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The Parish Register for Roydon, Essex commences in 1567 and thus show no record of Richard's christening.
Richard "RIDGES" married at Roydon, Essex on 05SEP1575 to Elizabeth CHAMBERLIN.[S1] Her surname in the parish register was partially faint on the microfilm, and the senior archivist at Essex Record Office exceptionally made available the original register, from which I deciphered the surname as likely to be CHAMBERLYN. Subsequently however that first Register for Roydon (up to 1706) has been digitised and the images of its pages are now viewable online. Magnifying the entry and adjusting the brightness/contrast shows that Elizabeth's surname was CHAMBERLIN.
Elizabeth RIGGS, wife of Richard, was buried at Roydon, Essex on 25MCH1603.[S1] No record has been found in the Roydon Parish Register for Richard's death but, by inference (since Elizabeth when buried was described as his wife and not as a widow), he was still alive in March 1603.
In 1589, Richard "RIGGES" was a juror for the half-hundred of Harlow at the Petty Sessions court held there on 01OCT1589. He and his fellow jurors reported that an inhabitant of Roydon "keeps an alehouse and there sells bread and ale without licence, contrary to the form of the Statute", but that "in all other vill(age)s and hamlets, all is well".[S13]
The Roydon Parish Register shows the christenings and burials for the sons and daughters of Richard, as follows:
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MARY RIGGS
"Mary ye daughter of Richard MYLES" was baptised at Roydon, Essex on 30JLY1576.[S1] However, I believe that the baptism of Mary refers to the daughter of Richard the son of MILES RIGGS.
There was a Mary RIGGS, who married ROBERT CAMP at Roydon, Essex on 12JNE1603,[S1]no other baptism of a Mary Ridge(s), Rigg(e)s or Rygg(e)s can be found in the Roydon Parish Registers, and Mary the daughter of Richard "Myles" (dic)was baptised 11 months after Richard Riggs was married.
The process of having a permanent, hereditary surname, instead of using a "byname" to describe and differentiate between individuals, occurred later in some rural areas than it did in towns. I believe the process was still in a transitional phase in Roydon at the end of the sixteenth century: a man who had a 'patronymic byname' would use his father's Christian name, and that is how the vicar described Richard when Mary was baptised.
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ELIZABETH RIGGS
Elizabeth was baptised at Roydon, Essex on 22OCT1578 as the daughter of Richard "RIDGES".[S1]
Elizabeth "RIDGE" was buried at Roydon, Essex on 16NOV1581. She is entered in the Register as the daughter of William Ridge and, if this were correct, then William might have been another son of Miles. However there are no further entries referring to a William Ridge(s) or Rigg(e)s in the Register. It is probable that a name has been confused/transposed in some of the other entries (in particular the entries for Alce GOUDGE and Dorcas RIGGES, referred to as part of the Third Generation). I therefore believe that the Elizabeth who was buried on 16NOV1581 was Richard's daughter, who had been baptised three years earlier.
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RICHARD RIGGS
"Richard the sonne of Richard MILES" was baptised at Roydon, Essex on 24SEP1581.[S1] However, I believe that he was the son of Richard the son of MILES RIGGS. As in the case of Mary Riggs above, the vicar attributed to Richard his father's Christian name (Miles) as a 'patronymic byname'.
No entry has been found of his burial or marriage, or of the baptisms of any children of his.
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FRANCIS RIGGS
"Frauncis" was baptised at Roydon, Essex on 17APR1583 as the son of Richard "RIGGES".[S1]
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RALPH RIGGS
"Ralphe" was baptised at Roydon, Essex on 19JNE1586 as the son of Richard "RIGGES".[S1]
He was buried, as "Rallph RIGGES" son of Richard, at Roydon, Essex on 8OCT1586.[S1]
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EDWARD RIGGS
Another son of Richard's was baptised at Roydon, Essex on 30MCH1589. This is undoubtedly EDWARD of NAZEING, who migrated to America in 1633 to become EDWARD OF ROXBURY.
Although the above entry in the Parish Register says merely "The sonne of Richard Riggs",[S1] I base this conclusion on the following facts:
Roydon parish is "next door" to Nazeing parish, sharing a common boundary;
The other adjacent parishes have been searched for this time period and none of their Registers contain a baptism for Edward, nor were any other entries for a Riggs/Rigges found;
As will be seen, Edward's wife Elizabeth Holmes was baptised at Nazeing 21 months later, in December 1590 [S3][S4], and therefore the timing of this baptism in March 1589 is appropriate;
As will also be seen, two of Edward and Elizabeth's daughters were named Mary and Lydia. These were the names of Edward's sister Mary and his sister-in-law Lydia (the wife of his brother Francis). [Another of their daughters was named Elizabeth but, as Edward's sister Elizabeth died in infancy before he was born, this daughter was more probably named after his wife.]
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"MILES RIGGES NURSE CHILD"
There is an entry in the Register at Roydon, Essex on 8NOV1586 for the burial of "Miles RIGGES nurse child".[S1]
Miles himself (Richard's father) had been buried on 7SEP1583 and Miles's wife on 26MCH1579 (almost 8 years before this burial). So this entry probably does not refer to a 'nurse child of Miles Rigges', but rather to a 'Miles Rigges who was a nurse child'.
A nurse child was one who was being suckled by a wet nurse rather than by the mother. It was apparently the practice for some parents living in London to 'farm out' their babies to be brought up in the comparatively cleaner air of the countryside, such as in Essex.
There is a burial entry in the Royden Register in May 1651 (admittedly a lot later) that refers to "Mary Peirson Nursechild, the daughter of Samuell Peirson and of Mary his wife, Londoners", and another in December 1652 referring to "Ann Peirce a Nursechild (the ffather and Mother being dead)".[S1]
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