John Richards--to whose memory this tribute is inscribed as a testimonial of filial respect upon the centennial of his birth--was born in Colebrookdale Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania, June 5, 1784. His paternal ancestors were of Welsh descent, and were among the earliest settlers in the southeastern section of the county. The first of them who can be traced at the present day was Owen Richards, who emigrated to Pennsylvania from the north of Wales, near the beginning of the last century, and purchased 800 acres of land in Amity Township, then Philadelphia, now Berks County, in the year 1718. A sketch of some of his descendants, published in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography in 1882, contains considerable personal information relative to the family unnecessary to repeat here. A noticeable fact in their history is that, although seated for a long period in a region in which the German element largely preponderated, they continued to preserve through successive generations the language and characteristics of the English race. They were a hardy and vigorous stock, notable for their large size and great physical strength, as well as longevity.
William Richards, the father, of John, was born January 27, 1754, and his baptism, March 28, 1755, is recorded in the Register of the Lutheran Congregation of New Hanover, Montgomery County, though he was, without doubt, a native of Berks, probably of Oley Township, where he resided and engaged in farming. He married, about 1778, Mary, daughter of John William and Anna Elizabeth Miller, of Earl Township, Berks County, by whom he had four children: William and Elizabeth, both of whom died young; James, and John, the subject of this sketch. Miller was from Germany, and followed the occupation of a potter. He had eight children, of whom Mary was the fourth. He owned a small piece of land situated in the extreme northwestern corner of Earl, where he died in the year 1812, aged upwards of eighty, his wife having previously deceased. William Richards died about 1786, in his thirty-third year, and his widow in 1838, at an advanced age.
James Richards, eldest brother of John, to whom he was greatly attached, was born in Oley, March 27, 1782, and was baptized at the Reformed Church in that township the 30th of June following, his maternal grandparents, who were Lutherans, being his sponsors. He learned the trade of blacksmith but was principally engaged in early life in teaching school and attending store. He married, December 6, 1811, Ann Hunter Smith, daughter of John Smith, Esq., proprietor of Joanna Furnace, Berks County. They had eight children, two of whom died in infancy. Their eldest son, the late John E Richards, Esq., for many years a prominent and well-known member of the Bar of Reading, was a man of a very high order of intellectual endowments. James subsequently engaged in the iron business, in connection with mercantile pursuits. He was especially distinguished for the fervor of his religious convictions and the purity of his character and life. In his youth he united with the Protestant Episcopal Church at Morlatton, now Douglassville, of which the Rev, John Armstrong was then rector, but affiliated largely with the Methodists, with whom it was his habit, to the close of his life, to labor and exhort, in public and in private. He died at Springfield, Chester County, September 21, 1828, after a very brief illness, of fever, in the 47th year of his age. His widow survived him until 1857.
The baptism of John Richards is entered in the records of what is known as the "Hill Church," in Pike Township, situated within a few miles of the place of his birth. It sets forth that he was born 5th June, 1784, and baptized 9th April, 1785, and that his sponsors were his grandparents James and Mary Richards. The church was occupied jointly by the Lutheran and Reformed denominations, but it would appear that the baptism was by the then Lutheran pastor, the Rev, Christian Streit.
The death of his father occurring when John was but two years of age, he was brought up in the family of his grandfather, James Richards, who resided upon a considerable tract of land at the head of lronstone Creek, about two miles northwest from the present borough of Boyertown. James, then in advanced life, had served in the Revolutionary army, and was a man of immense frame and gigantic strength--endowments which had resulted to his advantage in many lively episodes of conflict and adventure. In 1797 he sold his property, and removed with the younger members of his numerous family to the north branch of the Susquehanna, near Danville, then Northumberland County, where he died in 1804, aged upwards of eighty. Some of his descendants remain in that vicinity, as well as a few, of remote degree, in the eastern part of Berks, the latter having by intermarriage become largely amalgamated with the German stock.
