George H. Richardson (1828-1908)

RICHARDSON, KITSMILLER, ROSS, MCCARTNEY, BAILEY, CARVER

Posted By: Dorian Myhre (email)
Date: 3/14/2017 at 23:31:00

From Nevada Representative September 16, 1908

OBITUARY

George H. Richardson, Dead

The death of "Father Richardson," as he was commonly called, at his home in Colo, September 5, 1908, was the passing of a landmark. For fifty-two years he had been a factor in the development of New Albany township, a familiar figure among it people.

George H. Richardson as born in 1828 in Boone county, Indiana. His parents, Caleb and Celia Richardson, were Kentuckians, and it was fortune as one of the elder children in a family of sixteen, to serve a sturdy apprenticeship under his father in pioneering. In early manhood, Mrs. Elizabeth Ross* having become his helpmeet, he truck out for himself, and with Mrs. Richardson and their two children he in 1856 came by the covered-wagon route to New Albany township, Story county, Iowa, to engage in pioneering on their own account. His brother, Mr. William Richardson, had preceded him in settlement by a year, and the hospitalities of the brother's log house embraced the new comers till the shelter on their own newly brought acres was finished. The new farm was located one and a quarter miles southwest of the present site of Colo before Colo had been thought of, and was no Dye's Branch, a stream whose wooded banks in preference to open tracts attracted settlers. The new Richardson dwelling was the most northeastern one in the line along the creek and beyond it in that direction there was not another nearer than Marietta, thirty miles away. Mr. Richardson, being a carpenter by trade, put exceptional skill and taste into construction of his dwelling. Its liberal dimensions, twenty-five feet square, were walled with squared logs and its square roof was covered with shingles wrought out with the rave. Improved from time to time, it embodied comfort for the inmates and hospitality for the neighbor and the stranger for many a year. And the tools which had wrought this home comfort were not allowed to rust, but all over the township, they shaped testimonials to the pioneer builder's industry and skill. Not the least of his service was that of framing the needed casket from native black walnut, when sorrow overtook a household. His earnest sincere spirit was active in devising ways of helping others, and recognized no time for idleness. Indeed the greatest trial of his closing days seemed expressed in his then frequent remark, "There's nothing left for me to do."

But Mr. Richardson wrought spiritually as well as temporally. He was one of he founders of the Methodist church in Colo, a class leader and Sunday School teacher in that institution for fifty years, and rarely did anything stand between him and religious duty when prayer meeting night came around. His soubriquet, "The old war-horse of the Methodist church" was merited.

His general interest was out-reaching and took him to frequent participation in conventions. A few times it led out to distant parts. In 1874 he visited his brothers who had settled in the then far-away Oregon and Washington. In 1897 he and Mrs. Richardson spent some time with their son, M. H., in San Francisco; and in 1905, the death of Mrs. Richardson in the preceding February having terminated his more than half a century of connubial companionship, he, accompanied by his son W. T., visited various point on the Pacific Slope and in Idaho--he in Melrose, Idaho, erecting a memorial at the grave of his mother, and in San Francisco spending the winter with his son Marion. Returning from this trip he, on his arrival at Ames was startled with news of the San Francisco earthquake.

And now, wandering done, the desire of age was for renewal of independent home life among old associations. This renewal the kindly service of his niece, Mrs. Laura Carver of Tonganoxie, Kansas, made possible, and in this home which he established in Colo, his remaining days passed peacefully, his mind retaining alertness, and his spirit its submissiveness to divine will.

Of his children, the eldest and the youngest, W. T. of Newberg, Jasper county, Iowa, and Marion, now of Seattle, Washington, survive, as does also his step-daughter, Mrs. John McCartney of Colo. His two daughters, Celia (Mrs. Robert Bailey) and Mary Ann Richardson, have both passed away. Five grand-children and six great-grandchildren are also numbered in his posterity.

His funeral was conducted at the Methodist church in the town of his residence on Tuesday, September 8th, by Rev. Elliott of Ames, Rev's. Boreman and Skogberg of sister churches assisting. A large assemblage, floral emblems, and thoughtful words testified appreciatively, and then the cemetery received the tribute of mortality. Thus closed a life which had spanned not only the development of Iowa and the Middle West, but also the most notable four score years of national growth.

*SUBMITTER'S NOTE: George H. Richardson married Elizabeth (Kitsmiller) Ross on 19 October 1849 in Blackford County, Indiana.