Umatilla County OR Archives Biographies.....Richards, Darwin A December 2, 1828 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Carlene Still crstill@oregontrail.net August 20, 2006, 1:48 am

Author: Colonel William Parsons

Page 416

DARWIN A. RICHARDS
	Among the old and respected pioneers who have lived and died in 
Umatilla county none will be remembered longer or more pleasantly than the 
genial and hospitable gentleman whose name appears above.  His was a life of 
suffering, but he was uniformly cheerful, patient and hopeful, seldom alluding 
to the accident which changed the whole course of his life but never rendered 
him unlovable, and during the early days he was widely known and as highly 
esteemed.
	Born at Wethersfield, New York, on December 2, 1828, he passed the 
initial seven years of his life there, going thence with his parents to 
Prairie du Chien, where he received his education and passed his early youth.  
In 1850 he set out with horse teams to California.  During the ensuing seven 
years he sought for gold in that state, coming north then to Portland, where 
he passed one winter.  Next spring he ascended the Columbia to The Dalles and 
engaged in the livery business and freighting there.  While on the road 
between his home town and Boise, Idaho, he was thrown from his vehicle and run 
over by a freight wagon, as a result of which accident he was crippled for 
life.  Afterward he settled on a farm at the mouth of McKay creek, in the 
present Umatilla county.  When the county was organized he was appointed its 
first clerk, his services as such having their inception in 1862.  Four years 
later he removed to a farm on the southwest side of the site of the present 
Athena and established what was known as the Richards stage station, an 
enterprise which he conducted with such skill and hospitality that he became 
very favorably known by all the passengers who habitually traveled from Salt 
Lake City to the Florence mines.  In 1878 he assisted in laying out and 
organizing the town of Athena, which was built on his farm and that of the 
Hon. T. J. Kirk.  It was known as Centerville at first. Both in the early days 
and in later times Mr. Richards gave considerable attention to stock raising, 
keeping as many head as possible on his two-hundred acre farm.  He died at him 
home in Athena, on the 27th of May, 1901.
	Fraternally our subject was identified with the Grange.  He was 
married on December 21, 1879, in Athena, Oregon, to Miss Maria Louise Meader, 
a native of Boston, Massachusetts, who survive him.
 


Additional Comments:
An Illustrated History of Umatilla County by Colonel William Parsons and of 
Morrow County by W. S. Shiach with a brief outline of the early history of the 
State of Oregon.  W. H. Lever, Publisher  1902.


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