This is the history of the Richardson's as we remember it and as we find different sources and stories are furnished to us.  I am basing this history on facts drawn from Census Records, Civil War Records, Pension Documents, and the memories of others and their writings.  I hope that I do not take too many liberties in this as I put my own interpretation on these facts.  My goal is to make them readable and try to keep the time line intact.  Thanks to everyone that has helped in this endeavor.

I have found some documentation that James Richardson married Elner/Ellen/Eleanor Chandler.  These different spellings of her first name has caused many problems with trying to keep things straight.  It seems on most of the things I find she goes by the name of Ellen.

James and Ellen's graves have been found in Hurricane Cemetery, Williamson County Illinois.  James passed away in 1843 at the age of 38 and Ellen passed away on May 15, 1871 at the age of 71.  This causes a problem as we have her birth date as 1805 and this date is backed up by other documents.

The earliest records that we have is the 1850 census of Williamson County Illinois.  This shows the widow Ellen Richardson age 45, being worth $200.00 and Samuel Rankin age 16 being the head of the family and his occupation as a farmer.  It also list his six sisters Elizabeth, 16, Margaret, 13, Martha, 11, Susan R. ,9, and Mary E. ,6.  In the 1870 census shows the Samuel and his wife, Emily are living in Herrin Prairie and mama Ellen is living alone in Joliet.

Samuel Rankin Richardson was paid the sum of $2000.00 to join the Union Army in the place of someone else in Illinois.  This was a common practice during that time.  He and his best friend, Newton Pitcock joined and served until the end of the war.  Newton had a sister named Emily Taylor and as they say the rest is history.

I will continue this as time permits and as information becomes available.