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    Page 9 of 10

RICHARDSON HISTORY

Copyright © 2006 Bruce H. Richardson

 

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

1. Generation 9

    Asa Richardson, b. 09 Mar 1779 Foxboro, Norfolk, MA

 

2. Endnotes

 

9th Generation

{ASA RICHARDSON}⁹

(John⁸, Thomas⁷, Francis⁶, Stephen⁵, Samuel⁴, Thomas³, Thomas², Thomas¹)

b. 09 Mar 1779 Foxboro, Norfolk, MA

d. 19 Dec 1852 Clayton, Jefferson, NY

m. 10 Apr 1806

Polly (Mary) Adams

b. 28 Nov 1784 Nelson, Cheshire, NH

d. 18 Dec 1849 Clayton, NY, inflammation of the brain, age 65

Polly Adam's 4th great-grandfather, Henry Adams (b. 1610, d. 1676), is also the 3rd great-grandfather of 2nd U.S. President John Adams (b. 1735, d. 1826). Polly's line is through Henry's son Henry, while John's line is through Henry's son Joseph. Polly is 3rd cousin twice removed of President John Adams.

Amazingly, a photograph of Asa and Polly exists. To better appreciate this astounding fact, one must bear in mind that photography had not been available until just a few years before Polly died in 1849.  About 1831 French painter Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre made nonpermanent photographs on silver plates coated with a light-sensitive layer of silver iodide. Daguerre revised and refined the process they had developed. In 1837 he perfected the daguerreotype. This method of photography, which used metal plates, was the earliest widely practiced form of photography. We are indebted to Margaret Richardson Colman of Lawrence, Kansas, a great-great granddaughter of Asa and Polly, for graciously furnishing a copy of the photo which was originally taken in Clayton, New York, where Asa and Polly lived, by a professional photographer. It is testimony to Asa and Polly's economic stature, that, generally, only people of means in that period could and would have such a photograph taken.

 

       

                      Polly & Asa Richardson

 

From A History of Neslon, New Hamphsire, regarding Asa Richardson:

Prior to 1800 he settled part way down the hill west of Deacon Samuel Griffin's place. Later Asa sold to General Samuel Griffin Jr.; George W. Hardy was living there in 1835 and continued to occupy the place until 1863 when he died in the Civil War. John Dixon lived there prior to 1884 and until about 1900; John Cowen lived there last.[69]

On March 25, 1802, Asa’s father John sells him 90 acres for $400.[70]

Ten years later, on February 10, 1812, Asa sells 3 parcels totaling 109 acres to his father John Richardson. [71]

This is likely when he removed to Rodman, NY as he  is not listed on the 1813 Nelson Town Tax Records.

In the Nelson Town Records, March 25, 1807 Town Meeting, Asa Richardson chosen one of two Hog Reavers[72]
  A Hog Reaver (Schriever or Sheriff) was one who was responsible for rounding up stray hogs.

In 1809 he is listed as a School Collector (taxes)[73]

The 1820 Federal Census lists Asa Richardson and his family in Rodman (south of Clayton), Jefferson County, NY, engaged in agriculture.

Asa & Polly sell 10 acres, part of Lot No. 11 in township of Rodman for $168 to John Adams, his brother-in-law, of Rodman, 28 Jan 1831.

 The 1840 Federal Census has Asa and family farming in Clayton, NY area.

The 1850 Federal Census lists Asa, age 71, Farmer, value of Real Estate $1,610. Son John, 32, and daughter Sarah, 34 are living there along with an Asa’s brother Amos, 59.

1892 map below shows the place of John Dixon (arrow), formerly owned by Asa, just outside the village of Nelson:

 

       

 

About 1831, Asa moved his family from Rodman area to a farm at Clayton Center, Jefferson Co., NY, near the St. Lawrence seaway where he would spend the rest of his life.

   

          

 

An 1860 Gazateer of the State of New York gives the history of Rodman:

RODMAN was formed from Adams, March 24, 1804, under the name of "Harrison." Its name was changed April 6, 1808. A part of Pinckney (Lewis co.) was taken off in 1808. It lies upon the borders of Lewis, in the S. part of the Co. The surface is hilly, and broken by the deep ravines of Sandy Creek and its branches. The soil is generally a fertile, gravelly loam. There are 3 sulphur springs in town. Rodman (p.v.) has 45 houses, Zoar and Whitesville (E. Rodman p.o.) each about 20. Settlement began in 1801, and from 1803 to 1806 it progressed with great rapidity. In 1813 an epidemic prevailed, causing 60 deaths in 3 months. The census reports 3 churches.[74]

 

The same 1860 Gazateer gives the history of Clayton, NY.

