Professors of Alabama: J. De Forest Richards

J. DeForest Richards
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Jonas DeForest Richards (b. December 28, 1809; d. December 2, 1872)

Vermont.  White.
Education: A.B. (Dartmouth College), A.M. (Dartmouth College)
Occupation: Congregational clergyman, professor

Jonas DeForest Richards was in 1809 born in Hartford, Vermont to Joel and Miriam Smith Richards. His older brother was Cyrus Smith Richards, a Latin scholar who taught at Howard University. 

Richards attended Dartmouth College, and graduated with an B.A. degree in 1836. He then moved to Ohio and taught at Marietta College.

Richards only remained at Marietta a short time. He left to pursue religious studies. He first studied at the Lane Theological Seminary in Cincinnati, but he then moved to New York City and spent a year at the Union Theological Seminary. He finally graduated from the Andover Theological Seminary in 1840. After completing his studies, he was ordained as a Congregational pastor and served at a church in Charleston, New Hampshire for about a decade, until October 14, 1851. He then served at a church in Chester, Vermont (from 1853 to 1858) and in Weathersfield, Vermont (from 1858 to 1862). He then returned to Ohio to teach at the Ohio Female Seminary in College Hill. Later, he moved further west, and lived in Monroe, Michigan. Richards returned to Weathersfield in 1865 to help tend to the affairs of his brother-in-law, Charles Jarvis, who had been killed in the Civil War. 

Around the end of the Civil War, Richards became active in Alabama. He first moved there to run a large cotton planation, Eldorado Place, that he purchased. The plantation was located on 2,700 acres of land in Wilcox County, near the towns of Prairie Bluff and Camden. In addition to a personal home for his family, the planation included a gin house, a stable, a barn, and homes for one-hundred laborers. When Richards was running the planation, the homes were occupied by freedmen, likely people who had been enslaved on the plantation during the antebellum. 

It is not entirely clear when Richards moved to Alabama. On account says that he moved there in 1863-63, but this would be surprising as Alabama was still a war zone. He certainly had moved to the state by 1867 as he was elected as Wilcox County's senator that year. He served a four-year term. 

In 1869, Richards was elected as a professor at the University of Alabama. He was responsible for teaching natural sciences and astronomy. He arrived at the university during the first week of March. The university president (R. D. Harper) resigned later that month, and Richards was made acting president. That July, the press reported that the position of acting president was passed from Richards to his colleague N. R. Chambliss, but when the university opened in October for fall term, Richards was again the acting president. He stepped down in December when Nathaniel Thomas Lipton was elected as present. Richards remained at the university until its reorganization in late 1871. 

After leaving the university, he moved to Mobile and found work at the Custom House. He remained in Mobile until his death in December 1872. He is buried in Weathersfield Bow Cemetery in Vermont. 

Richards's son, DeForest Richards, went on to serve as governor of Wyoming. His grandson J. De Forest Richards was a noted football player for the University of Michigan.

Mocking wood print of Richards embracing Shandy Jones in his barbershop
Independent Monitor, April 6, 1869.

Sources

1) Year: 1850; Census Place: Charlestown, Sullivan, New Hampshire; Roll: 441; Page: 189b

2) Year: 1860; Census Place: Weathersfield, Windsor, Vermont; Roll: M653_1329; Page: 370; Family History Library Film: 805329

3) Year: 1870; Census Place: Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Roll: M593_43; Page: 398A

4) book

5) "Valuable Plantation for Sale at Public Auction." Selma Times and Messenger, February 11, 1868; p. 2.

6) book 

7) book2

8) "The Last Arrival." The Independent Monitor. March 9, 1869. p. 3.