L. G. Richards. Grant county owes much to the Richards family,
both for the part it has performed in the development of the country
from the wilderness in the early days, and also for its substantial citizenship and high moral influence. Mr. L. G. Richards is now nearly
eighty years of age, has spent all his life in Grant county, is a product of its pioneer schools when all instruction was given in log buildings, and the curriculum was the three R's, and by a long and active career of industry and exceptional business management accumulated an estate which at one time was among the largest in Jefferson township.
His grandfather Henry Richards was born either in Virginia or
Pennsylvania, was an early settler in the state of Ohio, where it is
thought he was married. The maiden name of his wife was Miss Thom,
and during their residence on a farm in Guernsey county, Ohio, their
children were born. These children were : John. Daniel, Susan, Cath-
erine, Jacob. Daniel, who married a Miss Lewis, was a farmer, went
out to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in an early day and lived and died there,
leaving a family. Susan married John Ogan, a farmer, and a number
of years later moved out to Kansas, where they died. Catherine married
Nathan Lewis, a schoolteacher, and soon after their marriage went to
Kansas, where their lives were spent on a farm. Jacob married Susan
Gillispie, and they lived and died in Jefferson township of Grant county, where they were substantial farmers. and of their children some are still living.
Rev. John Richards, father of L. G. Richards, was born in Guernsey
county, Ohio, in 1810 or 1811. His youth was spent on a farm in his
native county, and while there he married Effie Roberts, who was born
in Ohio about 1812-13. After the birth of their first son and child,
Henry, in 1829 or 1830, they came with other member's of the family,
including their parents, to Grant county, locating in the wildwoods. All of the family obtained land in Grant county, grandfather Henry Richards getting two hundred acres, and subsequently accumulating eighty acres more, so that his place consisted of two hundred and eighty acres before his death. All of the sons likewise, took up land, and became pioneer workers in the early decades of Grant county 's histoay. Grandfather Henry Richards died when about seventy years of age, some years before the Civil war, possibly as early as 1850. His wife died even earlier.
Rev. John Richards, after moving to Grant county, acquired and
improved two hundred acres of land. While a prosperous farmer, and
thus providing for the material needs of himself and children, he was
likewise one of the prominent leaders in the Primitive Baptist church.
Largely owing to his efforts, the church known as Harmony was organ-
ized at Matthews. Later he was ordained a preacher, and with saddle-
bags and on horseback pursued his work as an itinerant preacher,
throughout this section of the state traveling hundreds of miles, and
preaching in as many as a hundred different localities. He was one of
the pioneer preachers who visited from cabin to cabin with self-denying earnestness, traveling through the unbroken forests, exhorting, counseling, reproving, as occasion demanded, and was always welcome at the pioneer homes. His was the work of a real evangelist, and many classes were organized by him in this part of the state. His home in Grant county was the headquarters for a large following of primitive Baptists, and as many as one hundred and twenty-five people were entertained at the Richards place during the three days' meetings, some of them coming from long distances, even as much as a hundred miles, riding on horseback, and in every other pioneer conveyance. His work as a preacher went on, and was concluded only with his death. He was a Democrat in politics, and exerted much influence in civic affairs, as well as in religion. He had lived to see what he believed was the end of the Civil war, passing away early in the sixties. His wife died in middle life about 1850, and she was likewise an active worker in the Primitive Baptist church.
Rev. John Richards and wife had six sons and one daughter, men-
tioned as follows : 1. Rev. Henry, Jr., minister of the Primitive Bap-
tist church, organized a class in Coffey county, and later did work, in Oklahoma, where he now lives at the venerable age of eighty-four and still active in his faith. 2. L. G. Richards is the second of the family.
3. Abraham, now living retired in Jefferson township, is seventy-seven
years of age, and has a family of his own. 4. Daniel who died in 1907,
was twice married, and left two sons and one daughter, who are still
living. 5. Jacob, who is in active superintendence of his farm in Jefferson township, was twice married, and four children by his first wife are living. 6. Martha, who lives with her third husband in Albany. Indiana, has children by her first husband. 7. Isaac, occupies a farm in Jefferson township and has two daughters and one son, the latter being Lewis, who is an editor in the state of California.
