Paul Richard (Paulus Richards), Mayor 1735-1739: Richard (1697 -1756) owned enslaved people and was a slave trader. He also imported West Indies goods to New England ports and exported fish to southern European Catholic kingdoms.[1]

Richard invested in seven ships that transported enslaved people from the Caribbean to New York from 1723 to 1742. Many of the vessels carried one or two enslaved persons to New York along with agricultural products like coconuts, sugar, and lime juice. 

His involvement in slavery:

• Maria and Cato, who were enslaved by Richard, were accused of conspiracy but not arrested in 1741. Maria’s husband, Quack, was an enslaved man to the butcher John Walter.[2]
• Richard had an enslaved man named Galloway. A later enslaver, John Breese, described him as a “mullato Indian” in a runaway newspaper notice.
• Richard also had an enslaved woman, Elizabeth.[3]

In April 1700, Richard offered a reward for finding who committed the murder of his daughter and a woman slave. From summaries of his petitions to Governor Richard Coote, Earl of Bellomont:

• “April 8, 1700: Petition. Paul Richards, requesting that a proclamation be issued, oftering a reward for the discovery of the murderers of his daughter and servant girl, on the 19th October last.”
• “Petition. Martinus Lamberse, for a speedy trial, a true bill having been ibund against him for the murder of Hester, wife of Marcus LeflPert, of New York (daughter of Paulus Richard), and a negro woman.”[4]

Investments in Ships that Transported the Enslaved

Ship	Dates of Voyage or in NY Port	Ports of Call	Enslaved Purchased	Cargo	Co-Investors
Anne and Catherine	8/6/1723	Curaçao	6	60 casks coconuts, three casks of old iron	Philip French III (son of mayor), and Matthew Clarkson
Dolphin	6/14/1725	Curaçao	3	Lime juice, coconuts, iron	Philip French III (son of mayor), and Matthew Clarkson
Prince William	11/20/1728	To Jamaica	2	57 tons provisions, three casks linseed oil, staves, European goods	Moses Levy, Robert Livingston, Daniel Clarkson, and Matthew Clarkson
Prince William	1/20/1729	Jamaica	1	Thirteen casks pimento, ten casks lime juice, three casks & one hamp. rum, one cask iron, sugar, six casks indigo	Moses Levy, Robert Livingston, Daniel Clarkson, and Matthew Clarkson
Prince William	8/25/1729	Jamaica	2	One cask rum, bottles, two casks old pewter, copper, 150 casks molasses, two casks sugar	Moses Levy, Robert Livingston, Daniel Clarkson, and Matthew Clarkson
Hestser	5/15/1735	St. Thomas	1	72 bales cotton, three casks sugar, salt	Mordecai Gomez and David Gomez
Hester	8/28/1735	St. Thomas	2	59 bags cotton wool, fifteen tons fustick, hats, sugar, and other cargo	Mordecai Gomez and David Gomez
Hester	8/29/1737	St. Thomas	1	Cotton wool, salt	Mordecai Gomez and David Gomez
Hester	8/31/1739	St. Thomas	3	Cotton wool	Mordecai Gomez and David Gomez
Hester	9/1/1740	St. Thomas, Spanish Town Virgin Islands	1	Fourteen bags cotton wool, 26 bags British cotton wool	Mordecai Gomez and David Gomez
Prince Frederick	11/2/1739	Jamaica	4	Pimento, two casks rum, sugar, ginger, seven and a half tons logwood, four casks lime juice	Moses Levy, Robert Livingston, Daniel Clarkson, and Matthew Clarkson
Elisabeth (schooner)	9/17/1728	Jamaica	2	Sixty-two casks of molasses and one cask of sugar	His brother John Richard
Elisabeth	9/17/1730	Suriname	2	36 casks rum, 1 cask sugar, 72 casks molasses, three casks coffee berries	His brother John Richard
Elisabeth (sloop)	6/13/1739	St. Thomas, Spanish Town Virgin Islands	5	Straw ware, furniture, planks	Mordecai Gomez and David Gomez
Elisabeth	5/28/1740	St. Thomas, Virgin Islands	1	28 bags British cotton wool, 35 bags pimento, two tons logwood, 47 bags cotton wool	Mordecai Gomez and David Gomez
Elisabeth	9/30/1742	St. Thomas, Jamaica, Spanish Town Virgin Islands	3	Sugar, cotton wool or cotton, molasses	Mordecai Gomez and David Gomez

[1] Merchants & Empire, p.144

[2] Lepore database, files titled app B—owners and Persons; New York Burning…, Lepore, 2006; Page 222: “Mr. Richard’s Cato” page 159: “That the negro boy Cato, Mr. Richards…”  page 44: John Richard. Page 334: Paul Richard, esq. page 335: Paul Richard, esq.

[3] Bound by Bondage, p.247, note 19

[4] Calendar of historical manuscripts in the office of the secretary of state, E.B. O’Callaghan, Vol. II, p.274

Ship investments: #107467, Donnan p.475, CO 5/1223_02, 35; #107511, p.478, CO 5/1223, 89; 107626, p.485, CO 5/1224 Part 2, 135; #107627, CO 5/1224, Part 2,139; #107661, p.487, CO 5/1224 Part 2, 165; #107820, p.498, CO 5/1225 Part 2, 159; #107828, p.499, CO 5/1225 Part 2, 165; #107851, p.501, CO 5/1225, Part 2, 206; #107894, p.504, CO 5/1226, 56; #107916, p.506, CO 5/1226, 109; #107899, p.505, CO 5/1226, 69; #107617, CO 5/1224, Part 2, 127; #107681, p.489, CO 5/1224, Part 2, 208; #107889, p.504, CO 5/1226, 44, CO 5/1227, 7: fixes error in 5/1226; #107909, p.505, CO 5/1226, 94; #107947, p.508, CO 5/1226, 225

Copyright 2025 Paul Hortenstine