CLAYTON was formed from Orleans and Lyme, April 27, 1833, and named in honor of John M. Clayton, U.S. Senator from Del. It is centrally situated on the N.W. border of the Co. It embraces two-fifths of Penets Square, a gore W. and another N. of that tract, and Grindstone and several smaller islands in the St. Lawrence. The surface is level, or slightly rolling. Water lime has been manufactured in considerable quantities. Clayton, (p.v.,) situated at the mouth of French Creek, is largely engaged in the lumber trade and in ship building. Pop. 896. Depauville (p.v.) is situated at the head of navigation on Chaumont (Sha-mo) River, (or Catfish Creek) 6 mi. from the bay. Pop. 386. Clayton Center is a p.o. Settlement commenced in 1803, but progressed slowly until after the war. For many years the titles to the portions included in Penets square and the islands became the subject of much controversy and litigation. In early times the shores of St. Lawrence in this and adjoining towns became the scene of many lawless adventures in the prosecution of smuggling. In 1813, the enemy attacked the advanced guard of Wilkinson's expedition, commanded by Gen. Brown, at Bartlets Point, but were repulsed. The census reports 7 churches in town.[75]

 

Asa and Polly are buried in Clayton Center Cemetery, which is 1 mile SE of Clayton near the junction of County Routes 10 & 5. It is a cemetery of 25 acres that is not used anymore. Their stones are both broken.

               

 RICHARDSON, ASA 1779-19 DEC 1852 AE.73Y9M

Polly's stone:
”Come my friends and pick the place where I am laid to rest Then come to Christ and seek his grace to make your spirits blest Dear mother rest thy suffering & in thy spirit dwells where angels are.  Thy children’s hearts thy loss deplore Through grace will strive to meet them there”

 

 

The living standards of the 1800's, in contrast to our present day, were what we would consider "crude." European travelers griped loudly about the awful food they found almost uniformly throughout America. Henry Adams, in his book In the United States in 1800, comments:

"I will venture to say," declared Volney, "that if a prize were proposed for the scheme of a regimen most calculated to injure the stomach, the teeth, and the health in general, no better could be invented than that of the Americans. In the morning at breakfast they deluge their stomach with a quart of hot water, impregnated with tea, or so slightly with coffee that it is mere colored water;

and they swallow, almost without chewing, hot bread, half baked, toast soaked in butter, cheese of the fattest kind, slices of salt or hung beef, ham, etc., all which are nearly insoluble. At dinner they have boiled pastes under the names of puddings and the fattest are esteemed the most delicious; all their sauces, even for roast beef, are melted butter; their potatoes and turnips swim in hog's lard, butter or fat; under the name of pie or pumpkin, their pastry is nothing but a greasy paste, never sufficiently baked. To digest these various substances they take tea almost instantly after dinner, making it so strong that it is absolutely bitter to the taste, in which state it affects the nerves so powerfully that even the English find it brings on a more obstinate restlessness than coffee. Supper again introduces salt meats or oysters. As Chastellux says, the whole day passes in heaping indigestions on one another; and to give tone to the poor, relaxed and wearied stomach, they drink Madeira, rum, French brandy, gin or malt spirits, which complete the ruin of the nervous system."

If there was one thing European travelers complained about more than food, however, it was America's love affair with chewing tobacco and spitting. They were disgusted to find evidence of it everywhere: in statehouses, in courtrooms, in theaters, trains and churches. "Men came into the lower tier of boxes without their coats," Frances Trollope observed in a theater in 1830, "the spitting was incessant, and the mixed smell of onions and whiskey was beyond disgust."[76]

Further flavor of the times is manifested in an 1836 edition of The American Frugal Housewife, by Mrs. Child. You will discover, fair readers, that it is most expedient for you to have a supply of ox's gall bladders and New England Rum readily available:

HOUSEHOLD TIPS

Look frequently to the pails, to see that nothing is thrown to the pigs which should have been in the grease-pot.

See that the beef and pork are always under brine; and that the brine is sweet and clean.

An ox's gall will set any color, silk, cotton, or woollen. I have seen the colors of calico, which faded at one washing, fixed by it. Where one lives near a slaughterhouse ... the gall can be bought for a few cents....

