Los
Angeles County
Biographies
MRS. ELLA (WEEKLY) RICHARDSON
Mrs. Ella (Weekly) Richardson, a
high esteemed resident of Glendale, Los Angeles County, is the fifth child of Laban and Mary Jane (Dunn) Weekly, natives of Ohio and of
old Yankee ancestry. Her father was a
teacher of music and voice culture and her mother had been a school teacher in
Ohio. The family home was established in
Los Angeles in 1872 in the hope that the climate would prove beneficial to Mr.
Weekly’s health, but both Mr. and Mrs. Weekly passed away soon after coming to
the Pacific coast and their daughter Ella was thus left an orphan at the age of
six years. The latter was reared in the
homes of John Bloeser and Mrs. Charles B. Woodhead, of Los Angeles, and later made her home with W.
C. B. Richardson.
Mrs. Richardson is one of Glendale’s
leading women. Besides attending to her
various business interests, she finds time to take an active part in politics, civic
affairs and club life. She was a member
of the Republican county central committee, was the first president of the
Child’s Study Club of the Cerritos School, formerly the Sepulveda School, the
first school for miles around in this section.
This was the forerunner of the Parent-Teacher Association. She was the first president of Edison School
Parent-Teacher Association, a life member of the Tuesday Afternoon Club, an
official of the Glen Eyrie Chapter of the Order of
the Eastern Star, a charter member of the Lester Meyers Chapter of War Mothers,
and a member of the Women’s Relief Corps and the Chamber of Commerce. She is a Christian Scientist and a member of
the Mother Church, the First Church of Christ Scientist, Boston,
Massachusetts. She was one of the
charter members of the First Church of Christ Scientist, Glendale, in
1912. She has traveled in many states,
and for nearly a year was a resident of Boston, Massachusetts. Philanthropic and benevolent, she is always
ready to help any just cause, but greater than her generosity in worldly goods
is her wealth of kindness and sympathy.
She resides at 700 West Wilson Street in Glendale.
On the 2nd of November,
1887, in Los Angeles, California, Ella Weekly gave her hand in marriage to Elkanah W. Richardson, who was born in Cleveland, Ohio,
November 6, 1849, his parents being William C. B. and Sarah (Everett)
Richardson. He supplemented his public
school education with a business course and creditably filled a position as
bookkeeper for a time for O. S. Richardson Coal Company, Chicago,
Illinois. Subsequently he was sent to
California, via Cape Horn, to look after matters pertaining to the Santa Eulalia Ranch, which had been purchased by his father in
1868. He worked his passage as a sailor
from New York City to San Francisco and went directly to the ranch which is a
part of Glendale, arriving there in 1871.
He was a civil engineer by profession.
After fulfilling his mission at the ranch, by a stay of a few weeks, he
returned to Cleveland, stopping over at Chicago, where he saw the devastation
caused by the big fire of 1871. He
remained in Cleveland, assisting his father with surveying in that city and
vicinity until June, 1873, when he returned to California, and on December 1st
he assumed charge of the Santa Eulalia Ranch. This was wholly under his supervision until
1880, when his father and mother came to make it their home. Then followed many years of
successful development of the property with the father and son working and
planning together.
E. W. Richardson was one of the
organizers and incorporators of the city of Tropico
and was on one of its first board of trustees.
He was also one of the organizers of the Glendale Union high school and on
one of its board of trustees, a member of the Glendale Valley Club and the
Pioneer Society of Los Angeles County.
Fraternally he was an Odd Fellow, and a past grand of the subordinate
lodge, also a member of the encampment and the Rebekahs. Mr. Richardson died April 22, 1911, after
having been a resident of the valley for nearly thirty-eight years. The Americans living in the valley in 1873
were few, and it can be safely said that Mr. Richardson was one of the first
Americans to come to the valley and make it his permanent home. Although others had lived in the valley,
their residence was only transitory.
Mr. and Mrs. Richardson became the
parents of five children, the eldest being Eulalia
R., a graduate of Stanford University.
In 1913 she took a trip around the world on the steamship Cleveland, sailing
from San Francisco and landing at New York City nine months later. In May, 1917, she became the wife of Shives Mitchell, of Glendale, California, and they are the
parents of five children, namely:
William R., Ferguson, John A., David and Ellen Lorraine. Elkanah Will
Richardson is a graduate of Harvard University.
He is a veteran of the World War and was with the army of occupation on
the Rhine at Coblenz, Germany, after the Armistice was signed. He is now in the oil business in
Glendale. In February, 1922, he married
Helen Fletcher, of Hollywood, and they have four children: William, Walker, Kenneth and Dick. Omar Burt Richardson is a professor of
Occidental College. He married Evelyn Verrsteig, and has a son, Burt, Jr. Paul Eddy Richardson, a teacher in the high
school of Los Angeles, married Celia Pierson, of San Pedro. John Henry Richardson, a graduate of the
University of Virginia, is now connected with the Los Angeles Telephone
Company. He married Constance Fowler and
has two children, John Henry, Jr., and Gerald Burt Richardson.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. IV, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 329-331, Clarke Publ.,
Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
GOLDEN
NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPHIES