crossed the ferry before the inhabitants were informed of it.”

Cousin Ebenezer lived in Stoneham for a while and was then awarded a position in the customs service in Philadelphia. In 1774, however, Ebenezer found himself short of money. A lot had transpired over the last four years after the shooting of Christopher Seider in 1770. Ebenezer's main supporter, Governor Hutchinson had been recalled to London after the disastrous Tea Party affair. The new governor, Thomas Gage, advised Ebenezer to go to England to plead his case.

In September of 1774, before Ebenezer could sail for England, an angry mob found him at his brother-in-law's house and threw stones and rubble at the house. Although his sister was injured, Ebenezer managed to escape. In January 1775, he finally made it to Britain where he petitioned the Earl of Dartmouth for relief. He received £10. Ebenezer was never heard of again in America.

Sing Along with Ebenezer Richardson?

In his essay in the Colonial Society of Massachusetts’s publication "Music in Colonial Massachusetts," Carleton Sprague Smith posits that a lot of the early American verses printed on broadsides were actually meant to be sung to well-known tunes.

In one of his examples, Smith writes of Cousin Ebenezer's broadside, “The Life, and Humble Confession, of Richardson, the Informer.” The words were supposedly from the mouth of "Ebenezer Richardson—adulterer, Customs informer and official, and killer of Christopher Seider." The picture shows the tumult outside Lillie’s store and, "in a similar vein to Revere’s famous engraving, a rifle barrel protruding from an elevated window." The verse was to be sung to the old tune “Confesse.”

Below are a few stanzas of the broadside:

Injured BOSTON now awake,

While I a true CONFESSION make,

Of my notorious sins and guilt,

As well the harmless blood I’ve spilt.

WOOBURN, my native place can tell,

My crimes are blacker far than Hell,

What great disturbance there I made,

Against the people and their Head.

A wretch of wretches prov’d with child,

By me I know, at which I smil’d,

To think the PARSON he must bare

The guilt of me, and I go clear...

. . .The halter now is justly due,

For now I’ve killed no less than two,

Their blood for vengeance loud doth cry,

It reach’d the ears of Heaven on high.

Many historians believe that the killing of Christopher Seider by our cousin Ebenezer Richardson was a direct catylist that led to the Boston Massacre which happend only five days later.

Up next: Prelude to War.