BIO: Lieut. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg RICHARDS, Lebanon County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Abby Bowman Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/lebanon/ _______________________________________________ Biographical Annals of Lebanon County Pennsylvania. Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1904 _______________________________________________ Pages 10-17 LIEUT. HENRY MELCHIOR MUHLENBERG RICHARDS. The city of Lebanon, the center of a county of the most fertile of Pennsylvania's farming lands, figuratively flowing with "milk and honey," worthily bears a name made famous in the early days of Christian history. It is the home of wealth, culture and education, numbering among its citizens many who have, with honor, distinguished themselves in notable fields of activity. In recalling these the biographer finds a prominent example in Lieut. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg Richards, who has not only been himself distinguished, but whose ancestry is also one of eminence in the religious, military and public life of the State and Nation. Henry Melchior Richards was born August 16, 1848, in St. John's Evangelical Lutheran parsonage at Easton, Pa., a son of Rev. John William Richards, D. D., who was born April 18, 1803, and died January 24, 1854, a prominent divine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. He was given the degree of D. D. by Jefferson College, August 6, 1851; was secretary of the Ministerium in 1843, and served three terms in that incumbency, and was elected president of the same in 1850, which office he held at the time of his death. On May 21, 1835, he married Andora Garber, born May 21, 1815, died May 26, 1892, only daughter of Henry Garber, born March 23, 1792, died November 1, 1848, and Susanna Paul, born September 2, 1789, died June 4, 1832, daughter of Abraham Paul, born July 11, 1765, died March 29, 1823, and Ann Barbara Hortter, born September 18, 1764, died April 11, 1845, son of Abraham Paul, born July 28, 1730, died -----, son of Andrew Paul, born about 1700, died 1790, in Germantown, Pa., and Elizabeth Reiner, daughter of Henry Reiner, born in 1675, died in 1749, of Limerick, Montgomery county. Henry Garber was a son of Benjamin Garber, born February 20, 1769, died August 6, 1818, and Hannah Reiner, born May 5, 1774, died April 27, 1861 (daughter of Henry Reiner, born in 1738, died February 19, 1816, and Susanna Gisbert, born 1742, died February 24, 1816, the former a son of Philip Reiner, born about 1712, died about 1795, son of Henry Reiner, born in 1675, died in 1749), son of Benedict Garber, of Alsace, Germany, born October 13, 1732, died June 12, 1817. The latter emigrated to Trappe, Montgomery county, Pa., in 1741, and during the Revolution served in Capt. Jacob Peterman's Fourth Co., Sixth Battalion, Philadelphia County Militia, of 1780. On November 27, 1758, he married Dorothea Loreht, born December 5, 1733, died February 25, 1807. Benedict Garber was a son of Henry and Catherine Garber, both of whom died on shipboard in 1741. Rev. John William Richards, D. D., was a son of Hon. Matthias Richards, born February 26, 1758, who died August 4, 1830, of Reading, Pa., volunteer in Col. Daniel Udree's Second Battalion, Berks County Regiment, 1777, at the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, and in operations prior to the encampment at Valley Forge; Major of the Fourth Battalion Philadelphia County Regiment, 1780; Justice of the Peace, 1788, for forty years; Judge of Berks County Courts, 1791-97, also about 1824; Inspector of Customs, 1801-02; Member of Congress, 1807-11; Collector of Revenue, 1812; Clerk of Orphan's Court for Berks county, 1823; Trustee of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, of Reading, Pa. On May 8, 1782, he married Maria Salome Muhlenberg, born July 13, 1766, died March 13, 1827, sister of Major-Gen. John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, of the Continental army, of Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg, first Speaker of the United States Congress, and Rev. Gotthilf Henry Ernst Muhlenberg, D. D., prominent Lutheran divine and eminent botanist. She was the youngest daughter of Rev. