The Richmond Family of Henry County, Illinois

ISAIAH RICHMOND (1809-1899).

Isaiah Richmond, one of the early residents of Geneseo and for many years one of its most influential citizens, was born in Middleboro, Massachusetts, August 5, 1809. He was the youngest son of Benjamin and Abigail (Dean) Richmond and eighth in descent from John Richmond of Wiltshire, England, who is said to have been a descendant of the first Duke of Richmond. He traced his ancestry back through Benjamin, Joseph, Joseph, Joseph, Joseph, John and John. John Richmond came to America about 1635, being one of the first purchasers of Taunton, Massachusetts, in 1637. "The family were large landowners in the easterly part of the town and gave to a village in that section the name of Richmondtown, which it still bears. Walter Deane, also, his material ancestor, was one of the original purchasers of Taunton and Dean street was named in his honor. The descendants in both Dean and Richmond fine were stanch defenders of the colonies in the trying times of the Revolution.

Mr. Richmond, while a student at Scituate, Rhode Island, met Eliza Angell Fenner, also a student at the same seminary, whom he afterward married October 28, 1833. She was a daughter of Jeremiah Fenner, of North Scituate, a descendant of Thomas Fenner, who came from England and died in Branford, Connecticut, in 1647, whose son Captain Arthur Fenner and his descendants were prominent in the history of Providence, Rhode Island, and who furnished two governors to the state. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Richmond lived about four years at the Richmond homestead in Middleboro, Massachusetts, when they removed to North Scituate, Rhode Island. Here at the Fenner homestead they resided for ten years and here were born three of their children: Mary Eliza,

ISAIAH KICILMONI) who was born March i6, 1837, and died December 31, 1892; Joseph Warren, born February 20, 1840; and Edwin Adelbert, born October 4, 1842.

In 1835, Mr. Richmond first invested in land on the prairies of Ilhnois, in Tazewell county. Part of the land was purchased of residents of Tremont and part from the "Smithfield Western Emigrating Association" of Tremont. In November, 1839, he bought of the government one hundred and sixty acres in this vicinity, the papers bearing the name of President Van Buren. Mr. Richmond made two journeys to the west on horseback to look after his extensive landholdings — about one thousand acres in all — but not until 1844, did he bring his family to the new country. He made a home for one year at Tremont, which place he left for Groveland near Peoria, where he lived till 1854. There were hard times in those days of "Wild Cat" money and is was difficult to obtain money sufficient to pay taxes on land. In Groveland, Mr. Richmond conducted a hotel which was maintained a temperance house. In that day the use of intoxicants was much more common than at the present time and it required great courage to thus go against public opinion, but he stood firmly by his convictions and thus by his example advocated the cause of temperance.

Four children were born at the Groveland home: Abbie Dean R., who was born October 30, 1844, d died July 12, 1872; Francis Eugene and Maria Louisa, twins, born August 17, 1847; and Prudence Amelia, who was born March 27, 1850, and died March 31, 1853.

About this time, Mr. Richmond purchased land on the south side of Geneseo, securing about sixty acres and, in 1854, built a house, moving his family from Groveland in December to the home at the foot of State street, where his youngest child Helen Annette, was born, and who afterward married Mortimer Fleet and lives in Ashland, Oregon. Soon selling the first house, Mr. Richmond built and occupied the house one block east on Buffalo street, now called Oakwood avenue, which continued to be the home until after the death of his wife in 1879. This part of Geneseo was called the Richmond addition.

Soon after coming to Geneseo, Mr. Richmond engaged in the nursery business, there being at the time but one other nursery in the county — the small one at Wethersfield. Having a natural aptitude for horticulture and kindred occupations, he developed the business till his nursery became the center of a large local trade, people coming long distances for trees and plants. There are many orchards in the vicinity which were planted from his nursery stock and some of them are the result of his making leases of land on which to grow young trees, it being stipulated that he leave an orchard on the land. In 1866, wishing to extend the business, he and his son Joseph bought of Mr. Merriman the site of the present nursery, the land being then covered with hazel bushes and scrub oaks, but considered superior to prairie soil for the propagation of nursery stock. Mr. Richmond soon after sold his interest to his sons Joseph and Edwin, who thereafter conducted the nursery business.

Mr. Richmond was a man of sterling worth and highly respected by all who knew him. He was a liberal giver toward all measures for the advancement of the town or community. He was a life-long member of the Congregational church and assisted largely in the building of the present church edifice. Visiting pastors and all who were interested in good work, were always cordially welcomed to his hospitable home. He was always a strong advocate of the temperance cause and was among the first to believe that prohibition was the only safe course. In politics he was a republican.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

JEREMIAH FENNER RICHMOND.

