Columbia-Lackawanna County PA Archives Biographies.....RICHARDSON, John Lyman ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com August 6, 2005, 4:25 pm Author: Biographical Publishing Co. JOHN LYMAN RICHARDSON, eastern agent for the Weatherwax Manufacturing Company of San Francisco, Cal., and an enterprising business man of Bloomsburg, was born in Waverly, Pa., and is a son of John L. and Catherine (Heermans) Richardson. Amos Richardson must have come to New England before 1640. We find he was in Boston as early as 1645, but he was doubtless there several years before. He is described as a merchant tailor, and was a man of great respectability and good taste. After the departure of Stephen Winthrop, the governor's son, for England in 1641, he was agent for him in New England, as he afterwards was for his brother John Winthrop, the first governor of Connecticut after the charter. With Dean Winthrop and others he was one of the original grantees of Groton, Conn., though he never went there to live. He was a man of strong convictions and determined energy and will, with a good deal of original talent, kind hearted, but never submitted to a wrong without an effort to secure the right. He died at Stonington, Conn., August 5, 1683. Stephen Richardson, third son of Amos Richardson, was born in Boston, June 14, 1652. He was a man of character and influence and lived and died in Stonington, Conn. Amos Richardson, second son of Stephen Richardson, was born in 1681. He settled in Coventry, Conn. Nathan Richardson, eldest son of Amos Richardson, was born March 20, 1725. Nathan Richardson, fifth son of Nathan Richardson, was born at Coventry, Conn., October 27, 1760, and removed to Manchester, Vt., about 1780, and from there to near Burlington, Chittenden County, Vt., where he soon after died. He was an upright Christian man. William P. Richardson, son of Nathan Richardson, was born at Manchester, Vt., July 22, 1784. In his early childhood he developed more than ordinary aptness to learn and excelled as a reader. During the period of his life few men of his position were oftener called upon to read in public. In the Congregational Church, of which he was a member, regular service at that time was always held on the Sabbath in the absence of the minister. On such occasions-and they occurred hundreds of times during his life-time-Mr. Richardson was invariably called upon by one of the deacons to conduct the service and to stand in the pulpit and read a sermon to the congregation. For weeks, and sometimes months, he served the church in this way in the absence of the pastor. He studied theology under the instruction of the Rev. Ebenezer Kingsbury (the grandfather of E. P. Kingsbury, of Scranton), pastor of the Congregational Church at Jericho Centre, Vt. On account of the protracted sickness of his mother who required his constant care, he was compelled to relinquish all thought of the ministry as a profession. Mr. Richardson married, September 7, 1807, Laura, daughter of Capt. John Lyman. He was an old Jeffersonian Democrat, an ardent supporter of Madison and Monroe's administrations, and a decided advocate of the War of 1812. He enlisted as a volunteer and was an officer of his company which was ordered to Plattsburg. After the close of the war he purchased a farm near Jericho Centre, directing his attention to agricultural life. He was for many years a justice of the peace, often a member of the board of selectmen, and represented Chittenden County in the Legislature of the state in 1821, 1822 and 1824. He wrote the early history of Jericho township which was published in "Thompson's Gazetteer of the State." He early became interested in the cause of education and secured the establishment of a good academical school in his township; and was president of the first organized temperance society in his town. When more than eighty years of age he removed with his wife to Butternuts, Otsego County, N. Y., where the couple spent the remainder of their days with their son-in-law, Edward Converse. Mr. Richardson, the father of J. L. Richardson, died February 28, 1871. J. L. Richardson, the father of our subject, was born near Jericho Centre, Chittenden County, Vt., September 15, 1816. The county was named after the first governor, and one of the most renowned governors of the state; was the county in which Col. Ethan Allen, the hero of Ticonderoga, lived and died; the native county of Senator Edmunds; the native county of Dr. Higbee, former superintendent of public instruction in Pennsylvania; and the first public school which Mr. Richardson attended was soon after taught by the father of President Arthur. His first term in the academy of his