The "White" Richardson family appears to be of English descent and trace their ancestry to the early settlements on the

James River in Virginia. James Richardson and Francis Harrison who resided at Red Walnut, in Halifax County, VA. are first documented family members, who apparently had a son, James who married Anne Payne Ware (since then there has always been a son with the middle name of Payne in the family) and had seven children - William, James, Edmund, Robert P, Susan, Mary, and Elizabeth. Robert Payne Richardson Sr. was born in 1820, and was married twice. First to Elizabeth N. Wright in 1842, to which he had three daughters. After her death and the death of her father, her three daughters inherited their grandfathers property which included "US"and that is how we were transferred in 1850.  He then married Mary E. Watlington to which he had four children, one of which was Robert Payne Richardson Jr., born in 1855. They appeared to be living at 1810 Richardson Dr., in Reidsville, NC at the time of Robert Payne Richardson Jr.'s birth, since this house was built in 1842.  Presently it has been bought and moved to Madison, NC to an unknown location. The second house at 1602 Richardson Dr was built in 1860, but was originally located at the 1700 address, but was moved to make room for the new house; this third house at 1700 Richardson Dr. was built in 1912.

 

There is a record of a slave distribution in 1850 from Nathan Wright of Madison, NC after his death, to Robert Payne Richardson, Sr. of an Aaron 30yrs, CilIa 27yrs, and their seven children, Isaac, Lin, Harriett, Ann, Aron, George, and Ruth, since he was the father of his three granddaughters.  Richard Richardson was born after the slave transfer on the site of the first house, in approx 1853. Since slavery ended in 1865, I believe this is how we acquired the Richardson name, since most freed slaves took the last name of their slave masters.  Richard Richardson, was my great grandfather and Aaron and Cilla Richardson were my great-great grandparents. I did a census search of Nathan Wright and found he had one female and one male slave in 1820, between 14-24 years of age. I am error on the side of caution, and subtract 24 from 1820, that would have made their approximate birth date of 1796. I would surmise that these were my great great great grandfather/mother) and the 1830 census showed one male slave 10 y/o (my great great grandfather, Aaron)

 

Since Aaron was 30 yrs old in 1850 it would be safe to assume he was born in 1820, and CilIa would have been born in 1823. Since Richard was 21 yrs old when he married Mary Dabbs in 1874, it would be safe to assume he was born in 1853 so was not born before the transfer to Robert Payne Richardson Sr. in 1850. He would have been approximately 12 yrs old when slavery ended in 1865.  

 

At this present time in regard to his brothers and sisters I have found that a Lin Richardson married Patsy Kimmons in 1867 and had a daughter Eliza. Ruth Richardson married Henry McGiboney (or McNeely) in 1867. In a census report I found a George Richardson whose wife's name was Sallie, and they had four children named, CilIa, Maggie, Hugh, and Willa (1880). I found also in the 1880 census an Aron Richardson whose wife's name was Gracy, and they had three children named, Sidney, Jasper and Minnie. Presently I found  they had four more children who are named David, William,  Thomas and Robert. Harriett had a son named Robert according to the 1880 census and  Ann had one daughter, Sarah  and two sons Henry and Frank. At present I have found no  information on Isaac Richardson.

 

According to old Rockingham County history, most of the slaves were of Native American descent. In the Dan River area there were Native Americans from the Sauras Tribe, who made their home on the Dan River. They lived in round lodgings, planted corn, beans, and squash. They fished and hunted deer, elk, and bear. The remnants of the tribe moved to upper SC and lived with the Keyauwee Tribe. There is also mention of some traveling slave traders in the area. The other is that a lot of the families in this area migrated from Virginia and may have brought their slaves with them, as I believe that is what happened with Nathan Wright since our DNA was found in Virginia..