Origen D. Richardson

Origen Drew Richardson (July 20, 1795 - November 29, 1876) was a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan, and in the Nebraska Territory.

Biography

Richardson was born in Woodstock, Vermont, where he studied and practiced law. While a student in the law offices of a relative, Israel Putnam Richardson (the father of Civil War General Israel Bush Richardson), Origien 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. He was prosecuting attorney of Oakland County, 1830-36. 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.

Michigan politics

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). He was also a member 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.

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. He continued the practice of law in Pontiac until 1854.

Nebraska Territory politics

In the fall of 1854, he moved to Omaha, Nebraska, which was had been organized as the Nebraska Territory in May of that year. 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.

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.

References

• Political Graveyard
• 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. purusuant 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.