Eggs will keep almost any length of time in lime-water properly prepared. One pint of coarse salt, and one pint of unslacked lime, to a pailful of water. If there be too much lime, it will eat the shells from the eggs; and if there be a single egg cracked, it will spoil the whole. They should be kept covered with lime-water, and in a cold place. I have seen eggs, thus kept, perfectly sweet and fresh at the end of three years.

If feather-beds smell badly, or become heavy, from want of proper preservation of the feathers, or from old age, empty them, and wash the feathers thoroughly in a tub of suds; spread them in your garret to dry, and they will be as light and as good as new.

New England rum, constantly used to wash the hair, keeps it very clean, and free from disease, and promotes its growth a great deal more than Macassar oil.

Barley straw is the best for beds; dry corn husks, slit into shreds, are far better than straw.

In winter, always set the handle of your pump as high as possible, before you go to bed. Except in very frigid weather this keeps the handle from freezing. When there is reason to apprehend extreme cold, do not forget to throw a rug or horse-blanket over your pump; a frozen pump is a comfortless preparation for a winter's breakfast.

Very hard and durable candles are made in the following manner: Melt together ten ounces of mutton tallow, a quarter of an ounce of camphor, four ounces of beeswax, and two ounces of alum. Candles made of these materials burn with a very clear light.

Honey mixed with pure pulverized charcoal is said to be excellent to cleanse the teeth, and make them white. Limewater with a little Peruvian bark is very good to be occasionally used by those who have defective teeth, or an offensive breath.[77]

 

 

                    Children of Asa & Polly:

{Francis Richardson} b. 15 Sep 1806 Nelson, NH, d. 21 Mar 1869 Amherst Twp.,
  Fillmore Co., MN

      m1. 31 Jan 1833 Catherine Perrine b. 12 Jun 1801 Spotswood, Middlesex, NJ,  d. 27 Sep 1854 age 53

      m2. Maria (Betsey) McWayne b. 1812 NY, d. 19 Feb 1887 Cape Vincent, NY 75  years old

Hepzibah Richardson b. 14 Oct 1808 Nelson, NH, d. 28 Apr 1891 Monroe, WI, buried Greenwood Cem.,  Monroe, WI

      m. 1833 Clayton, NY Benjamin (Barney) Becker b. 11 Jul 1808 Montgomery Co., NY, d. 7 Apr 1871 Monroe,
           WI, buried Greenwood Cem., Monroe, WI

            per The Monroe Sentinel, Wednesday May 6, 1891:

---At the age of 83 years, Mrs. Hepsibah R. Becker departed this life on the 28th of April 1891; after "the voyage over tempestuous seas of life--she entereth into the peaceful haven."  Mother Becker was the widow of Barney Becker, a well known citizen of ye olden time, and they were among the early settlers of this county, and resided on a farm near Monticello for many years.  For a few years prior and since the death of Mr. Becker, Mrs. Becker has resided in Monroe.  She was an excellent woman, a kind, affectionate mother, and is sincerely morned by her children.

 

            

 

Mayette (Mary) Richardson b. 10 Sep 1810 Nelson, NH, d. 7 Jul 1887 Clayton,

   NY age 77 buried Clayton Center Cemetery

      m. Alanson (Lonson) Patchin b. 7 Oct 1807 Jefferson Co., NY, d. 4 Sep 1887

      Clayton, NY, buried Clayton Center Cemetery

 

                                       

                 Mary Patchin  WF. L. K. Patchin  10Sep1810-7Jun1887

           LONSON K. PATCHIN died Sept. 4, 1877 AE 79 YRS. 10 Mos & 27 Ds.

 

Asa Richardson b. 09 Apr 1812 Nelson, NH, d. 31 Oct 1887 Kawanka,

   KS age 75, buried Oakhill Cemetery, Lawerence, KS

      m. 06 Jan 1849 Monroe, WI Phebe Ann Watson b. 10 Oct 1828 Springville,

      PA, d. 12 Dec 1912 Lawrence, KS age 84

 

Margaret Wulfkuhle, a great-grandaughter, provided this history:

