Colonel Richard Townley (died 1711) was born in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 probably at Astlam (Astleham) Manor in Littleton

Littleton, Spelthorne

Littleton is a village in Surrey in the borough of Spelthorne, in the United Kingdom. It lies between Shepperton Green to the southeast and Laleham to the west. It also lies along the southern edge of the Queen Mary Reservoir.Littleton is the home of Shepperton Studios. Littleton was home to the...

 (formerly in Middlesex

Middlesex

Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...

, today in Surrey

Surrey

Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

). He was the 8th son of Nicholas Townley of Littleton and Joanne White. He emigrated to the New World

New World

The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...

 in the suite of Lord Effingham Howard

Francis Howard, 5th Baron Howard of Effingham

-External links:* from the Executive Journals of the Council of Colonial Virginia, Vol. I, June 11, 1680 - June 22, 1699....

, Governor of Virginia

Governor of Virginia

The governor of Virginia serves as the chief executive of the Commonwealth of Virginia for a four-year term. The position is currently held by Republican Bob McDonnell, who was inaugurated on January 16, 2010, as the 71st governor of Virginia....

 in 1683. He settled in the Elizabethtown, New Jersey area and married his 2nd wife, Elizabeth Carteret (née. Smith), widow of the 1st governor of New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

 Sir Philip Carteret

Philip Carteret (Governor)

Philip Carteret was the first and fourth British colonial governor of New Jersey, from 1665 to 1672 and from 1674 to 1682.The English annexed the Dutch province of New Netherland in 1664, and lands west of the Hudson River were awarded to two Lords Proprietors, John Berkeley and George Carteret...

 in 1685. He was one of the Privy Council

Privy council

A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...

 of deputy governor Lord Neill Campbell in 1686. He left two sons, Charles and Effingham.