US Grant Letter Sheet

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Birth: Apr. 10, 1834 at Princeton, Worcester Co., Massachusetts
Death: Sep. 18, 1914 at Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts

In the long list of honored names of Boston financiers who have been instrumental in the development of New England industries, belongs the name of Spencer Welles Richardson. He was the senior partner in the banking house of Richardson, Hill & Co., one of the most solid and conservative of all the financial institutions of Boston, and besides this had multifarious interests in other directions which identify him with some of the most prominent facts in the financial, mercantile and social life of Boston of that day.

He was born in Princeton, Mass., April 10, 1834, and was educated in the Boston public schools and the Brookline High School. He was a bright scholar, as shown by the fact that he received the Franklin medal at the Quincy School in Boston in 1849.

He began business life in the ticket office of the Boston & Maine Railroad in Boston, remaining there a year. In February, 1852, he entered the Boston office of the treasurer of the Laconia Company, the Pepperell Manufacturing Company, and the Saco Water Power Machine Shop, all of Biddeford, Maine. He was employed in this office until the breaking out of the Civil War, when he enlisted in the Forty-fourth Massachusetts Regiment, and was promoted to the rank of captain of Company E. Mr. Richardson was one of five brothers who served in the Union Army during the Rebellion.

After returning to Boston, the banking firm of Dwight, Richardson & Co. was established, in 1866, and Mr. Richardson was its head until October, 1869, after which for a year he continued the business alone. With William H. Hill, Jr., and Edward D. Adams, he founded, Nov. 1, 1870, the present banking and brokerage house of Richardson, Hill & Co. In December of the same year he was elected treasurer of the Saco Water Power Machine Shop, of Biddeford, Maine. He was also a director of the Boston & Bangor Steamship Company. He was a member of the Mercantile Library Association from 1854 to 1860, serving on its board of directors, on its lecture committee, as treasurer, and as president. For several years he was connected officially with the New England Female College, until it was transferred to the Boston University. He was treasurer and trustee of the Massachusetts Homeopathic Hospital, and holds many positions of responsibility as trustee and director of other institutions.

Mr. Richardson was a member of Benjamin Stone, Jr., Post 68, Grand Army of the Republic, and companion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion. He was also a member of the Art, Algonquin, and Merchants' clubs.

On June 27, 1864, he was married to Miss Mary T. Cumston, daughter of the late William Cumston, founder of the firm of Hallett & Cumston, piano manufacturers. Mr. and Mrs. Richardson had three sons — William Cumston Richardson, S. B., graduated in 1891 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Spencer Cumston Richardson, at Harvard, and Amor Hollingsworth Richardson, who worked in his father's office. Mr. Richardson's residence was on Marlborough Street, Boston.

(From "Massachusetts of Today: A Memorial of the State, Historical and Biographical" ed. by Thomas C. Quinn, pub. by Columbia Publishing Co., Boston, 1892)