Reed Stanley Richardson
1920-2008
What you are about to read are the first twelve pages of Reed's 200-page personal history. In it he takes
his--and probably your--ancestry back seven generations:
Reed Stanley Richardson & Ancestors
Genealogical research and the recording of personal history confirms the fact that everyone should keep records, whether for their own personal history or for their posterity. Research has proven this statement to be true because of the difficulty in locating information on a parent, grandparent, etc., when no specific records have been kept.
This effort covers information that has been found up to this point in time relative to my ancestors, which to my very great regret, has not been as much as I would like, even information on my own father. I have attempted to find out as much as I can about each of my ancestors that I might know some of these things which have become part of me and what I am today. Along with what ancestral information I have been able to find, I am including my own personal history in the hopes that my descendants won't be faced with a like problem.
Note the pedigree charts included at the end of this publication for direct line relationships. I have all individual family information from this pedigree on computer disks (Personal Ancestral File) and will share as needed.
ROBERT RICHARDSON 7th GG
Part of the following information has been taken from Film #897279 at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. It was compiled (and very well documented) by Harry M. Richardson of Broken Bow, Nebraska. He is the founder of the "Richardson Heritage Society". Information has been confirmed by other records in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.
Robert Richardson, born in England in 1615, embarked from Gravesend, England, April 3, 1635, in the ship "Paul", for St. Christophus, with Shipmaster Jo: Acklin. (Hotten "Emigrants to America", Page 50.) He landed near Pongateaque, Accomack County, Virginia, marrying Susanna Smith, daughter of Richard Smith. (At the time of this writing, no records have been found about Robert Richardson's birthplace in England or who his parents were.)
In 1666, he received a land patent for 500 acres of land, near Pongateaque, Accomack County, Virginia. This land was adjoining the land of his deceased father-in-law, Richard Smith. By 1668, he and his wife sold most of the land. (Whitelaws "Virginia Eastern Shore", Pages 600,1,2). Robert Richardson then patented 2,000 acres of land in then Somerset County, Maryland (now Worcester County) and called his plantation "Mount Ephraim, Boqueternorton Hundred". It was on or near Sinepuxent Bay on the Ocean Side of the Eastern Shore of Maryland. (Virginia Patent Book #6, Page 35). Robert Richardson died September 10, 1682. (Somerset County Land Records Liber IKL. Folio 232, Hall of Records, Annapolis, Md.) His will dated Dec. 20, 1680, and Codicils dated April 20, 1681, and June 15, 1682, was probated Nov. 29, 1682, with his wife Susannah, Executor, naming his children William, Elizabeth, Tabitha, Susannah, Robert, Sarah, and Charles. Charles was to receive his plantation after his wife's death. Also mentioned was his neighbor and friend, John Osborne. Robert Richardson is thought to be buried at Mount Ephraim, Boquetenorten Hundred, Worcester County, Maryland.
WILLIAM RICHARDSON 6th GG
William Richardson, son of Robert Richardson above, was an ardent member of the Society of Friends (Quakers) in Anne Arundel County in Maryland. He was married to Elizabeth Ewen Talbott, who was the daughter of a Major Richard Ewen and wife, Sophia. She had previously married a Richard Talbott who had died and then married William Richardson. They had eight children - four sons, William, Daniel, Joseph (died as a child) another Joseph, & four daughters, Sophia Elizabeth, Sapphira, Elizabeth, and Sarah. William died in 1698 and Elizabeth Ewen Talbott Richardson died in 1703.
Information from Quaker records as published in the book "Quakers in The Founding of Anne Arundel County, Maryland" by J. Reaney Kelley (FHC Bk. No. 975.255 F2k, US/Can) indicates as follows:
Page 14 - "While there is no proof that Richard Ewen became a Friend, it is known that in 1657 he refused to take an oath and declared it unlawful to do so. His daughter, Elizabeth, married, first, Richard Talbott, and, second, William Richardson both well-known and ardent Friends."
