Richard Bonython was an English magistrate and early settler and landowner in New England.
12 Facts About Richard Bonython
1.
2.
Richard Bonython co-owned a portion of land adjacent to the Saco River and was appointed a magistrate.
3.
Richard Bonython's father's estate was Bonython Manor, at Cury on the Lizard Peninsula, but Richard was born at the estate of his mother's family on the North Cornwall coast at St Columb Major.
4.
Richard Bonython was married to Lucretia Leight of St Thomas-by-Launceston and had a number of children.
5.
Richard Bonython is thought to have served as a military officer in the "French Wars" and was afterwards known as Captain Richard Bonython.
6.
In 1630 or 1631 Richard Bonython emigrated to the fledgling English settlements in the Province of Maine in North America.
7.
Richard Bonython travelled to Maine with his son John and two of his daughters.
8.
Richard Bonython owned, with Thomas Lewis, a tract of land measuring 4 miles by 8 miles alongside the Saco River and planned on constructing a plantation there.
9.
One of those appearing before Richard Bonython was Richard Bonython's son John, who was accused of fathering an illegitimate child.
10.
Richard Bonython seems to have opposed the Puritan teachings of Saco's Reverend Thomas Jenner, favouring the Church of England.
11.
Richard Bonython served as a commissioner for the Province of Maine and, in 1640, was appointed a councillor to deputy governor Thomas Gorges.
12.
Richard Bonython ceased to be a councillor in 1647 and died in 1650.