Dr. Joseph Richards represented

Dedham, Massachusetts Dedham ( ) is a town in and the county seat of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 25,364 at the 2020 census. It is located on Boston's southwest border. On the northwest it is bordered by Needham, on the southwest b ...

in the

Great and General Court The Massachusetts General Court (formally styled the General Court of Massachusetts) is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, ...

. Beginning in 1731, he served five terms as selectman. He married the daughter of Rev.

Joseph Belcher Joseph Belcher (May 14, 1669 – April 27, 1723) was a minister at the First Church in Dedham, Massachusetts. Personal life Belcher was born on May 14, 1669, in Milton, Massachusetts and was graduated from Harvard College in 1690. After his parent ...

but did not get along with Belcher's successor,

Samuel Dexter Samuel Dexter (May 14, 1761May 4, 1816) was an early American statesman who served both in Congress and in the Presidential Cabinets of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Dexter was an 1881 graduate of Harvard ...

. He was one of the richest men in Dedham and a Lt. Colonel in the Suffolk Regiment. Richards was graduated from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

in 1721.

References

Works cited

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Joseph Military personnel from Dedham, Massachusetts Members of the colonial Massachusetts General Court from Dedham Year of birth missing Year of death missing Dedham, Massachusetts selectmen Harvard College alumni