Left entirely without patrimony, and wholly dependent upon his own exertions, John was very early inured to a life of rugged toil. He hired himself out to the farmers of the neighborhood with whom the custom was to begin their out-door work at daylight, and continue it as long as they could see. Such employment was conducive alike to bodily vigor and industrious and economical habits, the benefits of which in his case were marked and enduring. He was accustomed in after life to relate with interest his adventurous experiences when a mere lad, in journeying for miles on horseback over long hills and rough roads, upon errands to mills and forges. Among the notable incidents of his isolated boyhood's life were his presence at the laying of the corner-stone of the old Lutheran and German Reformed Church at Pottsgrove in 1796, and also at the public funeral honors paid to the memory of General Washington in the same edifice, in January, 1800. When about the age of eighteen, he apprenticed himself to the carpenter's trade, and subsequently worked at it for several years, this occupation requiring at that day a large practical knowledge of every detail of the business.
Under such circumstances it may well be inferred that his opportunities for acquiring an education were extremely limited. There were no schools at that period in the rural districts except those kept by travelling school-masters, usually foreigners, for such pay as they could get from the people of the neighborhood. Some of these instructors were men of respectable acquirements in their time, but their methods were necessarily punitive, and their mode of government invariably severe and despotic. The range of study did not extend beyond the mere elementary branches, and the books in use were few and imperfect. The chief instruction which he received was at about the age of twenty, when he attended for some six months a school taught in a log building within the church grounds at Morlatton, by Francis R, Shunk, afterwards Governor of Pennsylvania. Shunk was then a mere stripling, four years his junior, whom he described as a tall, ungainly youth, of benignant countenance, and great patience and kindness of disposition.
In 1807, Mr. Richards made a visit to New Jersey, and through the friendly interest shown in him by his great uncle, William Richards, proprietor of Batsto Iron Works, Burlington County, he procured, in the fall of the following year, a situation as assistant manager of Weymouth Furnace, Gloucester County, then owned by William Richards's son Samuel, a merchant of Philadelphia, and Mr. Joseph Ball, a wealthy family connection. In 1810, he went to live at the Green Bank, on Little Egg Harbor River, Burlington County, where he engage in keeping a store, being also commissioned Justice of the Peace. While residing here he was married, May 30, 1811, to Rebecca, daughter of Michael and Susanna Ludwig, of Amity Township, Berks County. The marriage ceremony was performed at Reading, by the Rev. Henry A. Muhlenberg, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, and the journey thither, of a hundred miles, and the return with his wife to New Jersey, were upon horseback, the common mode of private travel at that period.
In 1813, he became a land-owner, having purchased a cedar timber property at Bridgeport, on Wading River, Burlington County, a few miles from Green Bank, to which place he removed. Here he built a house, which he occupied in part as a store, and constructed a bridge across the stream. In 1816, he was employed by Messrs. Samuel and Jesse Richards, who owned Washington Furnace, in Monmouth County, fourteen miles south of Freehold, to superintend that establishment. He remained there three years, removing back to Bridgeport in the summer of 1819. For a few months subsequently he superintended the Atsion Furnace, Burlington County, also owned by Mr. Samuel Richards. In the fall of the same year he became resident and sole manager of Weymouth, belonging to the same proprietor, of which he remained in charge for ten years. This extensive establishment, upon Great Egg Harbor River, consisted of a furnace, forge, mills, etc., employing a large number of workmen. Attached to it were some sixty thousand acres of pine timber lands, which supplied the works with charcoal. To his care the interests of his employer were exclusively committed, and the energy and fidelity with which he discharged the duties of his responsible position abundantly justified the confidence thus reposed in him.
