John S. Richardson

Who was John S. Richardson?

John Smythe Richardson was a U.S. Representative from South Carolina.

Born on the Bloomhill plantation, near Sumter, South Carolina, Richardson pursued an academic course in Cokesbury, South Carolina, and was graduated from South Carolina College at Columbia in 1850. He studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1852 and began practice in Sumter, South Carolina. During the Civil War entered the Confederate States Army as a captain of Infantry. Later promoted to adjutant of the Twenty-third Regiment, South Carolina Infantry, and served until the close of the war in 1865. He served as member of the State house of representatives 1865-1867. He was appointed agent of the State of South Carolina in 1866 to apply for and receive the land script donated to South Carolina by Congress. He served as delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1876.

Richardson was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh Congresses. He served as master in equity for Sumter County 1884-1893. He died at his country home, "Shadyside," near Sumter, South Carolina, February 24, 1894. He was interred in Sumter Cemetery.