Page 37 - "William Richardson was the first signer of this Testimony. Prior to 1680 he acquired a tract of land in the West River Hundred named 'Watkins Hope.' A part of this land is now known as 'Woodstock, and is located between Owensville and the Old Quaker Burying Ground. An historic roadside marker, indicating the general location of his house, calls attention to a visit by William Penn to Richardson in 1682, after the memorable conference between the former and Charles, Third Lord Baltimore, 'at the house of Col. Thomas Tailler,' where the two had discussed the boundaries of Maryland and Pennsylvania. Colonel Taillor's home was only a few miles away, just below South River. The tract now known as 'Etowah Farm', on State Route 2, includes a part of the Taillor plantation. From Richardson's house Penn traveled a short distance to attend a Meeting at the house of Thomas Hooker, Sr., near West River Landing, and from there he embarked for the Eastern Shore. Quaker Meetings were held at the house of William Richardson, who was a Quaker minister, until his death in 1697."
Additional information shows - "Soon after 1663, William Richardson, Sr., married Elizabeth, widow of Richard Talbott of 'Poplar Knowle,' now 'Tulip Hill,' and daughter of Richard Ewen of nearby 'Ewen Upon Ewenton,' today known as 'Cedar Park.' He was fined for not taking an oath on November 10, 1662, but later held an important position in Lord Baltimore's government,' serving as a member of the Lower House of the General Assembly in 1678. In 1683, at a meeting of the General Assembly at John Larkin's house, now 'Larkins Hills,' in the area called The Ridge, Richardson argued in favor of making West River Landing a port of entry for that area, a development not accomplished until the next year. Richardson was appointed as one of the commissioners to survey and manage the building of a courthouse at Londontowne on South River, another instance of a Quaker holding a position in the Maryland government. He died in 1698, and his will, dated December 21, 1691, was probated on April 2, 1698. He left a substantial estate of which his wife, Elizabeth, was given the home plantation 'Watkins Hope,' and he remembered his beloved Quaker Church."
JOSEPH RICHARDSON 5th GG
Joseph Richardson was also an ardent member of the Society of Friends like his father. He was "the fifth child and fourth son of William Richardson". He was born 3 Apr 1678 in Anne Arundel County in Maryland. He married Sarah Thomas 25 Aug 1705. This Sarah Thomas is of royal descent, with the line going back to Edward I, King of England, and his second wife, Margaret, daughter of Philip III, King of France. This Thomas Line is shown in Pedigree XXI of "Americans of Royal Descent" by Charles H. Browning, 1894, Vol. 1, pp 80-81. Joseph died 18 Aug 1748. They had nine children, one of whom was my 4th great grandfather, John Richardson. (See pedigree charts and family group sheets at the end of this history.)
JOHN RICHARDSON 4th GG
John Richardson, Sr., shows as born 19 March, 1720/21 to Joseph Richardson and Sarah Thomas, in Maryland. He shows up in the book "Side-Lights on Maryland History", Page 280, by Harriet Dorsey Richardson, as being in the Militia of Somerset Co., Maryland, in Capt. William McClamy's Company as of 24 March, 1749. Serving with him is Peter Claywell, later found with John in Virginia. This verifies that it was this John Richardson, son of Joseph Richardson, who came to Virginia from Maryland with Peter Claywell. He is also found in the Fairfax County, Virginia, records as a witness with a Thomas Snow in 1748. He is shown with Sarah Richardson (his mother) in 1750 in this same county, with a Daniel Jenkins in a release of a lease to Bradley Garner. He is also found with this Thomas Snow in Lunenburg Co., Va., in 1752. Additional records show him in the Virginia Militia of Bedford County in 1758 as a "Serjant", along with John Snow and Henry Snow. Other records show him unmarried, living in Virginia with his widowed mother, Sarah, in Fairfax Co., Va. The father, Joseph, showed as having died in Maryland in 1748. John was again shown with Sarah Richardson and a Daniel Jenkins in a Lease and Release of 100 acres in Fairfax County, Va.
One of the reasons that John Richardson must have left Maryland and gone to Virginia, was an act passed by the General Assembly of Virginia in 1738, designed to encourage the settlement of lands found in what was later to become Lunenberg County. The act provided that anyone who moved into that territory "shall be exempted from the payment of public, county, and parish levies, until the expiration of the said ten years." This was a great incentive at the time, and there were many who took advantage of it, including John Richardson who settled in the area. Records indicate that he acquired 745 acres on the branches of Seneca Creek and Troublesome Creek showing title granted on 1 August, 1772, and an additional 192 acres "on both sides of Ward's Road, including the head of Wainwrights's Grave Branch", on 20 July 1780. Peter Claywell, who was with him in the Maryland Militia, also shows as obtaining title to 182 acres "on the ridge between Flatcreek and Troublesome Creek." These properties were in the newly created Bedford County.
