George W. Richardson (Massachusetts politician)

George Washington Richardson (October 28, 1808 – June 19, 1886) was an American politician who served as the Sheriff of Worcester County, Massachusetts, and twice as mayor of Worcester, Massachusetts.

George W. Richardson
5th and 7th Mayor of
Worcester, Massachusetts
In office
January 1, 1855 – January 7, 1856
Preceded byJohn S.C. Knowlton
Succeeded byIsaac Davis
In office
January 5, 1857 – January 4, 1858
Preceded byIsaac Davis
Succeeded byIsaac Davis
14th Sheriff of Worcester County, Massachusetts
In office
1854–1856
Preceded byJames Estabrook
Succeeded byJohn S.C. Knowlton
Personal details
Born
George Washington Richardson

(1808-10-28)October 28, 1808
Boston, Massachusetts[1]
DiedJune 1886(1886-06-00) (aged 77)[1]
Saint John, New Brunswick[1]
Political partyKnow Nothing[1]
Spouse(s)Lucy Dana White, (m. 1836, d. 1875)[2]
ChildrenClifford
Anna Maria (b. 1836)
Alma materHarvard College, 1829.[1]
OccupationLawyer[2]

Biography

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Richardson was born on October 28, 1808[2] in Boston, Massachusetts.[1] He graduated from Harvard College in 1829[1] along with classmates that included William Henry Channing, James Freeman Clarke, Benjamin Robbins Curtis, George T. Davis, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., Isaac Edward Morse, Benjamin Peirce, Samuel Francis Smith, and Charles Storer Storrow. He was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1835.[2]

Richardson married Lucy Dana White, of Watertown, Massachusetts, on January 6, 1836.[2] they had two children Clifford Richardson and Anna Maria Richardson.

Richardson served as the Sheriff of Worcester County, Massachusetts from 1854 to 1856.[1] He served as the mayor of Worcester from January 1, 1855, to January 7, 1856,[1] and from January 5, 1857, to January 4, 1858.[3] Richardson was elected in 1854 as a member of the Know Nothing party,[1] Richardson received a majority of 1,311 votes.[1] In December 1856 Richardson was elected the seventh mayor of Worcester with a majority of 55 votes.[3]

His wife Lucy died on July 20, 1875.[2] Richardson himself died in Saint John, New Brunswick in June 1886.[1] He is buried at the Worcester Rural Cemetery.

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rice, Franklin Pierce (1899), Worcester of Eighteen Hundred and Ninety-Eight:Fifty Years a City : A Graphic Representation of Its Institutions, Industries, and Leaders, Worcester, Massachusetts: F. S. Blanchard & Company, p. 27
  2. ^ a b c d e f Burke, Arthur Meredyth (1908), The Prominent Families of the United States of America, London, England: The Sackville Pres, Ltd., p. 27
  3. ^ a b Rice, Franklin Pierce (1899), Worcester of Eighteen Hundred and Ninety-Eight:Fifty Years a City : A Graphic Representation of Its Institutions, Industries, and Leaders, Worcester, Massachusetts: F. S. Blanchard & Company, p. 30
Political offices
Preceded by 5th Mayor
of
Worcester, Massachusetts

January 1, 1855-January 7, 1856
Succeeded by
Preceded by
James Estabrook
14th Sheriff of
Worcester County, Massachusetts

1854–1856
Succeeded by
Preceded by 7th Mayor
of
Worcester, Massachusetts

January 5, 1857-January 4, 1858
Succeeded by