IN MEMORIAM
SAMUEL B. RICHARDS
A SKETCH OF THE FOUNDER OF ATLANTIC CITY AND HIS FOREFATHERS.
Sterling People Who Bore His Name.
How He Came to Build the Railroad to the Sea—Naming the New Town—Other Ventures of Interest.
The family history of Samuel Richards, who died in Philadelphia on February 21, 1895, goes back only to 1738, when his grandfather, William Richards, was born, although the earliest records make it possible to trace back his ancestry to 1590, the year of the birth of Thomas Richards, who came to these shores about ten years after the landing of the Pilgrims.
William Richards, who was the grandson of Owen Richards, who came to Pennsylvania about 1710, was born at Batsto, New Jersey, in 1738. He was a man of unbounded enterprise and energy. In 1776 he joined the Revolutionary army, and was in the memorable winter quarters of Valley Forge in 1777-78, and his service extended during the war. He left a number of children, among whom were Samuel, owner of the Atsion, Martha, Weymouth and Speedwell Iron Works, comprising 185,000 acres of land in New Jersey, and Thomas, who was owner of the Jackson Glass Works, with its 5000 acres of land, and Jesse, who inherited the valuable estate of Batsto, comprising 79,000 acres, and the important iron works thereon.
Benjamin Wood, born at Batsto in 1797, after graduating at Princeton in 1815 at the early age of 18, became in 1819 a member of the City Councils of Philadelphia. In 1827 he was a member of the Legislature, and one of the canal commissioners of Pennsylvania. In April, 1829, he was chosen Mayor of Philadelphia, and was a director of Girard College after the death of his friend, Stephen Girard. He was also a director of the Deaf and Dumb and of the Blind asylums; the founder and president during his life of the Girard Live Insurance, Annuity and Trust Company, and the founder of Laurel Hill Cemetery. He married Sarah Ann, the daughter of Joshua Lippincott, in 1821, and died in 1851.
Thomas Richards, the father of the subject of this memoir, born February 10, 1780, was a merchant in Philadelphia. He married in 1810 Ann Bartram, the granddaughter of the celebrated botanist, John Bartram, who resided on his property at West Philadelphia, known afterwards as “Bartram Gardens.” His grandfather came to America with William Penn in 1682. These gardens have been objects of great interest, containing as they did many valuable relics, the history of which exemplifies the research and scientific attainments of John Bartram. The library of this great botanist is now treasured as a valuable acquisition on the shelves of the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia.
Thomas Richards died October 16, 1860.
Samuel Richards, his son, was born in Philadelphia on the 15th of August, 1818, and died there February 21, 1895. He was proprietor for many years of the Jackson Glass Works, and an active merchant in Philadelphia until more important and more public duties called him into another sphere of action in 1852.
While the foregoing has been gleaned from old records and those familiar with the history and biography of the ancestors of Samuel Richards, and the records of his life down to 1851, when the writer first became acquainted with him it is his privilege, from years of official association, and from intimate and valued acquaintance with the subject of this memoir, extending over a period of forty-three years, to personally make some record of the important railroad work undertaken by him in conjunction with a few other well-known citizens and gentlemen of New Jersey, the results of which have opened wider fields of commerce to his native city, have made Philadelphia the emporium of travel from all states of the Union, “en route to the open sea,” and have revolutionized all Southern Jersey, converting her unprofitable lands into sites of fruit and flowers.
It is most proper and legitimate to connect Samuel Richards prominently with these results, because while others were talking about the future project he resolutely acted as the primal mover for the actual construction of the original pioneer line from Philadelphia to the wide Atlantic Ocean, a road unrivalled in its alignment, and grades and the exemplar of other subsequent roads.