At the Richmond homestead in Middleboro, Massachusetts, Jeremiah Fenner Richmond was born, November 19, 1834. He was the oldest son of Isaiah and Eliza A. (Fenner) Richmond. When about three years of age, he went with his parents to live at Scituate, Rhode Island, and was ten years old when the family came to Tremont, Illinois, in 1844, later to Groveland and finally to Geneseo in 1854. Here he learned the carpenter's trade of Harry McArthur and assisted in building the first home of the Richmonds in Geneseo, at the south end of State street. He married, March 31, 1856, Celia Manville, and for several years Geneseo was their home. They afterward Hved in Chicago, Omaha and Marysville, California, where he died May 5, 1879. While living in Omaha, their son Ralph was born, who married and lived in Greene, New York, where his two children were born — Celia Manville and Ralph, Jr.

During the Civil war, Mr. Richmond enlisted as private in the Ninth Illinois Cavalry, but later was transferred to the commissary department. After the close of the war, he again engaged in carpentry and removing to Chicago he became an extensive and successful contractor. Here he met George Francis Train, who was interested in the development of Omaha and contracted with him for the erection of numerous buildings in that growing city.

During the extension of the Union Pacific Railroad, he contracted for the construction of stations and necessary buildings along the line of the railway, in many places the work being guarded from the depredations of hostile Indians. He amassed quite a fortune for those days, but later lost heavily in contracting for the erection of a large hotel in Cheyenne.

After her husband's death in Marysville, California, May 5, 1879, s. Richmond returned to Geneseo, where she remained for a time, later going to live with her sister, Mrs. Hattie (Manville) Calkins, in Galesburg, Illinois, and at whose home she died.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

JOSEPH WARREN RICHMOND.

Joseph Warren Richmond is the owner of Prospect Hill Nursery farm situated on section 29, Geneseo township, about a mile from the city of Geneseo, Illinois. It is an attractive and valuable property, lacking in none of the equipments and accessories of the model farm of the twentieth century and indicates in its well kept appearance the careful supervision and progressive method of the owner.

Mr. Richmond was born in North Scituate, Rhode Island, February 20, 1840, and is the son of Isaiah and EUza Angell (Fenner) Richmond. He was about four years of age when his father came with his family to Illinois, living one year at Tremont, Tazewell county, and about nine years at Groveland, near Peoria, when in the fall of 1854, they came to Geneseo, which has since been the family home.

Here the father established a nursery, the second in the county, there being a small nursery at Wethersfield. Mr. Richmond may be said to have grown up in the nursery business since he assisted his father during his youth and early manhood, thus gaining valuable experience concerning general agricultural methods and the care and propagation of nursery stock. In 1866 he and his father bought sixty acres of land on section 29, Geneseo township, and the business was transferred to its present location. Soon after this Mr. Richmond was joined by his brother Edwin and together they purchased their father's interest in the business. The brothers added to their acres and extended the business, being associated together for fifteen years, Edwin acting as manager of the nursery and local trade for ten years, while Joseph W. traveled with a force of salesmen in Illinois, Iowa, Indiana and Michigan.

Following the death of his brother Edwin, in December, 1880, Mr. Richmond remained at home, giving personal attention to local affairs and trusting the outside trade entirely to agents. He was joined by his younger brother, Francis E. and together they purchased the interest left by the deceased brother and were associated in the business for two years, when Joseph W. became sole proprietor. They had previously purchased the homestead at the foot of Oakwood avenue, and in the division of the property, Francis E took that as his share, while Joseph W. kept the nursery.

It was during the one season spent in traveling through Michigan, that Mr. Richmond met in Saginaw, at her father's home, Clara McLellan, to whom he was married May 25, 1881. She is a daughter of Benjamin and Emeline (Palmer) McLellan and was born on the 26th of November, 1854, in Saginaw. She was educated in the Saginaw high school, was two years a student at the Michigan State Normal school at Ypsilanti and studied one year at Wellesley College, Massachusetts. While in the east, she visited the birthplace of her father in Thornton, Grafton county. New Hampshire. He was born October 18, 1813, the youngest son of John McLellan (1742-1817), a native of Perthshire, Scotland. On coming to America in 1774, John McLellan settled in Thornton and continued a respected citizen of the old Granite state till his death. He married Dorothy Varnum, of Dracut, Massachusetts, a descendant of George and Sarah (Langton) Varnum, who came from England about 1635, and settled at Ipswich, (Agawam), Massachusetts, and whose descendants served with distinction in the Revolutionary war. Dorothy Varnum's mother was Sarah Cobum, five of whose relatives participated in the siege of Boston. Mrs. Richmond's father, Benjamin McLellan, went to Michigan in 1834, Saginaw then being but an Indian trading post, and he lived to see it develop by means of the lumber and. salt industries into the third city in the state, surrounded by a rich agricultural country. He married February 12, 1845, Emeline Palmer, of Livonia, New York, a descendant of the John Palmer, who received a grant of land in

1667 at Greenwich, Connecticut, many of whose descendants served in the Revolutionary war and their sons likewise being patriots in the war of 1812.

