Son of Levi Richards and Sarah Griffith
Married Louisa Lula Greene, 16 Jun 1873, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Married Persis Louisa Young, 16 Jun 1884, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Richards, Levi Willard, a Patriarch in the Church and a resident of the 20th Ward (Ensign Stake), Salt Lake City, Utah.
His parents were both advanced towards middle age when they were married and he was the only child born to this union. They were possessed of great faith, as will be seen from the following excerpt from the pen of Bro. Levi W. Richards, the subject of this sketch.
He says: "In the year 1848 my father and mother were called to go on a mission to England. They were then living at Winter Quarters with the saints. I was quite young (about three years old) and an only child. President Young said if they took me with them, he could not promise them that I would live, but if they let me come on to the Valley, I should live and make a strong, healthy boy. Through their faith in the Prophet of the Lord they decided to make the sacrifice and send me to the Valley in the care of Aunt Rhoda, my father's oldest sister, and my Uncle Willard Richards.
My first faint recollections are of this journey across the wild plains to the Rocky Mountains: On the way I broke my arm, but that was not impressed on my memory so deeply as my trying to read a child's book my parents had given me. We camped on the corner of Main and First South streets. I recollect some of the incidents of the first year passed in a wagon-box taken off the running-gears and placed on stationary supports.
I attended a small private school taught by Sister Sarah Phelps, on the west side of what is now known as West Temple, between South Temple and First South streets. I also attended other schools in the Fourteenth Ward, in which we lived. I left school before I completed my eighth year and did not go again until I attended the University of Deseret, after my return from England.
Our home from the time we entered the Valley was located on the southeast corner of the block immediately south of the Temple block. I was so young when I parted from my parents that any distinct recollection fast faded from my mind, but their memory was kept green by my dear Aunt Rhoda who often spoke to me of them, and also by little letters, picture-books and other presents which they sent me whenever they had opportunities by returning missionaries or by the occasional mail of those days." The mission of Dr. Richards and wife to England lasted five years and Levi was eight years old when he was again united with his parents. After that he picked and peddled strawberries and other fruits which his father cultivated, herded cows and, when scarcity of food came, dug segoes on the hills, etc. His book learning was carried on in spare moments at home, both his parents being students and scholars.
He was at an early age a member of a boys' military organization, a sort of youths' militia, drilled in regular fashion, in preparation for whatever emergency might arise. While the early misunderstandings between the United States government and the pioneers of Deseret took a military form he was active in the defense of his people, having on one occasion stood guard all night before the Eagle Gate, then one of the entrances to the President's headquarters, while attack was momentarily expected.
While in his teens he received appointment from the Territory of Utah to the West Point Military Academy, but because of reluctance on the part of his parents to consent to another long separation from him, he declined the assignment.
Ordained an Elder at the age of eighteen, he was, three years later, called to labor in the mission field in England, over which mission his cousin, Apostle Franklin D. Richards, was then presiding. His journey thither, occupying three months, was fraught with many of the dangers and hardships common to those times. Levi was first appointed to Sheffield. He had labored as a missionary but a few weeks when a malignant attack of small-pox nearly cost him his life. Through the mercies of the Lord, and the loving care of Sister Mary Colbert, with her son John and other faithful friends, he was given back health and strength for the completion of his mission, which lasted about three years. He presided for a time over the Monmouthshire conference in the neighborhood of his mother's birthplace, where he acquired a deep-rooted interest for the Welsh people. Elder Caleb Parry, writing to President Horace S. Eldredge of the missionary labors of Elder Richards, said: "I am here in Monmouthshire alone, Bro. Levi W. Richards, as you are aware, having left me. I feel rather lonesome now that he is gone, as he is a young man I greatly esteem and who is greatly beloved by all the saints in this conference without one exception that I know of. I know myself that he has lived a life of purity that is seldom equalled. He leaves this country with the blessings of all the saints that are acquainted with him." Released in the autumn of 1870, Levi returned to Utah.
The Union Pacific Railroad having reached Ogden the year before greatly simplified and facilitated the home journey. Shortly after his return home he entered the University of Deseret and was soon recognized as one of the best and most earnest students of that always leading and progressive institution, which is now so widely and favorably known as the University of Utah.
