He was the ruling church elder in Cambridge, Mass.

CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: Admission to Cambridge church prior to 23 May 1636 implied by freemanship. The compilation of Cambridge church members made in January 1658/9 included "Richard Champny, Ruling Elder, and Jane his wife in full communion". On 8 February 1668[/9?], Elder Champney and Mr. Oakes were assigned to catechise the youth of the town living on the south side of the bridge.
FREEMAN: 23 May 1636 (as "Rich[a]rd Champnyes").
EDUCATION: One of the five prominent men set to oversee the re-copying of the first assessment of the cow common, 21 December 1648. Signed his deeds and his will by mark. His inventory included "books" valued at 40s. Cambridge fenceviewer, 4 April 1636. Committee to draw up instructions, 8 November 1652. Committee to consider the setting off of Billerica.
ESTATE: In the 8 February 1635/6 inventory of "those men who have houses in the town at this present," "Richard Champnes" was credited with three in the West End. On 6 February 1636/7, "Elder Champnes" was granted twelve acres in the Great Swamp.
On 25 September 1637, "Will[iam] Wadsworth of Newtowne" sold to "Mr. Richard Chumnes of Newtowne" "my house & yards & all my lands, rights in the common, whatever I have in the said town & parcel of nine acres of marsh ... which the said Will[iam] bought of Edward Stebine & two acres of Edward Elmor of upland which I the said Will[iam] bought likewise".
On 11 May 1638, "Elder Champnes" was granted seven acres "on the south side of the path" to Charlestown.
In the inventory of Cambridge land made about 1639, "Richard Champnies" had two listings. In the first he held four parcels: "bought of William Wadsworth of Hartford in Connectcote one house, garden, backside, containing about half a rood of ground"; "in Cowyard Row about half an acre"; "in Wigwam Neck about one acre & a half of ground"; and "in the Old Fields one acre & a rood". In the second he held seven parcels: "in the Long Marsh one acre and a half"; "in the Great Marsh about six acres"; "in the Great Marsh towards the Oyster Bank nine acres"; "in the Old Oxpasture seven acres"; "in the New West Field eight acres and a half of planting ground"; "in the Old West Field about three roods"; and "in the near end of Wigwam Neck by the gate two acres".
In the 1639 list of Cambridge holdings of "John Champnies," three parcels were "bought of Richard Champnes": "one house with five acres of land upon the Cowe Common"; "one acre & a half of Oxe pasture"; and "three acres and a half of ground in the new west field". In the 1639 list of John Steadman's holdings, he held one parcel "bought ... of Richard Champnes," being "three acres". In the same list, William French "bought of Mr. Richard Champnes one dwelling house & garden".
On 1 September 1643, "Richard Champnyes" bought six and a half acres from John Bridge. On 8 December 1645, "Richard Champny" was granted eight acres of meadow and upland at Alewife meadow. In the 1645 settlement of fence maintenance on the neck, "Elder Champne" was responsible for eight rods. "Elder Champnye" had ten acres alloted to him in the fresh pond meadow. On 23 February 1648[/9?], Richard Champney received six acres and 18 rods in the west field.
In 1644, Richard Champney was granted eight acres of meadow and upland at Alewife Meadow. In 1646, he received fourteen acres in woodlots on the other side of Menotime Bridge. On 8 June 1646, "Elder Champnies" was granted liberty to sell some timber for the repair of "Bro: Goulden Moore's" dwelling house and barns. On 11 January 1646[/7?], "Elder Champnis" was granted liberty to fell some trees near his meadow for a fence. On 7 June 1647, Richard Champney was allowed to buy the 40 acres on the south side of the water near Mr. Sparhawks' fields. On 11 October 1647, "Elder Champnis" was ordered to pay the town 20s. per acre for the upland by "Mr. Sparahauk's rail", and on the same day he owed 8d. in oxen fines.
On 29 January 1650[/1?], George Deed of Boston, mariner, sold to Richard Champney of Cambridge "one parcel of ground containing ... seven acres and a half ... being partly fresh and partly salt and sometime in the possession of Joseph Isacke deceased". On 12 November 1651, "Mr. Richard Champney of Cambridge" sold to John Wincoll of Watertown "eleven acres of meadow land lying in Cambridge bounds, in a meadow commonly called Rockie Meadow ... also in another piece of Rockie Meadow five acres ... and also ten acres of meadow land in the same town, lying in Fresh Pond Meadow". On 19 March 165[1/]2, Edward Shepard of Cambridge, mariner, sold to "Mr. Richard Champney" of Cambridge "eight acres of land granted unto me by the town of Cambridge, lying on the south side of the river".
On 27 October 1651, Mr. Richard Champney paid the town of Cambridge £46 6s. 8d. for the land where his house stood, and exchanged one hundred acres granted him near Mr. Samuel Shepard's farm for one hundred acres in the small lots south of Roxbury highway. On 10 May 1652, the sale to Elder Champney of eight acres on the south side of the river by John Thrumble was alluded to. In the 1652 division of Shawsheen, Elder Champney drew lot number 83 and received 350 acres.
On 18 October 1652, Joseph Cooke of Cambridge sold to "Mr. Richard Champny of the same town Ruling Elder ... twenty acres of land" in Cambridge, "ten acres part thereof lying on the south side the river near or upon Strawberry Hill and ten acres more in the upper division appertaining to those lots on the south side of Roxbury Highway".