Mr. L. G. Richards was born in Jefferson township of Grant county,
October 25, 1834. The school which he attended as a boy was in many
ways typical of the pioneer temples of learning. It was built of logs,
had a puncheon floor, the benches were slabs supported by rough legs,
and on either side of the structure a log was left out to admit the light, which came dimly into the room through greased paper. The writing desk was a broad board supported on a slant by pins driven into the walls. During his early work at home he earned enough to buy eighty acres of land, and from that start, by industry, economy, and energy, increased his holdings until at one time he was the possessor of nine hundred and sixty acres of as fine land as was to be found in Jefferson township. A part of the land lay in Delaware county. To each of his children he has given a farm, and every one is improved with excellent buildings. Mr. Richards still keeps one hundred and ninety-two acres for the home place, on section three, and the improvements there are of the best class. For many years he has grown on a large scale, the regular crops of this country, and has fed his product to hogs and cattle.
Though his prosperity has been exceptional, his dealings with his com-
munity have always been of the strictest honor and probity, and as an
illustration of this fact it can be said that he was never engaged in a law suit, either as defendant or plaintiff, in all his life.
In the accumulation of his generous property he had a noble and
thrifty woman as his helpmate. Her maiden name was Mary E. Craw,
and she was born in Jefferson township, December 11, 1834, dying
May 27, 1900. She was the mother of three daughters and two sons,
namely: 1. Rev. J. William, a farmer, has charge as pastor of the
Harmony Primitive Baptist church. He married Emma Harris, and has
two sons and one daughter. 2. David L., who now owns and occupies
a part of the home farm, is an official in the Matthews State Bank; he
married Lois Fergus, and they have two daughters. 3. Lucina, by her
marriage to Harmon Newburger, has one son. She is now the wife of
Rufus Nottingham, and they have one son and three daughters. 4.
Mollie died after her marriage to Frank H. Kirkwood, whose sketch
will be found elsewhere in these pages. 5. Rena is the wife of John
W. Himelick, a well known Grant county citizen, sketched elsewhere.
Mr. Richards for his second wife married Miss Maria Martin, who
was born in Fayette county, Indiana, February 18, 1837, and from four-
teen years of age was reared in Delaware county, living in the city of
Muncie. Her parents were Russell P. and Ida A. Martin. Her father
was born in Ohio, October 26, 1807, and died March 22, 1874, while her
mother was born in New Jersey, September 27, 1807, and died November
7, 1902. Both died in Delaware county. They were married in Ohio,
and soon afterwards came to Fayette county, Indiana, where her father
followed his regular trade of brick mason and plasterer. They belonged
to the Primitive Baptist church. Mrs. Richards had three brothers,
Wilson, Robert, and Maxwell, who were soldiers in the Civil war. Two
of them were in a southern prison for some months and one died after
leaving the battlefield stricken with illness. Mr. Richards is a leader in the Primitive Baptist church, and has long been one of its officials. In polities he is a Democrat.
*************************
added by Find A Grave contributor Kristin 47543835
12-21-2013
both for the part it has performed in the development of the country
from the wilderness in the early days, and also for its substantial citizenship and high moral influence. Mr. L. G. Richards is now nearly
eighty years of age, has spent all his life in Grant county, is a product of its pioneer schools when all instruction was given in log buildings, and the curriculum was the three R's, and by a long and active career of industry and exceptional business management accumulated an estate which at one time was among the largest in Jefferson township.
His grandfather Henry Richards was born either in Virginia or
Pennsylvania, was an early settler in the state of Ohio, where it is
thought he was married. The maiden name of his wife was Miss Thom,
and during their residence on a farm in Guernsey county, Ohio, their
children were born. These children were : John. Daniel, Susan, Cath-
erine, Jacob. Daniel, who married a Miss Lewis, was a farmer, went
out to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in an early day and lived and died there,
leaving a family. Susan married John Ogan, a farmer, and a number
of years later moved out to Kansas, where they died. Catherine married
Nathan Lewis, a schoolteacher, and soon after their marriage went to
Kansas, where their lives were spent on a farm. Jacob married Susan
Gillispie, and they lived and died in Jefferson township of Grant county, where they were substantial farmers. and of their children some are still living.