native town found him a schoolmate of Judge Poland, for many years a member of Congress from Vermont. At the age of nineteen Mr. Richardson taught his first school near his native town, and soon after entered Burr Seminary, at Manchester, Vt., then under the principalship of his relative, Rev. Lyman Coleman, D. D., subsequently professor of ancient and modern history in Lafayette College, teaching winters, however, during the four years of his connection with the seminary. He left Manchester in 1842 on a visit to his sister Hannah, who, with her husband, John G. K. Truair, had charge of the Gilbertsville Academy and Collegiate Institute at Butternuts, Otsego County, N. Y. He spent a year at that place, teaching in the academy, and during one term was associated with the late Rev. Reuben Nelson, D. D., who was a teacher of languages in the same institution. Mr. Richardson moved to Luzerne County in 1843 and taught school for several years. In the fall of 1855, while he was principal of Madison Academy at Waverly, Pa., he was commissioned by Andrew G. Curtin, then secretary of state and superintendent of public instruction, as superintendent of the schools of Luzerne County. The act authorizing a superintendent was passed in 1854 and the late Rev. J. W. Lescher was the first superintendent, but he resigned shortly after the law went into effect. Mr. Richardson's first act as superintendent was to issue the following circular: "Fellow Teachers: As you are about to enter upon the arduous and important duty of training the youthful mind, it can hardly be necessary to remind you of the responsibility attendant upon the positions you are to occupy. At least for a brief period, the moral and intellectual training of far the larger portion of the children and youth of Luzerne County will devolve upon you. Around the faithful teacher clusters a moral grandeur which no other profession can claim. You are to act directly upon the human mind, just at that period of its existence when impressions are the most lasting, and when its direction is the most easily given. With this view of the subject, parents are about to surrender to your guidance and care the most precious gifts which Heaven has bestowed upon them. Remember their deep anxiety as they watch the mental and moral development of their children while under your instruction and supervision. Remember 'that just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined.' You are to do an important part of the work for preparing those under your charge for the practical duties of life. The great moral and political machinery of the state will soon be propelled by those who are now young. Be careful, then, how you deal with the future jewels of our country. Cultivate in them a love of study and correct thought; impress upon their young minds the principles of moral right as the only sure basis of their future usefulness. We are acquainted with many of the difficulties which will attend your efforts. Many of you will be without proper apparatus for your school-rooms, without a uniformity of text-books, located in miserable houses, entirely unfit for the noble design of education. But be of good cheer, for we believe a better day is coming. School directors are beginning- to act in the right direction. The citizens of our thriving villages are beginning to feel uneasy when they view their splendid churches and their magnificent hotels, etc., in contrast with their small, dingy, gloomy school-houses. The contrast is producing unpleasant sensations of mind, and shows a want of propriety, harmony and consistency. But we are rejoiced to know, that, in several places, efforts are in progress to leave these miserable school-buildings to the moles and bats, and in their places erect others better fitted for the education of those of whom it was said, 'Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven!' If you find your school-rooms not furnished with blackboard surface, maps, charts, etc., urge the directors to provide them for you. If school boards see that you are anxious by any means in your power to secure the improvement of your pupils, they will not be backward in assisting you. It will become my duty to visit your schools during the winter-a duty I intend without fail to perform. We shall note the progress your schools are making, and your own tact and skill as teachers. I would suggest that you procure and read Page's 'Theory and Practice of Teaching,' take the Pennsylvania School Journal, and you will be more likely to succeed in your profession. Keep a faithful report of the attendance, progress, and deportment of your pupils. Organize so far as you can town teachers' associations