On 28 December 1653, Richard Champney received 3½ acres of woodlot land in the 4th quadrant next to Spy Pond.
On an unknown date in 1655 (but no later than 4 May, when the instrument was acknowledged), John Thrumble of Cambridge, mariner, sold to "Mr. Richard Champny of Cambridge ... ruling elder" "six acres of upland within the limits of Cambridge on the south side of the river, lately granted me by the town of Cambridge ... also eighteen acres of land granted me by the town of Cambridge on the same side the river". On 10 December 1655, Edward Collins of Medford, merchant, sold to "Richard Champney of Cambridge ... ruling elder of the Church of Chrisst there" "five hundred acres of land lying and being within the limits of Shawshin (alias Billerica) granted unto me the said Edward Collins". On 6 March 1656[/7?], "Mary Chamberline of Chelmsford the wife of Thomas Chamberline do hereby acknowledge myself freely to resign up all my right & interest in the farm purchased of Mr. Thomas Dudley lying in the bounds of Billerica" to ten men, including Richard Champney.
On 11 January 1657[/8?], the town granted Elder Champney liberty to his nineteen acres laid out at Strawberry Hill. On 14 April 1662, the town agreed to allow the lands granted Mr. Richard Champney at Alewife meadow "not excepted for highways or sold to Francis Whitmore, be entered in the name of Mr. Edmond Frost". In the eighth division, "Elder Champney" received three acres. In the 1664/5 division of the cow common, "Richard Champnye" received forty acres and two commons.
On 25 November 1663, Richard Champney of Cambridge sold to Francis Whitmore of Cambridge, tailor, "one parcel of land, lying & being within the limits of the said town abovenamed, containing all that my land, both meadows and uplands & swamps that lyeth in or about Alewife Meadow, the whole being by estimation about twenty acres". On 24 November 1665, James Parker and Thomas Chamberlin of Chelmsford, planters, sold to "Richard Champney of Cambridge ... yeoman" "several parcels of land, all of them being within the limits and bounds of Billerica ... and a part of the farm by us purchased of Thomas Dudley Esq. deceased".
On 25 January 1665[/6?], "Richard Champney of Cambridge ... yeoman" sold to Thomas Browne of Cambridge, planter, forty acres on the south side of Charles River in Cambridge. On the same day, Thomas Browne of Cambridge, planter, sold to "Richard Champney of the same place, yeoman," seven acres of marshland on the south side of Charles River in Cambridge, "together with a small parcel of upland within the same bounds, reserving to myself of the said marsh one rod broad for a way or passage".
On 21 April 1666, "Richard Champney of Cambridge ... yeoman" sold to Edward Devotion of Boston, yeoman, "one parcel of marshland situate, lying and being in Cambridge saltmarshes on the south side of Charles River and is a part of that lot sometime Mr. Thomas Shepard's deceased containing by estimation three acres [and] a half".
On 12 October 1668, "Mr. Richard Champnis" resigned up his interest in the house right "that appertained to William Wadsworth unto his son-in-law John Hastins".
In his will, dated 30 June 1669 and proved 21 December 1669, "Richard Champney of Cambridge" bequeathed to "my loving faithful wife Jane Champney ... the two best rooms in my dwelling house, entire to herself, with liberty of the cellar room for her use while she remains my widow" and some cattle and household goods, "and in case she do marry again, then she shall have only that part of our household stuff which she brought with her to me, on our marriage ... and in lieu of the thirds of my house & lands I do give her fifteen pounds per annum during her life"; to "my 3 daughters - Ester Convars, Mary French & Lidea Champney" £100 apiece and "all those lands lately granted and laid out unto me by the town of Billerica, to be equally divided among them"; to "Harvard College ... as an expression of my willingness to further the education of youth in all Godly literature" "those lands lately laid out unto me by the town of Cambridge near to the falls on Charles River, containing forty acres"; to "Daniel Gookin the eldest son of the worshipful Captain Dan[iel] Gookin" £5; to "Nathaniel Mitchell son of the Reverend Mr. Jonathan Mitchell, pastor of the Church of Christ in this place," £5; and the residue to "my two sons Samuel Champney & Daniel Champney," with detailed division of the lands, they to be executors; witnesses: William Boardman, William Barritt. An undated codicil included additional bequests, to "my son John Hastings four acres of marsh adjoining to Goodman Devotion's marsh"; and to "Josiah Converse one load of hay yearly".
The inventory of the estate of "Mr. Richard Champney ruling elder of the Church of Christ in Cambridge," taken 14 December 1669, totalled £1449 16s., of which £1260 was real estate: "house, barns, yards & orchard," £120; "plowlands, pasture & woodlands adjoining," £450; "meadowland & other woodlands," £650; and a "piece of land lying near the lower falls," £40. An additional inventory, taken 8 December 1669, of lands at Billerica, totalled £410 12s.: "Samuel Champney's farm at Shawshinock, containing 500 acres, with one dwelling house," £240; "Daniel Champnye's 2 shares & a half of Mr. Dudlye's farm besides what was sold," £140; and "other lands granted by the town of Billerica to the elder in several parcels being 126 acres & 1/4 upland & 6 acres 3/4 & 20 pole meadow," £30 12s.