Rev. John Richards, father of L. G. Richards, was born in Guernsey
county, Ohio, in 1810 or 1811. His youth was spent on a farm in his
native county, and while there he married Effie Roberts, who was born
in Ohio about 1812-13. After the birth of their first son and child,
Henry, in 1829 or 1830, they came with other member's of the family,
including their parents, to Grant county, locating in the wildwoods. All of the family obtained land in Grant county, grandfather Henry Richards getting two hundred acres, and subsequently accumulating eighty acres more, so that his place consisted of two hundred and eighty acres before his death. All of the sons likewise, took up land, and became pioneer workers in the early decades of Grant county 's histoay. Grandfather Henry Richards died when about seventy years of age, some years before the Civil war, possibly as early as 1850. His wife died even earlier.
Rev. John Richards, after moving to Grant county, acquired and
improved two hundred acres of land. While a prosperous farmer, and
thus providing for the material needs of himself and children, he was
likewise one of the prominent leaders in the Primitive Baptist church.
Largely owing to his efforts, the church known as Harmony was organ-
ized at Matthews. Later he was ordained a preacher, and with saddle-
bags and on horseback pursued his work as an itinerant preacher,
throughout this section of the state traveling hundreds of miles, and
preaching in as many as a hundred different localities. He was one of
the pioneer preachers who visited from cabin to cabin with self-denying earnestness, traveling through the unbroken forests, exhorting, counseling, reproving, as occasion demanded, and was always welcome at the pioneer homes. His was the work of a real evangelist, and many classes were organized by him in this part of the state. His home in Grant county was the headquarters for a large following of primitive Baptists, and as many as one hundred and twenty-five people were entertained at the Richards place during the three days' meetings, some of them coming from long distances, even as much as a hundred miles, riding on horseback, and in every other pioneer conveyance. His work as a preacher went on, and was concluded only with his death. He was a Democrat in politics, and exerted much influence in civic affairs, as well as in religion. He had lived to see what he believed was the end of the Civil war, passing away early in the sixties. His wife died in middle life about 1850, and she was likewise an active worker in the Primitive Baptist church.
Rev. John Richards and wife had six sons and one daughter, men-
tioned as follows : 1. Rev. Henry, Jr., minister of the Primitive Bap-
tist church, organized a class in Coffey county, and later did work, in Oklahoma, where he now lives at the venerable age of eighty-four and still active in his faith. 2. L. G. Richards is the second of the family.
3. Abraham, now living retired in Jefferson township, is seventy-seven
years of age, and has a family of his own. 4. Daniel who died in 1907,
was twice married, and left two sons and one daughter, who are still
living. 5. Jacob, who is in active superintendence of his farm in Jefferson township, was twice married, and four children by his first wife are living. 6. Martha, who lives with her third husband in Albany. Indiana, has children by her first husband. 7. Isaac, occupies a farm in Jefferson township and has two daughters and one son, the latter being Lewis, who is an editor in the state of California.
Mr. L. G. Richards was born in Jefferson township of Grant county,
October 25, 1834. The school which he attended as a boy was in many
ways typical of the pioneer temples of learning. It was built of logs,
had a puncheon floor, the benches were slabs supported by rough legs,
and on either side of the structure a log was left out to admit the light, which came dimly into the room through greased paper. The writing desk was a broad board supported on a slant by pins driven into the walls. During his early work at home he earned enough to buy eighty acres of land, and from that start, by industry, economy, and energy, increased his holdings until at one time he was the possessor of nine hundred and sixty acres of as fine land as was to be found in Jefferson township. A part of the land lay in Delaware county. To each of his children he has given a farm, and every one is improved with excellent buildings. Mr. Richards still keeps one hundred and ninety-two acres for the home place, on section three, and the improvements there are of the best class. For many years he has grown on a large scale, the regular crops of this country, and has fed his product to hogs and cattle.
