My Genealogy Hound

ISAAC RICHARDS, of Norristown, Pennsylvania, is descended from two of the oldest Welsh families in Chester and Montgomery counties-the Walkers and the Richards, whose ancestors came from Merionethshire, in Wales, and settled in Tredyffrin township, Chester county. On the Richards side his ancestor was Rowland Richards, who purchased land on the river Schuylkill, lying between Valley Forge and what is now Port Kennedy. The old homestead is still standing, and has been owned in recent years by the Pattersons of Port Kennedy. He appears to have settled first in Tredyffrin, and afterwards to have bought the Merion property.

Rowland Richards married Catharine, daughter of Hugh Jones. The couple had eight children as follows: Rowland, born 2d mo. 22, 1690, married, in 1716, Sarah Thomas; Margaret, born 8th mo. 5, 1692, married, first, in 1711, John Longworthy, and (second), in 1715, William Williams; Gainor, born 11th mo. 13, 1693, married, in 1721, Evan Bowen; John, born 9th mo. 9, 1695; Elizabeth, born 7th mo. 22, 1696, married, 17I 7, Jacob Thomas; Sarah, born 1697, married, 8th mo. 10, 1722, Cadwallader Evans, son of Evan Pugh; Ruth, born 1699, married, 3d mo. 2, 1721, Robert Evans, son of Owen, they being married at Gwynedd Meetinghouse, and Robert died in September, 1746; Samuel, born 8th mo. 7, 1700, married, 2d mo. 21, 1726, Elizabeth Evans, who was born 8th mo. 20, 1700, and was the daughter of Owen Evans, of Gwynedd. Owen Evans was the third of four brothers who came from Wales in 1698, he was born in 1659, and died 10th mo. 7, 1723. His wife’s name was Elizabeth. The Evans family is traced back to King Ludd, of Britain, who reigned before the Christian era. Rowland Richards died December 1, 1720, and his will was probated December 7, 1720. His son John removed to Philadelphia and there married. Joshua Richards (great-great-grandfather) was born 1724, and died 2d mo. 10, 1785. The following from the records of Gwynedd Monthly Meeting explains his parentage: Married, 3d mo. 21, 1747, Joshua Richards, son of John, of Philadelphia, deceased, and Mary Dickinson, daughter of Joshua, of the same county. At Plymouth meeting-house. The witnesses, Joshua, Eliza and Elizabeth Dickinson, Samuel Richards, Joseph Jones, John Rees, and twenty-two others. Joshua and Mary Richards’ children were: Caleb, born 9th mo. 8, 1750; Joshua, born 11th mo. 9, 1752, married Margaret Dickinson; Elizabeth, born 2d mo. 9, 1755, died 1st mo. 28, 1756; Mary, Jr., born 11th mo. 4, 1758, died 3d mo. 10, 1761; Abigail, born 10th mo. 29, 1761, died in 1764; Mary (2d) born 10th mo. 16, 1763, died 8th mo. 8, 1840, married a Horn, of New Jersey; John, great-grandfather, born 12th mo. 8, 1765, died 4th mo. 22, 1824.

John Richards, just mentioned, married Susan, sister of Hance Supplee, of Worcester township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. She was born in 1766, and died 4th mo. 11, 1854. They were married at St. James Episcopal church at Evansburg, in the same county, March 28, 1793, and both were buried at Valley Friends’ meeting. Their children were: Caleb, Peter, Isaac, Mary, Ann, and Hannah. Caleb married Jane Walker. Mary married Benjamin Eastburn, and after her death Ann became his wife. Hannah married Peter Colehower, and removed to the west and raised a family and died there, their descendants living in Illinois and Minnesota. Peter Richards removed to Missouri, and his children reside in that state.

Caleb Richards (grandfather) married Jane Walker, daughter of Isaac Walker, who was born at Rehoboth, Tredyffryn township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, in 1792. Caleb Richards resided in Schuylkill township, Chester county, and died 2d mo. 2, 1824. They had three children: John, born 1819, died in 1875, married, first, Mary Ann Thomas, and second Eliza Eastburn; their children died young; Isaac Walker Richards (father); Samuel S. Richards, who married Elizabeth Justice, and had several children, of whom two are living, William B. and Carroll. Jane W. Richards married (second husband) William Hallowell, of Plymouth township, Montgomery county, 3d mo. 20, 1828.

Isaac Walker Richards, father of the subject of this sketch was born in Chester county, Schuylkill township, December 29, 1821. He learned the trade of fulling cloth. He married Susan M. Sands, of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, near Quakertown, and removed to Finesville, in New Jersey, on the Delaware, near Riegelsville. Their marriage took place in April, 1846. He removed to New York city in 1850 and engaged in business there. In 1862 he enlisted in the army and served for two years and eight months, receiving an honorable discharge for disability, having been wounded twice. He participated in the Red River campaign and the capture of Port Hudson, where he was wounded. He resided for some time in Philadelphia, where he was engaged in the real estate business, and thence to Norristown, where he died 1st mo. 23, 1899. His wife died 4th mo. 28, 1898, and both were buried at Valley Friends’ Meeting. Both were members of the First Baptist church of Norristown, Pennsylvania. Their children: Isaac; Elizabeth, who died at the age of eighteen; Adelaide, married Ransom G. W. Dennison, and has four children; Emma, married John Sherman, and has one child; Jane, died in infancy; William, married Annie Springman, and has one son; Benjamin, married Edith Chace, and has one child, they residing at Newport, Rhode Island; John, died in infancy; Mary, died in her ninth year of scarlet fever.