In 1873 (June 16th) Levi Willard Richards married Louisa Lula Greene, a daughter of Patriarch Evan M. Greene and Susan Kent. The young woman was then editor of the "Woman's Exponent." Seven children were born of this union, three daughters and four sons. Their names follow in order of birth: Mary, Mabel, Lee, Willard, Evan, Heber and Sarah, the mother's maiden name being attached to that of each of the children. The daughters all died in early childhood. The four boys are all living, all married and raising families of their own. About the time of Levi's marriage his parents moved from the Fourteenth to the Twentieth Ward, and two years later the son with his wife and baby girl followed, becoming identified at once with the people and interests of the Twentieth Ward, Salt Lake City, where they continued to reside during the remainder of his mortal life.
On the 16th of June, 1884, eleven years to the day from the time of his first marriage, Levi W. Richards married as a plural wife Persis Louisa Young, daughter of Bishop Franklin W. Young and Nancy Leonora Greene, a niece on the mother's side of his first wife. Persis became the mother of one child only, a son named Franklin Young, who died in infancy. Among the Church activities, to which the time, talents and life of Levi W. Richards were freely given with unswerving devotion, may be counted the Deseret Sunday School Union Board, of which he held the secretaryship for many years and was a faithful member from the time of its organization until his death. He was clerk of the Fourteenth Ward for a short time and of the Twentieth Ward for more than thirty years, president of the Elders quorum in the Twentieth Ward for a long period of time, counselor to the president of the High Priests quorum in the Ensign Stake of Zion from the time of the organization of that Stake, in 1904, until a few months before his death, when he was ordained a Patriarch. As a worker in the Endowment House and afterwards in the Salt Lake Temple he gave faithful and efficient service for more than twenty-five years and until disabled by the sickness which terminated in his death.
In all his walks in life, in the privacy of his own home, as well as before the public, Levi W. Richards was always justly upheld as a model of the charity, patience, benevolence and brotherly kindness and love which should characterize all Latter-day Saints. During his final illness, which covered a period of two years, his uncomplaining gentleness through all his sufferings, which were great, and the sincere loving appreciation he manifested for all that was done to relieve or benefit him, endeared him more and more each day to those who had the privilege of being near him and administer to his needs. When satisfied himself that he would not be restored again to health and strength in mortal life, he talked calmly and resignedly of the change so near approaching him and expressed gratitude that he had been allowed to remain here until the springtime had come instead of having been called home while the snow and cold wintry season made the world less beautiful. To his wives he said one day, "I will make you a better home 'over there' than I have provided for you here." Then with the caution which was natural to him he quickly added, "That is, if I shall be permitted to do so." To these remarks his trusting companions unhesitatingly and with the utmost assurance eagerly replied, "You will be! Such a life as you have lived here cannot fail to secure unlimited privileges and powers in the life to come!" Bro. Richards was no enthusiast. When some one spoke cheerfully to him of the "good time and place" he had certainly earned and was soon to enter, he replied brightly, "We shall all know what awaits us when we get there—I think not before." As his sons were assisting him to turn and change his position in bed, but a few hours previous to his departure, he "got off" a clever pun, comparing his condition to something else in a humorous way, and when the absurdity of his witticism brought smiles to the faces of his attendants he laughed lightly himself and concluded by settling down with a contented, "O well!" The day he died was a pleasant, sunny one, as he had hoped it would be, and his going was as peaceful as the falling to sleep on its mother's breast of a happy babe. This change for him from mortal life to immortality occurred at sundown March 30, 1914, at his home in Salt Lake City. (L. L. G. R.)
Married Louisa Lula Greene, 16 Jun 1873, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Married Persis Louisa Young, 16 Jun 1884, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Richards, Levi Willard, a Patriarch in the Church and a resident of the 20th Ward (Ensign Stake), Salt Lake City, Utah.
His parents were both advanced towards middle age when they were married and he was the only child born to this union. They were possessed of great faith, as will be seen from the following excerpt from the pen of Bro. Levi W. Richards, the subject of this sketch.
