Origen D. Richardson

Richardson was born in Woodstock, Vermont, the son of Mason Richardson and Mary (Powers) Richardson.[1] He studied and practiced law in Woodstock.[2] While a student in the law offices of a relative, Israel Putnam Richardson (the father of Civil War General Israel Bush Richardson), Origen joined the Army and participated in the Battle of Plattsburgh during the War of 1812. He remained in Vermont and practiced law until 1826, when he moved to Pontiac, Michigan. He was admitted to the bar of Oakland County in July 1826 and began a law practice.[3] In 1830, he was a part of a three-member commission appointed to locate a seat of government for Saginaw County, which at the time was not yet organized.

He was a member of the first convention of assent held in Ann Arbor in September 1836 that rejected the conditions placed by the U.S. Congress on the admission of Michigan as a State of the Union (see the Frostbitten Convention and the end of the Toledo War).[4] From 1830 to 1836, he was the Oakland County prosecutor and served as a member of the Michigan House of Representatives in the first legislature, which convened at Detroit in November 1835 and of the sixth legislature, which convened in Detroit in January 1841.[5]

In 1841, he was elected the fourth Lieutenant Governor of Michigan and was re-elected in 1843, serving during the first four years of Governor John S. Barry's governorship.[6] He continued the practice of law in Pontiac until 1854.

In the fall of 1854, he moved to Omaha, Nebraska, which was had been organized as the Nebraska Territory in May of that year.[7] He served as a member of the Legislative Council in the first and second sessions of the Territorial Nebraska Legislature. He took a prominent part in framing the laws of Nebraska and was one of the three commissioners to codify those laws.[8]

Richardson and his wife Sarah P. (Hill) Richardson had two children, Lyman Richardson and Cornelia Richardson.[9] Although Richardson nominally resided in Nebraska, his wife and family remained in Pontiac until moving there in 1874. He died only two years later of apoplexy. His wife died three days afterwards. Both were buried in Prospect Hill Cemetery in Omaha.[10]

• Bingham, Stephen D. (2005) [1888]. "s.v. Origen D. Richardson". Early history of Michigan, with biographies of state officers, members of Congress, judges and legislators. Pub. pursuant to act 59, 1887. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Library. p. 553. Retrieved 2007-07-22.
• Durant, Samuel W. (2005) [1877]. "Constitutional Convention and Representatives in the State Legislature". History of Oakland County, Michigan. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Library. p. 21. Retrieved 2007-07-22.
• Durant, Samuel W. (2005) [1877]. "The Bar". History of Oakland County, Michigan. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Library. p. 42. Retrieved 2007-07-22.
• Leeson, Michael A. (2005) [1881]. "Locating the County Seat". History of Saginaw county, Michigan. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Library. p. 301. Retrieved 2007-07-22.
• Seeley, Thaddeus De Witt (2005) [1912]. "s.v. Origen D. Richardson". History of Oakland County Michigan a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, its principal interests. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Library. p. 128. Retrieved 2007-07-22.
• Seeley, Thaddeus De Witt (2005) [1912]. "The Bench and Bar Prior to 1840". History of Oakland County Michigan a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, its principal interests. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Library. pp. 164–65. Retrieved 2007-07-22.
• The Nebraska Blue Book Online Members of Nebraska Territorial Legislature, 1855–1867. p. 333. 47th edition, 2004–2005.
• Origen D. Richardson at Find a Grave