Richard Mockford 4th great grandpa on RootsMagic tree.

Richard Mockford was born June 1, 1802 in Brighton, Sussex, England. In Brighton on February 13, 1830 Richard, a bachelor  married Elizabeth Green, a spinster. Elizabeth and Richard had 8 children. The Mockford family lived in Brighton, Sussex, then Burdock, Cornwall, England. On the England  1851 and 1861 censuses Richard was a miller.  

By 1863 Richard and his wife were living in New York state. They joined their sons Henry and William who migrated earlier. They all settled in western New York, Monroe County, near Rochester on Lake Ontario about 30 miles east of Niagara Falls.
In 1863 Richard was on a New York tax list, “Richard Mockford of Brockport, Retail dealer, 6.67 in taxes”.

A Rochester, NY business directory from 1863 has Richard Mockford listed as a baker and flour broker. The same directory described Monroe County, the towns of Batavia and Brockport, where the Mockfords lived, known for its ‘fine wheat’. Also in the same directory: a House for Idle and Truant Children and the Rochester Home for the Friendless.

Richard died in 1867, his wife Elizabeth lived 10 more years. They both lived to see many grandchildren born in Monroe County, New York including Richard Mockford who made the 1,000 mile journey to Iowa where he married Matilda Flood and they had a child Philippa Mockford, mom of Elizabeth Speedy.

Sources

• England Sussex parish registers 1538-1910 database. There’s an image, copyrighted and viewable at FamilySearch.org. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-DRP3-Z3B?i=185
• 1863 U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 page 37 at Ancestry
• 1851 and 1861 England census databases at FamilySearch.
• US IRS Tax Assessment Lists 1862-1918 New York District at Ancestry.