He says: "In the year 1848 my father and mother were called to go on a mission to England. They were then living at Winter Quarters with the saints. I was quite young (about three years old) and an only child. President Young said if they took me with them, he could not promise them that I would live, but if they let me come on to the Valley, I should live and make a strong, healthy boy. Through their faith in the Prophet of the Lord they decided to make the sacrifice and send me to the Valley in the care of Aunt Rhoda, my father's oldest sister, and my Uncle Willard Richards.
My first faint recollections are of this journey across the wild plains to the Rocky Mountains: On the way I broke my arm, but that was not impressed on my memory so deeply as my trying to read a child's book my parents had given me. We camped on the corner of Main and First South streets. I recollect some of the incidents of the first year passed in a wagon-box taken off the running-gears and placed on stationary supports.
I attended a small private school taught by Sister Sarah Phelps, on the west side of what is now known as West Temple, between South Temple and First South streets. I also attended other schools in the Fourteenth Ward, in which we lived. I left school before I completed my eighth year and did not go again until I attended the University of Deseret, after my return from England.
Our home from the time we entered the Valley was located on the southeast corner of the block immediately south of the Temple block. I was so young when I parted from my parents that any distinct recollection fast faded from my mind, but their memory was kept green by my dear Aunt Rhoda who often spoke to me of them, and also by little letters, picture-books and other presents which they sent me whenever they had opportunities by returning missionaries or by the occasional mail of those days." The mission of Dr. Richards and wife to England lasted five years and Levi was eight years old when he was again united with his parents. After that he picked and peddled strawberries and other fruits which his father cultivated, herded cows and, when scarcity of food came, dug segoes on the hills, etc. His book learning was carried on in spare moments at home, both his parents being students and scholars.
He was at an early age a member of a boys' military organization, a sort of youths' militia, drilled in regular fashion, in preparation for whatever emergency might arise. While the early misunderstandings between the United States government and the pioneers of Deseret took a military form he was active in the defense of his people, having on one occasion stood guard all night before the Eagle Gate, then one of the entrances to the President's headquarters, while attack was momentarily expected.
While in his teens he received appointment from the Territory of Utah to the West Point Military Academy, but because of reluctance on the part of his parents to consent to another long separation from him, he declined the assignment.
Ordained an Elder at the age of eighteen, he was, three years later, called to labor in the mission field in England, over which mission his cousin, Apostle Franklin D. Richards, was then presiding. His journey thither, occupying three months, was fraught with many of the dangers and hardships common to those times. Levi was first appointed to Sheffield. He had labored as a missionary but a few weeks when a malignant attack of small-pox nearly cost him his life. Through the mercies of the Lord, and the loving care of Sister Mary Colbert, with her son John and other faithful friends, he was given back health and strength for the completion of his mission, which lasted about three years. He presided for a time over the Monmouthshire conference in the neighborhood of his mother's birthplace, where he acquired a deep-rooted interest for the Welsh people. Elder Caleb Parry, writing to President Horace S. Eldredge of the missionary labors of Elder Richards, said: "I am here in Monmouthshire alone, Bro. Levi W. Richards, as you are aware, having left me. I feel rather lonesome now that he is gone, as he is a young man I greatly esteem and who is greatly beloved by all the saints in this conference without one exception that I know of. I know myself that he has lived a life of purity that is seldom equalled. He leaves this country with the blessings of all the saints that are acquainted with him." Released in the autumn of 1870, Levi returned to Utah.
The Union Pacific Railroad having reached Ogden the year before greatly simplified and facilitated the home journey. Shortly after his return home he entered the University of Deseret and was soon recognized as one of the best and most earnest students of that always leading and progressive institution, which is now so widely and favorably known as the University of Utah.
In 1873 (June 16th) Levi Willard Richards married Louisa Lula Greene, a daughter of Patriarch Evan M. Greene and Susan Kent. The young woman was then editor of the "Woman's Exponent." Seven children were born of this union, three daughters and four sons. Their names follow in order of birth: Mary, Mabel, Lee, Willard, Evan, Heber and Sarah, the mother's maiden name being attached to that of each of the children. The daughters all died in early childhood. The four boys are all living, all married and raising families of their own. About the time of Levi's marriage his parents moved from the Fourteenth to the Twentieth Ward, and two years later the son with his wife and baby girl followed, becoming identified at once with the people and interests of the Twentieth Ward, Salt Lake City, where they continued to reside during the remainder of his mortal life.
