Edward Richards was an early settler of and nine term selectman in Dedham, Massachusetts.
[2] Nathaniel moved to Connecticut to found Hartford, but Edward Richards first appears in Dedham in 1636, which is where he married Susan in 1638.
[2] Though Dedham was intended to be a Utopian commune, and there was little disparity in wealth, Richards went by the title of "Gent" and, unlike others, aspired to a manor.
[2] Before moving to Dedham, he purchased a large estate to use as his home and did not receive a house lot, as other settlers did.
[a] It is suspected that this was because Nathaniel had given Richards more grandsons and thus would be in a better position to transmit the family name down through successively more prosperous generations.