Having accumulated means and acquired experience in the iron manufacture, he purchased in January, 1830, in equal partnership with Mr. Thomas S. Richards, son of Samuel, the Gloucester Furnace property, situated near the Mullica, or Little Egg Harbor River, in Gloucester County, and removed thither with his family in the spring of the same year. The purchase was from Messrs. Mark and George Richards and Benjamin Jones, who had carried on the concern for some four or five years previously, and the price paid was $35,000, exclusive of the sum of $15,000 for the personal estate. The property consisted of a charcoal blast furnace, originally erected about the year 1813, sawmill, tenant houses, and a number of tracts of pine and cedar timber land, containing in the whole between sixteen and seventeen thousand acres. It joined the extensive estate of Batsto, seven miles to the northward, owned by Mr. Jesse Richards, The water power was furnished from an artificial lake or pond, covering twelve acres, formed by damming the water of the Landing Creek, by which stream, also, communication was had by vessels with the Little Egg Harbor River, and thence seaward. The brick mansion house, which stood upon a slight elevation overlooking the lake, had, at the date of the purchase, been recently erected by Mr. George Richards, one of the late owners. Mr. Thomas S. Richards resided in Philadelphia, and acted as the agent for the firm in that city.
Soon after taking possession of Gloucester, Mr. Richards erected a grist and saw-mill, and stamping-mill, and made various improvements. The capacity of the furnace was about twenty-five tons of iron weekly. The manufacture consisted at first of stoves, lamp-posts, and other castings made to order. Among the stove were some of those celebrated as the invention of Dr. Nott, of Albany. The dealers usually furnished their own patterns, and, according to the method in use at that date in making castings, the iron was dipped from the hearth in ladles, instead or being run into pig and re- melted. In the course or a few years the manufacture of water-pipes became the principal occupation. A large number were made for Philadelphia, which were inspected at the works by the "Watering Committee" of the City Councils.
While residing at Gloucester, Mr. Richards was twice commissioned an Associate Judge of the county, but declined the office, his predilections being wholly in the line of business life. In the fall of 1836, he was, without his solicitation, elected one of the four Representatives from Gloucester County to the New Jersey Assembly, and served for a single term. In his political sentiments he was a firm Whig and a zealous adherent of the protective system upheld by that party. His colleagues in the Assembly were Joseph W. Cooper, James W. Caldwell, and David C. Ogden. The county was represented in the Upper Branch, then called the Legislative Council by John C. Smallwood. The pay of the members was three dollars per diem. The session commenced October 25, 1836, and continued, with one adjournment, until March 16, 1837. The body was convened specially May 22d following, to legalize the suspension of the State banks, and adjourned finally June 2d. Thomas G. Haight, of Monmouth, was Speaker. The Governor was then elected by the Legislature, and during the first sitting Philemon Dickerson was chosen to that position. Mr. Richards voted for his competitor, William Pennington, a warm personal friend, who filled the office at a subsequent period.
The journals show that Mr. Richards took a modest share in the proceedings. He was preeminently a modest man, possessing neither the training nor the inclination for public life. He served upon the Committee Of Incidental Expenses, and also upon various special committees, During the session a bill passed into a law erecting the eastern part of Gloucester into a separate county, called Atlantic. The citizens of the proposed new county generally favored the measure, as well as the Gloucester delegation in the Assembly, with the exception of Mr. Richards, who opposed and voted against it, deeming the project unnecessary, or at least premature. The Act was approved February 7, 1837, and the county of Atlantic, which, next to Cape May, was the smallest in population in the State, included the townships of Galloway, Hamilton, Weymouth, and Egg Harbor, and was assigned one member of Assembly. The county seat was established at Mays Landing. In 1888, the township of Galloway was divided, that portion in which the Gloucester establishment was situated being constituted the township of Mullica.
In November, 1839, his business partner, Mr. Thomas S. Richards, having died, Mr. Richards purchased his share of the personal property from his administrator, Stephen Colwell, Esq., of Philadelphia, and also agreed with the heirs for the purchase of their half interest in the real estate, but legal obstacles rendered it impracticable for him to procure a completed title. The firm of S. Colwell & Co., iron commission merchants, North Water Street, then became the agents of the concern for the sale of pipes. About the same time he bought 1200 acres of improved land adjoining the Gloucester estate, from Mr. Samuel G. Wright, of Monmouth.