for mutual improvement in the art of teaching, and be assured of unwillingness to co-operate with you in efforts to elevate the common schools of our county. "J. L. RICHARDSON, "County Superintendent." Mr. Richardson did much to improve the efficiency of the common schools, and as the office of county superintendent was very much objected to by a large number of people at the first, he did much to elevate the office and gain for it the commendation of the people. He held the position for five years and then voluntarily retired. He was succeeded in the office by Rev. Abel Marcy. The Richardsons are a race of teachers. They are found scattered throughout the country, in our colleges, seminaries, public schools, and in every department of scholastic labor. Of the brothers and sisters of Mr. Richardson, Betsy, Nathan, and Martin L. taught in Vermont; Mrs. Edward Converse taught in Lackawanna County more than forty-five years ago; Mrs. J. G. K. Truair had charge of the young ladies' department in the Gilbertsville Academy and Collegiate Institute; Mrs. Emily Hillhouse taught an academical school in Columbus, O.; and Simeon L. taught in Minnesota. Thus out of a family of ten children who grew up to maturity, eight were teachers. It is a fact worthy of note that during a portion of the time that J. L. Richardson was county superintendent of Luzerne County, Rev. Willard Richardson was county superintendent of Susquehanna County, and Judson Richardson was county superintendent of Sullivan County. Mr. Richardson was for six years an agent of the New York American Missionary Association, and as such addressed thousands of his countrymen in favor of the newly-created citizens of African descent. His first year's residence during this work was in St. Louis, Mo., devoting his time to the organization of schools and employing teachers for them. He visited the states of New York, Pennsylvania, and Vermont, and raised thousands of dollars for his work among the freed-men. He is a pioneer anti-slavery man and cast his vote for James G. Birney, John P. Hale, and other anti-slavery leaders. At the age of fourteen he signed the pledge at a temperance meeting, of which his father was president, and he has never drank a glass of wine in his life. In two presidential campaigns he was employed by the state committee of the temperance organization to canvass for votes, and to do all in his power to build up the cause. He has also been agent and solicitor for the Tunkhannock Republican, a temperance paper, and also for the Scranton City Journal. In 1879 he retired to a farm in Cooper township, near Danville, Montour County, Pa. He married June 19, 1846, Catherine Heermans, at that time living in Hyde Park (now Scranton), Pa. She was a sister of Edmond and John Heermans, and niece of the late Joseph Fellows. We herewith publish an article from the pen of C. H. Browning, which appeared in the Philadelphia Press August 14, 1898, in which Admiral Dewey is shown to be of royal descent, and our subject a descendant of the same ancestors: "While it will not add a particle to the everlasting fame which Dewey-there is only one 'Dewey'-has brought to his surname through his heroism at Manila, yet it is agreeable to know that he is in a genealogical point of view no 'up-start' and that on the contrary he is ready to match ancestors with any one who may come along, and stands ready to back up his assertions with statements bearing on his claims found in Browning's 'Americans of Royal Descent,' Douglas' 'Peerage of Scotland,' Dugdale's 'Baronage of England,' Anderson's 'Royal Genealogies,' 'The Magna Charta Barons and their American Descendants,' and the other big guns of his genealogical armament. "Admiral Dewey's pedigree begins on the very border of mythology with Thor, the Saxon God, or cult-hero, who is almost a myth, called variously Vothinn, Othinn, Odin, Bodo, and Woden, the King of the West Saxons, A. D., 256-300, who with his spouse, Frea, were the Mars and Venus of Saxon mythology. This King Woden, the God of War, is described as the great-grandfather of the bugaboos of English history, Horsa and Hengst, brothers, freebooters and pirates, of whom the Saxon annals tells us that Hengst was the King of Saxons, and died between A. D. 474 and 495, first King of Kent. "Leaving this progenitor of the Saxon rulers of Britain, Admiral Dewey's royal lineage passes along the royal Saxon line on the continent, through King Hengst's son, Prince Hartwaker, to the historic King Dieteric, and his 'famous' wife (he had others), Wobrogera, a daughter of the unique character, Bellun, King of the Worder. Their grandson, Witekind the Great, was the last King of the Saxons, A. D. 