Isaac Richards was born July 30, 1848, at Finesville, New Jersey, where his father at that time operated a woolen mill. The family removing to New York, he was educated in the West Forty-seventh Street Grammar School, of which James Monteith, author of a series of Geographies and other works, was the principal, graduating in 1863. In March, 1863, he entered the government service as an aide to Captain Jenkins, provost marshal of the ninth congressional district. The office was at the northeast corner of Forth-sixth street and Third avenue, and the conscription took place there the last two days of June of that year. On the following Monday morning the riot, due to the draft, broke out. The office of Captain Jenkins was the first point of attack by the infuriated mob. Captain Jenkins, finding it impossible to proceed with the drawing without a military force, sent Isaac Richards to the provost marshal general, Colonel Nugent, for aid, but before help arrived the office was burned to the ground. This was the beginning of one of the bloodiest riots on record which extended all over the city of New York, all the troops being at Gettysburg, where the three days’ battle was then in progress, and the only military force available was the Invalid Corps, composed of wounded soldiers. The Invalid Corps, after a fight in which several were killed, were forced to retire, and the mob committed terrible mischief, burning a colored orphan asylum, different drafting offices, and many private residences of persons obnoxious to the mob. The only repulse they met was at the Arsenal, on Seventh avenue, in charge of the Hawkins Zouaves, which had just been mustered out after serving two years. In a week’s time there were thirty thousand troops in New York city, and order was completely restored. The draft then proceeded, under a strong guard of soldiers, and Isaac Richards continued in the government service until 1865, acting a part of the time as quartermaster, distributing clothing to recruits and drafted men. In the latter part of 1865 he entered as an apprentice with Gage Inslee, a well known and prominent architect of that time, whose offices were located at Astor Place and Broadway. He served three years and took the course of mechanical drafting and engineering at nights at the Cooper Institute. Accepting an offer from a prominent elevator manufacturer, he engaged in that business, then in its infancy, and has been continuously employed in it to the present time. He has designed and constructed elevators for some of the most prominent buildings in the country. He is now general sales manager for Morse, Williams & Company, with offices in the West End Trust Company’s building, corner of Broad street and South Penn Square, Philadelphia. Mr. Richards has the reputation of being one of the best all-round elevator men in the country, and has often been summoned to give expert testimony in litigation relating to elevator accidents, etc. In politics he is a Republican with Independent proclivities, but has always supported the presidential candidates of that party. He is a member of the Society of Friends, and takes an active interest in its work. In connection with the elevator business he has traveled in all sections of the United States. He has made many improvements in elevators, a number of which are patented.

Mr. Richards married, October 13, 1875, Martha Warner Richards, by Friends’ ceremony, at the residence of her grandmother, Martha E. Richards, No. 706 Swede street, Norristown. They have one child, Helen Eldridge Richards, who graduated from the Norristown High School, class of 1899, and also graduated in theory of music at Spruce Street Conservatory, Philadelphia, in June, 1904. The family reside at 809 Swede street, Norristown.

Martha W. Richards was born in Philadelphia, and is a direct descendant of the same ancestry as her husband, Joshua Richards, who married Mary Dickinson at Plymouth Meeting in 1747, being the great-great-grandfather of each, her line being as follows: Joshua Richards, great-grandfather; John Richards, grandfather; William W. Richards, father. On her mother’s side, her grandfather was Hananiah Walker, who married Jane Havard. Hananiah Walker was the fifth in descent from Lewis Walker, who was the founder of Valley Friends’ Meeting, and donated the land for the building and graveyard. Hananiah Walker’s sister Jane was the wife of Caleb Richards, and grandmother of Isaac Richards, husband of Martha W. Richards. The Havard family trace their ancestry back to Sir Walter Havard, in 1092. The arms of this old Welsh family are very simple: A roughly executed bull’s head, and the motto, “In Deo spes.” The family were long settled at the town of Brecon, Wales, and the chapel erected by them in the time of Queen Elizabeth is known as the Havard Chapel. The parents of Martha W. Richards were William W., son of John and Martha E. Richards, of Norristown; and Mary Ann, daughter of Hananiah and Jane (Havard) Walker, of Tredyffrin township, Chester county. Martha E. Richards was a Warner, and was born at Valley Forge, September 19, 1799. She was a sister of Ann Wood, wife of James Wood, the founder of the extensive iron manufacturing industries at Conshohocken. Martha E. Richards died in Norristown in June, 1892, in her ninety-third year. The children of William W. and Mary Ann Richards: Martha W., wife of Isaac Richards; Jane, died in infancy; Anna R., twin with Jane; John James, Clara Louisa, Mary H., Thomas Chalkley Wood, married Ida Mullen, daughter of Joseph Mullen, of Port Kennedy; William Warner Wood, twin with Thomas Chalkley, married Sarah Hare, of Port Kennedy; Susan Walker died in 1876; Lewis Walker.

Isaac Richards is preeminently a self-made man, having gained the position he now occupies solely through his own exertions. His success in life is to be attributed solely to his indomitable energy and strict attention to business. Genial in disposition, affable and kindly courteous to all with whom he comes in contact, he makes friends wherever he goes. His influence in the community is always exerted on the side of right and progress, and he is actively interested in every movement that promises to benefit his fellow citizens.