Author: Richmond, William E.
Biography:
RICHMOND, William E. (1786-1873: ancestry.com)
William Ebenezer Richmond was born in Providence RI to William and Hannah (Mason) Richmond; he worked all his life in Providence, published there, married there, and died a rich old man there. An introductory note in his one verse publication, Mount Hope (1818) indicates that the poem had been written earlier and previously read at a meeting of the Federal Adelphi Society--an alumni organization of Brown University--in 1816. (Richmond does not appear to have graduated from Brown himself but he did receive an honorary AM in 1821, so he must have had some connection with the university.) The title-page identifies him as a barrister. Richmond studied law and had been called to the bar by 1818. (An obituary notice of 1873 describes him as "the oldest member of the Providence bar.") He had interests in politics and business. Before founding the weekly Manufacturers' and Farmers' Journal in 1820, he sought advice from the former President John Adams, who encouraged him but urged him not to give up his profession because "a Man of talents & Integrity at the Bar" is a valuable citizen. His other publications are a pamphlet about the presidential election of 1823 and addresses to the Society for the Encouragement of Domestic Industry in 1825 and 1826. In 1830 he married Joanna Scott Barnes; there do not appear to have been children. The estimated value of his real estate and personal property in the federal Census of 1870 was $97,000. (ancestry.com 30 Jul. 2020; findmypast.com 30 Jul. 2020; "From John Adams to William E. Richmond, 14 Dec. 1819," Founders Online 30 Jul. 2020; Daily Morning Chronicle [Washington DC] 10 Mar. 1873) HJ