Levi Richards

Who was Levi Richards?

Levi Richards was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was a member of the Council of Fifty and Anointed Quorum and served as a physician for movement founder Joseph Smith and others during the years the Latter Day Saints were established in Nauvoo, Illinois. Richards was an older brother of church apostle Willard Richards.

Levi Richards was born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts and trained as a botanical physician. He joined the Church of the Latter Day Saints in 1836 and moved to Kirtland, Ohio to join the main gathering of Latter Day Saints.

In the late 1830s, Richards served as a counselor to Joseph Fielding in the presidency of the church's British Mission. In 1840, Richards was still serving as a missionary in the British Mission.

Richards married Sarah Griffith on December 25, 1843, with Brigham Young performing the marriage.

Richards served as a member of the Nauvoo City Council.

Richards served another mission in Britain from 1848 to 1853 along with his wife. They left their only child, Levi W. Richards, in care of family members on the advice of Brigham Young.