On January 19, 1840, his wife, Rebecca, died after a protracted indisposition. She was born November 9, 1790, in Amity Township, and was brought up in The Lutheran faith, but subsequently became an earnest Methodist. She was a woman of strong domestic attachments and great kindness of heart and hospitality of disposition. Her remains were interred at Weymouth, beside those of their little son Jesse, who died during their residence there in 1824. On July 4, 1841, he married Louisa, daughter or Ephraim T. and Elizabeth (Rogers) Silvers.
He continued to conduct his enterprises with his characteristic energy and perseverance, increasing, from time to time, the facilities of the works, reclaiming the waste places, and otherwise improving his estate. A community of several hundred people residing upon the premises were in his service in various capacities, by all of whom he was regarded with the respect and esteem due to a just and honorable employer. Notwithstanding its isolated situation, the social atmosphere of Gloucester was always cheerful and attractive. A generous hospitality was dispensed to all who visited it, either upon business or pleasure. A post office was situated at the works, and a stage afforded communication three times a week with Philadelphia, forty miles distant. A school was kept near the furnace for the benefit of the children of the employees, in which also religious services were occasionally held, principally by members of the Methodist itinerant ministry.
In the year 1848, circumstances determined Mr. Richards to return to Pennsylvania, and in the month of July he removed to the vicinity of Mauch Chunk, Carbon County, and took charge of the Carbon Furnace, which had been carried on for several years previously by his sons, Samuel L. and William L. Richards. This establishment was originally erected in 1838, upon ground leased from the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company by Messrs. Baughman, Guiteau & Co., who made here one of the earliest of the successful experiments for the manufacture of iron from anthracite coal. The works were remodeled and enlarged during the ownership of himself and sons, and a foundry was added in which the casting of water pipes was conducted.
Having remained here six years, Mr. Richards, in 1854, disposed of the concern and retired permanently from the business. In January of the preceding year he had sold his interest in the Gloucester estate, which passed almost immediately into the hands of Stephen Colwell, Esq., who acquired the entire title. The Camden and Atlantic Railroad, which had beau chartered in 1852, was opened in July, 1854, the line running through the Gloucester lands. Mr. Colwell, who had been largely connected with the inception and completion of this project, re-sold the Gloucester property in February, 1855, at a very large advance, to Dr. Henry Schmoele, of Philadelphia, a German of a speculative turn, who organized the "Gloucester Land and Town Association," and laid out upon an extensive scale the town of Egg Harbor City upon the railroad, at which place he planted a colony of his countrymen, who ultimately became engaged in wine growing and other industries. Egg Harbor City is five miles westward from where formerly stood Gloucester Furnace, the works having many years since disappeared. A tract of 150 acres, including the mansion house, furnace site, and water power, is now the property of the town corporation of Egg Harbor.
Mr. Richards removed in April, 1854, to a handsome country seat called "Stowe," which he purchased in the vicinity of Pottstown, Montgomery County. He acquired here nearly two hundred acres of land, and although he had reached the age of threescore and ten, actively engaged in agricultural pursuits, in which he found congenial occupation, he greatly ornamented and beautified his residence and grounds and by assiduous and successful cultivation developed and enhanced the value of his entire estate. Being in the near vicinity of the scenes of his youth, be experienced, after his long absence from them, a revival of those early attachments which operate so powerfully upon the mind at the closing period of life. Amidst his rural surroundings he nevertheless preserved a lively interest in the public events of the day, and derived great pleasure from social intercourse. The community recognized in him a highly intelligent and interesting old-time gentleman, whose society was always in a marked degree entertaining and agreeable.
