Clark Richardson (1858-1933)

RICHARDSON

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 8/16/2022 at 17:33:44

Clark Richardson
(February 12, 1858 - December 26, 1933)

Clark Richardson, who is now doing a successful business as a dealer in coal, feed and tile at Knierim, Iowa, and is also engaged in farming in Greenfield Township, was born on the 12th of February, 1858, in Hamilton. Ontario, Canada, and is a son of J. W. and Isabel (Ackerly) Richardson, both natives of England, the former born on Good Friday, in April, 1830, the latter November 10, 1831. Their home was in the northern part of that country and there they were married. About 1853 the father emigrated to America and first settled in Michigan, being in the employ of the Michigan Central Railroad for a few years. He then returned to England for his wife and two children, who had remained in that country, and in March, 1857, brought them to the new world. The family spent a few months in Hamilton, Ontario, though Mr. Richardson made his headquarters at Detroit, Michigan, being still in the employ of the Michigan Central Railroad. They next made their home at Torch Lake in northern Michigan, where he bought a tract of timber land, residing there one year. In 1859 they removed to Chicago, and left that city on the 6th of November, i860, the day Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States for the first time. Since then the father has made his home in Aurora, Illinois, where for several years he was in the employ of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, and has since engaged in contracting and building. In his family were seven children, namely: John W., now a farmer of Ottertail County, Minnesota; Thomas W., who was killed on the railroad in 1877 when twenty-five years of age : Clark, of this review; Jeremiah, who died in 1863 at the age of eleven months and twenty-three days; Frank, who died at the age of thirty-six years; Beeby E., a resident of Geneva, Illinois, and the present deputy sheriff of Kane County; and Henry E., who died in 1869, aged two years, four months and twenty-seven days.
The subject of this sketch was principally reared and educated in Aurora, Illinois, pursuing his studies in the public schools of that city. He also attended school in Wright County, Iowa, for one winter. At the age of fourteen years he began earning his own livelihood and worked at various occupations in Iowa and Illinois. For a time he was employed on a farm, and later worked at the carpenter's trade in the coach department of the Chicago. Burlington & Quincy Railroad for five years, previous to which time he was employed in wood machine works. In 1881 Mr. Richardson bought the west half of the northeast quarter of section 9, Greenfield Township, Calhoun County, Iowa, now within the corporate limits of Knierim, and on leaving the railroad company commenced farming upon this tract. It was a wild and barren piece of land when it came into his possession, but he has since broken it and placed it under a high state of cultivation. He has erected a good set of farm buildings thereon, planted a large grove, and made many other improvements, so that he now has one of the most desirable farms of its size in his section of the county. In connection with the operation of his land Mr. Richardson is now engaged in the coal, feed and tile business in Knierim, being the fir.st to handle coal in that town, and he now enjoys a good trade, which is constantly increasing.
At the home of the bride in DeKalb County, Illinois, Mr. Richardson was married, December 29, 1880, to Miss Mary Jane Wright, who was born December 11, 1,859, and is the second in order of birth in a family of seven children, her parents being George and Elizabeth (Scott) Wright. By this union have been born three children, namely : Cora E., the oldest, was born November 22. 1882, and was married at the home of her parents April 16, 1902, to Clyde C. Cooper, the son of Walter J. and Maria E. Cooper, of Greenfield Township; Elmer L., born July 21, 1884, now assists his father in the operation of the home farm during the summer and attends school through the winter months. Henry R., the youngest, was born on the 1st of May, 1893, at the hour when President Cleveland touched the button at the opening of the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Mr. Richardson and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is now a trustee, and he also belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America, being secretary and clerk of his camp in the latter fraternity. Politically he is identified with the Republican party, and as a public spirited and progressive citizen he takes a deep interest in those enterprises calculated to advance the moral, social and material welfare of his town and county. [Source – Biographical Record of Calhoun County, Iowa, by S. J. Clarke, 1902, p.319]