James D. Richardson
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James Daniel Richardson, of Scotch extraction, was born in Rutherford County on March 10, 1843. He was the son of Dr. James Watkins Richardson and Augusta Mary Starnes Richardson.
His father was a member of the lower house of the Tennessee Legislature in 1843, 1845, 1847, 1849, 1851, and 1857 and of the state senate in 1853 and 1859. Dr. Richardson practiced medicine in and around Murfreesboro from 1833 till his death, Nov. 19, 1872. John Richardson, the grandfather of James D., settled in Jefferson in Rutherford County in 1815.
James D., at the age of 18, volunteered as a private in the Confederate service, on Nov. 28, 1861, joining the 45th Tennessee infantry regiment. He served as a private till the battle of Shiloh and was promoted to adjutant-major of the regiment after the battle of Shiloh and filled that position till the surrender at Bentonville, N.C.
He served in the campaigns in Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana, taking part in the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Vicksburg, Baton Rouge, Murfreesboro, Lookout Mountain, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Dalton, Ringgold, Rocky Face, and Resaca, where he was wounded in the arm by a minnie ball during the Atlanta campaign of 1864. This incapacitating wound removed him from further field service and left two fingers permanently crippled. Richardson was paroled at Gainesville, Ala., on May 11, 1865, and took the Oath of Allegiance in Meridian, Miss.
He married Rebecca Alabama Pippen before the surrender, in Greene County, Ala.
Following their marriage, he read law with Judge Thomas Frazier, and was admitted to the Tennessee bar by judges Frazier and Henry Cooper, in 1866, at the age of 23. Richardson and General Joseph Palmer practiced law together for 12 years, until Palmers’ death. At that time, he opened a partnership with his younger brother John E. Richardson. The firm was called Richardson and Richardson.
Upon returning to Tennessee, James D. and Alabama Richardson built a residence in 1868, on the corner of Academy and East Main streets in Murfreesboro. James Richardson began business life on a good inheritance from his father and acquired a fair estate by his marriage, which he added to by his professional fees.
Politics, Masonry and practice of the law divided his attention. The enterprises of the town commanded much of his time. He served as president, director and treasurer of the Rutherford County Fair Association, as director of the Stones River National Bank and director of the Safe Deposit, Trust and Banking Company of Nashville. In 1872, James D. was appointed as a commissioner of Evergreen Cemetery.
In 1908, he helped found the Central Christian Church on East Main Street. Mr. and Mrs. Richardson both were active members of the Central Christian Church in Murfreesboro, where James served as a deacon.
By his marriage, “Major” Richardson (as came to be called) had five children: Annie, Ida, Allie, John W. and James D. Jr.
Richardson was elected to state, then national office. In 1870, the Democrat Richardson was elected to the state legislature from Rutherford County and was elected Speaker of the House, being then about 28 years old, probably the youngest speaker in the history of the state. In 1873, he was elected state senator for Rutherford and Bedford counties and in the senate was a member of the judiciary committee; he was elected before constitutionally of age. In 1876, he was a delegate to the national Democratic convention at St. Louis. As a political speaker, he electrified the people with his superb oratory, his brilliant eloquence and earned the name the “Tall Cedar of Rutherford.”
During Mr. Richardson’s congressional candidacy, in 1884, it was noted that he had natural gifts, as a presiding officer, possessed by few men, and that as a legislator; he was faithful, honest and capable.
Richardson not only was elected to Congress, he was elected to nine succeeding Congresses 1885-1905. As a Democrat, Richardson became a leader of the “Solid South.” He was one of Tennessee’s most recognizable names in the late 1800s.
In 1897, Congress passed a resolution requesting Richardson, a scholarly gentleman, to begin a compilation and editing of “The Messages and Papers of the Presidents 1789-1897,” his son, James D. Richardson, Jr. indexed these works. Later, he compiled “The Messages and Papers of the Confederacy,” which presents the official words of Jefferson Davis and the secret correspondence that passed between the Confederate Secretaries of State and foreign commissioners. Because he was a Confederate soldier, Richardson had to have permission from Congress to publish this work. Other works by Richardson include “Women of the Confederacy,” (an article in the magazine “Confederate Veteran).
While history perhaps knows Richardson best as editor and compiler “Messages and Papers of the Presidents,” others remember his achievements as a Mason. Possibly his greatest claim to Masonic fame is that he rose through the ranks of Masonry, achieved all the degrees of the ancient craft of Masonry, Knights Templar, and Scottish Rite and conferred the honor to become the 33rd Degree. Over his Masonic career he accomplished many things. He authored “Tennessee Templars,” a 250-page volume, illustrated with steel engravings of 19 of the most eminent Masons of the state. Other writings include “The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite” and he established the Masonic magazine, “The New Age”, in 1901.
