Background
Rich was born in Nauvoo, Illinois, as the oldest son of the Latter Day Saint converts Charles C. Rich and Sarah DeArmon Pea.
lawyer politician member of the Idaho Senate
Rich was born in Nauvoo, Illinois, as the oldest son of the Latter Day Saint converts Charles C. Rich and Sarah DeArmon Pea.
Returning to Salt Lake City, Charles and Joseph Rich were recruited by Brigham Young to participate in the settlement of the Bear River Valley in Idaho Territory. Under the leadership of Charles Rich, the settlers founded Paris, Idaho. In 1868, Rich wrote a famous article in the Deseret News in which he claimed that a group of settlers had seen "monsters" swimming in the waters of Bear Lake.
This was the beginning of the popular legend that the Bear Lake monster inhabits the lake.
Rich was a Democrat and was twice elected to represent Bear Lake County in the Idaho Territorial Legislature. He presided over the Democratic Party"s Idaho state convention in 1894 and was elected as an Idaho state senator in 1896.
In 1898, he was elected as the judge of Idaho"s fifth judicial district. Rich died in Centerville, Utah, and was buried in the Paris Cemetery in Paris.
On January 25, 1867, Joseph Rich became a member of the Council of Fifty.