Richmond Township

Richmond Township

Richmond township lies in T. 106 N. and R. 5 W. Its boundaries are, on the east and north the Mississippi river, on the south New Hartford township, and on the west Homer township. Richmond is but a fractional township at most, being cut by the Mississippi into twelve complete and seven fractional sections. It was organized May 11, 1858. The members of the first board were : Town clerk, J. M. Dodge ; chairman of supervisors, A. M. Gross ; supervisors, Amos Shay, M. Dunning ; assessor, J. M. Winn ; collector. A, C. Dunning ; constables, C. C. Willy, C. R. Howe ; justices of the peace, B. F. Davis, N. D. Gilbert. There were forty votes cast at tlie first election. The following are the names of the successive township clerks : A. O. Gross, 1858-9 ; A. S. Dunning, 1859-62; J. Donehower, 1862-3 ; J. H. Davenport, 1863-65 ; O. Cram, 1865-6 ; C. A. Leach, 1866-69 ; Levi Brown, 1869-71 ; George Eagles, 1871-73 ; Edward Mott, 1873-75 ; J. P. Nevill, 1875-78 ; C. A. Leach, 1878-81 ; J. P. Nevill, 1881-2-3. The present township board : Chairman of supervisors, Amos Shay ; supervisors, Henry Winter, Patrick Griffin ; assessor, James Donehower ; constable, A. B. Leach ; justice of the peace, J. P. Nevill.

The surface of the township, like all the country immediately around, is very nnich broken ; the soil is a clay loam. The products are wheat, corn, oats and barley. The average crop for the year 1882 was : Wheat, per acre, 15 bushels ; corn, per acre, 60 bushels ; oats, per acre, 40 bushels. Barley is raised in very small quantities. Richmond township is traversed by two creeks, Little Trout run and Richmond creek. Little Trout run rises in Sec. 32, flows northwest and leaves the township on Sec. 18. Richmond creek rises in Sees.

M. Dunning was about the earliest settler in the township. He came to the village of Richmond in 1852 ; Amos Shay came in 1854 ; he remained in the village a short time and then removed to Sec. 27, where he has been engaged in farming until the present day. M. Dunning reached the village in 1852 ; in 1855 he removed to Sec. 28, where he may be found still. Edward Outhouse, in 1854, settled on Sec. 19. The farm is now in the hands of his children, he having died some time since. In 1856 Patrick Griffin settled on Sec. 18 ; he is still in possession of his farm. The N. W. i of Sec. 19 is owned by J. M. Gates, who took possession in November, 1857.

There never was a regular church in existence, but divine service has been held in the schoolhouses since 1857. They had circuit preaching by ministers of both Baptist and Methodist denominaticms. J. M. Winn, a Baptist minister, had his residence in the old village of Richmond in 1857.

The first road through the township was the present river road. The first marriage was that of Austin Dunning to Sydney Yalton. The value of the personal property in the township, according to the late returns, is $12,000.

A discovery of a very valuable blue sandstone was made in 1882 on Sec. 21. It is being worked by an Ohio stone company ; also a white sandstone (resembling marble and susceptible of high polish) and red ochre have been discovered.

Richmond Village

was laid out in 1855 by Fredrick Cushman, John Fortune and Henry Cushman. The plat stood on N.E. i of Sec. 21, on the bank of the Mississippi river, and had an area of twenty acres. Among the old settlers in the village may be mentioned : M. Dunning, Isaac Nichols, H. Carroll, Thomas Gordon, Jacob Donehower, Andrew Mitchell and Amos Shay. John Fortune built a house m 1854, and his house was, without doubt, the first in the village. O. B. Dodge built a store devoted to general merchandise in 1855. He was soon followed by J. F. Martin, S. C. Dick and Jacob Donehower, each of whom owned a store of the same description.

Besides these, u Mrs. Jennings owned a small millinery establishment. Fredrick Cushman built the first sawmill in 1855. At the same time a blacksmith shop was run by Iluttenhow. J. M. Winn was the village physician. The first school-building,- the present district school, was erected in 1857. School has never been discontinued. ''East Richmond," a rival to Richmond proper, was laid out in 1857 by A. Davenport and a Mr. Rodgers, just south of the first village on the same section. A few houses were built, but it was soon after abandoned. Richmond proper at that time was quite a town, but since then it has gradually decayed, houses have been torn down and removed entirely, until, at present writing, what once was a thriving little town, nothing remains but four shabby old dwellings and a small store kept by J. P. Nevill. Lamoille, a railway station on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railway, is on the Mississippi river ; it is two miles from Pickwick, a small town in Homer township.