That turns out not to be true.

Let’s look at what we know for sure. Ralph Richardson was born in 1455 and died in 1520. He lived in the Jersey Channel Islands.

Ralph Richardson is presumed to have been Richard III’s army officer. He came to Jersey after the King was killed at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485.

What we know of Ralph Richardson of The Channel Islands early records which state …

He must have had previous connections to Jersey because he became a tenant of the Seigneur of Rosel and is believed to have farmed 70 vergées in St Martin. There is some dispute about the timings because family tradition has it that he arrived immediately after the battle, the last significant engagement of the English Civil War, and took up farming then.

“An Account of the Island of Jersey” by Rev. Philip Falle in 1837 tells us that in the 1400s …

"Seigneur of Rose was slain in an assault during that siege on the eve of Corpus Christi day. The siege lasted nineteen weelts."

_______________

Going back to the Island Wiki data, it says ….

However, 19th century historian J Bertrand Payne, in his Armorial of Jersey says that Ralph took up farming in St Martin in 1507, four years after the birth of his son Thomas in England and the death of his wife.

Ralph married Jane Mychiel, daughter of John, in Jersey, but their son Thomas was born in England. He had a son, also Thomas, who stayed in England and his lineage is traced in one of the trees below. Another of Ralph’s children, Edmund, was born in Jersey, and other sons of Thomas also established families in the island. One branch moved to Guernsey, where their surname was corrupted to Reserson. The two island families were united by the marriage of Clement Richardson and Jacquine Reserson in the 18th century.

This was very much a St Martin family and the first baptism was recorded there in 1599. Although the family largely remained in the parish, it did spread into neighbouring Grouville, Trinity and St Saviour, and ultimately throughout the island, most notably in St Ouen.

What we learned is that Ralph Richardson is not only not related to Bedo ap Richard but also is not the father of Thomas Richardson I of Westmill.

1 Ralph Richardson m Jane Mychiell, d of John

• 2 Thomas Richardson
  • 3 John Richardson m Isabel Le Marquand, d of Raulin
    • 4 Nicholas Richardson (1571- )
    • 4 Jane Richardson m John Collas
  • 3 Hugh Richardson ( -1598) m Phillippine de Quetteville, d of Michael
    • 4 Nicholas Richardson m Jeanette Le Quesne, d of Richard

Ralph Richardson did, in fact, have a son named Thomas Richardson, but not our Thomas Richardson I of Westmill.

His son’s family tree is as follows ….

1 Thomas Richardson m (1605, Gr) Jeanne Giffard, d of Richard )Thomas is possibly the son of Jean and Marie Averty, of Grouville, or Thomas and Anne Le Ray, of St Martin)

• 2 Jeanne Richardson (1605- )
• 2 Elizabeth Richardson (1606- )
• 2 Richard Richardson (1609- )
• 2 Thomas Richardson (1609- ) m Elizabeth Bree
  • 3 Jeanne Richardson (1630- )
  • 3 Marie Richardson (1634- )
  • 3 Marthe Richardson (1636- )
  • 3 Thomas Richardson (1638- )
• 2 Noeul Richardson (1615- )

If I were to believe the hundreds of family trees on Ancestry.com and other similar sites, I would be here telling you today that Bedo Ap Richard was the father of the very first “Richardson.” His name means Bedo, son of Richard ap Hywel, and he was born in 1430 in Glamorgan, Wales. He died in 1470.

Hundreds and hundreds of family trees have this information wrong.  Why? Because they all just accepted that the information was true because someone else said it was.

So then, who is Bedo ap Richard? He was born in Mathraval. I googled that, and it turns out Mathraval (also known as Mathrafal) is a castle.

It was the original capital of the Princes of Powys, one of the three royal seats in Wales. The castle was destroyed in 1212. That means he couldn’t have been born in 1430, two hundred years after his birthplace was destroyed.

So that tells us Bedo ap Richard was born sometime before 1212.

