S.R. Durand: "Fred Ranney Richardson was born April 16, 1871 in Marengo, Illinois. At the time of his birth, his father Rev. George Richardson had returned from Colorado to be pastor of the Methodist church in Marengo. His mother Justina Belcher (Ranney) Richardson's parents lived after 1867 on their farm at Koshkonong, Wisconsin, and there was a tradition in the family that she had gone to her parents' home for the birth of her son. If so, both of my dear wife's parents and two of her grandparents would have been born in Wisconsin. We have never checked if his birth was registered as having taken place in Illinois or Wisconsin, but he thought he had been born in Illinois. In 1880 Rev. George Richardson went back to Colorado and made his permanent home at Argo, a suburb of Denver; so Fred Ranney Richardson was nine years old when he came with the family to live in Colorado. His father had been one of the founders and a president of the Colorado Seminary, which became Denver University. His older brother, Elbert George Richardson, was the sole member of the graduating class of 1887. Fred Ranney Richardson graduated from Denver University in 1894. A record of his grades from the time he entered the University in March of 1889 until his graduation reveal that he was an exceptionally fine student. He took courses in Latin, French, German, mathematics, physics, geology, chemistry, psychology, literature, history, sociology, and political economy. After graduation, he became a teller in the Central Savings Bank in Argo. Fred Richardson and Fern Abbott were married August 17, 1903. They lived in Denver until a run on the bank occurred in 1905. At that time, he worked night and day to persuade depositors that the bank was solvent in order to keep the bank open. He succeeded, but at the cost of a nervous breakdown to himself. Afterwards, he was unable to continue his work at the bank. Doctors advised that to completely recover, he should lead an outdoor life. He and his wife moved to northern Idaho in the fall of 1905 and established a farm near the town of Copeland on the river west of Bonners Ferry, near to where his wife's father had a ranch at that time. They lived there for four and a half years. In 1910 when the Richardsons left Idaho to move to California, he bought seventeen acres of land in San Gabriel. Later, he added land for a ranch more than a mile in length and about a quarter of a mile wide. On this ranch, he established the largest facility for breeding chickens in southern California, having usually about twenty thousand breeders. He experimented with crossing various strains of chickens to develop a species that he named Austrawhites, which were outstanding egg producers and resistant to diseases. This type of chicken he sold as baby chicks all over southern California, and even shipped across the country. To operate this large ranch, he employed about two dozen men to care for the flocks housed in small yards, each with a small chicken house. This was before the days when chickens were housed on wire screening in one large building. The operation of the Richardson ranch was primarily for producing baby chicks, but also many cases of eggs for market were produced each day. Fred was an excellent golfer. After establishing his ranch in California, he became a member of the San Gabriel Country Club. He and his brother Bert entered many golf tournaments in the Los Angeles area, and he won several trophies. He kept up golf into his eighties, and on a short course of nine holes playing twice around, he several times scored his age. About a year after his wife's death, he married second a good friend of hers, a widow named Lulu Stockwell. In 1940 they bought a weekend house at 37 North La Senda in Three Arch Bay, South Laguna. This was a pleasant place with a beautiful view of the ocean. Here he was able to relax often from the demands of the ranch in San Gabriel. After the Second World War, the town of San Gabriel had grown around his ranch property and his land was appraised at such a high value that taxes made it uneconomical to continue ranching at that location. His younger brother, George Richardson, who had an adjacent chicken ranch, sold his property; his son reestablished that ranch near Redlands [northeast of there, in Riverside County]. Fred Richardson, however, decided to retire from ranching and subdivide his property for house lots. This was done with financial success. However, some misunderstandings with his wife over financial investments resulted in a divorce. Some time later, he was married for a third time to another widow, Loretta McGregor. He had lost a considerable amount of wealth because of his divorce, so to protect his remaining investments for his two daughters, he established a trust fund. All the income from the trust fund was for his third wife during her lifetime. He established, too, some small annuity policies for each daughter and gave them some generous gifts of stocks. After retiring, he became very much interested in color photography, and had a Lika camera with which he took many pictures of his daughters and their families, and many pictures of flowers and scenery. For most of his life he drove Packard cars, but later shifted to Cadillacs. He enjoyed several motor trips in California and the Northwest, and one trip across the country to New England. He also made a trip with his first wife to Hawaii by air. I remember my wife's father as a most pleasant and friendly person. When we were living back in California in Palo Alto after 1948, I made frequent business trips of several days' duration to Los Angeles. My dear wife went with me often, and we stayed with her father in San Gabriel. He was always eager to take us in the evenings to his favorite restaurants, where we would have excellent dinners. During spring school vacations and during part of the summertime, he was always happy to have us come with our three daughters to spend several weeks at his beach home at Three Arch Bay. He was a most generous person. He died of cancer April 2, 1958, and his remains were buried next to his first wife in the cemetery at the Church of Our Savior Episcopal Church in San Gabriel. His third wife in her nineties was still living into the 1980's on income from the trust fund established for her, and on another fund from investments made from the sale of his home.

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Record Change October 15, 1999