Washington

RICHARDSON, Orville Hale

Genealogical and Family History of the State of Vermont: A Record of the 
Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding 
of a Nation. Carleton, ed. Chicago: Lewis, 1903, pp 524-526

Orville Hale RICHARDSON, of Montpelier [Washington County, Vermont], is a 
representative of a family whose origin is of greater antiquity than can be 
claimed by but few in New England. Amos RICHARDSON, the founder of the 
American branch of the family, came from England in the earliest period of 
the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and found a home in the town of Boston when 
that stronghold of Puritanism was in its most primitive state. [Boston was 
organized in 1630; Suffolk County was created in 1643; Massachusetts became a 
state in 1788.] It is not improbable that his arrival took place about the 
time when the settlement was at the height of its orthodox indignation 
against the heresis [heresies] of Mrs. Anne HUTCHINSON, who numbered among 
her friends and sympathizers "young Harry VANE," then the governor of the 
colony, and John UNDERHILL, the famous Indian fighter, whose signal services 
as a soldier of the colony are commemorated in the verses of WHITTIER. It is 
known for a certainty that in 1640 Amos RICHARDSON was a resident of Boston, 
the site of the house being on what is now Washington Street, just north of 
the Old South church. In 1866 he removed to Stonington [New London County], 
Connecticut, where he was elected representative in the general court, and 
also acted as the agent of Governor WINTHROP for New England. No other 
details of his life have reached us, but it is evident from these facts that 
he was a man of high standing in the community. Among his descendants, those 
named in the following generations have been especially prominent in the 
annals of New England.

Ira RICHARDSON, Sr., son of Lemuel RICHARDSON, was born 23 January 1788 in 
Massachusetts, and removed early in life to the town of Waitsfield, 
Washington County, Vermont, where he was one of the pioneers, following for 
many years the occupation of a farmer. Mr. [Ira] RICHARDSON [Sr.] was 
largely instrumental in the building up of the town, of which he was one of 
the most influential citizens. He was a man whose ability and integrity 
commanded the respect and confidence of his neighbors, and caused him to be 
elected to most of the offices in their gift. Mr. [Ira] RICHARDSON [Sr.] 
married [Miss?] Rachel DURKEE, who was born 27 October 1795. He [Ira 
RICHARDSON, Sr.] died 16 December 1844 in the town of Fayston [Washington 
County, Vermont] in the fifty-seventh year of his age.

Ira RICHARDSON, Jr., was born 06 October 1816 in Waitsfield [Washington 
County], Vermont, son of Ira Sr. and Rachel (DURKEE) RICHARDSON. He received 
his education in the common schools of his native town, where after leaving 
school he found employment in a store. Later Mr. [Ira] RICHARDSON [Jr.] 
engaged, on his own account, in the manufacture of lumber, in which he was 
very successful, being also a dealer in merchandise and conducting a tannery. 
This business, which grew to large proportions and included very extensive 
dealings, was managed by Mr. RICHARDSON with consummate ability, joined to 
knowledge theoretical and practical and enforced by strict attention to 
details. Politically Mr. RICHARDSON was in his early life a Whig, but joined 
the Republican party at the time of its organization [1854], remaining one of 
its ardent supporters. He was very active in public affairs; in 1856 and 
again in 1860 represented the town of Waitsfield in the state legislature; 
also represented Washington County in the state senate; and in 1868 and 1869 
he served as assistant judge for Washington County. The manner in which he 
fulfilled the duties of these offices more than justified the high estimate 
formed of his abilities and the high regard felt for his character by his 
fellow citizens. Mr. RICHARDSON was an active member of the Methodist 
church, foremost in every benevolent enterprise, and ever ready to aid, to 
the utmost of his power, all charitable associations and projects.

