History of Lee County, Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

184 HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
Ridge in December, 1863. Tlie balance of bis service until Septem-
ber, ISUi, was in tbe army blank and record office at Nashville,
Tennessee.
After tbe close of tbe war Mr. Ricbardson retui-ned to Dixon
and later went to Woodstock, Illinois, wbere he piu'sued a three
years' course in tbe Woodstock Academy. He also took a semicollegiate
coiu'se in Carroll College at Waukesha, Wisconsin. For
a number of years he engaged in teaching in Lee county and his
last three years in this profession were spent as principal of the
Lee Center schools.
He then withdrew from the educational field to tiu-n his atten-
tion to merchandising in Lee Center, Illinois, where he established
a store which he successfully conducted for fourteen consecutive
years, enjoying a good and profitable trade throughout that period.
He then retii'ed from business in 1899 and returned to his old home
in Dixon. During his residence in Lee Center he held many offices
of public trust, serving as justice of tbe peace and notary public
for fom' years and as assessor for seven years.
Mr. Richardson was married in Lee Center in 1874, to Miss
Millie C. De Wolf and unto them were born the following named:
Mae D., the wife of Mark C. Keller, city attorney of Dixon; Nelson
F., who is now manager of the grocery department for the I. B.
Countryman Company at Dixon; John G., who is now' employed in
the i^ostoffice of Dixon; and Marguerite, who is livuig in this city.
Mr. Ricbardson gave all of his children excellent educational oppor-
tunities. He is a comrade in G. A. R. Post, No. 299, of Dixon, Illi-
nois, and is active in Masonry, being a member of the blue lodge,
chapter and connnandery. As a mark of esteem and in recogni-
tion of bis splendid Avork in tbe chapter he was exalted to the chair
of most excellent high priest of Nacbusa Chapter, No. 56, of Dixon,
which office he filled with honor to the fraternity and credit to
himself.
On acconnt of ill health Mr. Ricbardson went west in 1906 and
filed on a claim near Burke, South Dakota, in the Indian Rosebud
reservation. He was on tlic gidund and selected tbe quaiter section
which he now owns and occupies in 1904, at which time he liked
the climate so well that he decided to locate there. There are few
of the war veterans of the 'GOs avIio are now living in the far west
country. The Indians are fast disappearing and the work of civil-
ization and general improvement is rapidly advancing. Mr Rich-
ai'dsou now has his farm in a fine state of cultivation and it is
divided into fields of convenient size by well kept fences. It