Sarah Snow was the first wife of John Richardson (Sr.) and the mother of his children. This is evidenced in a later document showing Dolly, or Dorothy Richardson, his second wife, giving consent to the marriage of Elizabeth Richardson, John's daughter, to a Thomas Rowzie/Rowsey, but not listed as the mother of the bride as was customary. Dolly, or Dorothy, is later shown in John's will administered in 1790.
It is of interest to note another article stating that "John Richardson, was of birth, a Quaker in good standing: but in the year 1773, he was baptized, 'dipped in the water', and dismissed. After repudiating his actions, he was reinstated in 1774, then upon learning of his participating in the Baptist Meetings, he was again dismissed in 1775. This was the John Richardson who wrote his will in such a manner and style to have given his testimony as being a Born Again Christian, which was Baptist Doctrine."
It appears that John Richardson spent the rest of his life on this large "plantation" as he later called his property in his will dated May 8, 1782. The wording of his will is such that one has to believe that he was a righteous, God fearing man. It reads in part "That is to say principally and first of all, I give and recommend my soul into the hands of God that gave it and for my body I recommend it to the earth, to be buried in a Christian like and decent manner, at the discretion of my executors, nothing doubting, wherewith it has pleased God to bless me with, I give, devise, and dispose of the same ------ ".
It goes on to leave his possessions to his wife Dorothy, four sons, George, John, Morgan and William and to five daughters, Jane, Mary, Judy, Elizabeth, and Sally. As mentioned above, Sarah Snow was his first wife who died and Dorothy his second wife.
It goes on to leave his possessions to his wife Dorothy, four sons, George, John, Morgan and William and to five daughters, Jane, Mary, Judy, Elizabeth, and Sally. As mentioned above, Sarah Snow was his first wife who died and Dorothy his second wife.GEORGE RICHARDSON 3rd GG
My third great grandfather Richardson was George, the son of John mentioned above. A Peter Claywell family lived on Troublesome Creek near the plantation of John Richardson. A Maryland will book No. 24, Page 41, Feb. 15, 1744, showed a Peter Claywell leaving his properties to sons Shadrack, Thomas, Peter, and Soloman, and daughters Elizabeth Hill, Comfort Page, and Mary Bond. It is believed that it was this Comfort Page who became George's wife. George Richardson fought in the Revolutionary War and in his application for a pension for this military service, Shadrack Claywell testified for George as having served with him, and that he was a "near neighbor of George Richardson" in Bedford County, Virginia. One cannot help but imagine the friendships developed between George Richardson and Shadrack Claywell as they grew up together, went off to fight together, and later testified for each other as to their service in the military together.
Records indicate that George Richardson and Comfort Claywell were married about 1780 and that they later moved to Cumberland County, Kentucky, in 1802, via Tennessee. Again, one cannot help but conjecture as to the hardships involved in this frontier country in making such a move. The naming of his first three sons shown in his will dated 11 April, 1837, reflects biblical familiarity since they were named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. It is believed that these sons were born prior to their move from Virginia. Six other children were named, along with these three sons - daughter Delilah, sons George, Jesse, Morgan, and two more daughters, Rachel and Peggy. It seems that his wife Comfort had died and that he had re-married, naming a wife "Crysee", assumed to be Lucretia, in his will. It is not known for sure whether there were children by this wife, but all indications are that the children were Comfort's.
(Rev.1, 12 Oct, 1995) Of considerable interest is the following information about George Richardson, son of George Richardson above, which was copied from an article written in 1861 by R. Y. Thomas.
"The Rev. George Richardson, An Old Kentucky Preacher."
Rev. George Richardson, late of Logan County, Kentucky, finished his course in great peace and triumph, at his residence, on Saturday morning, May 16th, 1860.
He was born in Cumberland County, Kentucky, April 30, 1804. At the age of fifteen he was powerfully converted and immediately joined the M.E. Church.
In his sixteenth year, he was licensed to exhort and appointed class leader, which position he filled with great acceptability and usefulness to the Church up to the spring of 1823, when he was, by Rev. Peter Cartwright, appointed to the Cumberland Mission. The Mission embraced a portion of the Southern portion of Kentucky, toward the upper sources of the Cumberland River, a mountainous, uncultivated Region.
