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David H. Richardson, 1862-1945 David H. Richardson was born
on 25 May 1862 in Strathmiglo, Fife, Scotland. He was the
sixth of nine children born to William and Mary (Fernie)
Richardson. According to David's birth record he was born
on Russell Street (which intersects with Skene Street, one
of the main streets of Strathmiglo and where many of its
woolen mills were located). The following photos of
Strathmiglo and Skene Street were on a post cards sent to
David by his cousins in the 1920's:
Strathmiglo is also where David married Margaret "Maggie" Miller Davidson on 11 January 1884. Maggie was born in nearby Dundee and was the daughter of William and Isabella (Chapman) Davidson. They were married by Rev. Nathan Cosh, minister of the (North) Free Church, formerly the Reformed Presbyterian Church. The following photo was apparently taken around the time of their marriage: A few months after they
were married David and Maggie (along with Maggie's
parents) immigrated to the United States. A family
story is that the ship which brought them to America
sank while making the return voyage. Indeed, they are
listed as passengers on the steamship "State of
Florida" which landed in the port of New York on 5
April 1884. The New York Times reported that this same
steamship sank on the 18th of April 1884 after a
collision with another ship resulting in the deaths of
135 people (eyewitness accounts of that disaster are
found in the New York Times dated May 8th and 9th).
Initially they moved to Thetford Twp., Genesee County,
Michigan, which is where Maggie's parents bought a
farm and where David worked as a blacksmith. About
1898 David and Maggie and their three children moved
to nearby Mayville in Tuscola County where they are
listed in the 1900 census. Shortly after that they
then moved to Flint in Genesee Co. where David
continued to work as a blacksmith. According to Flint
city directories he was a blacksmith for Skinner Mfg
Co. from 1907-1909, for W.H. Loss in 1910, and for
W.W. Wilding in 1913. Below are photos of David while
blacksmithing (far left in first photo perhaps in
Thetford; third from left in the second photo probably
in Flint; and center in the last photo again in
Flint):
A family story is
that David made the hinges and door handles for
the First Presbyterian Church of Flint located at
746 S. Sagainaw Street (below is a photo from
their website):
By 1910 David and
Maggie bought a house at 408 W. 7th Street in
Flint where they lived until Maggie died in 1932.
Below is a photo of them probably in the late
1920's:
In 1925 David went to work as a night watchman for Fisher Body in Flint (his former son-in-law, Roland Adair, was head of plant protection at Fisher Body at the time). Below is David in uniform, and below that he is with his grandson, Robert Adair: After his wife
died in 1932 David moved in with his daughter,
Mary (and her husband, John Burgess), at 2017
Davison Road in Flint. Below is a 1923 photo
of that house (David's grandson, Robert
Richardson, is sitting on the steps -- he died
at 14 months of age in September 1923):
David died of pneumonia on 15 July 1945. David and Maggie and many members of their family were buried in Thetford Cemetery. © 2008 - , Thomas D. Adams |