On 06 April 1843 Mr. [Ira] RICHARDSON [Jr.] married Harriet, daughter of 
Nathaniel and Elizabeth (CAMPBELL) CHAPMAN, of Fayston [Washington County, 
Vermont], in which town Harriet [CHAPMAN] was born 06 January 1818. Mr. and 
Mrs. RICHARDSON [Ira Jr. and Harriet] were the parents of the following named 
children: (1) a son, born 28 August 1844, who died in infancy; (2) Calvin 
Clinton, born, as were the all the other children, in Waitsfield [Washington 
County], Vermont, 06 October 1845, now residing in Minneapolis [Hennepin 
County], Minnesota; (3) Clarence Milton, born 20 November 1849, a resident 
of Waitsfield, Vermont; (4) Orville Hale, mentioned at length hereafter; (5) 
Meriden Lee, born 06 September 1854, now living in Waitsfield, Vermont; and 
(6) Harriet Elizabeth, born 07 March 1857, who died 20 September 1861. Mr. 
[Ira] RICHARDSON [Jr.] died 17 December 1877, deeply and sincerely regretted, 
not only by his family and near friends, but by the whole community, to which 
he had so long given the example of an honorable and fearless citizen, 
faithful in the discharge of every duty and ever foremost in enterprises 
having for their object the advancement of public welfare. His character, as 
a business man, a public official, and a member of society, was such as to 
command the highest degree of affection and veneration of all who were 
brought within the circle of his influence. Mrs. RICHARDSON [Harriet 
(CHAPMAN) RICHARDSON] survived her husband [Ira Jr.] several years, dying 08 
August 1882, in the sixty-fifth year of her age.

Orville Hale RICHARDSON, son of Ira Jr. and Harriet (CHAPMAN) RICHARDSON, was 
born 07 July 1852 in the town of Waitsfield, Washington County, Vermont, and 
received his education in the public schools of his native town. At the age 
of nineteen he began his business career by transferring freight from 
Waitsfield to Middlesex by team, following his occupation for about three 
years. At the end of that time he engaged in the lumber business, conducting 
it for six years in his native town [Waitsfield], and then removing to the 
town of Warren [Washington County, Vermont], where for three years he pursued 
the same calling, transferring his business at the expiration of the last 
named period to Middlesex [Washington County], Vermont. In this town 
[Middlesex] he successfully conducted his business until October 1895, when 
he formed a partnership with S. D. ALLEN, under the firm name of Allen & 
Richardson, and engaged in the lumber business in the city of Barre 
[Washington County, Vermont]. In January 1902 the partnership was dissolved, 
and on 04 April 1902 Mr. [Orville Hale] RICHARDSON purchased Brown's Mills, 
situated on Dog River, two miles from the city of Montpelier, on the 
Northfield road, in the town of Berlin [Washington County, Vermont]. Here he 
[Orville H. RICHARDSON] engaged extensively in the manufacture of lumber, the 
product of his mills being about eighteen thousand feet per day, which he 
disposes of both at wholesale and retail. During these years, in the course 
of which Mr. RICHARSON several times transferred his business from one place 
to another, he resided for three and a half years at Middlesex, and then 
settled in the city of Montpelier [both places in Washington County, 
Vermont], where he has since made his home.

In politics Mr. [Orville Hale] RICHARDSON is a Republican; in 1896 and 
1897 was elected alderman of the second ward of the city of Montpelier, the 
citizens of which chose him, 02 September 1902, to represent them in the 
state legislature. In the session of that year he served on the committee of 
ways and means and the committee on manufactures. He is a member of Vermont 
Lodge No. 2, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Montpelier. On 13 March 
1877 Mr. [Orville Hale] RICHARDSON married [Miss] Alice M. WILDER, born 01 
August 1856 in the town of Waitsfield, Washington County, Vermont, daughter 
of Captain Oreas C. and Mary Elizabeth (HOLDEN) WILDER. Mr. and Mrs. 
RICHARDSON [Orville Hale and Alice M. (WILDER) RICHARDSON] are the parents of 
one child: Carolyn Mary [RICHARSON], born 16 May 1878 in Fayston [Washington 
County], Vermont, educated at the Montpelier Seminary, at Montpelier, and the 
Goddard Seminary, in Barre [Washington County], Vermont. Mr. RICHARSON is a 
competent business man, manifesting in the unassuming but thorough manner in 
which he discharges his duties as an official and a citizen, traits of 
character which have been conspicuous in generations of his ancestors.

Submitted by Cathy Kubly