Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/107

 RICHARDSON

RICHARDSON

the patriot's death. His son, James B. Richard- son, was governor of South Carolina, 1802-04. Richard Richardson died on his plantation near Salisbury. S.C, in September, 1780.

RICHARDSON, William, patriot, was born in eastern Virginia. July 13, 1743; son of Edward (a sea-captain) and Elizabeth (Poinsett) Richard- son. His father, a native of England, married and made his home in Virginia, continuing his sea voyages. William removed to Charleston, S.C, in early manhood, and engaged in business with success. He was married to Ann Magdalen, daughter of Gabriel and Frances (de Lessiline) Guignard, refugees from France. Some years later he removed from Charleston to his jjlanta- tion *' Bloom Hill" on the Wateree river, Sumter district. He was a member of the committee to carry into effect the Continental association, and a member of the first provincial congress of South Carolina. He was appointed captain in the first regiment of riflemen and served until the fall of Charleston in 1780, when he was cap- tured and paroled to his plantation, being ex- changed in May, 1781. Upon exchange he was appointed b}' Governor Rutledge, commissary- general, and his plantation became the depot of supplies for the state troops. He died at " Bloom Hill." S.C. Feb. 17, 1786.

RICHARDSON, VVilliam, representative, was born at Athens, Ala., in 1845; son of William and Anne Maria (Davis) Richardson, and grand- son of Capt. Nicholas and Mary (Hargrove) Davis. His father and maternal grandparents were na- tives of Virginia. William Richardson entered the Confederate army as a private, 18G1, rose to the rank of captain, and was wounded in the battles of Chickamauga, Shiloh and Murfrees- boro. He was admitted to the bar in 1865, elected representative from the county of Lime- stone to the lower brancliof the general assembly of Alabama, and in 1867 began the practice of law in Huntsville, Ala. On Dec. 18, 1872, he married Elizabeth Beiiagh, daugliter of Ambrose B. Rucker of Lynchburg, Va. Mrs. Richardson died, Oct. 24, 1891. Captain Richardson was judge of the probate and county court of Madi- son county, Ala., 1875-86; was nominated bj' acclamation, July 3, 1900. and elected a Demo- cratic representative in congress from the eighth Alabama district to fill the unexpired term of Gen. Joseph Wheeler, resigned, and was re-elected to the 57th and 5Sth congresses, 1901-05.

RICHARDSON, William Adams, cabinet officer, was born in Tj-ngsboro, Mass., Nov. 2, 1821; son of the Hon. Daniel and i\Iary (Adams) Richardson, and a descendant of Ezekiel Ricliard- son. the immigrant, 1630. He attended Groton academy, and was graduated from Harvard, A.B., 1843, A.M., 1846; studied law with liis IX. -7

brother Daniel in Lowell, Mass.; was graduated at tiie Harvard Law school, 1846; was admitted to the bar at Boston, Mass., July 8, 1848, and began practice in partnership with his brother. He was married in 1849 to Anna M. Marston of Machiasport, Maine. He was associated with

Judge Joel Parker in

the revision of the general statutes of Massachusetts. 1850- 59; was judge of the probate court for Middlesex county, Mass., 1856-58; judge of probate and insol- vency courts for Mid- dlesex county, 1858- 72; declined a com- mission as judge of the superior court of Massachusetts in April, 1869, to accept the assistant secre- taryship of the U.S. treasury, from President Grant, and on March 17, 1873, succeeded Mr. Boutwell as secretary of the treasury. During his administration the Geneva award of $15,000,- 000 was transferred from London to Washington. He resigned the treasurership in June, 1874, to accept a seat on the bench of the U.S. court of claims, and in 1885 he was appointed by President Arthur, chief justice of the court. He formed a plan for enlarging the jurisdiction of the pro- bate courts, which was passed by the Massachu- setts legislature; was a law lecturer at George- town college and at Columbian university, and was an overseer of Harvard, 1863-75. The honor- ary degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by Columbian in 1873; by Georgetown in 1881; by Howard in 1882, and by Dartmouth in 1886. He is the autlior of: The Banking Laics of Massa- chusetts (1855); Supplement to the General Statutes of the Commomoealth of Massachusetts (1860-62); Practical Information Concerning the Debt of the United States (1872); National Bank- ing Laws (1872); and prepared and edited: A Supplement to the Revised Statutes of the United States (1881); History of the Court of Claims{1882~ 85). He died in Washington, D.C, Oct. 19, 1896. RICHARDSON, WilSiam Merchant, jurist, was born in Pelham, N.H., Jan. 4, 1774; son of Capt. Daniel and Mary (Merchant) Richardson. He was graduated at Harvard in 1797, engaged in teaching school in Leicester and Groton, Mass., and was married in 1798 to Betsey, daughter of Peter Smith of Pelham. He studied law under Judge Samuel Dana, with whom lie practised in Groton until 1812. He was a Federalist repre- sentative in the 12th and 13th congresses, serving