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"Spokane and The Spokane Country - Pictorial and Biographical - Deluxe Supplement." Vol. II. The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1912. (No author listed.) pgs. 72-75.
JUDGE WILLIAM E. RICHARDSON, who since the 1st of April, 1911, has
been first assistant to the corporation counsel of Spokane and who has made a
creditable record as judge of the superior court for the district comprising
Spokane and Stevens counties, is not only deserving of mention as a
distinguished lawyer and jurist of the Inland Empire but also as one of its
pioneer settlers whose residence here dates from the days when the Indians
were numerous in this section of the state and when the district between Walla
Walla and the Idaho border was largely an undeveloped and unsettled
wilderness. Judge Richardson speaks with authority upon many points relative
to the history of this section. He was born in Lane county, Oregon, August 1,
1857, and comes of a family of English origin although long represented in
America, its members in different generations taking active part in the wars
in which the country has engaged. His great-grandfather was a soldier of the
Revolution and his grandfather was a soldier in the Black Hawk and other
Indian wars which constitute chapters in the history of the middle west.
His father, William C. Richardson, was born in Illinois and came
across the plains in 1852, arrivng [arriving] in Polk county, Oregon. He had
made the journey with his father, who took up land in that district, while
William C. Richardson, shortly after reaching his destination, turned his
attention to carpentering. He established his home in Portland and was there
identified with building operations. He remained for fifty-eight years
resident of the Pacific northwest, passing away in 1910. Forty years before
his wife had been called to her final rest. Her maiden name was Hester Craig
and she was of Scotch descent. She was born in Arkansas and in 1852 started
across the plains with her parents, both of whom died while en route. The
death of Mrs. Richardson occurred in 1870 and she was survived by her two sons
and two daughters: Frank Richardson, who is engaged in stock-raising in San
Diego, California, and was for many years a deputy sheriff of Arizona; May, of
Portland, Oregon; and Jennie, who is living in Newport, Oregon. The father by
a second marriage had one daughter, Effie, who resides in Portland, Oregon.
The other member of the family is Judge Richardson, who pursued his
education in the public schools of Portland, Oregon, where he spent his
boyhood until 1871. He was at the time thirteen years of age and with his
father and grandfather he traveled through this country from Polk county,
Oregon, with a band of cattle. They came over the Cascade mountains through
eastern Oregon and to the present site of Spokane through eastern Oregon and
to the present site of Spokane through the Coeur d' Alenes to Bitter Root
valley, where they remained for a year and a half. The country was a
wilderness, with very few settlers between Walla Walla and the Idaho line.
They heard that there were some falls on the Spokane river but were not
sufficiently interested at that time to go to look at them. On this journey
Judge Richardson rode a little buckskin pony all the way. There had been
trouble with the Indians a few years before but things had quieted down and a
delightful trip was enjoyed. There was no trouble, for Colonel Wright had
thoroughly subdued the red men. In order to bring them in subjection and
prevent further hostilities against the white race the colonel had collected
all their ponies to the number of fifteen hundred and had driven them up to a
bend in the river near the present site of Opportunity, where he shot them.
That took the backbone out of the uprising and the Indians surrendered. In
consequence thereof they always afterward regarded Colonel Wright as a truly
terrible man. The Richardsons, grandfather, father and son, had made the trip
into this country looking for good ground for stock. The farmers cultivated
the ground for several years before they realized the Palouse was good for
anything at all, an old man named Calhoun, for Virginia, being the first to
demonstrate the fact that the great Palouse country would raise wheat. After
this Judge Richardson was graduated from the Christian College of Monmouth,
Oregon, now the State Normal School, completing his course in 1882 until 1887
and on the expiration of that period he came to Spokane, where he began
reading law in the office of S.C. Hyde. He prepared for the bar with
characteristic thoroughness and determination and was admitted to practice in
1890, after which he successfully followed his profession until elected judge
of the superior court for the district comprising the two counties of Spokane
and Stevens in 1896. He served for two terms and made an excellent record on
the bench, his decisions being strictly fair and impartial and a clear
exposition of the law demanded by the points in the case. He retired from
office in January, 1905, and since that time has continued in the active
practice of law, holding no other office until the 1st of April, 1911, when he
was appointed first assistant to the corporation counsel of Spokane. While he
continues in the general practice of law he largely eschews criminal law
practice, confining his attention to the various branches of civil law, for
which he is particularly well qualified.
Judge Richardson was one of the attorneys in the Colville valley
drainage project and also in a similar project in the Kalispell valley. He
has paid much attention to mining litigation and in that way at times has
acquired interests in mining properties but has since disposed of them. He is
interested, however, in irrigation enterprises and is now connected with what
is known as the Whitestone irrigation project. Aside from his activity in his
professon [profession] and in connection with business undertakings, he has
been a recognized leader in political circles. His allegiance was given to
the republican party until 1892, when he joined the populist movement. In
1896 he was elected on the people's party ticket, a fusion ticket of the
populists and democrats, to the office of superior judge and for the second
term was elected on a fusion of the two parties, his name being placed on the
democratic ticket. He has always been a close student of political problems
and questions and in that connection keeps abreast with many of the best
thinking men of the age.
On the 19th of February, 1889, at Albany, Oregon, was celebrated the
marriage of Judge Richardson and Mrs. Viola I. Miller, a daughter of George
Patterson, who was a pioneer of Oregon and came from Wisconsin to the Pacific
coast in 1849, at which time he made his way to California. He afterward
journeyed northward and died in 1908. Judge and Mrs. Richardson have two
sons: Curtis, twenty-two years of age, who is now an architect of Spokane; and
Hugh, who was born in February, 1898, and is still in school.
Judge Richardson is a Mason, holding membership in Spokane Lodge No.
34. He also belongs to the Woodmen of the World, the Inland Club and the
Chamber of Commerce and his interests are broad and varied, bringing him into
active connection with much that touches the general welfare of society at
large. He has held to high ideals in his profession and has been found an
able, faithful and conscientious minister in the temple of justice, giving to
his client the service of superior talent, unwearied industry and broad
learning, yet never forgetting that there are certain things due to the court,
to his own self-respect and above all to justice and a righteous
administration of the law, which neither the zeal of an advocate nor the
pleasure of success permits him to disregard.
Submitted by: Nancy Pratt Melton
* * * * Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies Project. Unless otherwise stated, no further information is available on the individuals featured in the biographies.