American politician

Rees Griffith Richards (July 22, 1842 – February 10, 1917) was an American Republican politician who served as the 16th lieutenant governor of Ohio from 1882 to 1884.

Contents

• 1 Early life
• 2 Civil War
• 3 Political
• 4 Personal
• 5 Notes
• 6 References

Early life

Rees G. Richards was born July 22, 1842 near Swansea, Wales, and lived there until age 10. His family then moved to Ontario, Canada before removing to Tioga County, Pennsylvania.

Civil War

At the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War, he enlisted as a first sergeant in Company G of the 45th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry September 18, 1861. He was promoted to second lieutenant July 31, 1862, to captain September 14, 1862. He re-enlisted as a veteran January 1, 1864, and was captured at the Crater, July 30, 1864. He was held prisoner at Asylum Prison Camp near Charleston, South Carolina until his escape February 16, 1865. He and two colleagues made it to Union lines at Chattanooga, Tennessee March 16, 1865. He was appointed brigade inspector May 11, 1865, and mustered out July 17, 1865.

March 17, 1865. Shown on right with two others who escaped from Confederate POW camp.

Political

After the war, he moved to Youngstown, Ohio and engaged in mercantile business for two years, then six years in Irondale, Ohio. In 1873, and again in 1875, he was elected to represent Jefferson County, Ohio in the Ohio House of Representatives at the 61st and 62nd General *emblies In 1876 he was admitted to the bar. He represented the 22nd district in the Ohio Senate in the 63rd and 64th General *emblies (1878–1881). In 1881, he defeated Democrat Edgar M. Johnson for election as Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, and could have had the nomination in 1883, had he wanted it.

He was elected to two terms as Common Pleas Judge of Jefferson County while living in Steubenville, Ohio, starting in 1902, and died February 10, 1917.

Personal

Richards married Catherine C. Rees of Tioga County, Pennsylvania on November 22, 1865, and Elizabeth Johnson of Jefferson County, Ohio on September 25, 1894, who had one daughter. Richards was a Freemason and a Presbyterian by faith. He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States.

Notes

References

• Smith, Joseph P, ed. (1898). History of the Republican Party in Ohio. Vol.:I. Chicago: the Lewis Publishing Company.
• Albert, Allen, ed. (1912). History of the Forty-fifth Regiment Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteer Infantry 1861-1865. Williamsport Pennsylvania: Grit Publishing Company. p.:148.
• Neff, William B., ed. (1921). Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio History and Biography. Cleveland: The Historical Publishing Company. p.:153. Rees Richards.
• Ohio General *embly (1917). Manual of legislative practice in the General *embly. State of Ohio.
• Randall, Emilius; Ryan, Daniel Joseph (1915). History of Ohio: the Rise and Progress of an American State. Vol.:6. New York: The Century History Company.