Henry was the younger of the two sons born to Thomas Richins and Sarah. His brother, Thomas, was two years his senior. They were probably young boys when they moved to Painswick with their parents.

For many years, the Richins family has searched, without success, to find the birthplace of Thomas and Henry and the marriage of their parents, Thomas Richins and Sarah. There was a Temple Index Bureau (T.I.B.) card that stated Henry Richins was born April 9, 1769 at Rodbury. Another card had no date of birth, but listed him as being born in Rodbury. In all of our searching, we have not been able to find Rodbury. The 1841 census states Henry was born in the county of Gloucestershire, England, but there is no parish of Rodbury listed in the index of parishes. An index of towns in Gloucestershire did not have a Rodbury, but we still hope and search.

We have verified that Henry was born in the year 1769 by his age on his death certificate. We also were able to set Thomas’ year of birth as 1767 by his age on his marriage license or allegation. There were no Richins entries in the Painswick Parish Record until 1790, when the burial of Sarah Richins, wife of Thomas Richins, was recorded on May 28, 1790. By then, Henry was a young man of 21 years. He was then of age to receive his inheritance of five pounds from his grandfather, John Richins. Five pounds may not sound like much on today’s market, but it was a respectable sum in those days and certainly helped him to get a start in life.

The following year, 1791, Henry’s brother, Thomas, was married by license to Ann Wilkins. He had to pay a bond of several hundred pounds, but he did not have to wait the four weeks while his coming marriage was publicized. The allegation listed Thomas as age 24, a bachelor and a yeoman of Painswick. A yeoman was a gentleman farmer who held a small estate in the country. We can see that Thomas, being the eldest son and heir, had a great advantage over Henry, who was a farm laborer.