Though his prosperity has been exceptional, his dealings with his com-
munity have always been of the strictest honor and probity, and as an
illustration of this fact it can be said that he was never engaged in a law suit, either as defendant or plaintiff, in all his life.
In the accumulation of his generous property he had a noble and
thrifty woman as his helpmate. Her maiden name was Mary E. Craw,
and she was born in Jefferson township, December 11, 1834, dying
May 27, 1900. She was the mother of three daughters and two sons,
namely: 1. Rev. J. William, a farmer, has charge as pastor of the
Harmony Primitive Baptist church. He married Emma Harris, and has
two sons and one daughter. 2. David L., who now owns and occupies
a part of the home farm, is an official in the Matthews State Bank; he
married Lois Fergus, and they have two daughters. 3. Lucina, by her
marriage to Harmon Newburger, has one son. She is now the wife of
Rufus Nottingham, and they have one son and three daughters. 4.
Mollie died after her marriage to Frank H. Kirkwood, whose sketch
will be found elsewhere in these pages. 5. Rena is the wife of John
W. Himelick, a well known Grant county citizen, sketched elsewhere.
Mr. Richards for his second wife married Miss Maria Martin, who
was born in Fayette county, Indiana, February 18, 1837, and from four-
teen years of age was reared in Delaware county, living in the city of
Muncie. Her parents were Russell P. and Ida A. Martin. Her father
was born in Ohio, October 26, 1807, and died March 22, 1874, while her
mother was born in New Jersey, September 27, 1807, and died November
7, 1902. Both died in Delaware county. They were married in Ohio,
and soon afterwards came to Fayette county, Indiana, where her father
followed his regular trade of brick mason and plasterer. They belonged
to the Primitive Baptist church. Mrs. Richards had three brothers,
Wilson, Robert, and Maxwell, who were soldiers in the Civil war. Two
of them were in a southern prison for some months and one died after
leaving the battlefield stricken with illness. Mr. Richards is a leader in the Primitive Baptist church, and has long been one of its officials. In polities he is a Democrat.
*************************
added by Find A Grave contributor Kristin 47543835
12-21-2013
L. G. Richards. Grant county owes much to the Richards family,
both for the part it has performed in the development of the country
from the wilderness in the early days, and also for its substantial citizenship and high moral influence. Mr. L. G. Richards is now nearly
eighty years of age, has spent all his life in Grant county, is a product of its pioneer schools when all instruction was given in log buildings, and the curriculum was the three R's, and by a long and active career of industry and exceptional business management accumulated an estate which at one time was among the largest in Jefferson township.
His grandfather Henry Richards was born either in Virginia or
Pennsylvania, was an early settler in the state of Ohio, where it is
thought he was married. The maiden name of his wife was Miss Thom,
and during their residence on a farm in Guernsey county, Ohio, their
children were born. These children were : John. Daniel, Susan, Cath-
erine, Jacob. Daniel, who married a Miss Lewis, was a farmer, went
out to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in an early day and lived and died there,
leaving a family. Susan married John Ogan, a farmer, and a number
of years later moved out to Kansas, where they died. Catherine married
Nathan Lewis, a schoolteacher, and soon after their marriage went to
Kansas, where their lives were spent on a farm. Jacob married Susan
Gillispie, and they lived and died in Jefferson township of Grant county, where they were substantial farmers. and of their children some are still living.
Rev. John Richards, father of L. G. Richards, was born in Guernsey
county, Ohio, in 1810 or 1811. His youth was spent on a farm in his
native county, and while there he married Effie Roberts, who was born
in Ohio about 1812-13. After the birth of their first son and child,
Henry, in 1829 or 1830, they came with other member's of the family,
including their parents, to Grant county, locating in the wildwoods. All of the family obtained land in Grant county, grandfather Henry Richards getting two hundred acres, and subsequently accumulating eighty acres more, so that his place consisted of two hundred and eighty acres before his death. All of the sons likewise, took up land, and became pioneer workers in the early decades of Grant county 's histoay. Grandfather Henry Richards died when about seventy years of age, some years before the Civil war, possibly as early as 1850. His wife died even earlier.