After being a delegate in 1876, 1896 and 1900, Richardson was named the chairman of the National Democratic Convention in Kansas City and chairman of the National Democratic Congressional Committee in 1900. James Daniel Richardson had evolved into a national political force.
James Daniel Richardson’s legacy locally is still being felt. It was in the law office of the brothers James D. Richardson and John E. Richardson that members of the J. B. Palmer Bivouac met and pledged that the year would not end before funds should be raised for the building of a Confederate monument in Murfreesboro. Originally, the monument was located on the courthouse grounds facing down East Main Street. The monument’s current location is on the northeast corner of the grounds; it was moved when East Main Street was paved.
While serving in Congress, Richardson introduced a bill for appropriation of $125,000 to purchase land for a military park and national cemetery at the site of the Stones River Battlefield at Murfreesboro. Eventually, appropriations were made and today we are fortunate to have a National Park in our county.
After a long and distinguished career, Richardson accepted the position of Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite Masons, Southern Jurisdiction in 1901, and remained in that position until his death. As commander, Richardson purchased land on 16th Street N. W. for building a Masonic temple in Washington, D.C., modeled on one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. In 1911, he led the groundbreaking and laying of the cornerstone ceremony on the site of the Temple, where the 33rd degree, the last and final degree of Scottish Rite Masonry is conferred. Unfortunately, he died before its completion in 1915. The House of the Templar remains as a monument to Richardson’s vision of the future.
When Richardson died on July 25, 1914, in accordance with his wishes, and because of his rank, he was given the Masonic funeral. Richardson was given a rare Knight Templar Kadosh funeral ceremony, reserved only for men who held the rank of 33rd degree Mason - the highest in Masonry - and one of few such rites ever conducted in the South, the only one in Tennessee, and attended by the Masonic elite of the South and from other parts of the country as well. The funeral was unique beginning with two special trains bearing Masons and friends from Nashville to Murfreesboro. Remembered as one of Murfreesboro’s most memorable funerals, it began on the night of July 26, 1914.
According to Masonic annals and relatives, hundreds of messages of condolence were received by the family from prominent Masons from all over the world, 150 Nashville Masons came to conduct the funeral, another 1,000 people began to gather 12 hours prior to the ceremony for admittance to the church from 11 o’clock to the time the funeral service began at the stroke of midnight. In addition to the Knights of Kadosh ceremonial funeral, the former Sovereign Grand Commander was accorded another Masonic honor. He was interred as a Master Mason in a Blue Lodge ceremony at the grave. Ultimately, Richardson was laid to rest July 27, 1914, in the Richardson family plot in Evergreen Cemetery in Murfreesboro, followed later in life by his wife, Rebecca Alabama Pippen Richardson who died May 23, 1927.
Richardson is still revered by fellow Masons; he is described in writings as a “lawyer, politician, statesman and parliamentarian, one of the ablest, and one of the most promising men of his era in Tennessee.” Noted as a “most uncommon man,” his funeral rites reflect ideals he held most dear – his deep religious faith, fraternal bonds and unselfish service to his country.
Years later his home at 302 East Main Street was used as offices for Dr. Scott, Dr. W. T. Robison, Dr. John Cason and Dr. Jack Yearwood. The Richardson home place was occupied next by Jennings & Ayers Funeral Home; eventually it sold and was torn down for the A&P building that currently sits on that property. Jennings & Ayers took the front doors and moved them to the business’ present location on Church Street. East Main Street Church of Christ now owns the property.
Some local residents that are relatives of Rebecca Alabama Pippen and James Daniel Richardson were his only brother and law partner, John E.; his oldest sister, Susan W., the widow of Colonel John B. Batey, a colonel of the 43rd Alabama regiment, who died in 1882; another sister, Mary, who married John B. Batey, a farmer in Rutherford County; William T. Richardson, his oldest brother, a physician of much prominence, who entered the Confederate army and died in 1862.
James D.’s son, James Daniel Richardson Jr., later joined the Richardson & Richardson law firm, as did John E.’s grandson, State Sen. John Richardson Rucker, who practiced law with his sons Richard and Jock at the same location on the square as did their ancestors.
James D. Richardson Roberts, a great grandson and the namesake of this man provided the research and made arrangements for this marker to be placed. Jim and his wife, Mary McCarty Roberts, are members of Central Christian Church and live in James D.’s former law partner General Palmer’s home.
William Ledbetter currently serves in the same capacity as his great grandfather, James Daniel Richardson, on the Evergreen Cemetery board. Another of his great grandsons, James Daniel Richardson Roberts is currently serving as chairman of this same board.
http://www.srmason-sj.org/council/journal/aug99/Clements.html
Extra: A ceremony dedicating a State Historic Marker in honor of Richardson is set for 4:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 14 at the corner of Academy and East Main streets.
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