On the 16th of June, 1884, eleven years to the day from the time of his first marriage, Levi W. Richards married as a plural wife Persis Louisa Young, daughter of Bishop Franklin W. Young and Nancy Leonora Greene, a niece on the mother's side of his first wife. Persis became the mother of one child only, a son named Franklin Young, who died in infancy. Among the Church activities, to which the time, talents and life of Levi W. Richards were freely given with unswerving devotion, may be counted the Deseret Sunday School Union Board, of which he held the secretaryship for many years and was a faithful member from the time of its organization until his death. He was clerk of the Fourteenth Ward for a short time and of the Twentieth Ward for more than thirty years, president of the Elders quorum in the Twentieth Ward for a long period of time, counselor to the president of the High Priests quorum in the Ensign Stake of Zion from the time of the organization of that Stake, in 1904, until a few months before his death, when he was ordained a Patriarch. As a worker in the Endowment House and afterwards in the Salt Lake Temple he gave faithful and efficient service for more than twenty-five years and until disabled by the sickness which terminated in his death.
In all his walks in life, in the privacy of his own home, as well as before the public, Levi W. Richards was always justly upheld as a model of the charity, patience, benevolence and brotherly kindness and love which should characterize all Latter-day Saints. During his final illness, which covered a period of two years, his uncomplaining gentleness through all his sufferings, which were great, and the sincere loving appreciation he manifested for all that was done to relieve or benefit him, endeared him more and more each day to those who had the privilege of being near him and administer to his needs. When satisfied himself that he would not be restored again to health and strength in mortal life, he talked calmly and resignedly of the change so near approaching him and expressed gratitude that he had been allowed to remain here until the springtime had come instead of having been called home while the snow and cold wintry season made the world less beautiful. To his wives he said one day, "I will make you a better home 'over there' than I have provided for you here." Then with the caution which was natural to him he quickly added, "That is, if I shall be permitted to do so." To these remarks his trusting companions unhesitatingly and with the utmost assurance eagerly replied, "You will be! Such a life as you have lived here cannot fail to secure unlimited privileges and powers in the life to come!" Bro. Richards was no enthusiast. When some one spoke cheerfully to him of the "good time and place" he had certainly earned and was soon to enter, he replied brightly, "We shall all know what awaits us when we get there—I think not before." As his sons were assisting him to turn and change his position in bed, but a few hours previous to his departure, he "got off" a clever pun, comparing his condition to something else in a humorous way, and when the absurdity of his witticism brought smiles to the faces of his attendants he laughed lightly himself and concluded by settling down with a contented, "O well!" The day he died was a pleasant, sunny one, as he had hoped it would be, and his going was as peaceful as the falling to sleep on its mother's breast of a happy babe. This change for him from mortal life to immortality occurred at sundown March 30, 1914, at his home in Salt Lake City. (L. L. G. R.)
Son of Levi Richards and Sarah Griffith
Married Louisa Lula Greene, 16 Jun 1873, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Married Persis Louisa Young, 16 Jun 1884, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Richards, Levi Willard, a Patriarch in the Church and a resident of the 20th Ward (Ensign Stake), Salt Lake City, Utah.
His parents were both advanced towards middle age when they were married and he was the only child born to this union. They were possessed of great faith, as will be seen from the following excerpt from the pen of Bro. Levi W. Richards, the subject of this sketch.
He says: "In the year 1848 my father and mother were called to go on a mission to England. They were then living at Winter Quarters with the saints. I was quite young (about three years old) and an only child. President Young said if they took me with them, he could not promise them that I would live, but if they let me come on to the Valley, I should live and make a strong, healthy boy. Through their faith in the Prophet of the Lord they decided to make the sacrifice and send me to the Valley in the care of Aunt Rhoda, my father's oldest sister, and my Uncle Willard Richards.
My first faint recollections are of this journey across the wild plains to the Rocky Mountains: On the way I broke my arm, but that was not impressed on my memory so deeply as my trying to read a child's book my parents had given me. We camped on the corner of Main and First South streets. I recollect some of the incidents of the first year passed in a wagon-box taken off the running-gears and placed on stationary supports.
