For
Muscatine County Iowa
1911
| Biographies For Muscatine County Iowa 1911 | |
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Volume II, Biographical, 1911, page 277
DEVOLVE RICHARDS....All lovers of liberty will ever regard with deepest respect the men who offered their lives in defense of the Union and on the field of battle demonstrated their patriotism. The old soldiers are rapidly passing to their reward but in almost every community of the north may be seen a little band whose membership in the Grand Army of the Republic indicates that they were enrolled under the stars and stripes. To this number belongs Devolve Richards, of West Liberty.Born in Columbiana county, Ohio, November 3, 1841, he is the son of Thomas and Jane ( Lynch ) Richards, both of whom were natives of Loudoun county, Virginia. In 1851 the father came west and located upon a farm of one hundred and sixty acres which he entered in Cedar county. The country was sparsely settled and he built a rude log cabin, covering the roof with clapboards and providing a puncheon floor so that it was comfortable in winter and afforded a safe shelter at any season of the year. There the family lived until 1854, when they removed north of Springdale, where he opened a flour mill for four years, and later for the same length of time he conducted a millling business near Tipton. At the end of that period he took up his residence in West Liberty, where he passed away in 1865 and his wife died twenty-two years later. Of the eleven children in their family four are still living: Slathiel, now residing at Florence, Nebraska; Adla, the wife of Dr. Ady of West Liberty; Elizabeth, the wife of Hiram Ady, also of West Liberty; and Devolve, the subject of this review.
Educated in the district schools of Cedar county, Devolve Richards remained with his parents until sixteen years of age and then began to learn the plasterer's trade. In 1861 he responded to the call of Abraham Lincoln and enlisted under Captain Beach in Company H, Eleventh Iowa Volunteers, and for four long years gave willing service to a cause that seemed to him to be just and true. He took part in many of the great battles of the Army of the West, as a member of Crocker's celebrated Iowa Brigade, among which may be named Shiloh, Corinth, the siege of Vicksburg, and marched under General Sherman to the sea, assisting in that great movement which defeated the Confederacy and materially hastened the conclusion of the war. He learned many lessons which are not presented in books and also gained a knowledge of human nature which has been of invaluable assistance to him in the years that have passed.
After being honorably discharged and mustered out at Louisville, Kentucky, Mr. Richards returned to Muscatine county and for twenty years devoted his attention to his trade, then entering the butcher business in which he has since continued. By diligence and economy he acquired two hundred and eleven acres of land, of which one hundred and twenty were in Muscatine county and ninety-one in Cedar county. This property he has disposed of but he now owns a comfortable residence and several lots in West Liberty.
In 1867 Mr. Richards was united in marriage to Miss Mary Bowlsby, a native of Ohio and a daughter of J. G. and Lydia A. Bowlsby, the former of whom was born in New Jersey and the latter at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Mr. Bowlsby came to Muscatine county in 1839 and for a short time drove a stage coach. Then returning to the east, he brought his family to Muscatine county, where he established a permanent home. He and his wife are now deceased. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Richards seven children have been born: Gustie, deceased; H. M., now a farmer of Muscatine county; Emma E., who graduated from the West Liberty high school and is now a teacher at Minneapolis, Minnesota; Lily, The wife of S. G. McFadden, of West Liberty; A. L., now identified with a meat market at West Liberty; Lewis, deceased; and Edith, a graduate of the high school and now living at home.
Mr Richards gives his earnest support to the republican party and has served with general acceptance as road superintendent, school director and in other minor township offices. He is a valued member of Post No. 245, G. A. R., of West Liberty, and his wife holds membership in the Presbyterian church. He is a man of agreeable and friendly address and that he has good business ability has been well demonstrated. He has never allowed his energies to become completely absorbed in the pursuit of money so as to dry up the fountains of human sympathy. As a patriotic citizen, a kind neighbor and a considerate and loving husband and father, he has accomplished a worthy object in life and is to be congratulated on the homorable record he has made.
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