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, D. D., born September 6, 1711, who died October 7, 1787, the distinguished Patriarch of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and Anna Maria Weiser, born June 24, 1727, died August 23, 1802 (daughter of Col. John Conrad Weiser, born November 2, 1696, died July 13, 1760, married 1720, Anna Eve ---------, born January 25, 1700, died December 27, 1778, the eminent head of the Indian Bureau of the Province of Pennsylvania, 1731-60; Justice of the Peace, 1741-52; President Judge of Berks County Courts, 1752-60; Lieutenant Colonel, October 31, 1755, commanding the First Battalion, Pennsylvania Regiment, in defense of the Blue Ridge frontier during the French and Indian War; son of John Conrad Weiser, born 1660, died 1746, and Anna Magdalena Uebele, born 1666, died May 1, 1709; leader of the German Palatine immigration into New York Province, 1710; Captain of German contingent from Queensbury, in British army assembled as Albany, N. Y., during summer of 1711, as an expedition against Montreal, Canada; son of Jacob Weiser, born about 1625; son of Jacob Weiser, born about 1590, both holding the honorable office of "Schuldheisz," or Chief Magistrate, of Gross-Aspach, County of Backnang, Wurtemberg, Germany); son of Nicholaus Melchior Muhlenberg, of Eimbeck, Hanover, Germany, and Anna Mary Kleinschmid, daughter of an officer in military service; a scion of the German noble "von Mhlenberg" family, which had its origin in Ziracka, a prince of the Wendish and Sorbic tribes, who was converted to Christianity about 950 A. D., and had his residence near the present city of Muhlberg. Hon. Matthias Richards was a son of Matthias Richards, born January 9, 1719, and died March 28, 1775, of New Holland township, Montgomery county, Pa., a prominent and wealthy landed proprietor of that locality, and member of the building committee of the Swamp Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1767 (married, about 1748, Ann Margaret Hillegas, born August 15, 1726, died January 6, 1773, daughter of John Frederick Hillegas, born November 24, 1685, died January 6, 1765, and Elizabeth Barbara ------, who died March 4, 1759; a prominent resident of "Goshenhoppen," Montgomery county, Pa., whence he emigrated from Germany, arriving September 18, 1727; uncle of Michael Hillegas, first Treasurer of the United States, 1775-1789); son of John Frederick Reichert, born 1679, in Augsburg, Germany, who died in September, 1748, and was buried at Swamp Evangelical Lutheran Church, of which he was one of the founders; arrived in America about 1700 or 1703; married Anna Maria ---------, born 1685, who died March 18, 1756; son of an officer in the German army. Lieut. Richards received his preliminary education in the public schools of the city of Reading, Pa., to which place his father removed, from Easton, Pa., in March, 1851, and where he died while pastor of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church. On June 30, 1860, he entered the Reading High School, at the head of all the male applicants, graduating from the same in 1864. In June, 1863, at the age of fourteen years, he enlisted as a private (doing duty as a drummer), in Company A, Twenty-sixth Emergency Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served through the Gettysburg campaign, participating in the battle of Gettysburg. In disguise, he and his brother penetrated into the midst of Early's Corps of the Confederate army, and were the first to give notice of its retrograde movement from Harrisburg towards Gettysburg. On July 10, 1864, he re-enlisted, as a private, in Company A, One Hundred and Ninety-fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served in West Virginia, under Gen. Sheridan. In July, 1865, he entered the United States Naval Academy at Newport, R. I., as a midshipman, graduating from the same in July, 1869, at Annapolis, Md. During this time he ranked at the head of his classes each year, never falling below number three, and graduated a "star" pupil, the highest honor, when he was publicly complimented by Admiral David D. Porter, and given his diploma by Gen. U. S. Grant. In 1866 he made a cruise along the coast of the United States on the U. S. S. "Macedonian"; and in 1867, on the U. S. S. "Savannah," he made a cruise to Europe and participated in the great naval ovation to the Empress Eugenie, at Cherbourg, France; and in 1868 he cruised among the islands on the west coast of Africa on the U. S. S. "Savannah," having previously visited the United States Military Academy at West Point. During 1869-70-71, on the U. S. S. "Juniata" and the U. S. Flagship, "Franklin," he cruised about Europe and Africa. In April, 1870, Lieut. Richards was at Tunis, Africa, to avert a threatened fanatical outbreak against the Christians; actively engaged in the Franco-German War of 1870-71, being with the German army in July, 1870, prior to the battles of Worth and Gravelotte; with the French fleet off Heligoland, in the German Ocean, in August, 1870, awaiting the attack of the German fleet, but dispersed by a hurricane; with the German fleet at Wilhelmshaven, in September, 1870; in Havre, France, October and November, 1870, during the advance of the German army; with Bourbaki's defeated army in Switzerland in January, 1871; and at Marseilles in April, 1871, during the Communistic Outbreak. In January, 1871, he was on active duty in Spain during the outbreak of the Carlist Insurrection, and at Naples and Civita