The people of that region lived in caves and hollows and along the creeks, as they could find room between the lofty elevations. They generally lived in camps and log cabins. Some of them cultivated patches of Indian corn for bread and hominy. They depended on their guns and dogs to procure supplies of bear meat, venison, wild turkey, raccoon, etc. Their customs were of the primitive, backwoods style; dressed buck-skin pants, hunting shirts and moccasins, while wool hats or coonskin caps completed their usual wardrobes. As to churches and schoolhouses, they had none, and of course, felt no need of books. There were men and women there, for whom Jesus died who, at the age of twenty-five, had never heard a gospel sermon. To the tyranny of fashion, the cares and trammels of refined life, they were strangers.
As to the paraphernalia of fashionable dress, center tables, melodeons, pianos, etc., they belonged not to their vocabulary. And as to wagons and glass lights, such things many of them had never seen. Free from the cares and trammels of refined society, among the men, their chief delight consisted in having a gun on the shoulder, shot pouch on their side, butcher knife on the other, and a pack of bear dogs at their heels. They devoted their days to sporting and their evenings to feasting, dancing and hunting stories.
To and among this rude and uncultivated people, the Rev. T. C. Carpenter preached occasionally for a number of years before there was any regular organization of societies or missions. God blessed his labors in the conversion of a good many souls.
In 1822, the Cumberland Mission was regularly organized and appended by Bishop McKendree to the Cumberland District, Peter Cartwright, presiding elder.
The first missionary selected for this field of labor was Wm. Chambers, a conscientious brother, of sedate appearance, plain in his dress and address, a good preacher.
In the fall of 1822, he took charge of the parish, new and fresh, not "gospel-hardened", but wholly uncultivated. The prospect of usefulness reconciled him to his privations.
But the natives received him with suspicion. They regarded him as an enemy who had come to spy out their liberties. This was of course groundless. Bro. Chambers was a good man and desired only their salvation yet suspicion led to prejudice and prejudice to violence in his ejection. He soon became convinced that retreat to the land of civilization was best, if not his only means of safety and acted accordingly. So matters remained that winter, the missionary driven off and the field in the hands of the enemy.
Brother Cartwright did not relish the defeat so well and deemed the enterprise worth another trial. So in the spring of 1823, Cartwright, on his regular rounds of quarterly meetings, was introduced to Brother Richardson, a stalwart, young Kentuckian, about nineteen years of age, but large and well formed. He was not yet a regular licensed preacher, but a zealous exhorter and a candidate for the itinerant ministry.
Cartwright first took his physical dimensions and found them sufficiently imposing. He was nearly six feet high, broad-set, with well developed muscles, indicating both strength and activity. His mental powers accorded well with his physical. With only a plain english education, he evinced strong common sense and ready wit. His general bearing was fearless, but respectful. Brother Cartwright concluded he was the man he needed, and the following conversation, in substance, occurred: (Cartwright) "Brother Richardson, I want you to take charge of the Cumberland Mission. Those fellows up there have driven Bro. Chambers off, but it won't do for us to deliver them over to the devil without another effort to save them and I want to give them a strong pull. They must be converted somehow, and if you can't convert them with the gospel, do it with your fist." (Richardson) "Well, that is just the sort of place I should like to go to."
The appointment of Bro. Richardson to the mission was settled, and with the least possible delay he was off to his work. His first public demonstration was made at the shiretown of a new county where his hamlet consisted of two log cabins, one of which was called the court house and the other the tavern. Richardson
stopped at the latter and preached at the former. The public service over, he returned to the tavern and was reading his Bible, when and where he received an unceremonious call from some of his parishioners. The seat he occupied was an imperfect imitation of a chair, of some manufacture, strong, and heavy, but roughly finished. While he was alone, quietly reading, four young men stepped in and made a rude attack upon him. At first he tried to reason with them that he was a lone, unoffending stranger and not disposed to have any personal difficulty; to all of which they made no reply, but profanely affirmed their fixed purpose to flog him and drive him from their country as they had driven Chambers. As they crowded towards him to make the assault, Richardson rose up and placed the large chair between him and his assailants, and holding it firmly with both hands, took his position deliberately and gave them fair warning that if they rushed upon him they must take the consequences.
