536
RIDLEYS OF TRURO, MASSACHUsetts.
-
merchant in London, whose son Mark was sometime of Truro, Eng.
Captain Ridley followed the sea from boyhood, and is said to have made
voyages to New England some years previous to his settlement. His
name occurs several times in the Plymouth Colonial Records. In 1666
he was summoned to account for "bringing so much liquor into the col-
onie." At another time, in 1668, he was appointed administrator of
the estate of Tristram Hull, of Barnstable; and in the year 1676 his name
is connected with a law case tried in His Majesty's court at Plymouth, in
which a 66 cargoe of boards " was involved, said cargo having been sent
in Ridley's care to Piscataqua in 1674. He was a man of considerable
note in the old colony, as proved by the trust reposed in him by his con-
temporaries. From the few meagre references concerning this man in
the colonial records and contemporary history, it seems evident that he
was a roving character, who owned a small vessel and hung about the New
England coast, where he frequently became involved in legal transactions,
but always managed to elude the penalty of the law. He was brought to
trial at Newport, R. I., in 1672, on an action presented by Thomas Harte.
Marke Ridley was convicted, and Capt. John Green became his bondsman.
The records show that "Marke Ridley, defendant, was noe free inhabitant
of this collony." No estate of his was found, and the recorder was ad-
vised to secure the complainant on property of Ridley's bondsman. Tra-
dition says he married in England, and that his son and only child,
Thomas, was born on the ocean while on the voyage to New England. I
have not found any records of births of children, nor have I found any
family who could have been descended from Marke, except through the
one son Thomas, hereafter mentioned.
SECOND GENERATION.
•
Thomas Ridley2 (1), a son of Marke¹ (1), was born (presumably) on
the Atlantic ocean, in 1685, when his parents were on their way to New
England. Tradition claims that he was a seaman and master of vessels,
but I find no reliable proof. He married Mary Smalley, and had issue
ten children, of whom hereafter. Residence in Truro,* Mass. I find the
record of his death 1767.
*TRURO is a town on the northern extremity of the peninsula of Cape Cod, in
Massachusetts; its Indian name was "Pamet." It was purchased in 1679. In 1805
the town was called "Dangerfield," and in the year 1809 it was incorporated by the
name of "Truro;" a name taken from a town in the south of England, from which
many of the early settlers emigrated. The town is fourteen miles long and three
miles wide; the soil is light and free from stones, and hardly any part will produce
English grass worth harvesting. The face of the township is composed of sand-
hills with narrow valleys between them, running at right angles with the shore;
from the top of these hills few objects can be seen except the ocean and a wide
waste of sand. The inhabitants, who derive their living mainly from the sea, are
in comfortable circumstances. The first minister in Truro was Rev. John Avery,
who was ordained in the year 1711, and died in 1754; he was succeeded by Rev.
Caleb Upham, who died in 1786. By these servants of God the early Ridleys were
baptized, married, and buried; and to their preaching they were listeners when they
attended divine service. In the "History of Truro," a locality is called "Ridler's
Bank." I think this is a mistake in spelling, and that it should be Ridley's Bank.
I have never heard of a Ridler family on Cape Cod. Upon the seacoast the early
Ridleys lived in their fisherman's cabins, and upon the waves of old ocean they
plied their rude craft. Here upon the shore their bodies repose, their requiems sung
by the roaring ocean, till that day when the trump of God shall awake the dead.
They were rude and unlettered, brave and adventuresome, but possessed of strong
bodies, noble minds, and kind hearts.
