Richards, Lewis, a Baptist minister, was born in 1752, in the parish of Llanbadarn Fawr, Cardiganshire, South Wales. At the age of nineteen j'ears he made a public profession of religion, and joined a society of In- dependents and studied for a short time in Lady Hunt- ingdon's College. He then came to America, intending to pursue his studies at the Orphan House in Georgia. He was ordained in Charleston in 1777, and after trav- elling about a year in various parts of South Carolina and Georgia he removed to Northampton County, Va. In 1784 he became the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Baltimore. He continued alone in this pas- torate till 1815, when Rev. E. J. Reis was elected co- pastor. Mr. Richards resigned his charge in 1818, but continued a member of the Church until his death, Feb. 1, 1832. — Sprague, Annals of the Amer. Puljnt, vi, 201.
Richards, Robert R., a Methodist preacher, joined the Methodist Episcopal Church in Thomaston (now city of Rockland), Me., in 1838. Of his birth and early life we have no information. In 1841 he was admitted into the Maine Conference as a probationer, was ordained deacon in 1843, and elder in 1848. For twentj'-three years he sustained an effective relation in the conference, but in 1864 failing health compelled him to take a superannuated relation, which relation he sustained until Aug. 9, 1866, the date of his death. He was a man of sound understanding and great persever- ance ; as a friend, true and faithful ; as a preacher, clear, logical, and instructive. — Minutes of Annual Conf, M. E. Church, 18G7, p. 138,
Richards, Thomas T. S., a minister of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, was born in Baltimore, Md., Sept. 13, 1834. He professed conversion when in his thirteenth year, and in due time entered the ranks of the local ministry. In 1864 he was received on trial in the East Baltimore Conference, and continued in active service until the fall of 1868, when failing health com- pelled him to seek relief in rest. In the spring of 1869 he was transferred to the Baltimore Conference and given a supeniumerarj^ relation. He died Dec. 26, 1869. Mr. Richards was a preacher of creditable abilities, and, as a Christian, was ardent and devout, — Minutes of A n- mtal Conferences, 1870, p. 19.
Richards, William (1),LL.D., a Baptist minister of distinction, was born in 1749, in South Wales, His IX,— B
early advantages for obtaining an education were very limited. At the age of twenty- four he entered the academ)' at Bristol, England, where he remained two years. He became pastor of the Church in Lynn, Eng- land, July 7, 1776, and continued his residence in that place the remainder of his life, about half the time as pastor of the Church. He died in 1818. In English and Welsh history and in the Welsh language and lit- erature Dr. Richards was well versed. He wrote, His- tory of Lynn: — .4 Review of Noble's '-Memoirs of the Frotectoral House of Cromwell :" — and a Dictionary of Welsh and English. At his death he bequeathed his library— consisting of not far from 1300 volumes— to Brown University. " The library thus be(iueathed is in man}' respects valuable ; it contains a considerable num- ber of Welsh books, a large collection of works illus- trating the history and antiquities of England and Wales, besides two or three hundred bound volumes of pamphlets, some of them very ancient, rare, and curious. The collection is particularly valuable for its treatises on civil and religious liberty" (Guild, Mafming and Brown University, p. 145-147). See Allibone, Diet, of Brit, and A mer. A uthors, s. v. (.J. C. S.)
Richards, William (2), a Congregational minis- ter, was born in Plaintield, Mass.. Aug. 22. 1792. He graduated at Williams College in 1819, and in Feb., 1822, offered himself to the American Board as a missionary to the Sandwich Islands. He was accepted, ordained Sept. 12, and sailed on Nov. 19, with two others, and four natives of the islands who had been instructed in this country. Mr. Richards was stationed at Lahaina, on Mani Island, and labored with great success until 1837, when he came to the United States, but returned in 1838, and occupied the poets of king's counsellor, in- terpreter, and chaplain. In 1842 — after the organization of an independent government on the islands — he was sent as ambassador to England, where he remained three years. After his return he lived in Honolulu with the king, and died there Dec. 7, 1847, — Sprague, Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, ii, 688,
Richards, William I., a minister of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, was born in Fulton County, N. Y., July 30, 1815. He was converted when nineteen years of age, and for several years served as a local preacher, but entered the Black River Conference in 1850. He continued in active service (with the excep- tion of one year) until his death — in Clarkson, Monroe County, N. Y. — May 22, 1875. He was a man of piety and great usefulness. — Minutes of Annual Conferences, 1875^ p. 137.
Richards, "William K., a minister of the IMeth- odist Episcopal Church, was born in Tennessee, Aug. 20, 1816, and in the same year his parents removed to In- diana. In 1837 he professed conversion ; he was licensed to preach on Aug. 13, 1844 ; was employed by the pre- siding elder in 1851, and the next fall was admitted into the Indiana Conference. He labored until a few weeks previous to April 6, 1861, the date of his death. He was a good man and a strong preacher, — Minutes of Annual Conferences, 1861, p. 197,