Vecchia, Italy, in March, 1871, guarding American interests during troubles incident to the occupation of Rome by King Victor Emmanuel and the deprivation of the Pope's temporal power. During these years, Lieutenant Richards passed through many exciting adventures. In April, 1870, he narrowly escaped death in the Bay of Tunis, while on boat duty during a tempest; in February, 1871, he made a dangerous ascent of Vesuvius during an eruption; had a hazardous experience in crossing the Alps, in March, 1871, by the Simplon Pass, after a winter's storm; and was attacked and nearly captured by Spanish brigands in the vicinity of San Roque, outside of Gibraltar, in May, 1870. During 1872, Lieutenant Richards was on duty at the Torpedo Station, Newport, R.I., attached to the nitro-glycerine department, at which time he invented a circuit closing fuse, far superior to anything then in use, which was adopted by the government. In 1873-1874 at the personal solicitation of its commanding officer, Commander (now Admiral) George Dewey, he was attached to the U. S. Steamer "Narragansett," on surveying duty in the Pacific Ocean. The charts now in use of the Peninsula of Lower California, the Gulf of California, the Mexican Coast and various islands in the Pacific Ocean were mainly the result of his work. At this time occurred the "Virginius" difficulty with Spain, when Commander Dewey asked to be ordered to attack Manila, in the Philippine Islands, in case of war, which he so gallantly captured in 1898. While at Panama in April, 1873, a severe revolutionary outbreak occurred, when Lieut. Richards volunteered for active service and was sent on shore in performance of same, which was of a dangerous character. He also volunteered for and was given charge of a hazardous boat expedition to Las Tres Marias Islands, February 22, 1874, and saved the vessel from shipwreck on La Roca Partida, of the Revillagigedo Group of Islands, March 28, 1874. Lieut. Richards was commissioned Ensign in the United States Navy, on July 12, 1870; commissioned Master, on July 12, 1871, and was promoted to Lieutenant in November, 1874. After these years of arduous and faithful service, to the regret of his commanding officer, he decided to tender his resignation as an officer in the United States Navy, to take effect January 1, 1875, to enable him to be more with his family, as, during ten years of service, he had only been able to remain home some six months in all. After leaving the naval service, Mr. Richards entered the employ of the Philadelphia & Reading Railway Company, in the office of its General Superintendent, at Reading, Pa., and later, that of the Engineer of Machinery, where he remained until the fall of 1878. During this time occurred the terrible labor riots of 1877, resulting in much bloodshed and loss of property at Reading, when he assisted in organizing a company of Coal and Iron Police, composed of veteran soldiers, and served in the same during the continuance of disturbances. From the fall of 1878 until August, 1881, Lieut. Richards was associated with Charles M. Roeder, of Reading, in the insurance business, when he was offered a prominent position in the growing Bolt and Nut Works and Rolling Mill of J. H. Sterbergh, of Reading, which he accepted, and with which business he has since been identified. When a war with Chile was threatened, in 1892, he volunteered for service, and again volunteered, in April, 1898, so soon as a war with Spain became evident. His services were accepted and he resumed his position as a Lieutenant (Senior) in the United States Navy, was immediately ordered on duty and served during the entire war, at the front, as Executive Officer of the U. S. S. "Supply," one of the large trans-Atlantic passenger steamers of the International Steamship Company, American Line, fitted out by the Government as an auxiliary cruiser and supply ship. He was at Guantanamo Bay, off Santiago, with the "Cristobal Colon" at the Jacuro Anchorage, on the blockades of Manzanillo and Cienfuegos, at the Isle of Pines, on the blockade off Bahia Honda, Cardenas, and at San Juan and Palominos Island, off Porto Rico. He carried his vessel safely through the vortex of a terrible West India hurricane on the way to San Juan. He reached Gibara, Cuba, upon the cessation of hostilities, just as the only surviving Spanish man-of-war, "La Infanta Isabella," had entered, and anchored beside her, and was probably the first United States naval officer to exchange friendly greetings with a free Spanish naval officer, on the close of the war. Some months after the close of the war he was given his honorable discharge, with the thanks of the Government. Lieut. Richards then resumed his position in the iron business, and upon the consolidation of his and various other large establishments, on September 1, 1899, into the American Iron & Steel Manufacturing