Rev. John Richards, after moving to Grant county, acquired and
improved two hundred acres of land. While a prosperous farmer, and
thus providing for the material needs of himself and children, he was
likewise one of the prominent leaders in the Primitive Baptist church.
Largely owing to his efforts, the church known as Harmony was organ-
ized at Matthews. Later he was ordained a preacher, and with saddle-
bags and on horseback pursued his work as an itinerant preacher,
throughout this section of the state traveling hundreds of miles, and
preaching in as many as a hundred different localities. He was one of
the pioneer preachers who visited from cabin to cabin with self-denying earnestness, traveling through the unbroken forests, exhorting, counseling, reproving, as occasion demanded, and was always welcome at the pioneer homes. His was the work of a real evangelist, and many classes were organized by him in this part of the state. His home in Grant county was the headquarters for a large following of primitive Baptists, and as many as one hundred and twenty-five people were entertained at the Richards place during the three days' meetings, some of them coming from long distances, even as much as a hundred miles, riding on horseback, and in every other pioneer conveyance. His work as a preacher went on, and was concluded only with his death. He was a Democrat in politics, and exerted much influence in civic affairs, as well as in religion. He had lived to see what he believed was the end of the Civil war, passing away early in the sixties. His wife died in middle life about 1850, and she was likewise an active worker in the Primitive Baptist church.
Rev. John Richards and wife had six sons and one daughter, men-
tioned as follows : 1. Rev. Henry, Jr., minister of the Primitive Bap-
tist church, organized a class in Coffey county, and later did work, in Oklahoma, where he now lives at the venerable age of eighty-four and still active in his faith. 2. L. G. Richards is the second of the family.
3. Abraham, now living retired in Jefferson township, is seventy-seven
years of age, and has a family of his own. 4. Daniel who died in 1907,
was twice married, and left two sons and one daughter, who are still
living. 5. Jacob, who is in active superintendence of his farm in Jefferson township, was twice married, and four children by his first wife are living. 6. Martha, who lives with her third husband in Albany. Indiana, has children by her first husband. 7. Isaac, occupies a farm in Jefferson township and has two daughters and one son, the latter being Lewis, who is an editor in the state of California.
Mr. L. G. Richards was born in Jefferson township of Grant county,
October 25, 1834. The school which he attended as a boy was in many
ways typical of the pioneer temples of learning. It was built of logs,
had a puncheon floor, the benches were slabs supported by rough legs,
and on either side of the structure a log was left out to admit the light, which came dimly into the room through greased paper. The writing desk was a broad board supported on a slant by pins driven into the walls. During his early work at home he earned enough to buy eighty acres of land, and from that start, by industry, economy, and energy, increased his holdings until at one time he was the possessor of nine hundred and sixty acres of as fine land as was to be found in Jefferson township. A part of the land lay in Delaware county. To each of his children he has given a farm, and every one is improved with excellent buildings. Mr. Richards still keeps one hundred and ninety-two acres for the home place, on section three, and the improvements there are of the best class. For many years he has grown on a large scale, the regular crops of this country, and has fed his product to hogs and cattle.
Though his prosperity has been exceptional, his dealings with his com-
munity have always been of the strictest honor and probity, and as an
illustration of this fact it can be said that he was never engaged in a law suit, either as defendant or plaintiff, in all his life.
In the accumulation of his generous property he had a noble and
thrifty woman as his helpmate. Her maiden name was Mary E. Craw,
and she was born in Jefferson township, December 11, 1834, dying
May 27, 1900. She was the mother of three daughters and two sons,
namely: 1. Rev. J. William, a farmer, has charge as pastor of the
Harmony Primitive Baptist church. He married Emma Harris, and has
two sons and one daughter. 2. David L., who now owns and occupies
a part of the home farm, is an official in the Matthews State Bank; he
married Lois Fergus, and they have two daughters. 3. Lucina, by her
marriage to Harmon Newburger, has one son. She is now the wife of
Rufus Nottingham, and they have one son and three daughters. 4.