Now I found a document that tells us who his family is. His father was in fact Richard ap Hywel. Just not the one from Glamorgan. This document comes from page 416 of the book “The Montgomeryshire Collections, Volume 8”.

So from this document, we can say for sure that the line here starts with Hywel ap Einws. This would be Bedo ap Richard’s grandfather. (Remember ap = son of).

Ieuan ap Robert
son of Robert ap y Bedo – (married Jane Verch Rhys Dafydd ??)

The document also tells us who married who. Bedo ap Richard’s son married Jane daughter of Rhys Dafydd. This makes her name Jane Verch Rhys Dafydd. (Remember Verch means daughter of like ap means son of).

At the very bottom of this document, we see that Bedo ap Richard’s son Robert’s mother was Mawd Verch Ieuan Vychan.

Bedo ap Richard is in fact son of Richard ap Hywell, not the same Richard ap Hywell who has the son Morgan ap Hywell who married Joan Button.

Bedo could also be known as Blddn or Bleddyn.

Other variations of Hywel include Hywell, or Howell or Howel.

Bedo’s wife is Mawd Verch Ieuan Fychan, aka Mawd Verch Ieuan Vychan.

That means you may find documents calling him Blddn ap Richard or Bleddyn ap Richard, or even Bedo ap Rich’d, which is a variation of “Richard.”

So, anyone doing their family tree and wanting to list Ralph Richardson of the Jersey Channel Islands as having a father named Bedo ap Richard would be wrong.

Are there any other references to Bedo ap Richard in old books? Turns out there are!

In a document called Montgomeryshire Pedigrees (page 137) it says …

Griffith ap Thomas, of Halchton, ap Llywelyn ap Madock ap David ap Evan. 

Griffith's mother was Jonet, vrch. Owen Bedo ap Rich'd ap  Howell ap Einion, of Drewern. 

Griffith ap Thomas's children were Rich'd; Edw'd; David ; Evan ; 
Catherin, who maried Tho. Lewis ap David ap Griffith; Mawd ; 
Alice ; and Catherin. Their mother was Catherin, vrch. Llewelyn ap Reynold. 

The previous document said that Bedo ap Richard’s father was Richard ap Hywel (howel), whose father was Hywel ap Einws. This document tells us something similar.

It says Griffith’s mother was Jonet verch Owen (Jonet daughter of Owen).

Then it says Bedo ap Richard is the son of Richard ap Hywel (Howell) who is the son of Hywel ap Einion of Drewern.

Now we have two different new spellings. The first is Bedo ap Rich’d. The next is Hywel (Howell) ap Einion of Drewern.

With this new variation in his name, I was about to find a Hywel ap Einion.

This led me to a new book called – “Montgomeryshire Pedigrees: Heraldic Visitations of Wales and Part of the Marches, Between the Years 1586 and 1613; Ed. with Notes by Samuel Rush Meyrick”.

This book reveals to us a new family tree of this previously mentioned Griffith.

David ap Evan

Madog ap David
Son of David ap Evan

Llyweln ap Madock (Madog)
Son of Madog ap David

Thomas ap Llywelyn
Son of Llyweln ap Madog

Griffith ap Thomas of Halchton’s
Son of Thomas ap Llyweln

Again, they reference Griffith’s mother as Jonet Vrch. Owen Bedo ap Richard ap Howell ap Einion, of Drewern.

This means that his mother was Jonet Verch (daughter of) Owen. Owen may be a spelling variation of Owain (just as Hywel is of Howel or Rich’d is of Richard).

What I don’t know is, does this make her Bedo ap Richard’s wife? Or is Owen Bedo ap Richard’s son?

If you recall, in a previous document, where we learned about Robert ap y Bedo (son of Bedo ap Richard), we learned his wife was Mawd. So that means that this Jonet isn’t his wife. But she could be the wife of a child of Bedo or maybe the daughter of a child of Bedo?