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         PHILIP RICHLEY, a farmer residing on section 2, Port Louisa Township, came to Louisa County in 1855. He was born in Baden, Germany, in 1836, and is a son of Philip and Barbara (Banworth) Richley, who were also natives of the same country, where the father died in 1836, and the mother in 1854. The father was a shoemaker by trade, and he and his wife were members of the Roman Catholic Church.

Determining to make America his future home, in 1853 Philip Richley came to the United States, and settled in Newark, N. J., where he engaged at his trade of shoemaking for nine months. He then worked at shoemaking in New York City for fifteen months, and in 1855 came to Iowa, settling in Grand View Township, where he secured employment on a farm, and then worked at Wapello for a year. Like so many other of his fellow-countrymen, when the Civil War broke out he nobly defended the land which was henceforth to be his home, enlisting in August, 1862, in the 19th Iowa Infantry, Company G, and served until the close of the war. He participated in the battle of Prairie . . .

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. . . Grove, Vicksburg, Sterling Farm, Spanish Fort Blakeley, and was detailed as surgeon’s aid. He was taken prisoner with the regiment at Sterling Farm, and was confined for ten months at Camp Ford, near Tyler, Tex. He was discharged July 10, 1865, at Mobile, Ala., after three years’ hard fighting on the battle-fields of the South.

Returning from the war Mr. Richley again became a resident of Louisa County, where he rented land for two years, and then purchased a 40-acre tract in Grand View Township, though he now has eighty acres, which are all highly improved. In 1861 he was united in marriage with Catherine Hascher, a native of Alsace, France, and a daughter of John and Catherin Hascher, who were also born in the same country. Mr. and Mrs. Richley are the parents of two living children: John G., a resident farmer of Louisa County, and Lena Mary, wife of Theodore Wilton, of Port Louisa Township. Mr. Richley and his wife are members of the Congregational Church, and he belongs to the G. A. R. Post. For ten years Mr. Richley has served as Road Supervisor, and two years held the position of Constable. In all church and Sunday-school work he and his estimable wife take an active interest, and have done much for the upbuilding of their Master’s cause. Mr. Richley is in favor of the strict inforcement of the prohibitory laws, and is one of the self-made men of the county, having gained a competency by his hard labor and good management. He is one of the respected and representative farmers of Port Louisa Township.