Nathaniel Ryder was born June 1705 in Yarmouth, Massachusetts,
the son of John Ryder and Esther (sometimes Hester) Hall. He was presented for
baptism on 2 September 1705 by his mother "ye wife of Jn'o Rider of
Yarmouth" at the Barnstable
West Parish
Church. I wrote about
John and Esther here. The Ryder name is often spelled Rider in
records. Nathaniel is my 8th great-grandfather on my grandmother
Milly (Booth) Rollins’ side of the family.
Nathaniel was about 14 years of age when his father died. He was to receive 39 pounds three shillings and four pence in the 7 July 1721 settlement
of his father's estate, as well as part of a windmill and part of his father's
personal estate. Sometime after his father’s death, he relocated to Chatham, where his
brother John was living and prospering. His cousin James Ryder also
moved to Chatham.
Postcard of a Cape Cod windmill |
Nathaniel married Desire Godfrey at Chatham, Massachusetts,
on 26 September 1728 (Chatham VR). Theirs was the first marriage recorded at Chatham. Desire was born about 1712, probably in Yarmouth, the daughter of
Moses and Deborah (Cooke) Godfrey. The last name is sometimes seen as Godfree. I wrote about Moses and Deborah here. In his will of February 1742 (Barnstable
Co. Probate 6:306), Moses Godfrey mentions his
daughter Desire, wife of Nathaniel Ryder.
Nathaniel and Desire had 11 children, although none of their births were
recorded so there has been some disagreement by genealogists. The well researched 1991 work by Eleanor Cooley Rue gives them 11, possibly 12, children. Nathaniel’s daughter
Eunice left a will, dated 3
December 1808 and offered for probate 10 January 1809 (Barnstable Co. Probate
33:311 and 32:170). With the aid of Eunice's will and other data it is possible
to reconstruct Nathaniel and Desire’s children.
1. Nathaniel, born about 1729, married Bathsheba Hinckley
and had a large family in Barnstable
(8 girls and child number 9 was a boy). Nathaniel is not named in his sister’s
will, but his daughter Eunice Taylor is.
2. Esther born 1730/31, married Thomas Freeman, was a
Quaker, lived at Falmouth.
Her daughter Eunice (Freeman) Crocker was identified in Eunice’s will.
3. William, born about 1733, no marriage or death record
found. Not named in Eunice’s will, so perhaps was deceased. Believe he is a son
of Nathaniel as he served in the Army in 1760 with Moses and Josiah. His
brother Moses named a son William.
4. Deborah born about 1737, married Daniel Rogers at Chatham; married second Joshua
Nickerson; third Thomas Doty. She is called sister Deborah Doaty, deceased, in
Eunice’s will.
5. Josiah was born in 1739/40; he married Huldah Gross at
Wellfleet; named in Eunice’s will.
6. Eunice was born about 1741; she married Lumbert Nickerson
at Chatham; no
children. She is identified as Nathaniel’s
daughter in records when he initially forbade her marriage to Lumbert.
7. Moses, born about 1742, m. Patience Doane. Nathaniel
identified him as a son in a 1760 petition to the General Court for a refund of
3 pounds for a gun charged to Moses at the end of his 1768 Army service.
8. Jonathan who was living in 1808, married Fear Eldredge,
widow of Elisha Dunbar; mentioned in Eunice’s will.
9. John, born about 1746, married Lydia Phillips. His son
John is mentioned in Eunice’s will.
10. Desire born about 1748, m. Stephen Phillips; identified
in Eunice’s will.
11. Samuel born about
1752, married first Betty Atkins, 2nd Hannah/Anna (Nickerson)
Havens; mentioned in Eunice’s will.
They may have also had a daughter Zerviah who married
William Cheever. Their first child was named Nathaniel and the name Zerviah is
used throughout the family.
I descend from their daughter Esther.
Esther Ryder Freeman's gravestone at East End Burying Ground, Falmouth |
To support his large family, Nathaniel probably worked in
the main industry of Chatham
at that time: fishing.
The 1755 Chatham
tax bill shows he owned little property. He was taxed for two polls (himself
and one adult son; likely William), 3 pounds for real estate and 2 pounds for personal property.
In 1749, Nathaniel and his family were Congregationalists
and members of Rev. Emery's Church at Chatham.
Desire died after February 1741/42 when she is mentioned in
her father’s will. Nathaniel died after
1755, when he is listed as a Chatham
taxpayer. They likely both died at Chatham.
Sources Not Listed
Above:
Eleanor Cooley Rue, The
Nathaniel Ryder Families of Barnstable and Chatham in the 18th Century, Mayflower Descendant, Vol 41, No. 2, July
1991
Arthur H. and Katharine W. Radasch, The Family of Nathaniel Ryder of Chatham,
MA, NEHGR, October 1973
CW Swift, Library of
Cape Cod History and Genealogy, No. 66 The
Rider Family of Yarmouth,
1913
James W. Hawes, Library
of Cape Cod History and Genealogy, No. 98,
Ryder Genealogy, 1912
William C. Smith, A
History of Chatham Mass.,
1947
Elizabeth Pearson White, The
Godfreys of Chatham, Mass., NEHGR October 1972