769-807, and then dwindled into only their dukes, and Duke of Westphalia, while his descendants for a few generations were only Counts of Wettin, until on the genealogical line we come to the great Robert-Robert-fortis-who, by his sword became Count of Axjor and Orleans, Duke and Marquis of France, and won the hand of the fair Lady Alisa, sister-in-law to the King of France, Lothaire I. "This hero of medieval history, Robert-for-tis, the great-grandson of the great Witekind, was the founder of the so-called Capuchin line of monarchs of France, for from him, through a line of Dukes of France and Burgundy, Counts of Paris, etc., who by their swords and intermarriages, became firmly seated on French soil, was descended the celebrated Hugh Capet, Duke of France, who usurped the throne of France and supplanted Charles, Duke of Lorraine, the heir of Louis d'Outremere, or King Louis IV., the last Carlovingian, or descendant of the great Emperor Charlemagne, to occupy the 'French' throne. "Tis said 'blood will tell.' How true it is in Dewey's case. The blood of the finest warriors in history tells in him. He inherited the 'knack of knowing' when to do it and how to do it, and is the peer of any of his ancestors from King Hengst to Hugh Capet, yet unconsciously he emulated the traits of many of them. "Two other kings of the Capuchin line- Robert the Pious, and Henry the First- Dewey numbers among his illustrious ancestors, and Gibbon in his 'History of the Roman Empire,' tells us of the high lineage of one of his early ancestresses, Anne of Russia, wife of Henry I., of France. Gibbon states she was the daughter of Jaroslaus, Grand Duke or Czar of Russia, A. D. 1015-1051, who was a descendant of Basil, the Macedonian, first emperor of Constantinople, of his line, A. D. 867, and that Basil was descended, on his father's side, from the Araeides, the rivals of Rome, possessors of the scepter of the East for 400 years, through a younger branch of the Parthian monarchs, reigning in Armenia; and on his mother's side, from the European, Constantine the Great, and Alexander the Great, the Macedonian. "All these illustrious historic characters were Dewey's forbears and so also were many others, he nor any one can ever be proud of. But genealogy, like politics, 'makes strange bedfellows.' He was born to these-good, bad and indifferent ancestors-they have been discovered for him, not manufactured, and of their attributes he has inherited the best, so it appears. "Continuing Dewey's pedigree, we find that one of his ancestors-the one necessary to connect him with these historic characters- was the son of King Henry I., of France, Hugh the Great, or Magnus, Duke of France and Burgundy, Marquis of Orleans and Count of Paris, and through his wife Count of Vermandois and Valois, a noted man of his day. "It is here that Dewey's pedigree leaves the Continent and begins to be a part of English history. Dewey's ancestresses, Lady Isabel de Vermanclois, was the daughter of the aforesaid Hugh Magnus, and was the first wife (he was her first husband) of Robert de Bellomont, or Beaumont, a Norman, Earl of Millent, who accompanied William of Normandy on his expedition to England, and for the part he took in the contest was created in 1103 Earl of Leicester and granted many manors in England, dying in 1118. He had issue by Lady Isabel, Robert Bosse de Bellemont, second Earl of Leicester, who was justiciary of England, and, dying in 1168, had issue by his wife, Lady Amelia or Arnica, a daughter of Ralph de Waer or Waher, who in 1066 was the Earl of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridge, but forfeited these earldoms in 1074; Robert-blanc-Mains, third Earl of Leicester and Steward of England, whose daughter, Lady Margaret de Bellomont, was an ancestress of Admiral Dewey. "This lady married Saher de Quincey, an English baron, created in 1207 by King John, to win him over to his side, Earl of Winchester. This baron accepted and enjoyed the honors conferred on him by John, but never was friendly to him. On the contrary, he was, next to Fitz Walter, the leader of the insurrectionary barons, and did as much work as any of them to compel King John to grant the Magna Charta-the charter of liberty- and was one of the twenty-five sureties chosen to enforce its observance. It is through this baron that Dewey is eligible to membership in the Order of Runnymede. "Turning now to the pages of the Scottish peerage books, we learn that this Earl of Winchester's granddaughter, Elizabeth de Quincey, was the wife of Alexander de Comyn, second Earl of Buchan, who was a descendant of Donalbane, King of Scots, which gives Dewey a 'strain' of the sturdiest sort. And