Richardsville Pennsylvania

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Genealogical information sharing about the people of Richardsville, Jefferson County,  PA - from 1839 to Present-day

This website is in conjunction with http://www.RichardsvilleRoad.com which was  created by a distant cousin of mine, Mr. Danny Long.  This site will always  be "Under Construction" and I hope it will be a useful tool to gather information  related to the genealogy of Richardsville, Jefferson County, Pa.  and, to a lesser degree, a way of gathering historical information and photographs as  well. Any genealogical information gathered on this site and via email (richardsville.genealogy@comcast.net) will eventually be made available at RichardsvilleRoad.com.

Richardsville has a very rich history and an interesting mix of pioneers, settlers,  and migrations.  If we do not take immediate action and record the information that  we can gather now, it will be lost, FOREVER.

I'd like to start by sharing a brief history of the start of Richardsville that was  edited by Kate M. Scott and Published by D. Mason & Co., Syracuse, N.Y., 1888.

 

This information comes from Chapter XLVI - History of Warsaw Township:

RICHARDSVILLE

The first improvement in what is now the village of Richardsville, was made by  William R. Richards, who came there about 1839. He built a house, and then commenced  in 1840 or 1841 to build a dam. Mr. Mathew Humphrey says he helped to place the first  log in the dam. After the dam was ready he built a saw- mill, grist- mill and woolen  factory; the former was in running order in the fall of 1840, and the woolen- mill  was in operation in 1844. In the spring of 1843 he moved his family from Indiana  county to their new home. The first marriage in the new town was that of John  Moorhead and Nancy A., daughter of William R. Richards, who were married February 13,  1844, by Rev. David Polk. George W. Richards, the only surviving member of the family  of William R. Richards, says that his father’s house was small, but they had quite a  gathering for those days. There were fourteen of the Moorhead family, and these, with  the family of Mr. Richards, and the neighbors invited, filled the house to  overflowing. Mr. Richards was a very good violinist, and they had quite a jolly  dance; no doubt the first of the kind ever held in the neighborhood. Mr. Richards  died in 1867.

The first death was that of Henry E., son of William Humphrey, who died October 8,  1842. The first grave-yard was laid out near the Presbyterian church, and the first  interment was in January, 1851.

The first store in Richardsville was opened in 1847 by D.W. Moorhead, who also kept  the first hotel. The first school was taught about 1840, by a Mr. Wilson, in an old  log school, that stood where Miles Flack now lives. He was followed in 1841 by Miss  Rachel Drain.

Present Business. -  There are two stores in Richardsville, those of Mathew Humphrey  and William Evans, both doing a fair business.

The Moorhead Lumber Company have a steam saw- mill, planing- mill and grist- mill.  G.W. Richards owns and operates a steam tannery.

There are three churches at Richardsville, -  the Presbyterian and Baptist, built in  1858, and the Methodist, in 1871.

Jackson Moorhead, a son of Joseph Moorhead, was one of Richardsville’s most  enterprising and best citizens. He was postmaster for about twenty- three years; kept  the only store, for a long time. In 1867 he built the saw- mill now operated by his  heirs as the Moorhead Lumber Company, and in 1873 erected the large grist- mill. In  1881 removed to Brookville, but still superintended his business at Richardsville  until his death, which occurred very suddenly August 19, 1885.

Richardsville is quite a pleasant little town, but grows quite slowly. In 1853 it  contained one store and about eighteen dwellings. The census of 1880 gives its  population at eighty-three.