I attended a small private school taught by Sister Sarah Phelps, on the west side of what is now known as West Temple, between South Temple and First South streets. I also attended other schools in the Fourteenth Ward, in which we lived. I left school before I completed my eighth year and did not go again until I attended the University of Deseret, after my return from England.
Our home from the time we entered the Valley was located on the southeast corner of the block immediately south of the Temple block. I was so young when I parted from my parents that any distinct recollection fast faded from my mind, but their memory was kept green by my dear Aunt Rhoda who often spoke to me of them, and also by little letters, picture-books and other presents which they sent me whenever they had opportunities by returning missionaries or by the occasional mail of those days." The mission of Dr. Richards and wife to England lasted five years and Levi was eight years old when he was again united with his parents. After that he picked and peddled strawberries and other fruits which his father cultivated, herded cows and, when scarcity of food came, dug segoes on the hills, etc. His book learning was carried on in spare moments at home, both his parents being students and scholars.
He was at an early age a member of a boys' military organization, a sort of youths' militia, drilled in regular fashion, in preparation for whatever emergency might arise. While the early misunderstandings between the United States government and the pioneers of Deseret took a military form he was active in the defense of his people, having on one occasion stood guard all night before the Eagle Gate, then one of the entrances to the President's headquarters, while attack was momentarily expected.
While in his teens he received appointment from the Territory of Utah to the West Point Military Academy, but because of reluctance on the part of his parents to consent to another long separation from him, he declined the assignment.
Ordained an Elder at the age of eighteen, he was, three years later, called to labor in the mission field in England, over which mission his cousin, Apostle Franklin D. Richards, was then presiding. His journey thither, occupying three months, was fraught with many of the dangers and hardships common to those times. Levi was first appointed to Sheffield. He had labored as a missionary but a few weeks when a malignant attack of small-pox nearly cost him his life. Through the mercies of the Lord, and the loving care of Sister Mary Colbert, with her son John and other faithful friends, he was given back health and strength for the completion of his mission, which lasted about three years. He presided for a time over the Monmouthshire conference in the neighborhood of his mother's birthplace, where he acquired a deep-rooted interest for the Welsh people. Elder Caleb Parry, writing to President Horace S. Eldredge of the missionary labors of Elder Richards, said: "I am here in Monmouthshire alone, Bro. Levi W. Richards, as you are aware, having left me. I feel rather lonesome now that he is gone, as he is a young man I greatly esteem and who is greatly beloved by all the saints in this conference without one exception that I know of. I know myself that he has lived a life of purity that is seldom equalled. He leaves this country with the blessings of all the saints that are acquainted with him." Released in the autumn of 1870, Levi returned to Utah.
The Union Pacific Railroad having reached Ogden the year before greatly simplified and facilitated the home journey. Shortly after his return home he entered the University of Deseret and was soon recognized as one of the best and most earnest students of that always leading and progressive institution, which is now so widely and favorably known as the University of Utah.
In 1873 (June 16th) Levi Willard Richards married Louisa Lula Greene, a daughter of Patriarch Evan M. Greene and Susan Kent. The young woman was then editor of the "Woman's Exponent." Seven children were born of this union, three daughters and four sons. Their names follow in order of birth: Mary, Mabel, Lee, Willard, Evan, Heber and Sarah, the mother's maiden name being attached to that of each of the children. The daughters all died in early childhood. The four boys are all living, all married and raising families of their own. About the time of Levi's marriage his parents moved from the Fourteenth to the Twentieth Ward, and two years later the son with his wife and baby girl followed, becoming identified at once with the people and interests of the Twentieth Ward, Salt Lake City, where they continued to reside during the remainder of his mortal life.
On the 16th of June, 1884, eleven years to the day from the time of his first marriage, Levi W. Richards married as a plural wife Persis Louisa Young, daughter of Bishop Franklin W. Young and Nancy Leonora Greene, a niece on the mother's side of his first wife. Persis became the mother of one child only, a son named Franklin Young, who died in infancy. Among the Church activities, to which the time, talents and life of Levi W. Richards were freely given with unswerving devotion, may be counted the Deseret Sunday School Union Board, of which he held the secretaryship for many years and was a faithful member from the time of its organization until his death. He was clerk of the Fourteenth Ward for a short time and of the Twentieth Ward for more than thirty years, president of the Elders quorum in the Twentieth Ward for a long period of time, counselor to the president of the High Priests quorum in the Ensign Stake of Zion from the time of the organization of that Stake, in 1904, until a few months before his death, when he was ordained a Patriarch. As a worker in the Endowment House and afterwards in the Salt Lake Temple he gave faithful and efficient service for more than twenty-five years and until disabled by the sickness which terminated in his death.
