Pages 375-376, transcribed by Carolyn Ward from History of Allen and Woodson Counties, Kansas: embellished with portraits of well known people of these counties, with biographies of our representative citizens, cuts of public buildings and a map of each county / Edited and Compiled by L. Wallace Duncan and Chas. F. Scott. Iola Registers, Printers and Binders, Iola, Kan.: 1901; 894 p., [36] leaves of plates: ill., ports.; includes index.



 

  WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS. 375 cont'd

HENRY A. RICHARDSON.

HENRY A. RICHARDSON was born in Ripley county, Indiana, February 18, 1859, and was the eldest of the six children of M. A. and Eliza Richardson. His father was born in Onondaga county, New York, March 12, 1835. The grandfather, Asa Richardson, also a native of the Empire state, married Barbara Babcock, and died in 1870, at the age of sixty-five years. His wife passed away at the age of thirty-five years.

M. A. Richardson, the father of our subject, became a resident of Indiana during his boyhood, and there resided until his removal to Kansas. In the meantime he married Miss Eliza Wylie, a native of Ohio, the wedding being celebrated in 1858. Feeling that his duty was to his country at the time of the Civil war, he enlisted on the 12th of August, 1862, as a member of Company A. Eighty-third Regiment of Indiana Volunteers, serving for three years, in which time he participated in the battles of Arkansas Post, Helena Arkansas, Chickaniauga, Grand Gulf, Champion Hills, Black River Bridge, both charges of Vicksburg, the battle of Jackson Mississippi, and many smaller engagements, displaying his bravery and valor on many occasions. After the stars and stripes were planted in the capital of the Confederacy he received an honorable discharge, August 27, 1865, and returned to his Indiana home. In 1872 he came to Allen county, Kansas, settling on a farm, and both he and his wife are now residents of Savonburg. He is still a vigorous and energetic man and assists his son Henry in the conduct of his business. This worthy couple are people of the highest respectability and have reared a creditable family of six children, namely: Henry A.; Mary, wife of William H. Allen, of Colorado; Lida, wife of William Pullum, of Argentine, Kansas; Lucy, wife of C. H. King, of Bloomington, Ill.; V. B., of Colorado; and Josie, wife of N. W. Mills, of Kansas.

Henry A. Richardson spent the first fourteen years of his life in Indiana and then came with his parents to Allen county, living near the south line in Cottage Grove township. His boyhood days were spent in the work of the farm or in attendance at the district schools, He was married August 5, 1880, to Alice C. Reed, a native of Kentucky, who came to Kansas with her parents in 1870. Mr. Richardson then purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, which he owned and operated until 1886, when he sold out and became identified with commercial interests in Leanna, dealing in all kinds of produce there until 1895, when he removed to Chanute. A year later he took up his abode in Savonburg, and for eight months conducted the City Hotel, but later bought a business property, and has since engaged in dealing in produce with excellent success, his business now amounting to from fifteen to twenty thousand dollars annually. He has always paid the highest market price for produce and

376 HISTORY OF ALLEN AND  

ships in car loads to the city markets. He has won the confidence of all with whom he has thus come in contact, by reason of his honorable business methods.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Richardson have been born six children: Ada, now the wife of August Schwardt, a lumber merchant of Savonburg; Blanche, Edith, Nellie, Flora and Homer, all of whom are still with their parents. Since casting his first presidential vote Mr. Richardson has been a stalwart Republican, and his fellow townsmen, recognizing his worth and ability, have called him to office, so that he is now serving for the third term as constable of his township. He is a member of Savonburg Camp. No. 1271, M. W. A., and is prominent in business, social and political circles.


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