| Notes |
- Arrived in 1634; first in Boston, then Salem by 1636. He was a joiner.
His wife's name has often been given as Sarah, but that was in fact his eldest daughter. Born about 1636, she appears to have become a Salem town ward immediately following her father's death, and continued in that condition until 1691, during which time she gave birth to at least one child out of wedlock. Following the child's birth, she and the child's father, Alester Grime, were convicted of fornication; he was ordered to pay 2s. 6d. per week for the child's maintenance, and she was ordered to be whipped, which sentence was carried out. One of the witnesses in the case was the "wife of Jeremiah Booteman", which is to say, her younger sister Hester, ancestor of DK. As Robert Charles Anderson (citation details below) observes, the need for the town to support Sarah immediately upon her father's death indicates some kind of disability, and to add to the complexity of her life, she was evidently a Quaker, for on 7 Nov 1667 she appears first on a long list of known Quakers in Salem.
Further from Robert Charles Anderson, in Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume IV, I-L (citation details below):
On 6 October 1634, "Rich[ard] Lambert hath forfeited his bond of £10, which bound him to appear at this Court. And it is ordered, that Beniamin Gilham & Rob[er]te Walker shall have 5s. apiece allowed them, being witnesses summoned to appear" [MBCR 1:133]. This court order clearly reflects an earlier action, which has not survived in the records. The two witnesses were Boston tradesmen [GMB 3:1912-15; GM 2:3:60-65], and so we place the first residence of Richard Lambert as Boston, although he may even then have been of Salem, and committed his undisclosed transgression on a visit to Boston. On 6 September 1638, in the general amnesty, "Rich[a]rd Lambert, forfeiting £10, nine pound of it is remitted him" [MBCR 1:244]. On 5 June 1638, at a Court of Assistants, "Rob[e]rt Morgan, Edw[ar]d Hall, & Rich{ard] Lambert are referred to Salem" [MBCR 1:234].
Once settled in Salem, Richard Lambert continued to run afoul of the court system. On several occasions between 1637 and 1656 he was punished for drunkenness or public smoking [EQC 1:7, 36, 99, 414 (bis)]. He was twice accused of theft, on 25 January 1641/2 of a coat and on 28 February 1642/3 of boards [EQC 1:33, 34, 51]. On seven occasions between 1636 and 1652, Richard Lambert was defendant in civil suits, either for debt or for defamation [EQC 1:3, 8, 11, 13, 29, 31, 247]. Only once was he a plaintiff, when he sued Samuel Maverick in 1649 for "debt for work" [EQC 1:171, 192].
Richard Lambert was obviously not a positive contributor to Salem society. Neither he nor any member of his family was admitted to the church, and he appears to have held no public offices. He may have been tolerated for his skill in joinery.
|
Nielsen Hayden genealogy
Bef 1611 - 1657 (> 44 years)
[2]