Quoting from the address of the engineer on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the opening of the Camden and Atlantic Railroad, on June 5, 1879, he stated that it was from Mr. Samuel Richards that he received the first information of the intention to build a railroad across New Jersey from Philadelphia. His letter was dated May 17, 1852, inviting him to meet the Board of Directors on the 24th of the same month, when he was invested with power to commence the preliminary survey. Mr. Richards was the active member of the Executive Committee, and was gratified by having that survey completed by June 18, the month following.
All through Mr. Richards’ connection with the Camden and Atlantic Railroad Company, he was a member of the Executive Committee, and to his untiring efforts, good judgment, knowledge of human nature, and working in harmony with the late John C. DaCosta, the first president of the company, much of the success attending the construction of this pioneer road must be attributed.
Mr. Richards was the one who offered the resolution in 1852 of the adoption of the title of “Atlantic City,” suggested by the engineer in place of the various local appellations proposed to him by others, which resolution Mr. Richards carried with a unanimous vote of the board.
Contrary to the saying Mr. Richards thought there was a good deal in name and the new title was prophetic of the future importance of the enterprise, and that the very nomenclature of the avenues shown on the map of the town plot would in some measure be attractive to the people from the various States and in this judgment he was correct.
It is an unquestioned fact, that Philadelphia has been largely benefited by the far-seeing enterprise of this gentleman and his co-laborers.
In the doubt which followed the first visit of the directors to the proposed site of the projected town, as to its selection, and the practicability of a locomotive engine crossing the six miles of meadow lands, Mr. Richards had confidence in the insurance of the engineer when he guaranteed it a safe transit.
It was largely through is influence and advocacy that the Camden and Atlantic Land Company first proposed on that visit was finally adopted, the lands purchased and charter of the land company obtained on March 10, 1853, a period of sixteen months before the opening of the railroad.
Mr. Richards may justly be considered the founder of this land company. The facilities instituted by the establishment of cheap excursions, the adoption of a liberal policy to encourage residents and other judicious modes of attracting the people of Philadelphia, all emanating from or carried out by the aforesaid Executive Committee, created a popularity for the Camden and Atlantic Railroad and an increase of travel in its first year of 36,700 passengers over the number estimated by the engineer in his report of June, 1852.
Mr. Samuel Richards, who has been acting president or president of the Camden and Atlantic Railroad for years, a member of its Executive Committee from its commencement, also president of the Camden and Atlantic Land Company from its formation, turned his attention about the year 1874 to the construction of another railroad to Atlantic City, the Philadelphia and Atlantic [City], which has resulted in a first-class double-track road, now in the hands of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company.
Again in 1888 this gentleman, with a mature judgment, ever active in the progress of needed improvements, undertook as president of the Camden and Atlantic Land Company to extend Atlantic City by the southern addition of “Ventnor,” called after a famous watering place off the Isle of Wright, England, and in 1890 he constructed at Ventnor the most southern hotel of Atlantic City.
Mr. Richards was the nephew of the late George W. Richards, who was for many years a director of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company, and was president of the Camden and Atlantic in the years 1855 to 1857.
It is interesting to note in the career of Mr. Samuel Richards that while he was the first to act in the initiation of the enterprise that has produced or led the way to all those grand results, he was also the last and sole survivor of the original directors of the road that has been the pioneer of all the benefactors she has created, or which have followed in her steps, and in the closing of his active and useful life on the 21st day of February, 1895, in his native city, Philadelphia has lost a citizen ever alive to her interests, a benefactor not to be forgotten, and a worthy representative of his ancestors, the records of whose attachment and loyalty to the city of Philadelphia she has carefully preserved in her several institutes.
Mr. Richards leaves surviving him his widow, who was the daughter of the well-known Philadelphia merchant, John B. Ellison, and two sons, Thomas J. and Samuel Bartram Richards, the latter of whom has for several years been associated with his father, acting as the treasurer and secretary of the Camden and Atlantic Land Company.
RICHARD B. OSBORNE. [Camden & Atlantic Chief Engineer]
(The Philadelphia Inquirer, 10 March 1895, page 17.)
