Encyclopedia Dubuque
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RICHARDS, Benjamin Billings
Ancestry.com--https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/78338584/person/100079864003/facts
RICHARDS, Benjamin Billings. (Milton, NY, Aug. 30, 1823--Dubuque, IA, Mar. 16, 1912). Richards was educated at Bennington and at the age of fifteen, served four years as a teacher in the district school. When the seminary at Caryville, New York was founded, he became its first principal and served as a professor of mathematics at the age of eighteen. In 1848 Richards began studying law in Milwaukee and was admitted to the bar in 1850, the same year he married Miss Elizabeth Losey. (1)
Richards came to Dubuque in February 1854 and entered the real estate business. His firm, Taylor and Richards, went through several re-namings to become TAYLOR, RICHARDS & BURDEN. During this time he became interested in a large tract of land between Dubuque and Sageville and had maple trees planted along much of its length.
Richards campaigned unsuccessfully against William Boyd ALLISON for Congress during the CIVIL WAR. Starting in 1864 he served twelve years in the Iowa General Assembly, two in the house and ten in the senate. The state leader of the Democratic Party, he ran against David B. HENDERSON for Congress in Iowa's Third District, but split with the party platform in 1896. (2)
Richards was the first president of the DUBUQUE NATIONAL BANK and the founder of other banks in the northeastern part of Iowa. (3) In 1877 he was elected one of the vice presidents of the St. Paul River Improvement Convention. (4) He purchased an extensive flouring mill in Finchford, Iowa in 1879. (5) Because of his interest in education, Richards served several terms on the local board of education and once served as principal of the high school. Richards, a charter member of the LINWOOD CEMETERY Association, convinced the association to establish a system of perpetual care. (6) He retired from the presidency of DUBUQUE NATIONAL BANK in 1890 to devote more time to his other business interests and moved to Duluth, Minnesota in May, 1891. (7)
Richard's magnificent mansion at the far northern end of Locust Street was built in the style of STICK ARCHITECTURE. For years the home of Theodore Richards ELLSWORTH, the home was purchased in the late 1970s and renovated into a bed and breakfast.
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Source:
1. "Benjamin "B.B. Richards," Linwood Legacies. Online: http://www.linwoodlegacies.org/benjamin-bb-richards.html
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. "Caught on the Fly," Dubuque Herald, October 13, 1877. p. 4, Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=uh8FjILnQOkC&dat=18771013&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
5. "Caught on the Fly," Dubuque Herald, March 16, 1879, p. 4. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=uh8FjILnQOkC&dat=18790316&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
6. Linwood Legacies
7. "Municipal Molecules," Dubuque Daily Herald, May 27, 1891, p. 4