History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/4/David N. Richardson
[D. N. Richardson]
DAVID N. RICHARDSON was born in Orange, Vermont, March 19, 1832. He was reared on a farm and completed his education with two terms at an academy. He taught when eighteen years of age and later entered a printing office in Illinois where he learned the trade. In 1854 he came to Davenport, Iowa, where, in company with James T. Hildreth and George R. West he purchased the Democratic newspaper establishment and began the publication of the daily Iowa State Democrat. Here for nearly forty years Mr. Richardson was engaged in conducting one of the foremost newspapers of Iowa. He was for many years a regent of the State University and was untiring in his efforts to make that the foremost educational institution in the State. He was also one of the original members of the State Commission to plan and erect the Iowa Soldiers' Monument, serving until the work was completed. During the period of eighteen years during which Mr. Richardson was a regent of the State University he was one of its most intelligent and effective promoters. It was an often expressed desire of his to live to see our State University equal to any in America. That institution never had a more devoted friend or more useful officer. Mr. Richardson was a graceful and accomplished writer and one of the ablest of Iowa editors. He became an extensive traveler in foreign countries and his letters descriptive of the lands and cities visited were of absorbing interest. His acquaintance with the public men of Iowa was very wide and although he was a lifelong Democrat and an active and influential leader in his party for more than forty years, he won and retained the confidence and personal friendship of his political opponents everywhere. He died on the 4th of July, 1898.