But, four against one, they were confident of success and determined to give him a flogging. They, however, proceeded cautiously; two went on each side so that while fending off on one side, they might seize him on the other and thus confuse and overpower him. As they made a pitch altogether, he struck to the left and knocked down one, then quick as thought, swung his chair to the right and knocked down another. The other two began to back when he made a motion as if he would floor them also, but they precipitately left the room, as did the two slain also as fast as they could scramble up. So ended the first attempt to drive the new minister from the field. With the room once clear and quiet, he resumed his chair and finished his chapter, but little discomposed by what had transpired. He then called for his horse, rode four miles to the country, called for lodging at the house of a professed infidel, was taken in, stayed all night, reported what had occurred at the village and received from said infidel the present of a horse as a compliment for his valor in defending himself against the assault of the above mentioned young men.
His next appointment was some way off. When he reached the place, the cabin was full of women and the yard full of men, many of whom, perhaps, felt more interest in seeing the preacher licked than in hearing him preach. While securing his horse and removing his saddle bags, five young men surrounded him, when the greeting proceeded in this wise: "Are you the preacher?" "I have come in the preachers place." "We are honest people up here in the mountains and don't allow horse thieves, counterfeiting preachers to go among us. We know you can't preach any, but just for the fun of it, we'll let you try and then we will lick you and send you off as we did the other fellow. We understand it. "As soon as I can get ready, I will let you know whether I can preach or not, and as far as that other thing is concerned, it cant be done." "I am a man of peace and come to bring the peaceful gospel. Of course fighting is not my line, but when compelled to fight in self defense, I am a very dangerous man. If I chose to engage in that kind of sport I would not ask an easier task than to whip half a dozen men, all on me at once."
Passing through the crowd, Richardson then took his position in the cabin door and commenced the public service in the usual way, using his pocket edition of the hymn book and Bible. The women ceased their merry chat to stare and listen to the stranger and the men drew up in a solid square outside. During the sermon the power of God came down on the people and many, indoors and out, felt like men shot in battle and some shrieked aloud for mercy, and among the slain, were the five bullies pledged to lick the preacher. Sermon ended, Richardson passed on his knees, through the house and yard, exhorting and praying. The meeting held to near night. Many souls were converted. At the close, Richardson stated the terms of admission and proposed to form a class of probationers for membership. The people came freely, and among those who joined, were the five chivalrous blades who suffered the preacher to proceed only for fun before they were to give him a drubbing.
How were the mighty fallen. Before Richardson reached his first appointment, his fame preceded him. Rumors became rife that a young giant was in the land, fully as strong as Samson who slew the Philistines with the jaw bone of an ass, and in conformance of this it was alleged that Richardson had licked four stout men, all on him at once at the court house, that he did it in a minute, and that without receiving a blow or a scratch. It was further alleged that he preached with such power as to knock a man down every lick at a distance of ten steps. Great curiosity was excited. Many were awe-stricken and the whole community was agitated. All opposition ceased, all the people were kind to the missionary.
In the autumn of 1822, Bro. Richardson came to the conference, saying, as he found no organization, he assumed the duties of a minister, a class leader, steward, trustee, exhorter, local preacher, preacher in charge, presiding elder, bishop, and all, and as a result of that piece of a years work, he reported a mission circuit formed and two hundred and sixty one names enrolled as probationers for Church membership.
In the fall of 1823, he entered the traveling connection on trial in the Kentucky Conference and was appointed to the Greenville Circuit. At the Conference of 1824, he was appointed to the Henderson Circuit.
He was ordained deacon at Russelville, September 25, 1825, by Bishop McKendree and appointed to the Livingston Circuit.
In the fall of 1826, he was sent to the Little River Circuit, with L.W. Wooden as colleague.
These circuits were large, embracing a vast extent of territory, what is embraced now in the districts of several presiding elders. They averaged about twenty four to thirty two appointments, to be filled once in every four weeks.
Here he labored with great zeal and success. Hundreds in the bounds of these circuits were converted and joined the M.E. Church, through his mentality. He did the work of an itinerant preacher.
During the year he labored in the Little River Circuit, he ruptured a blood vessel about the lungs and utterly failed in health and at conference in the fall of 1827, he was superannuated, which relation he sustained up to the fall of 1830, when he was ordained elder by Bishop McKendree, again made effective and appointed to the Logan Circuit, which he filled with great acceptability and usefulness to the Church. This year closed Brother Richardson's Itinerant labors. At Conference, in the fall of 1831, he was again placed on the superannuated list, which relation he sustained for several years. Having lost all hope of ever regaining sufficient health to do the work in the itinerant field, at the Conference of 1836, he asked and obtained a location, which relation he sustained till God called him from "labor to refreshment."