Asa Richardson, a descendant of Massachusetts Puritan stock, was born April 9, 1812, in New Hampshire, the son of Asa and Mary (Polly) Adams Richardson. The family later moved to Jefferson County, New York, where Asa spent his boyhood years on a farm. Asa's and Polly's graves are in an abandoned cemetery at Clayton Center, New York, on Lake Ontario about 15 miles west of Alexandria Bay. When young men, Asa and his brother Josiah left home to seek their fortunes in the west, going to Illinois and passing through Chicago, Galesburg, and Peoria when they were little struggling villages. He worked for a time in the lead mines near Galena and arrived in Greene County, Wisconsin, in 1841. He settled in the hamlet of Monroe, where he resided for the next 39 years. Here he married Phebe Watson on January 6, 1849, and here 11 of his 12 children were born. While a citizen of Monroe, he was engaged in the banking business, having been president of the Bank of Monroe from 1863 until 1870. In that year he moved to Lawrence, Kansas, with his wife, 10 children, and the body of an infant son, Hubert, who had died in 1869. Asa was successful in his business enterprises and accumulated a large property in money and securities, a part of which he had the misfortune to lose by investments in Kansas. The family lived in the city of Lawrence for nine years on East 11th Street between Delaware and Oregon streets, where he built two large houses to accommodate the large family. In 1879 he purchased a quarter section on the California Road, five miles west of the city in the Kanwaka community. Here he built a large three-story northern colonial house and purchased several quarter sections, which he gave to his children when they married. Although he continued in the banking business and served as president of the Second National Bank in Lawrence, he engaged primarily in private land loan business in his later years. Having suffered from diabetes for some time, Asa was confined to his bed from August 1 until his death on October 31, 1887, at age 75. He is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Lot 73 - Section 7, Lawrence, Kansas.

 

 

                    

                                  Asa Richardson                                                     Phebe

 

 

                                        

 

 

                                                              

  

Nancy Richardson b. 1814 Rodman, NY, d. 3 Oct 1869 Maumee, OH

   m. Helon Norton b. 2 Jan 1804, d. aft 1870 Lucas, OH

Sarah Richardson b. 1816 Nelson, NH, married twice, no children

John A. Richardson b. 21  Feb 1818 Rodman, NY, d. 7 Jan 1886 Jefferson Co., NY

   buried Black River North Cem., Rutland, NY

   m. Emeline C. b. Jun 1823 Ny, d. 27 Jan 1885 Jefferson Co., NY

   buried Black River North Cem., Rutland, NY

 

            

 

Josiah vining Richardson b. 26 Feb 1820 Rodman, NY, d. 14 Mar 1896

   Broadhead, WI, buried Greenwood Cemetery Broadhead, WI

      m. 27 Mar 1850 Monroe, WI Lydia S. Sanderson b. 9 Mar 1830 Cambridge,

      MA, d. 29 Jan 1908, buried Greenwood Cemetery Broadhead, WI

 

Brodhead Independent Feb 6, 1908

Mrs. Richardson at Rest

Mrs. Lydia Sanderson Richardson, wife of the late J.V. Richardson, died at her home in this city January 29, 1908, from an attack of pneumonia.

Mrs. Richardson was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 9, 1830.  When she was a child her parents moved to northern Illinois.  In 1849 she was united in marriage with Mr. J.V. Richardson, and since that time she has lived continuously in Green county.  She is another of the "old guard" of Green county pioneers gone to their long and well earned rest.

Funeral services, conducted by Rev. Thomas Dugan, were held at the family home Saturday afternoon at 2 o'clock and her body was laid to rest in Greenwood cemetery beside her daughter and husband, who have gone before her over the "Great Divide."

Mrs. Richardson was a woman, who in a very marked degree, loved her home and family.  The most sacred word in all language is the name of "Mother," and her motherhood covered all we love to think the term implies.  Hers was a warm and tender nature.  She loved the world she lived in.  Her soul was generous and her sympathy reached to all.  All humanity was her church and her religion consisted in the doing of kindly deeds.  The world has is better because such women have lived in it.

 

History of Green County, Wisonsin, Union Publishing Co., 1884, p. 826, notes:

Josiah V. Richardson, one of the prominent citizens of Brodhead and one of the early settlers of Green county, was born in Jefferson Co., N.Y., Feb. 26, 1820.  His parents were Asa and Mary (Adams) Richardson, natives of New Hampshire, who removed to the State of New York about 1807.  He was reared to agricultural pursuits, having commenced work on the farm when eight years old.  He was thus early in life trained to habits of industry and economy, which were the characteristic features of his after life.  His education was acquired mostly by his own energy at his own expense.  In his youth, while engaged upon the farm he attended the primitive district school as he had opportunity during the three months term of each winter .  During the summer he was obliged to work.

