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RICHARD G.
RICHARDS. Prominent among the
citizens of New Haven township is the gentleman whose name
appears at the head of this sketch. He was born Dec. 18,
1819, in Newport, Herkimer county, New York, and is the fifth of
a family of fourteen, the children of Richard and Nancy
Newton Richards. His education was acquired in the
district school of his birthplace. At the age of eighteen
he went to Joliet, Illinois, where he engaged in farming, an
occupation in which he has since acquired the handsome
competency he now enjoys. After a sojourn of less than two
year in Joliet he returned to his native place. Here he
remained until October, 1839, when he came to Ohio and
purchased, on Feb. 6, 1840, the farm of ninety-nine acres, a
portion of which he still occupies. Some eighty-four acres
of this land is platted, and comprises nearly the entire portion
of the village of Chicago Junction lying southwest of the
Baltimore and Ohio railroad. This farm, when first located
by Mr. Richards, was entirely unimproved, and heavily
timbered, but by hard work has been brought to a profitable
state of cultivation. Feb. 22, 1842, Mr. Richards
was united in marriage to Miss Mariah, daughter of
James and Eunice Felton, who came from Wayne county, New
York (where the daughter was born Feb. 15, 1820), locating in
Norwich township immediately south of Havana village, in 1831.
The children of this marriage are: Two infants who died soon
after birth; Ethelbert, who died in infancy; Avis,
who lives at home; John H., who married Emma
Fry, he died July 9, 1875: Charles, who married
Mrs. Emma Richards, and now resides in Will county,
Illinois; Frank, now fitting for the legal profession at
the Theological University, Evingston, Illinois, and Aaron,
who resides with Charles in Illinois.
Mrs. Richards deceased May 4, 1874, of
apoplexy. Some twenty-two years since Mr. and Mrs.
Richards became christians, and united with the Methodist
Episcopal Church in Richmond township, with which Mrs.
Richards continued a faithful and consistent member until
her death, and Mr. Richards until June, 1878,
when, for convenience in attending worship, he withdrew by
letter and united with the United Brethren Church at Chicago
Junction, toward the erection of whose church edifice he aided
materially.
In politics Mr. Richards was first an old
line whig and afterward a republican, one of the staunch and
unwavering kind.
Richard Richards, grandfather of the subject of
this sketch, was one of several brothers, natives of Wales,
England. He married there and reared three sons and one
daughter. He came to the United States immediately
subsequent to the close of the war of the Revolution, and
settled not far from Utica, New York, where he remained during
his life. The children were: David, who died while
crossing the ocean and was buried at sea; Richard, the
father of the present Richard G., who came to Ohio in
June, 1839, locating in New Haven township, where he died in
December, 1842; his wife died in July, 1844; John, who
married Sally Tanner, and died in New York, Dec. 18,
1869, and Gwyn, who married John Jones, and died
in Newport, New York.
Source: 1808 History of the
Firelands comprising Huron and Erie Counties, Ohio - Publ. 1879
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