In all his walks in life, in the privacy of his own home, as well as before the public, Levi W. Richards was always justly upheld as a model of the charity, patience, benevolence and brotherly kindness and love which should characterize all Latter-day Saints. During his final illness, which covered a period of two years, his uncomplaining gentleness through all his sufferings, which were great, and the sincere loving appreciation he manifested for all that was done to relieve or benefit him, endeared him more and more each day to those who had the privilege of being near him and administer to his needs. When satisfied himself that he would not be restored again to health and strength in mortal life, he talked calmly and resignedly of the change so near approaching him and expressed gratitude that he had been allowed to remain here until the springtime had come instead of having been called home while the snow and cold wintry season made the world less beautiful. To his wives he said one day, "I will make you a better home 'over there' than I have provided for you here." Then with the caution which was natural to him he quickly added, "That is, if I shall be permitted to do so." To these remarks his trusting companions unhesitatingly and with the utmost assurance eagerly replied, "You will be! Such a life as you have lived here cannot fail to secure unlimited privileges and powers in the life to come!" Bro. Richards was no enthusiast. When some one spoke cheerfully to him of the "good time and place" he had certainly earned and was soon to enter, he replied brightly, "We shall all know what awaits us when we get there—I think not before." As his sons were assisting him to turn and change his position in bed, but a few hours previous to his departure, he "got off" a clever pun, comparing his condition to something else in a humorous way, and when the absurdity of his witticism brought smiles to the faces of his attendants he laughed lightly himself and concluded by settling down with a contented, "O well!" The day he died was a pleasant, sunny one, as he had hoped it would be, and his going was as peaceful as the falling to sleep on its mother's breast of a happy babe. This change for him from mortal life to immortality occurred at sundown March 30, 1914, at his home in Salt Lake City. (L. L. G. R.)
Married Louisa Lula Greene, 16 Jun 1873, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Married Persis Louisa Young, 16 Jun 1884, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Richards, Levi Willard, a Patriarch in the Church and a resident of the 20th Ward (Ensign Stake), Salt Lake City, Utah.
His parents were both advanced towards middle age when they were married and he was the only child born to this union. They were possessed of great faith, as will be seen from the following excerpt from the pen of Bro. Levi W. Richards, the subject of this sketch.
He says: "In the year 1848 my father and mother were called to go on a mission to England. They were then living at Winter Quarters with the saints. I was quite young (about three years old) and an only child. President Young said if they took me with them, he could not promise them that I would live, but if they let me come on to the Valley, I should live and make a strong, healthy boy. Through their faith in the Prophet of the Lord they decided to make the sacrifice and send me to the Valley in the care of Aunt Rhoda, my father's oldest sister, and my Uncle Willard Richards.
My first faint recollections are of this journey across the wild plains to the Rocky Mountains: On the way I broke my arm, but that was not impressed on my memory so deeply as my trying to read a child's book my parents had given me. We camped on the corner of Main and First South streets. I recollect some of the incidents of the first year passed in a wagon-box taken off the running-gears and placed on stationary supports.
I attended a small private school taught by Sister Sarah Phelps, on the west side of what is now known as West Temple, between South Temple and First South streets. I also attended other schools in the Fourteenth Ward, in which we lived. I left school before I completed my eighth year and did not go again until I attended the University of Deseret, after my return from England.
Our home from the time we entered the Valley was located on the southeast corner of the block immediately south of the Temple block. I was so young when I parted from my parents that any distinct recollection fast faded from my mind, but their memory was kept green by my dear Aunt Rhoda who often spoke to me of them, and also by little letters, picture-books and other presents which they sent me whenever they had opportunities by returning missionaries or by the occasional mail of those days." The mission of Dr. Richards and wife to England lasted five years and Levi was eight years old when he was again united with his parents. After that he picked and peddled strawberries and other fruits which his father cultivated, herded cows and, when scarcity of food came, dug segoes on the hills, etc. His book learning was carried on in spare moments at home, both his parents being students and scholars.