Mollie died after her marriage to Frank H. Kirkwood, whose sketch
will be found elsewhere in these pages. 5. Rena is the wife of John
W. Himelick, a well known Grant county citizen, sketched elsewhere.
Mr. Richards for his second wife married Miss Maria Martin, who
was born in Fayette county, Indiana, February 18, 1837, and from four-
teen years of age was reared in Delaware county, living in the city of
Muncie. Her parents were Russell P. and Ida A. Martin. Her father
was born in Ohio, October 26, 1807, and died March 22, 1874, while her
mother was born in New Jersey, September 27, 1807, and died November
7, 1902. Both died in Delaware county. They were married in Ohio,
and soon afterwards came to Fayette county, Indiana, where her father
followed his regular trade of brick mason and plasterer. They belonged
to the Primitive Baptist church. Mrs. Richards had three brothers,
Wilson, Robert, and Maxwell, who were soldiers in the Civil war. Two
of them were in a southern prison for some months and one died after
leaving the battlefield stricken with illness. Mr. Richards is a leader in the Primitive Baptist church, and has long been one of its officials. In polities he is a Democrat.
*************************
added by Find A Grave contributor Kristin 47543835
12-21-2013
both for the part it has performed in the development of the country
from the wilderness in the early days, and also for its substantial citizenship and high moral influence. Mr. L. G. Richards is now nearly
eighty years of age, has spent all his life in Grant county, is a product of its pioneer schools when all instruction was given in log buildings, and the curriculum was the three R's, and by a long and active career of industry and exceptional business management accumulated an estate which at one time was among the largest in Jefferson township.
His grandfather Henry Richards was born either in Virginia or
Pennsylvania, was an early settler in the state of Ohio, where it is
thought he was married. The maiden name of his wife was Miss Thom,
and during their residence on a farm in Guernsey county, Ohio, their
children were born. These children were : John. Daniel, Susan, Cath-
erine, Jacob. Daniel, who married a Miss Lewis, was a farmer, went
out to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in an early day and lived and died there,
leaving a family. Susan married John Ogan, a farmer, and a number
of years later moved out to Kansas, where they died. Catherine married
Nathan Lewis, a schoolteacher, and soon after their marriage went to
Kansas, where their lives were spent on a farm. Jacob married Susan
Gillispie, and they lived and died in Jefferson township of Grant county, where they were substantial farmers. and of their children some are still living.
Rev. John Richards, father of L. G. Richards, was born in Guernsey
county, Ohio, in 1810 or 1811. His youth was spent on a farm in his
native county, and while there he married Effie Roberts, who was born
in Ohio about 1812-13. After the birth of their first son and child,
Henry, in 1829 or 1830, they came with other member's of the family,
including their parents, to Grant county, locating in the wildwoods. All of the family obtained land in Grant county, grandfather Henry Richards getting two hundred acres, and subsequently accumulating eighty acres more, so that his place consisted of two hundred and eighty acres before his death. All of the sons likewise, took up land, and became pioneer workers in the early decades of Grant county 's histoay. Grandfather Henry Richards died when about seventy years of age, some years before the Civil war, possibly as early as 1850. His wife died even earlier.
Rev. John Richards, after moving to Grant county, acquired and
improved two hundred acres of land. While a prosperous farmer, and
thus providing for the material needs of himself and children, he was
likewise one of the prominent leaders in the Primitive Baptist church.
Largely owing to his efforts, the church known as Harmony was organ-
ized at Matthews. Later he was ordained a preacher, and with saddle-
bags and on horseback pursued his work as an itinerant preacher,
throughout this section of the state traveling hundreds of miles, and
preaching in as many as a hundred different localities. He was one of
the pioneer preachers who visited from cabin to cabin with self-denying earnestness, traveling through the unbroken forests, exhorting, counseling, reproving, as occasion demanded, and was always welcome at the pioneer homes. His was the work of a real evangelist, and many classes were organized by him in this part of the state. His home in Grant county was the headquarters for a large following of primitive Baptists, and as many as one hundred and twenty-five people were entertained at the Richards place during the three days' meetings, some of them coming from long distances, even as much as a hundred miles, riding on horseback, and in every other pioneer conveyance. His work as a preacher went on, and was concluded only with his death. He was a Democrat in politics, and exerted much influence in civic affairs, as well as in religion. He had lived to see what he believed was the end of the Civil war, passing away early in the sixties. His wife died in middle life about 1850, and she was likewise an active worker in the Primitive Baptist church.
