Difference between revisions of "Willard Richards"

Latest revision as of 16:52, 20 October 2021

Willard Richards was born to Joseph Richards and his wife Rhoda Howe June 24, 1804, in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. At the age of four, he fell and injured his head and was left with some physical limitations that included paralysis. Consequently, he focused his attention on education and obtained a teacher's certificate at the age of sixteen. He taught school in Chatham, New York, and in Lanesborough, Massachusetts. He studied physical mechanics and science and became an itinerant lecturer on various scientific subjects.

After the death of his sister Susan (when he was 30 years old), he took up the practice of medicine near Boston. He studied at the Thomson Infirmary and focused on medication and herbal preparations. He also immersed himself in emergency and trauma surgery. During that time, Richards was at the hospital for hundreds of casualties of the Boston Abolition Riots of 1835. He then settled in Holliston, Massachusetts, where he practiced medicine.[1]

It was while so engaged that a copy of the Book of Mormon came into his hands through his cousins Brigham and Joseph Young. Captivated, he read it completely through twice in ten days, settled his business affairs and journeyed to the body of the Church in Kirtland, Ohio. He was baptized by Brigham Young on December 31, 1836, and was ordained an elder some two months later. Shortly after his ordination, he undertook a three-month proselyting mission to the Eastern States. The day after his return he was sent on a longer mission to Great Britain.

While on his mission to Great Britain, Elder Richards took his first wife, marrying Jennetta Richards, daughter of the Reverend John Richards on September 24, 1838. Later he practiced plural marriage. The Ancestral File lists some eighteen wives but with certainty five of them are duplicates. And another one appears to be a duplicate so we can say with relative assuredness that Elder Richards had at least twelve wives. According to Familypedia[2], the number may be eight.

While still in England, Elder Brigham Young ordained him an Apostle on April 14, 1840. He was with the Prophet and Hyrum in Carthage, Illinois when the two were murdered at the hands of a bloodthirsty mob but survived to bear solemn testimony against the devilish fiends. In 1847 President Young selected him to be the second counselor in the newly reorganized First Presidency. He served with honor and distinction until his death on March 11, 1854, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

External Sources

• Joseph Smith Papers, "Richards, Willard"
• Wikipedia, "Willard Richards"