He settled in Logan County, Kentucky, near Russellville, where he lived until he exchanged the tears and sorrows of earth for the smiles and songs of Paradise.
As a divine, he was doctrinal, and able defender of the policy of the Methodist Church. As a local preacher he was faithful, zealous and useful. He preached a great deal when his health would permit and that with great success. During his local ministry, hundreds were converted through his instrumentality.
He was devoted to the Methodist Church, her institutions and peculiarities. He loved the itinerancy and was the unswerving friend of the faithful itinerant minister. He was religious from principle, a minister because the "Love of Christ" constrained him. It was the big business of his life to get ready to die. And in this his labor was not vain in the Lord.
For thirty years he was the subject of frequent attacks of severe afflictions. His last illness was severe and protracted, but he bore it with patience and christian fortitude. I visited him for the last time a few weeks before his death. I found him able to walk about the room, but conscious of his approaching dissolution. We prayed together for the last time and God was pleased to hear. Said he to me, "Afflictions though severe are blessings in mercy sent."
He often prayed during his illness that he might be delivered from the insupportable pain that he was trying to endure with resignation. About a week before he died, conscious that his dissolution was rapidly approaching, he requested that his family should all be called into his room, expressing a desire to talk with them, perhaps, for the last time, upon the importance of living so at last to meet in Heaven. His wife and children, all being present, he addressed them individually, admonishing all so to live and act through life as at last to meet in glory, where "sickness and sorrow, pain and death are felt and feared no more." He said, "I soon shall be there, I long to lay down this mortal body that I may put on Immortality."
To his dear wife, he said,"Weep not for me, nor think of me when I am gone as one reposing in the cold clay, but as a happy spirit at home with God."
Such views of the atonement, such exultation in prospect of eternal life were not realized by him before. There was not a shadow of a doubt of his acceptance with God. Relying on the exceeding great and precious promises of the gospel, he shouted aloud in prospect of immortality.
After the interview with his family, he spoke but seldom, shut out from the world and with God, he seemed to be unconscious of all about him.
He remained thus until Saturday morning, May 26, when he passed from his sufferings to God and Glory, without a groan or struggle. His funeral sermon was preached by the Rev. B. Stevenson at his residence, to a large and deeply affected audience of his friends and relatives. His mortal remains were laid to rest in the old family grave-yard to await the resurrection of the just.
--By R. Y. Thomas (1861)
SHADRACH RICHARDSON 2nd GG
George's oldest son Shadrach was my second great grandfather, born in 1781 in Bedford County, Virginia. He was nearly twenty one years old when they moved to Kentucky and records indicate that he married a Mary Elizabeth Garrett, known as "Betsy". It is not known whether they knew each other prior to their move or not, since no specific information has been found relative to her family. It is believed that she was the daughter of a Thomas Garrett who lived in Cumberland County not far from the Richardson farm on Illwill Creek near Burkesville, Kentucky.
Shadrach and Betsy raised a family of twelve children, seven sons named Solomon, Montillion, Shadrach (Jr.), Thomas, Lorenzo, George, and John and daughters Zannastacia, Delilah, Comfort, Polly, and Betsy. In 1833, they moved with their family of twelve children to Cass County, Illinois near Beardstown. In a book, History of Cass County by William Henry Perrin, information is given about the type of country where Shadrach took his family in an effort to provide for them. They took up residence on land known as the Frederick Bower farm located on the "sickly bottoms of the Sangamon (river)". "The early settlers feared these bottoms--they feared the floods, ague, and fevers and would not expose themselves and their families to such supposed dangers." Frederick Bower and his family were one of the "first settlers that dare risk life and health on the sickly bottoms of the Sangamon of which there was so much dread." These first settlers were compelled to go to Jacksonville for their mail, groceries, etc., until a small store was started at Beardstown. They underwent extreme hardship during the winter of "the big snow" in 1830. Supplies were unavailable and food became extremely scarce. Livestock died and people lost their lives.
This was the place that Shadrach led his family to in 1833. On the bright side is the description of the area--"During the autumn of 1830, previous to the big snow, wild fruit was very abundant; plums, berries, and grapes have never seemed so plenty since. Wild bees were numerous and honey very plentiful; bees seemed to flourish in a wild state better than they have in later years. The bottoms were then, during the summer months, but a vast and unbroken ocean of beautiful flowers, whose sweetness were ample to the wants of the buzzing millions which fed upon them." One must conjecture that Shadrach saw this place in the summer and loved it. They lived here for some time (assumed to be about four years) when they moved to Keg Creek, Mills County, Iowa.
