Mark Richards (July 15, 1760August 10, 1844) was an American politician. He served as a member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

from

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

and as the

ninth In music, a ninth is a compound interval consisting of an octave plus a second. Like the second, the interval of a ninth is classified as a dissonance in common practice tonality. Since a ninth is an octave larger than a second, its ...

lieutenant governor of Vermont The lieutenant governor of Vermont is elected for a two-year term and chosen separately from the governor. The Vermont Lieutenant Governor's main responsibilities include acting as governor when the governor is out of state or incapacitated, presi ...

Biography

Richards was born in

Waterbury Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut on the Naugatuck River, southwest of Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury is the second-largest city in New Haven County, Connecticut. According to the 2020 US Census, in 202 ...

in the

Connecticut Colony The ''Connecticut Colony'' or ''Colony of Connecticut'', originally known as the Connecticut River Colony or simply the River Colony, was an English colony in New England which later became Connecticut. It was organized on March 3, 1636 as a settl ...

on July 15, 1760, and received limited schooling. In 1776, he enlisted for the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

. A private in the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

, he served for several years, including the

Battle of Red Bank The Battle of Red Bank was a battle fought on October 22, 1777 during the American Revolutionary War in which a British and Hessian force was sent to take Fort Mercer on the left bank (or New Jersey side) of the Delaware River just south of Phil ...

, the 1777-1778 winter encampment at

Valley Forge Valley Forge functioned as the third of eight winter encampments for the Continental Army's main body, commanded by General George Washington, during the American Revolutionary War. In September 1777, Congress fled Philadelphia to escape the B ...

, the

Battle of Monmouth The Battle of Monmouth, also known as the Battle of Monmouth Court House, was fought near Monmouth Court House in modern-day Freehold Borough, New Jersey on June 28, 1778, during the American Revolutionary War. It pitted the Continental Army, co ...

, and the Battle of Stony Point. Richards moved to Boston after the war to work in a general store. In 1796 he moved to

Westminster, Vermont Westminster is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States. The population was 3,016 at the 2020 census. It is also the first capital of the Republic of Vermont. It borders the state of New Hampshire. History Westminster is Vermont's olde ...

to open his own store. Richards was a member of the

Vermont House of Representatives The Vermont House of Representatives is the lower house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The House comprises 150 members, with each member representing around 4,100 citizens. Representatives ar ...

from 1801 to 1805. He served as sheriff of Windham County from 1806 to 1810 and was a

Presidential elector The United States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of appointing the president and vice president. Each state and the District of Columbia appo ...

in 1812. He served on the Governor’s council from 1813 to 1816. Richards was elected as a

Democratic-Republican The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...

to the

US House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

, and served from 1817 to 1821 as a member of the 15th and

16th United States Congress The 16th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1819, ...

.Herringshaw's National Library of American Biography, American Publishers Association, Chicago, Ill., 1914, p. 1 He served again in the Vermont House of Representatives from 1824 to 1826, in 1828 and from 1832 to 1834. He was the

Lieutenant Governor of Vermont The lieutenant governor of Vermont is elected for a two-year term and chosen separately from the governor. The Vermont Lieutenant Governor's main responsibilities include acting as governor when the governor is out of state or incapacitated, presi ...

from 1830 to 1831.

Death

Richards died on August 10, 1844 in

and is interred in the Bradley tomb in the Old Westminster Cemetery in Westminster.

Family

In 1782, Richards married Ann Ruggles. Their daughter Sarah was the wife of

William Czar Bradley William Czar Bradley (March 23, 1782March 3, 1867) was an American lawyer and politician. He served as U.S. Representative from Vermont. Biography Born in Westminster in the Vermont Republic, Bradley was the son of United States Senator Stephe ...

References

External links

Information from the Vermont Archivesgovtrack.us
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Mark 1760 births 1844 deaths Members of the Vermont House of Representatives Politicians from Waterbury, Connecticut Lieutenant Governors of Vermont People from Windham County, Vermont 18th-century American people 19th-century American politicians Vermont sheriffs Burials in Vermont Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Vermont