Rev. John Richards and wife had six sons and one daughter, men-
tioned as follows : 1. Rev. Henry, Jr., minister of the Primitive Bap-
tist church, organized a class in Coffey county, and later did work, in Oklahoma, where he now lives at the venerable age of eighty-four and still active in his faith. 2. L. G. Richards is the second of the family.
3. Abraham, now living retired in Jefferson township, is seventy-seven
years of age, and has a family of his own. 4. Daniel who died in 1907,
was twice married, and left two sons and one daughter, who are still
living. 5. Jacob, who is in active superintendence of his farm in Jefferson township, was twice married, and four children by his first wife are living. 6. Martha, who lives with her third husband in Albany. Indiana, has children by her first husband. 7. Isaac, occupies a farm in Jefferson township and has two daughters and one son, the latter being Lewis, who is an editor in the state of California.
Mr. L. G. Richards was born in Jefferson township of Grant county,
October 25, 1834. The school which he attended as a boy was in many
ways typical of the pioneer temples of learning. It was built of logs,
had a puncheon floor, the benches were slabs supported by rough legs,
and on either side of the structure a log was left out to admit the light, which came dimly into the room through greased paper. The writing desk was a broad board supported on a slant by pins driven into the walls. During his early work at home he earned enough to buy eighty acres of land, and from that start, by industry, economy, and energy, increased his holdings until at one time he was the possessor of nine hundred and sixty acres of as fine land as was to be found in Jefferson township. A part of the land lay in Delaware county. To each of his children he has given a farm, and every one is improved with excellent buildings. Mr. Richards still keeps one hundred and ninety-two acres for the home place, on section three, and the improvements there are of the best class. For many years he has grown on a large scale, the regular crops of this country, and has fed his product to hogs and cattle.
Though his prosperity has been exceptional, his dealings with his com-
munity have always been of the strictest honor and probity, and as an
illustration of this fact it can be said that he was never engaged in a law suit, either as defendant or plaintiff, in all his life.
In the accumulation of his generous property he had a noble and
thrifty woman as his helpmate. Her maiden name was Mary E. Craw,
and she was born in Jefferson township, December 11, 1834, dying
May 27, 1900. She was the mother of three daughters and two sons,
namely: 1. Rev. J. William, a farmer, has charge as pastor of the
Harmony Primitive Baptist church. He married Emma Harris, and has
two sons and one daughter. 2. David L., who now owns and occupies
a part of the home farm, is an official in the Matthews State Bank; he
married Lois Fergus, and they have two daughters. 3. Lucina, by her
marriage to Harmon Newburger, has one son. She is now the wife of
Rufus Nottingham, and they have one son and three daughters. 4.
Mollie died after her marriage to Frank H. Kirkwood, whose sketch
will be found elsewhere in these pages. 5. Rena is the wife of John
W. Himelick, a well known Grant county citizen, sketched elsewhere.
Mr. Richards for his second wife married Miss Maria Martin, who
was born in Fayette county, Indiana, February 18, 1837, and from four-
teen years of age was reared in Delaware county, living in the city of
Muncie. Her parents were Russell P. and Ida A. Martin. Her father
was born in Ohio, October 26, 1807, and died March 22, 1874, while her
mother was born in New Jersey, September 27, 1807, and died November
7, 1902. Both died in Delaware county. They were married in Ohio,
and soon afterwards came to Fayette county, Indiana, where her father
followed his regular trade of brick mason and plasterer. They belonged
to the Primitive Baptist church. Mrs. Richards had three brothers,
Wilson, Robert, and Maxwell, who were soldiers in the Civil war. Two
of them were in a southern prison for some months and one died after
leaving the battlefield stricken with illness. Mr. Richards is a leader in the Primitive Baptist church, and has long been one of its officials. In polities he is a Democrat.
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added by Find A Grave contributor Kristin 47543835
12-21-2013
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