   He came to this county in 1841, first locating at Monroe, of which place he was a prominent citizen for many years.  There he engaged in surveying and the first two winters taught school, holding the office of county surveyor a part of the time until 1848, when he was elected county register of deeds, after which he entered into a co-partnership with A. Ludlow and B. Chenoweth in merchandising for a short time; then he engaged in farming six years; and returning to Monroe, was engaged in various speculations, principally dealing in lands.  He has held several county offices, having been county commisioner and member of the board of supervisors a number of years, and these positions have been filled with credit to himself and satisfaction to the people.

   He came to Brodhead in 1869 and engaged in banking.  He was married in 1850 to Lydia Sanderson, a native of the State of Massachusetts.  They have five children, two of whom are married--Clara, the elder, to G. F. Claycomb; and Ema, the third , to George Palmer; Sidney, his only son, is engaged with his two brothers-in-law in an extensive lumber trade, in southwestern Iowa.  His remaining children live with him.

    Like many other early settlers who have attained to prominence in life, Mr. Richardson began his career in limited circumstances, for upon his arrival in Monroe in 1841, he was in debt $25, which amount he found much difficulty in paying , as times were hard and money extremely scarce.  He found work and earned money but could not get it.  His capital was not money, but consisted of a good head with willing hands, and by industry with good judgment he has succeeded in business, and accumulated a competence of this world's goods, and what is better, having placed himself in this position honestly, he has the confidence and respect of his fellow citizens.  He has now retired from active business life.

 

                   

                           Josiah Vining Richardson                                       Lydia

  

                                  

 

 

                                     

 

 

Seth A. Richardson b. 21 Sep 1827 Clayton Center, NY, d. 31 Oct 1888 Wessington Springs, SD,

   buried Prospect Hill Cem., Wessington Springs, SD

   m. 12 Jun 1858 Lydia Catherine DeFields b. 22 Sep 1842 Canada, d. 19 Jan 1890 Wessington Springs, SD,

   buried Prospect Hill Cem., Wessington Springs, SD

 

The Herald, Wessington Springs, SD

Woonsocket News

Died On Sunday at 11 oclock, Mrs. Catherine Richardson of acute pneumonia.  Mrs. Richardson was sick less than a week.  It is but a few weeks since her daughter Fannie was laid away, this being the fourth death in the family within two years.  Father, mother, and two young ladies.  The children remaining have the sympathy of the entire community.

 

The Wessington Springs Herald Nov 9 1888

OBITUARY  -- Seth A. Richardson was born at Clayton, N.Y., September 21st, 1827, and died at his home near Wessington Springs, October 31st, of inflammation of the bowels.

In 1853 Mr. Richardson moved from New York to Charles City, Iowa, where he met and married Miss L. Catharine Defields.  To this couple were born seven children, five girls and two boys, all now living but one.  The family moved to Dakota six years ago and during that time Mr. Richardson has lived a quiet busy life.  Scarcely known outside his own home circle, yet his family speak of him in most endearing terms as "a good, kind and loving husband and father." 

 

 

                             

 

 

1812 - United States declares war on Britain.

1814 - British forces burn Washington, D.C.; Treaty of Ghent ends the British-American War (Dec. 24).

1815 - Americans defeat British in Battle of New Orleans before news of the treaty arrives in America; Napoleon is defeated at Waterloo.

1817 - United States begins construction of the Erie Canal. 

 

 

One of our distant cousins met a most tragic end on an occasion that compounds the grief:

Herbert Richardson, b. Jan. 18, 1794; drowned in Andover, March 8, 1818, with his affianced bride, Charlotte Farmer, while attempting to cross Shawshin River, on their way to be married that evening, the river being swollen by the melting of snow. (*) (*) The Boston Recorder of March 17, 1818, in giving an account of this sad affair, calls the lady Charlotte Palmer, of Londonderry, and says that both were interred in one grave.[78]

1829 - Andrew Jackson is elected U.S. President.

1836 - Davy Crockett killed at the Alamo; Texas wins independence from Mexico.

1837 - Victoria becomes the Queen of Great Britain.

1844 - The telegraph is used for the first time in the U.S. between Baltimore and Washington.

 

Copyright © 2006 Bruce H. Richardson. This data file may not be copied except for small quotations used with citation of source.

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