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Letter From
Robert Riley Richardson
to his cousin
F. D. Richardson

 

The following is the text of a letter from my great-great-grandfather Robert Riley Richardson (25 January 1812 – 16 March 1874) in Jackson, LA, to his cousin F. D. (Francis DuBose) Richardson in St. Louis, MO. 

The letter is dated 6 March 1874.  Robert Riley Richardson died ten days after writing this letter, 16 March 1874. 

A photocopy of this letter was in the possession of my mother, Annie Lee Richardson Schlatter (21 October 1924 – 18 March 2007), as part of a collection of family memorabilia. 

 

Jackson La
March 6/74 

 Hon. F. D. Richardson
St. Louis 

My Dear Cousin,

Nothing but procrastination has prevented me from writing to you for a long time.  I exceedingly neglect & apologize for neglect.  I’ve no news special to communicate to you.  I’ve purchase & moved to this place as a family residence. I was prompted to do this for the purpose of educating my children (illegible).  I could not do at the old homestead.  I fear it has been a bad move for me as I did not anticipate the expenses and incidentals.  It is certainly great satisfactions to have good schools.

My hope now is if I can help them at it to have finished scholars.  Excuse this scroll I cannot set up nor write as this is done by (three words illegible, may be “? ? nurse’s).  I shall perhaps never pen you another line nor see you face to face in the flesh.  Uncle Jared has just called on me & told me of your correspondence.  I have always loved you Dear Cousin & I part with you with many regrets.  I bid you farewell till we meet in that bright & happy land.   

Affectionately yrs dear
cousin Robert R. Richardson 

P.S. If you get this & choose to answer direct to my son Preston(??) & he will let you know if I am gone.  R.R.R.

 

 

Here are photos of the photocopy of the letter.

 

Notes on this letter

"F. D. Richardson" is Francis DuBose Richardson, a cousin of Robert Reily Richardson, my G-G-Grandfather.  In 2013, I received correspondence from Francis Rivers LeLong, a New Orleans attorney and a distant cousin of mine who has done quite a bit of research into the Richardson family.  In a message to me regarding this letter, he made the following points.

  •  F. D. Richardson moved to St. Louis circa 1870 after losing his plantation, Bayside, on Bayou Teche, Louisiana, as a result of the economic crash in the South following the Civil War.  See the following links for more information about Bayside Plantation.

  •   F. D. Richardson lived in St. Louis most of the rest of his life but he often visited his relatives in Louisiana and Mississippi.
     

  •   He evidently saved letters he received from his family and at some point his son Francis Liddell Richardson or his son's daughter, Caroline Frances Richardson, returned the letters to the families of the letter writers.  Rivers LeLong has a collection of letters returned to his Richardson ancestor; Tulane University has a set of letters written by another brother; the letter in my possession (copy above) may have been returned to my Richardson ancestors.

"Uncle Jared" is Jared N. Richardson, brother of James B. Richardson, the father of Robert Riley Richardson who wrote this letter.  Jared was born 30 January 1791, Sumter District, SC, and died 18 January 1877 in West Feliciana Parish, LA.  He was part of the Richardson family migration from SC to Wilkinson County, MS, in 1809-1810.

"My son Preston" is Robert Riley Richardson's first son, Preston Augustine Richardson, born 4 October 1845, died 28 January 1923.

Robert Reily Richardson married Mary Elizabeth Hatfield Wells on 15 December 1841 in Wilkinson County, MS.    She was born 7 October 1820 and died 7 January 1891. 

  •   They owned a plantation in Wilkinson County. 

  •   In the 1860 federal census he and his family are living in Wilkinson County, MS.

  •   In the 1860 slave census he is shown as owning 83 slaves. 

  •   In the 1870 federal census he and his family are living in Wilkinson County, MS.

  •   In this letter dated 6 March 1874 he states he purchased a home in West Feliciana Parish, LA, and moved there.  Jackson, LA, the return address on this letter, is in West Feliciana Parish.

  •   Thus, it appears that R. R. and Mary E. Richardson moved from near Woodville, Wilkinson County, MS, to in or near Jackson, West Feliciana Parish, LA, between late 1870 and March 1874.

 

Back to Richardson Family front page

 

 

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