Transcribed by Jerseyman
SAMUEL B. RICHARDS
A SKETCH OF THE FOUNDER OF ATLANTIC CITY AND HIS FOREFATHERS.
Sterling People Who Bore His Name.
How He Came to Build the Railroad to the Sea—Naming the New Town—Other Ventures of Interest.
The family history of Samuel Richards, who died in Philadelphia on February 21, 1895, goes back only to 1738, when his grandfather, William Richards, was born, although the earliest records make it possible to trace back his ancestry to 1590, the year of the birth of Thomas Richards, who came to these shores about ten years after the landing of the Pilgrims.
William Richards, who was the grandson of Owen Richards, who came to Pennsylvania about 1710, was born at Batsto, New Jersey, in 1738. He was a man of unbounded enterprise and energy. In 1776 he joined the Revolutionary army, and was in the memorable winter quarters of Valley Forge in 1777-78, and his service extended during the war. He left a number of children, among whom were Samuel, owner of the Atsion, Martha, Weymouth and Speedwell Iron Works, comprising 185,000 acres of land in New Jersey, and Thomas, who was owner of the Jackson Glass Works, with its 5000 acres of land, and Jesse, who inherited the valuable estate of Batsto, comprising 79,000 acres, and the important iron works thereon.
Benjamin Wood, born at Batsto in 1797, after graduating at Princeton in 1815 at the early age of 18, became in 1819 a member of the City Councils of Philadelphia. In 1827 he was a member of the Legislature, and one of the canal commissioners of Pennsylvania. In April, 1829, he was chosen Mayor of Philadelphia, and was a director of Girard College after the death of his friend, Stephen Girard. He was also a director of the Deaf and Dumb and of the Blind asylums; the founder and president during his life of the Girard Live Insurance, Annuity and Trust Company, and the founder of Laurel Hill Cemetery. He married Sarah Ann, the daughter of Joshua Lippincott, in 1821, and died in 1851.
Thomas Richards, the father of the subject of this memoir, born February 10, 1780, was a merchant in Philadelphia. He married in 1810 Ann Bartram, the granddaughter of the celebrated botanist, John Bartram, who resided on his property at West Philadelphia, known afterwards as “Bartram Gardens.” His grandfather came to America with William Penn in 1682. These gardens have been objects of great interest, containing as they did many valuable relics, the history of which exemplifies the research and scientific attainments of John Bartram. The library of this great botanist is now treasured as a valuable acquisition on the shelves of the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia.
Thomas Richards died October 16, 1860.
Samuel Richards, his son, was born in Philadelphia on the 15th of August, 1818, and died there February 21, 1895. He was proprietor for many years of the Jackson Glass Works, and an active merchant in Philadelphia until more important and more public duties called him into another sphere of action in 1852.
While the foregoing has been gleaned from old records and those familiar with the history and biography of the ancestors of Samuel Richards, and the records of his life down to 1851, when the writer first became acquainted with him it is his privilege, from years of official association, and from intimate and valued acquaintance with the subject of this memoir, extending over a period of forty-three years, to personally make some record of the important railroad work undertaken by him in conjunction with a few other well-known citizens and gentlemen of New Jersey, the results of which have opened wider fields of commerce to his native city, have made Philadelphia the emporium of travel from all states of the Union, “en route to the open sea,” and have revolutionized all Southern Jersey, converting her unprofitable lands into sites of fruit and flowers.
It is most proper and legitimate to connect Samuel Richards prominently with these results, because while others were talking about the future project he resolutely acted as the primal mover for the actual construction of the original pioneer line from Philadelphia to the wide Atlantic Ocean, a road unrivalled in its alignment, and grades and the exemplar of other subsequent roads.