Quoting from my aunt, Mrs. Sarah E. Richardson Burgin, "In this new country the children of Shadrach and Betsy grew up and developed strong healthy bodies and sturdy characters. In this same county lived a gallant little widow by the name of Sarah Scott Stewart. She had a large family of boys and girls. The two families were very friendly and the children grew up to maturity together. They worked and played and took an important part in the civic and social life of the community. Benjamin Franklin Stewart courted and married Polly Richardson in 1837. That same year the two families, Richardson and Stewart, moved to Iowa. The Stewart family settled in Fox River, Van Buren county, and the Richardsons in Keg Creek, Mills County. They did not lose track of one another, however, and in 1839 Shadrach Richardson (Jr.) married Lavina Stewart."
SHADRACH RICHARDSON, Jr. GG
Shadrach Richardson and Lavina Stewart were my great grandparents and suffered many additional hardships. Quoting again from Mrs. Sarah Burgin - "They made their home on Keg Creek where seven children were born to them, five of whom died in infancy". Here again one has to wonder at the stamina of such people who labored in these frontier settings without benefit of any kind of a hospital or doctor. Continuing with the quotation- "In the year 1849 like a tidal wave the gold rush to California spread over the country causing people to leave everything and go westward. By the year 1851 this gold fever had struck the little settlement of Keg Creek, Iowa. Shadrach (Jr.) and Lavina Richardson felt the urge to try their fortune in this new land and so they made the necessary arrangements to start this long and dangerous journey. Taking what belongings they could carry in a prairie schooner and their two little boys, Shadrach Montgomery and William Willshire (my grandfather), they joined the Truman Tryon wagon train company and started the long and hard journey across the great unknown country to the dream land of the west."
After suffering many hardships, they arrived in Payson, Utah, in the fall of 1852, weary and footsore, but hoping to go on to California. They rested while visiting their brother and sister, Benjamin Franklin and Polly Richardson Stewart, but the trials and hardships incident to their journey across the plains proved too much for Lavina and she passed away in December, 1852, leaving her two little boys and their father to the mercy and kindness of relatives and the good people of Payson, Utah. Lavina was one of the first to be buried in the Payson cemetery. After the death of his wife, Shadrach had no more desire to go on to California so decided to make his home in Utah."
"In 1857, he was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and in 1860, he married a widow by the name of Sarah Haskel Aimes. Four children were born to them, three boys and one girl, Thomas, David, Lavina and Richard. In 1868 he was again left alone with a little family to take care of when Sarah died. He was both father and mother to them, always patient and kind and understanding." (Here again, one can read between the lines and see the great character displayed by these people as they underwent such hardships, sorrows, and pain.)
"In 1869, Shadrach (Jr.) homesteaded a piece of ground in Benjamin on which he built a log cabin near a bubbling spring of very warm water. (This was later to become the Arrowhead swimming resort). When the home was built he moved his little family in. This was a home for them until they were all old enough to go out and establish homes for themselves. Grandfather had the ability to make and hold friends among the young people as well as the old, and his home was the gathering place for all the young people of the community. He died at the home of his oldest son Shadrach Montgomery Richardson, June 18, 1890, at the age of 74 years." (Benjamin, Utah)
WILLIAM WILSHIRE RICHARDSON, GF
Again, quoting from my aunt Sarah E. Richardson Burgin, (I always knew her as Aunt Lizzie) she tells about her father, my grandfather, William Wilshire Richardson:
"He did not remember his mother as she died shortly after they arrived in Payson, Utah, in 1852 when he was two years old. His boyhood days were spent in Payson in about the normal way of most pioneer children. He attended school enough to learn to read and write. He never had a pair of shoes until he was twelve years old. His father went to the canyon and cut a load of wood and hauled it to Provo where he traded it for one pair of shoes. That is how hard the times were. Father said many was the time he went sliding down hill barefooted in midwinter or at best with his feet wrapped in burlap or skins of animals."
