VIRGINIA
Edmund was the last child and third son of eight children born to Edward Richards and Elizabeth Stewart in Franklin County Virginia. He grew up and worked on his father's plantation 6.4 miles south east of Rocky Mount [between Sydnorsville and Sontag].

MARRIAGE
At age 19, Edmund married family friend Sarah Ann "Sally" Warren, daughter of neighbor and friend Zachariah Warren; on April 25 1802 in Franklin Co VA. He and Sarah had their first six children while living in Virginia.

TENNESSEE
Then, after his parents' death in 1812, they emigrated through the Cumberland Gap and settled in Robertson County Tennessee [just north of Nashville, near Springfield] in 1814. The Richards farmed near family: Stewart, Jones, Warren, Maddox, England and Hodges families; who had likewise emigrated from VA. Edmund and Sarah raised five more children birthed in TN, making eleven in all.

General James Winchester [1752] MD/TN, whose mother was Lydia Richards, the daughter of Edward Richards [1678] of Maryland; built his home, Cragfont, just east of Gallatin TN and about 30 miles from where Edmund Hendley Richards---son of Edward Richards [1731], the son of Benjamin Richards [1710], the son of Edward Richards [1678]---and family settled in that 1814-1830 period. The Richards plantation was just a few miles north of what would become Nashville. I wonder if they knew. www.historiccragfont.org

SALE OF EDMUND'S VIRGINIA LAND:
FCVA Deed Book 7. 224, January 2, 1815 Edmund Richards and Sally his wife to Andrew Patterson, 472 acres on Chestnut Creek...Signed Edmund Richards, Sally Richards.
Witnesses: Waitman Richards, Elijah Warren, J. Patterson

TO ILLINOIS
Edmund and Sarah left Tennessee and followed their daughter Charity [who had married John Chapman in August of 1828] north into Macoupin Co IL in spring of 1830. Edmund, then 47, sons Edward Nathaniel, John Asher, Enoch Stewart, Edmund Jr., and family were among the "First Settlers" in the county [as recounted in the book "History of Macoupin County"]--purchasing land on the border of North Palmyra and North Otter Townships and building their homes. They survived "The Winter of the Deep Snow" which tested the preparedness of every settler in Illinois. It must have been a shock after their time spent in milder Tennessee.

Edmund & Sarah raised eleven children:
1. Edward Nathaniel [1804] VA +Jane Stewart
2. Edmund Hendley Jr. [1806] VA +Nancy J. Gibson
3. Enoch Stewart [1807] VA +Mary Gibson
4. John Asher [1809] VA
5. Agnes [1810] VA +Edward Adcock
6. Charity C. [1813] VA +John D. Chapman
7. Zachariah Watts [1815] TN +Mary Field
8. Caleb D. [1818] TN +Nancy Gibson
9. Rhoda Ann [1821] TN +William B. Potts
10. Matilda [1823] TN +John Park
11. Mary A. [1826] TN +Thomas Park

PASSING ON
Edmund farmed until his death at age 57 in 1840 and was buried on the family home place [that family cemetery since plowed under]. His beloved wife Sarah Ann struck out with sons Caleb and Zachariah, and their families, for north west Missouri [see her link below] in 1841. She passed away in 1854 in her son Zachariah's home south of the town of Rea in Andrew Co MO.

Land purchases: Macoupin County IL
RICHARDS EDMUND SR W2NW 18 12N 07W 3 01/25/1830
RICHARDS EDMUND SR 2NE 13 12N 08W 3 02/22/1830
RICHARDS EDMUND SR W2SW 07 12N 07W 3 11/08/1831
RICHARDS EDMUND SR SWNE 18 12N 07W 3 06/08/1835

HGR---a grateful descendant.

LINEAGE:
Edward Richards [1731] MD/Franklin Co VA
Benjamin Richards [1710] MD/Franklin Co VA
Edward Richards [1678] England/MD