After their marriage and a short visit at Niagara Falls and Watkins Glen, Mr. and Mrs. Richmond began housekeeping at Prospect Hill, which has ever since been their home. They have two children: Mildred Ella Richmond, born October 21, 1888, a graduate of the Geneseo high school of the class of 1907 and a student at the University of Michigan of the class of 191 1; and Warren McLellan Richmond, born July 5, 1895, a member of the Geneseo high school of the class of 1913.

Mr. Richmond has always been interested in horticulture and is a local authority on matters pertaining to fruit and plant industry. He is a member of the National Association of Nurserymen. He has always been a republican, following in the political footsteps of his father, but has never been an office seeker. Like his father, he has also advocated the cause of temperance throughout his entire life, and in the nursery business has always taken the stand that he did not care for the trade that had to be bought with whisky or by treating. He is a member of Stewart Lodge, No. 92, A. F. & A. M. He has led a busy and useful life, has ever been found honorable, reliable and progressive in business and courteous and genial in his social relations, and he thus enjoys in large measure the confidence and regard of those with whom he has been brought in contact.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

EDWIN ADELBERT RICHMOND.

Edwin Adelbert Richmond, for fifteen years a partner in the business at Prospect Hill Nursery and a respected citizen of Geneseo, was a son of Isaiah and Eliza A. (Fenner) Richmond and was born at Scituate, Rhode Island, October 4, 1842, He came with his father's family to Illinois in 1844 id to Geneseo in 1854, which continued to be his home until his decease in December, 1880.

At the outbreak of the Civil war, the spirit of patriotism inherited from Revolutionary ancestors asserted itself and he enlisted as a private in Company B, Ninth Illinois Cavalry, Ransom Harrington, captain, Colonel Bpackett's regiment, his older brother, Jeremiah, being a member of the same company. He was afterward transferred to the commissary department.

After the close of the war, he married on the 28th of November, 1868, Juliett Pratt, a daughter of Jared Pratt, of North Middleboro, Massachusetts, bringing his bride to the home at Prospect Hill, where their three children were born: Mabel Pratt, born August 6, 1870, who married Adoniram Faunce, of Brockton, Massachusetts, and has one daughter, Ruth; Ray R., born December 19, 1873, who married Mabel Florence Gammons, of Brockton, Massachusetts, and has one son, Warren; Edwin, Jr., born in April, 1876, who married Sadie Church, and has one son, Stanford Church.

Mr. Richmond was associated with his brother Joseph in conducting and extending the business of Prospect Hill Nursery, he managing all local affairs till his death on the 13th of December, 1880. After her husband's decease, Mrs. Richmond returned with her little family to North Middleboro, her girlhood home, and there her children were educated. Mr. Richmond was a stirring, progressive, business man of strict integrity, and his genial nature made him a favorite among his fellow citizens. He was a member of Stewart Lodge, A. F. & A. M.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

FRANCIS EUGENE RICHMOND.

Francis Eugene Richmond, the youngest son of Isaiah and Eliza Angel! (Fenner) Richmond, of Geneseo, was born at Groveland, Illinois, August 17, 1847. He came to Geneseo with his father's family in December, 1855, and here pursued his education, continuing his course until he became a high school student. He afterward engaged in teaching school for several years in the vicinity of Geneseo and in December, 1880, on the death of his brother Edwin, became a partner in the nursery business with his brother Joseph. Two years later, however, he withdrew from the firm.

On the 29th of January, 1881, Francis E. Richmond was married to Miss Mary Amelia Hopkins, of Woodstock, Connecticut, who was born November 25, 1853. They lived for two years at the Prospect Hill nursery and then removed to the Richmond homestead on Oakwood avenue in Geneseo. They became the parents of four children, Winnefred Eliza, Abbie Louise, Leila May and Francis Eugene, Jr.

Mr. Richmond was a member of Stewart Lodge, No. 92, A. F. & A. M. He was highway commissioner for about ten years and at all times was interested in the welfare and progress of the community. He met death by accidental drowning, June 23, 1898.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.