Santa
Clara County
Biographies
JOHN
E. RICHARDS
JOHN E. RICHARDS. The position which John E. Richards
occupies in the professional, social and literary life of San Jose is an
evidence of the rare ability distinguishing his citizenship in this
community. A man of forceful character
and brilliant attainments, he is accounted a light in the legal fraternity, and
throughout the years of his practice here has met with a success (especially in
libel litigation which followed his association with local newspapers for about
twenty years), which has given him a merited position among the leading
attorneys of the city. As a writer of
force and power he is widely known and admired, having been a contributor to
newspapers and journals for years as well as producing special articles which
have won him much commendation. He wrote
the history of the early Bench and Bar of San Jose for the State Bench and Bar, and is looked upon as an authority on the
local history of the place. He also
prepared the only life history of James Lick, which appeared in the San Jose Mercury, in its Observatory
edition published in 1888, his data having been secured from the documents of
the Academy of Science and California Pioneers, to which he was given
access. Mr. Richards is also a poet
of no little ability, a book of poems which attracted considerable attention
being his “Idyls of Monterey” and other poems being
in course of publication. Some of his
better known poems are “The Story of the Pine,” “The Cypress,” “The Pipes of
Pan,” “A Cloud,” “Winter,” etc.
Mr. Richards has one of the best selected private libraries in San
Jose, and he spends much time in study among his books, although he is in no
sense a bookworm, as he is a lover of nature and gains the greater part of his
impressions from actual contact with her works.
The Richards family came originally from
Wales, where the father of John E. Richards was born, in Llangollen on the Dee.
When a boy of seventeen years he came to new York City and learned the
engraver’s trade, in Oswego, N.Y. where he mastered the English language. Attracted to the west in 1849 by the
discovery of gold, he made the voyage around Cape Horn, and upon his arrival in
California went at once to the mines on the north fork of the American
river. He remained in that occupation
two years, when, in 1851, he came to the Santa Clara valley and bought land in
the vicinity of Oak Grove, and also in Berryessa, where he engaged in
agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred in 1867. He was a successful man financially and
socially, his enterprise and public spirit necessarily enrolling him among the
prominent men of his day. He learned the
Spanish language after coming to California and became a popular man among this
nationality. He was a prominent
Republican and gave his best efforts toward the advancement of the principles
he espoused. His wife, who died in San
Jose in 1881, was Mary Hamilton in maidenhood, a native of Bally Kelly, County
Derry, Ireland, a representative of the old Lowland family of Hamiltons, of Scotland, Covenanters who fled to Ireland at
the time of the Cloverhouse persecution.
Of the two sons of his parents,
John E. Richard was the only one who attained maturity. He was born in Oak Grove, Santa Clara county,
July 7, 1856, and with the exception of a year (1868) spent in County
Derry, Ireland, immediately after the death of his father, has spent his entire
life in this section of the state. Upon
his return from his mother’s old home in Ireland in 1869, he resumed his
studies in the public schools of San Jose, after completing which he entered
the University of the Pacific, from which institution he was graduated in 1877
with the degree of A. B. In the
fall of the same year he entered the law department of the University of
Michigan, graduating two years later with the degree of L.L.B. Returning at once to San Jose he entered the
law office of S. F. Leib as his assistant,
remaining in this association two years, since which time he has been engaged
in an independent practice of his profession.
During his career he has been interested in and associated with various
newspapers, and has been the attorney for the San Jose Mercury for over twenty years.
A stanch[sic]
Republican in his political convictions, Mr. Richards has never sought nor
desired public office, but has given his best efforts to advance the interests
of the platform he endorses. For many
years he has been a member of the County Central Committee and is now secretary
of the same, and since 1880 has frequently been a member of the state
convention.
In Santa Clara county Mr. Richards
was united in marriage with Mary Wallace Westphal, a
daughter of John T. Wallace and a native of the state. Mr. Wallace was an early settler of the
state, and was the first city clerk of San Francisco. He was of Scotch ancestry, while his wife,
formerly Mary Percy, belonged to the English family of that name. Two children have blessed the union of Mr.
and Mrs. Richards, namely: John Percy, who is now attending Stanford
University at the age of twenty-one; and Donald Wallace, aged fifteen. In his fraternal relations Mr. Richards
is identified with the Masons, having been made a member of this order in
Golden Gate Lodge, No. 32, of San Francisco.
He belongs to Trinity Episcopal church, and is
a member of the County Bar Association.
As representative of the best citizenship of San Jose, he occupies an
enviable position and enjoys to an unusual degree the confidence and esteem of
his fellow townsmen.
Mr. Richards is entitled to
distinction for sounding the first clarion note in an article in the San Jose Herald which led directly to
the movement that secured to the state the California Redwood Park, which
comprises several thousand acres.
Josephine Clifford McCracken quoted frequently from Mr. Richards’ articles
in her contributions to various journals.
Transcribed by Donna Toole.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 913-914. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Donna Toole.