Company, he was made its General Auditor, and a member of its board of directors, which necessitated his removal to Lebanon, Pa., where the general offices of the company were located, and that city has been his place of residence since. At the annual meeting of the company, held in February, 1901, he was elected Treasurer. During the strike of its employes [sic], beginning in May, 1902, and culminating in terrible riots and bloodshed in September, which was only terminated by the timely arrival of troops, he was shot in the right side, while defending the company's property. In June, 1893, this distinguished officer was appointed by Gov. Pattison a member of the commission to locate and describe the forts of Pennsylvania used for defense against the Indians prior to 1783. His exhaustive report on the "Frontier Forts of the Blue Range" was ordered printed by the Legislature, and has become the standard work on that subject. Besides this, he is the author of many historical works, among which may be mentioned: "Citizens of Gettysburg in the Battle," published in the Century Magazine, January, 1887; "Quarter- Centennial History of St. John's Lodge, No. 435, F. & A. M.," book form, issued in February, 1894; "Pennsylvania's Emergency Men at Gettysburg," issued in book form in February, 1896; "Pennsylvania's Military Methods during the French and Indian War," published in the American Historical Register of April-May, 1897; "The German Leaven in the Pennsylvania Loaf," for the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, published in book form in December, 1897; "The First Discoverers of America, German not Latin," Vol. VIII, Pennsylvania-German Society, 1898; "The German Emigration from New York Province into Pennsylvania" (in collaboration with his brother, Rev. Prof. M. H. Richards, D. D.), Vol. IX, Pennsylvania-German Society, 1899; "The Descendants of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg," Vol. X, Pennsylvania-German Society, 1900; etc. Lieut. Richards is a member of the following societies: Pennsylvania Society, Sons of the Revolution; Pennsylvania Commandery, Military Order of Foreign Wars of the United States, in which he was national delegate; Pennsylvania Commandery, Naval Order of the United States, of which he is a member of the council and historian; Pennsylvania Commandery, Naval and Military Order of the Spanish-American War; Grand Army of the Republic, national aid-de-camp, quartermaster of McLean Post, No. 16, Department of Pennsylvania, from November, 1875, to January, 1900, etc.; Naval Academy Graduates Association; Navy Athletic Association; Pennsylvania-German Society, of which he is secretary; Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania; American Academy of Political and Social Science; Wyoming Historical and Geological Society of Pennsylvania; Historical Society of Montgomery county, Pa.; Historical Society of Berks County, Pa.; Historical Society of Lebanon County, Pa., of which he was vice-president; St. John's Lodge, No. 435, F. & A. M., of Reading, in which he is past master by merit. In the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the church of his ancestors, Lieut. Richards has been actively at work since his return from military service, and has been prominently identified with various of its important operations. He served as superintendent of Trinity Lutheran Sunday-school, at Reading, Pa., from the early part of 1881 until the close of 1899, during which time he brought about many improvements and many important advances. Upon his removal to Lebanon he was elected a trustee of Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church, and became actively engaged in the work of its Bible School. He has since become identified with the St. James' Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of Lebanon, recently organized, and was elected the superintendent of its Bible School. On December 26, 1871, Lieut. Richards was married to Ella VanLeer, who was born November 8, 1848, a daughter of Branson and Drucilla (Turner) VanLeer, on her paternal side a descendant of the German noble "von Loehr" family, who was raised to the nobility June 13, 1521; on her maternal side descended from the English families of Washington, West, Gilpin, Pennington, etc., and, through them, from the old reigning families of England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, France, Spain, the Byzantine Empire, the Holy Roman Empire and Scandinavia, the records remaining unbroken in authentic data for 2,400 years, and extending through the Irish traditional lineage to the Jewish royal line, and thence back to Adam. Their offspring are Rev. Henry Branson Richards, pastor of St. James Evangelical Lutheran Church, of Lebanon; Charles Matthias, a practicing physician at Reading, who married Anna Alfarata Harner; and Florence and Alice, both of Lebanon.