William A. Richards

Infobox Governor
name = William Alford Richards


order = 4th
office = Governor of Wyoming
term_start = 1895
term_end = 1899
lieutenant =
predecessor = John Eugene Osborne
successor = DeForest Richards
birth_date = March 9, 1849
birth_place = Hazel Green (town), Wisconsin
death_date = July 25, 1912
death_place =
party = Republican
spouse =
profession =
religion =

William Alford Richards (March 9, 1849ndash July 25, 1912) was an American surveyor, rancher and politician. He was Governor of Wyoming from 1895-01-07 until 1899-01-01.

Richards was born in Hazel Green, in Grant County, Wisconsin, and educated there and in Galena, Illinois. As a young man he worked on surveying missions, and first came to Wyoming in 1873 when his brother Alonzo V. Richards hired him as his general assistant while surveying the Western regions of Wyoming Territory.

William left Alonzo's party in late 1874, by which time the party had reached the North-Western corner of Wyoming Territory. He moved instead to California, where he married Harriet Alice Hunt. In 1884 he returned to Wyoming, homesteading a ranch in Big Horn County. In 1886 he was elected county commissioner of Johnson County, and in 1889 President Harrison appointed him Surveyor General for Wyoming.

In 1894, Richards ran for Governor on the Republican ticket. He defeated William H. Holliday and Lewis C. Tidball, becoming the state's third elected governor. At the conclusion of his term he was replaced by DeForest Richards (no relation), from the same party, and was appointed Assistant Commissioner of the General Land Office by President McKinley. In 1903 he was promoted to Commissioner, a position he held until 1907.

1909 saw a change of pace for Richards: he became the first Commissioner for Taxation for the state of Wyoming. This job lasted until 1912, when he travelled to Melbourne, Australia as a delegate for the U.S. Committee on Irrigation. He died of a heart attack soon afterwards, and was buried in Lakeview Cemetery, in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

References

* [http://www.wy.blm.gov/cadastral/surveyors/richards.htm Wyoming Cadastral Survey Richards bio] ndash Bureau of Land Management Wyoming
* [http://wyoarchives.state.wy.us/governor/wrichard.htm State biography] ndash Wyoming State Archives

External links

* [http://www.nebraskahistory.org/lib-arch/research/manuscripts/family/warichards.htm William Alford Richards collection] at Nebraska State Historical Society
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