Background
Richards was born in Richmond, Massachusetts.
Richards was born in Richmond, Massachusetts.
He served as the quorum"s president from 1898 until his death. Richards also served in the Utah Territorial Legislature in 1852 and 1856. Franklin County, Idaho, is named after Richards.
Richards married Jane Snyder in Nauvoo, Illinois.
He served there as a missionary from 1846 to 1848. Calling
Apostle Lyman Wight was excommunicated from the church in December 1848 because he refused to join the church in the Salt Lake Valley.
This left an opening in the Quorum of the Twelve. To fill the vacancy, and to bring the number of the quorum up to twelve, Richards was called and ordained as the fourth of four apostles on February 12, 1849.
The other three apostles were Charles C. Rich, Lorenzo Snow, and Erastus Snow.
In these positions, Richards also served as editor of the Millennial Star and as director of the Perpetual Emigrating Fund"s operations in Europe. From 1889 until his death, Richards was the church"s twelfth official Church Historian. President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
When Wilford Woodruff died on September 2, 1898, Snow succeeded him as church president
As the second apostle in seniority, Richards assumed the role of President of the Quorum of the Twelve.
Richards"s term was short-lived, as he died fifteen months later. Death
Richards suffered a stroke and paralysis in the autumn of 1899.
He died peacefully in his home in Ogden, Utah, on December 9, 1899. The vacancy in the quorum created by his death was filled by Reed Smoot.
A daughter of Richards, Josephine Richards West, was a counselor in the general presidency of the Primary Association.
A short time after his call as a member of the Twelve, Richards went to England, where he served as president of the British Mission and then as president of the European Mission. He was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve for more than 50 years, the longest tenure of any person who did not become President of the Church. Another grandson of Richards, Franklin Doctorate. Richards became a general authority of the church, serving as an Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve and later as a member of the Presidency of the Seventy.