Quoting from the address of the engineer on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the opening of the Camden and Atlantic Railroad, on June 5, 1879, he stated that it was from Mr. Samuel Richards that he received the first information of the intention to build a railroad across New Jersey from Philadelphia. His letter was dated May 17, 1852, inviting him to meet the Board of Directors on the 24th of the same month, when he was invested with power to commence the preliminary survey. Mr. Richards was the active member of the Executive Committee, and was gratified by having that survey completed by June 18, the month following.
All through Mr. Richards’ connection with the Camden and Atlantic Railroad Company, he was a member of the Executive Committee, and to his untiring efforts, good judgment, knowledge of human nature, and working in harmony with the late John C. DaCosta, the first president of the company, much of the success attending the construction of this pioneer road must be attributed.
Mr. Richards was the one who offered the resolution in 1852 of the adoption of the title of “Atlantic City,” suggested by the engineer in place of the various local appellations proposed to him by others, which resolution Mr. Richards carried with a unanimous vote of the board.
Contrary to the saying Mr. Richards thought there was a good deal in name and the new title was prophetic of the future importance of the enterprise, and that the very nomenclature of the avenues shown on the map of the town plot would in some measure be attractive to the people from the various States and in this judgment he was correct.
It is an unquestioned fact, that Philadelphia has been largely benefited by the far-seeing enterprise of this gentleman and his co-laborers.
In the doubt which followed the first visit of the directors to the proposed site of the projected town, as to its selection, and the practicability of a locomotive engine crossing the six miles of meadow lands, Mr. Richards had confidence in the insurance of the engineer when he guaranteed it a safe transit.
It was largely through is influence and advocacy that the Camden and Atlantic Land Company first proposed on that visit was finally adopted, the lands purchased and charter of the land company obtained on March 10, 1853, a period of sixteen months before the opening of the railroad.
Mr. Richards may justly be considered the founder of this land company. The facilities instituted by the establishment of cheap excursions, the adoption of a liberal policy to encourage residents and other judicious modes of attracting the people of Philadelphia, all emanating from or carried out by the aforesaid Executive Committee, created a popularity for the Camden and Atlantic Railroad and an increase of travel in its first year of 36,700 passengers over the number estimated by the engineer in his report of June, 1852.
Mr. Samuel Richards, who has been acting president or president of the Camden and Atlantic Railroad for years, a member of its Executive Committee from its commencement, also president of the Camden and Atlantic Land Company from its formation, turned his attention about the year 1874 to the construction of another railroad to Atlantic City, the Philadelphia and Atlantic [City], which has resulted in a first-class double-track road, now in the hands of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company.
Again in 1888 this gentleman, with a mature judgment, ever active in the progress of needed improvements, undertook as president of the Camden and Atlantic Land Company to extend Atlantic City by the southern addition of “Ventnor,” called after a famous watering place off the Isle of Wright, England, and in 1890 he constructed at Ventnor the most southern hotel of Atlantic City.
Mr. Richards was the nephew of the late George W. Richards, who was for many years a director of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company, and was president of the Camden and Atlantic in the years 1855 to 1857.
It is interesting to note in the career of Mr. Samuel Richards that while he was the first to act in the initiation of the enterprise that has produced or led the way to all those grand results, he was also the last and sole survivor of the original directors of the road that has been the pioneer of all the benefactors she has created, or which have followed in her steps, and in the closing of his active and useful life on the 21st day of February, 1895, in his native city, Philadelphia has lost a citizen ever alive to her interests, a benefactor not to be forgotten, and a worthy representative of his ancestors, the records of whose attachment and loyalty to the city of Philadelphia she has carefully preserved in her several institutes.
Mr. Richards leaves surviving him his widow, who was the daughter of the well-known Philadelphia merchant, John B. Ellison, and two sons, Thomas J. and Samuel Bartram Richards, the latter of whom has for several years been associated with his father, acting as the treasurer and secretary of the Camden and Atlantic Land Company.
RICHARD B. OSBORNE. [Camden & Atlantic Chief Engineer]
(The Philadelphia Inquirer, 10 March 1895, page 17.)
Transcribed by Jerseyman