reverting again to the English peerage, we find that Gilbert, Baron d'Umfraville married Lady Agnes, a daughter of the aforesaid Elizabeth, Countess of Buchan, and was the progenitor of a line of d'Umfravilles to Lady Joan d'Umfraville, who married Sir William Lambert, Knt., Lord of Owlton Manor, in Durham. From the authentic pedigrees of the official Heralds of England we learn that a great-granddaughter of this marriage was the wife of Thomas Lyman, Gent, of Navistoke, in Essex, who died in 1509, and the mother of Henry Lyman, of High Ongar, in Essex, who was the ancestor of that Richard Lyman, born at High Ongar Manor in 1580, who came to the Massachusetts colony in 1631 and died in 1640 at Hartford, Conn., of which city he was one of the founders and earliest lot owners. "His son Richard Lyman (of Windsor, Conn., died in 1662) daughter, Hepzibah, married November 6, 1662, Josiah Dewey (who was baptized October 10, 1641, and was the son of Thomas Dewey, the first of this surname to come to the new world-to Boston, Mass., in 1633) and they were the parents of Josiah, Jr., born December 24, 1666, who was the lineal ancestor as set forth in the 'Dewey Genealogy' by William T. Dewey, of Montpelier, Vt, of our gallant hero, Rear Admiral George Dewey. "Richard Lyman, the patriarch of all the Lymans of English descent in America, was born at High Ongar, Essex County, England, and was baptized October 30, 1580. The date of his birth is not known. He married Sarah Osborne, of Halstead, in Kent. She went to America with her husband and all her children, and died in Hartford, Conn., about the year 1640, soon after the death of her husband, Mr. Lyman embarked about the middle of August, 1631, with his wife and children, in the ship 'Lion,' for New England, taking their departure from the port of Bristol. There went in the same ship, Martha Winthrop, the third wife of John Winthrop, at that time governor of New England, the governor's eldest son and his wife and their children, also Eliot, the celebrated apostle of the Massachusetts Indians. The ship made anchor before Boston on November 2, 1631. Richard Lyman first became a settler in Charles-town, Mass., and, with his wife, united with the church in what is now called Roxbury, under the pastoral care of Eliot, the apostle to the Indians. He became a freeman at the General Court June n, 1635, and on October 15, 1635, he took his departure with his family from Charlestown, joining a party of about one-hundred persons who went through the wilderness from Massachusetts to Connecticut, the object being to form settlements at Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield. He was one of the first settlers at Hartford. The journey from Massachusetts was made in about fourteen days' time, the distance being more than one hundred miles, and through a trackless wilderness. They had no guide but their compass, and made their way over mountains, through swamps, thickets, and rivers, which were not passable except with the greatest difficulty. They had no cover but the heavens, nor any lodgings but those which simple nature afforded them. They drove with them one-hundred and sixty head of cattle, and, by the way, subsisted in a great measure on the milk of their cows. The people carried their packs, arms, and some utensils. This adventure was the more remarkable as many of this company were persons of figure who had lived in England in honor, affluence and delicacy, and were entire strangers to fatigue and danger. Richard Lyman on this journey suffered greatly in the loss of cattle. He was one of the original proprietors of Hartford, and there is little doubt that he and his wife formed a connection with the first church in Hartford, of which the Rev. Thomas Hooker was pastor. His will, the first on record at Hartford, is dated April 22, 1640, is first in the valuable collection of Trumbull, and stands Record I, page 442, and followed by an inventory of his estate. He died in August. 1640, and his name is inscribed on a stone column in the rear of the Centre Church, of Hartford, erected in memory of the first settlers of the city. His wife, Sarah, died soon afterward. Richard Lyman is reported to have begun life in the new world as a man of 'considerable estate, keeping two servants.' "John Lyman, known as Lieutenant Lyman, born in High Ongar, September, 1623, came to New England with his father. He married Dorcas, daughter of John Plumb, of Branford, Conn. He settled in Northampton, Mass., where he resided until his death, August 20, 1690. Lieutenant John Lyman was in command of the Northampton soldiers in the famous Falls fight, above Deerfield May 18, 1676. Moses Lyman, son of Lieutenant