Uninterrupted health and a constitutional tranquility of mind enabled him to thoroughly enjoy, even to its close, an existence providentially prolonged beyond that of nearly all the acquaintances and associates of his early business life. As the end was foreshadowed, he contemplated it with the calmness of a philosopher and the faith of a Christian. In the summer of 1871, his vital powers gave way, from no other cause apparently than the wearing out of the forces of nature. His last illness was but of a few weeks' duration, and on the night of the 29th of November, in the presence of most of the members of his assembled family, and in the possession of an undimmed intelligence, he peacefully expired, in the 88th year of his age, His funeral took place on the morning of the 2d of December following, and was attended by a large concourse of his neighbors and friends. The Rev. John C. Thompson, pastor or the Presbyterian Church of Pottstown, of which he was an attendant, conducted services at the residence, at the conclusion of which the body was conveyed to Reading, and laid to rest in the beautiful grounds of the Charles Evans Cemetery, being committed to the earth, by the Rev. John Moore.
Mr. Richards had seven children, six the offspring of the first, and one of the second marriage. His wife, Louisa, survived him eight years, continuing to reside at "Stowe." She was born March l4, 1799, at Allentown, Monmouth County, New Jersey, and was, up to the time of her marriage, occupied as a teacher and instructor of youth, in schools and private families. For this vocation she was qualified by her own exertions and to its labors she devoted herself with great earnestness and interest, attaching equal importance to the cultivation of the minds and hearts of her young pupils. She belonged to the Presbyterian Church, with which she united during a residence in Trenton in 1827. Her nature was ardent and enthusiastic, and her love of society especially that of the young, one of her most prominent characteristics. During the last twelve years of her life she was an invalid, from a paralytic infection, which gradually impaired her mind and body. She died January 26, 1880, in the 81st year of her age. Her remains wore interred beside those or her husband.
From the foregoing details of the life of John Richards, much has already appeared to illustrate the leading characteristics of the man, and the practical results of his long and useful career. An innate ambition, despite the lack of original advantages, to attain a creditable position in life, very early developed in him that manly self-reliance which was his strongest and most enduring trait. The lessons of his earliest years he never forgot--his independence of spirit never forsook him. The integrity of principle and steadfastness of purpose with which he persevered in his worthy aim, fairly insured to him the degree of success which he achieved. All his actions were governed by a high sense of personal honor, and it was a satisfactory reflection with him in the evening of his days, that in all his business dealings he had never willfully wronged his fellow-man.
The particular strength of his mind consisted in its thorough common sense. His temperament and disposition inclined him in all things to that medium of opinion which is always nearly right, and toward which extremes gravitate. His sense of justice was clear, and his views sound upon all subjects with which he was conversant. Of strong and resolute will, he was usually as tenacious in his plans as he was energetic and persevering in their execution. As a man of business he was eminently practical, his attention extending to every detail of the matter in hand, and as an employer he possessed a capacity for direction which never failed to inspire a respect for his authority. In his private character, the strength of his domestic attachments was one of the most marked features, and he was kind and indulgent in all the family relations. He was frank and affable in his intercourse with others, and sincere and unaffected in his manners, abhorring every form of ostentation or hypocrisy.
Nature had conferred upon him one of her highest bounties, a remarkably sound and vigorous physical constitution, inherited from his hardy ancestry, and he was always duly sensible of the value, and careful in the preservation of so generous a gift. To this advantage he undoubtedly owed much of the energy of his character, as well as an habitual equanimity of temperament with which the former was not, in him, inconsistent. Previous to his final illness he had not experienced a day's serious indisposition for over half a century. His personal appearance in his latter years was strikingly venerable and impressive, and the exceptional preservation of both his physical and mental faculties was a universal subject or remark upon the part of all who knew or saw him. The picture accompanying this sketch is from a portrait in the possession of his daughter, Mrs. A.W. Butler, of Mauch Chunk, the original of which was taken at about the age of seventy.
The record of such a life is always worthy of preservation as an example for imitation in its best features. To his descendants, to whom he left an honored name, the occurrence of the hundredth anniversary of the birth of John Richards will commend itself as a fitting occasion for perpetuating intangible form the memory of so interesting and respectable an ancestor. To them this effort to that end is affectionately dedicated.
Reading, June, 1884.
Source: Richards, Louis. A Memorial Tribute to the Late John Richards, Inscribed to His Descendants upon the Centennial of His Birth. Philadelphia: Collins, Printer, 1885.
Submitted by Nancy.
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