My Genealogy Hound

Hamilton W. Richey is a son of John Richey, of Virginia, who moved to Indiana in his younger days, and married Miss Polly Woods, of that State, locating in Gibson County, where Hamilton was born December 29, 1829. John Richey followed his occupation of farming in Indiana until the year 1844, when he removed to Arkansas, and settled in Lawrence County. He resided in that place, and reared his family, until the time of his death, in the fall of 1861, when he passed away, regretted by all who knew him. Up to the time of his decease Mr. Richey had been a survivor of the War of 1812, and was at Mobile, Ala., when the battle of New Orleans was fought. He was also a captain of militia during his residence in Indiana. Hamilton W. Richey came to Arkansas when in his fourteenth year, and is the oldest of three surviving sons, out of a family of eight who grew to maturity and had families of their own. He remained with his father until his twenty-third year, and was then united in marriage to Mrs. Sarah Ann Richey, December 12, 1852, the lady being a widow, and a native of Lawrence County. After their marriage they settled on a small farm in Flat Creek, and, in the spring of 1867, moved to their present home. Mr. Richey commenced clearing his land at once, and at the present time has almost 225 acres under cultivation. He owns altogether about 700 acres of land, on different tracts, a portion of it being cleared, and owes his present prosperity to his own enterprise, having but very little property when he first started in life. Mr. Richey is one of the substantial and progressive men to whom Lawrence County can point with pride, and by his industry and economy has placed himself upon a basis where others must look at him with admiration. In March, 1862, he enlisted in the Confederate army, becoming a member of the First Arkansas Battalion, and served until taken prisoner, at Port Hudson, July 8, 1863. The command was again re-organized the following fall, and then Mr. Richey held the rank of first lieutenant, and continued in that capacity until his surrender, at Jacksonport, Ark., where he was paroled in June, 1865. He had two children by his first wife, both of them deceased, and his wife also dying in 1857. He contracted a second marriage, his wife being Miss Mary Wayland, of Arkansas, who died in 1876, leaving six children: David H., John H. and Joseph W., while three others lived to maturity, and two married before their deaths occurred. Their names are Hamilton W., Sarah Ann M. and Amanda J. Mr. Richey was again married, his third wife being Miss Mattie E. Walker, of Gibson County, Tenn., and has had two children by this marriage, Nora May and Mattie Aoma. He was elected justice of the peace of his township, and, at the expiration of his first term, was reelected to a second term. Mr. Richey and his wife are both members of the Christian Church, and he is also a member of the Agricultural Wheel.