John Lyman, was born in Northampton, Mass., February 20, 1623, and died February 25, 1701. Captain Moses Lyman, the only son of Moses Lyman, was born February 27, 1689, and died March 24, 1762. He married Mindwell Sheldon, December 13, 1712. Simeon Lyman, son of Captain Moses Lyman, was born in 1725 in Northampton, Mass., settled in Salisbury, Conn., and joined the church in that place in 1740 by letter from the church in Northampton. He married Abigail Beebe, of Canaan, Conn., and both died in Salisbury in the year 1800. John Lyman, son of Simeon Lyman, of Salisbury, Conn., was born March 11, 1760. He married Huldah Brinsmade, of Stratford, Conn. He migrated 4o Jericho, Vt., soon after the Revolutionary War, among the first settlers of the state. He was a man of deep thought, sound judgment, and an earnest Christian. As a bold and fearless soldier and sure marksman, he served faithfully his country in the war of the Revolution. He died in 1840. Laura Lyman was born November 10, 1789, and married September 7, 1807, William P. Richardson. She died at Butternuts, Otsego County, N. Y., February 28, 1869." In an address delivered by Hon. Lyman Tremain, a descendant of Richard Lyman through Simeon Lyman, at a reunion of the Lyman family, he uses this language: "How mighty and marvelous are the physical, moral, and political changes that have been wrought in the condition of our country since Richard Lyman first entered the valley of the Connecticut. These can only be briefly sketched on this occasion. Eleven years before he landed at Boston, the Pilgrims had planted their footsteps upon the rock at Plymouth, and laid broad and deep the foundations of free religious worship and republican liberty. Two years before King Charles the First had granted the charter incorporating 'The Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England.' The year before John Winthrop had been chosen governor of Massachusetts, and had emigrated to the colony, leaving his wife in England to follow him when her health would allow. * * * These feeble colonists have become a mightv nation. Where stood those primeval forests now stand populous cities, flourishing towns and villages, and smiling farms and farm houses, while the journey that then required fourteen days for its accomplishment is now made by the iron horse several times every day." John Lyman Richardson received his primary education in the public schools of Wilkesbarre, Pa., which was later supplemented by a course in the State Normal School at Bloomsburg where he was prepared for Lafayette College, entering the class of 1885. He then taught school for a short time, and in 1886 became shipping clerk and buyer for the Manhattan Brass Company of New York City, remaining in the position for three and one-half years; he then accepted a like position with Randolph & Clowes of Waterbury. Conn. In 1891 he removed to Bloomsburg and in company with F. J. Richard built the Tube Plant, of which our subject was treasurer until 1894. For the past year Mr. Richardson has been representing the Weatherwax Manufacturing Company of San Francisco, Cal., and has been assigned to the eastern states, where he is meeting with the greatest of success. In 1895 our subject and Mr. Richard built four large tenement houses, and in 1898 the former built a large and handsome residence on East Main street. Mr. Richardson formed a matrimonial alliance with Minnie Bittenbender, a daughter of Evan E. Bittenbender of Grand Rapids, Mich., and they have been blessed by two children, namely: Catherine R., born June 5, 1896; and John L., born July 4, 1897. In political views our subject affiliates with the Republican party. Evan E. Bittenbender, father of Mrs. J. L. Richardson, was born February 26, 1842, at Cambria, Luzerne County, Pa. His father, Henry Bittenbender, removed with his family to Forks, Columbia County, Pa., and purchased what is now known as the Zaner farm, one of the best in the Fishing Creek Valley. Upon reaching his twenty-first year Evan E. enlisted in Company E, 2O9th Reg., Pa. Vol. Inf., in which company he served until the end of the Civil War. His company was engaged in some of the fiercest battles of the war, among others Fort Steadman and Petersburg. He married Rebecca Matilda Stoker, daughter of Daniel Stoker, September 28, 1865, and removed in the same year to Constantine, Mich., subsequently removing to Grand Rapids, Mich., in 1881. Additional Comments: Extracted from: Book of Biographies of the Seventeenth Congressional District Published by Biographical Publishing Company of Chicago, Ill. and Buffalo, NY (1899) This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/pafiles/ File size: 28.3 Kb