Arthur Richards (1881 - 1964)

Born 7 Oct 1881 in Delafield Township, Waukesha County, Wisconsin

Ancestors

Husband of Mable Irene (Lee) Richards — married 2 Jul 1913 in Ashland, Wisconsin, United States

Descendants

Died 14 Jan 1964 at age 82 in Waukesha, Waukesha, Wisconsin, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: David Richards [send private message]

Biography

Arthur Richards was born in a log cabin in the Town of Delafield in 1881 and was raised on the family farm there. He was the son of Thomas Richards and Jane Morris. Arthur attended school at Lawrence College in Appleton, WI. He did clerical work at the bank in Genesee Depot, became Cashier in 1912 and eventually acquired ownership in the bank. He and some of the directors of the bank organized the State Bank of North Prairie in 1920. After the bank moratorium at the beginning of the Great Depression, it was one of the first banks in Waukesha County to reopen for business. He was visiting his brother David who was attending Oshkosh Normal School and met Mabel Lee on a blind date. They were married in 1913 in Ashland, WI and moved to Genesee Depot, WI, where they had three children who grew to adulthood: Marjorie Eloise "Ellie', Lee and David. Sadly, a third son Willis born in 1926, died of whooping cough at four years of age. Arthur Richards was a country banker and gentleman farmer. The North Prairie and Genesee Depot bank offices were merged along with a bank office in Wales which had closed. Offices were added in Eagle and Delafield. The renamed Kettle Moraine Bank was sold to American Bancshares Corporation in January 1971. He inherited the family farm in Delafield, which his father Thomas had expanded to 120 acres, and where he and his siblings were born and raised. He also acquired a dairy farm adjacent to the Village of Genesee, which was operated by tenant farmers. Arthur was a member of Robert Morris Masonic Lodge of Eagle, Eastern Star No. 257 of Dousman and the Wisconsin Consistory, 32nd degree, of Milwaukee. He passed away in 1964 and was buried in the Richards gravesite at Tabernacle Cemetery, Wales, Wisconsin.

Sources

Personal knowledge of David Richards as remembered 13 March 2019.

• Feldmann, Anne Humphrey. FAMILY HISTORY of DAVID, ROGER and THOMAS RICHARDS from 1842 - 1962. Private genealogy (1962).
• Christison, Mary Richards. THE PIONEER FAMILIES OF WISCONSIN. Private manuscript (1942).
• "500 At Genesee Bank Open House" – "Richards Fetes Fortieth Year". Waukesha Daily Freeman article (1 February 1952). Original clipping in the possession of David Richards.
• "Banker Arthur Richards Dies". - Waukesha Daily Freeman Obituary - (15 January 1964). Original clipping in the possession of David Richards.
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/130419847 - Tabernacle Cemetery, Wales, Waukesha County, Wisconsin visited by David Richards.