"While he was not old enough to take any active part in any of their Indian wars, he stood guard many a night with the boys and men. He herded the settlers sheep and cattle down in what is known as the slough bottoms from the time he was nine years old until they moved to Benjamin. With his father he took an active part in the amusements of the little community. William Wilshire wore a mustache and was quite proud of its size. One day while burning greasewood he burned his mustache off. There was a dance that night, but nothing daunted he made a mustache of black goat's hair and went to the dance quite proud of himself. During the evening he had a great time trying to kiss the girls. One prim little miss by the name of Sarah Jane Hone, a newcomer in the community, wanted to know 'who that big stiff was who thought himself so smart.' They were introduced and he took her home."
"In the year 1873, he was called to go to St. George, Utah, to work on the temple. He courted his sweetheart (Sarah Jane Hone) by letter until he was released to come home. After he returned home he obtained a section of land in the south part of town and settled down to farming. On October 16, 1879, he was married to Sarah Jane Hone by The Reverend George W. Leonard at Springville, Utah."
It appears that my grandfather, William Wilshire Richardson was baptized at the age of eight according to the standard policies of the church. At the time of his marriage to Sarah Jane Hone, she was not a member of the church, and was baptized August 31, 1884. In March of 1885, they made the long trip with an ox team to Logan, Utah where they received their endowments and were sealed for time and eternity on March 25, 1885. It was of great interest to this writer to know that my grandfather participated in the construction of the temple in St. George, Utah, again demonstrating a good character by his willingness to serve a mission in the building of this temple.
Quoting again from my aunt Sarah Richardson Burgin:
"Father (William Wilshire Richardson Sr.) was in charge of the first Sunday School in Benjamin, and mother was the second president of the Relief Society after the ward was organized. In the year 1892 they sold their home and farm and moved to Fort Bridger, Wyoming where father had taken up a homestead, but due to very severe sickness which broke his health for several years, they lost their land and all their worldly goods. They returned to Benjamin and rented a farm from Andrew Jackson Stewart. For many years father drove a wagon into southern Utah and up into Wyoming and Idaho, and peddled fish and honey, trading for any kind of merchandise his family could use. He freighted for David Hone & Son to the mines in Mercur and Tintic for ten years. He loved the great out of doors and camping out in the open and made friends of the wild animals."
"In 1907 they purchased the old store building on Main Street (Benjamin, Utah) from David Hone and remodeled it for a dwelling place and here spent the remaining years of their lives. They had a family of twelve children, with three dying in infancy." (See the family group sheet for the children of this family)
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Reed Stanley Richardson
1920 ~ 2008
Reed Stanley Richardson died March 31, 2008 of causes incident to age.He was born April 10, 1920 in Manti, Utah to William Wilshire Richardson and Mary Emmaline Dobson. He graduated from East High School in Salt Lake City and was graduated with Honors from University of Utah in Electrical Engineering. He served with the US Navy in World War II in both the Atlantic and the Pacific theatres of war with an honorable discharge at war's end. He married Clella Minerva Widerburg in 1943 in South Mills, North Carolina. She died in 1968. Married Alice Ann Dias in 1974 in Salt Lake City, Utah. She died in 2003. Both marriages were solemnized in Salt Lake City Temple. He was an active member of the LDS church all his life, having served in many ward and stake callings, including as Bishop of the Canyon Rim 4th Ward for over seven years. After retiring to Mesa Arizona in 1985, he served as a worker and supervisor in the Arizona Temple for four years. He then served two family history missions in Mesa and then two more calls at the family history center in Salt lake City. He served an LDS service mission as the assistant project manager for the church in the construction of the Orlando Florida temple. He lived in Orlando from the late 1990's until 2004 when he returned to Utah and lived in Tooele. He worked for Square D Electrical as field engineer and District Sales Manager for 35 years until retirement, making many friends in and out of the electrical industry. He was nominated as the first "Man of the Year" representing electrical manufacturers in 1986 by the Intermountain Electrical Association. He is survived by his youngest son, Dennis George Richardson, his three grandsons Mitchell, Erik and Colin Richardson, daughter-in-law, Marie Anvik Richardson Matthews, and 8 great grand children. His oldest son, William Reed Richardson preceeded him in death in 2002. Viewing will be held at 10:00 am on Saturday, April 12, 2008, followed by funeral services at 11:00 a.m. at the Canyon Rim 4th Ward, 3051 South 2900 East, Salt Lake City, Utah. Interment at Wasatch Lawn Cemetery.
This obituary was published
in the Salt Lake Tribune
from 4/10/2008 to 4/11/2008.
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