He was at an early age a member of a boys' military organization, a sort of youths' militia, drilled in regular fashion, in preparation for whatever emergency might arise. While the early misunderstandings between the United States government and the pioneers of Deseret took a military form he was active in the defense of his people, having on one occasion stood guard all night before the Eagle Gate, then one of the entrances to the President's headquarters, while attack was momentarily expected.
While in his teens he received appointment from the Territory of Utah to the West Point Military Academy, but because of reluctance on the part of his parents to consent to another long separation from him, he declined the assignment.
Ordained an Elder at the age of eighteen, he was, three years later, called to labor in the mission field in England, over which mission his cousin, Apostle Franklin D. Richards, was then presiding. His journey thither, occupying three months, was fraught with many of the dangers and hardships common to those times. Levi was first appointed to Sheffield. He had labored as a missionary but a few weeks when a malignant attack of small-pox nearly cost him his life. Through the mercies of the Lord, and the loving care of Sister Mary Colbert, with her son John and other faithful friends, he was given back health and strength for the completion of his mission, which lasted about three years. He presided for a time over the Monmouthshire conference in the neighborhood of his mother's birthplace, where he acquired a deep-rooted interest for the Welsh people. Elder Caleb Parry, writing to President Horace S. Eldredge of the missionary labors of Elder Richards, said: "I am here in Monmouthshire alone, Bro. Levi W. Richards, as you are aware, having left me. I feel rather lonesome now that he is gone, as he is a young man I greatly esteem and who is greatly beloved by all the saints in this conference without one exception that I know of. I know myself that he has lived a life of purity that is seldom equalled. He leaves this country with the blessings of all the saints that are acquainted with him." Released in the autumn of 1870, Levi returned to Utah.
The Union Pacific Railroad having reached Ogden the year before greatly simplified and facilitated the home journey. Shortly after his return home he entered the University of Deseret and was soon recognized as one of the best and most earnest students of that always leading and progressive institution, which is now so widely and favorably known as the University of Utah.
In 1873 (June 16th) Levi Willard Richards married Louisa Lula Greene, a daughter of Patriarch Evan M. Greene and Susan Kent. The young woman was then editor of the "Woman's Exponent." Seven children were born of this union, three daughters and four sons. Their names follow in order of birth: Mary, Mabel, Lee, Willard, Evan, Heber and Sarah, the mother's maiden name being attached to that of each of the children. The daughters all died in early childhood. The four boys are all living, all married and raising families of their own. About the time of Levi's marriage his parents moved from the Fourteenth to the Twentieth Ward, and two years later the son with his wife and baby girl followed, becoming identified at once with the people and interests of the Twentieth Ward, Salt Lake City, where they continued to reside during the remainder of his mortal life.
On the 16th of June, 1884, eleven years to the day from the time of his first marriage, Levi W. Richards married as a plural wife Persis Louisa Young, daughter of Bishop Franklin W. Young and Nancy Leonora Greene, a niece on the mother's side of his first wife. Persis became the mother of one child only, a son named Franklin Young, who died in infancy. Among the Church activities, to which the time, talents and life of Levi W. Richards were freely given with unswerving devotion, may be counted the Deseret Sunday School Union Board, of which he held the secretaryship for many years and was a faithful member from the time of its organization until his death. He was clerk of the Fourteenth Ward for a short time and of the Twentieth Ward for more than thirty years, president of the Elders quorum in the Twentieth Ward for a long period of time, counselor to the president of the High Priests quorum in the Ensign Stake of Zion from the time of the organization of that Stake, in 1904, until a few months before his death, when he was ordained a Patriarch. As a worker in the Endowment House and afterwards in the Salt Lake Temple he gave faithful and efficient service for more than twenty-five years and until disabled by the sickness which terminated in his death.
In all his walks in life, in the privacy of his own home, as well as before the public, Levi W. Richards was always justly upheld as a model of the charity, patience, benevolence and brotherly kindness and love which should characterize all Latter-day Saints. During his final illness, which covered a period of two years, his uncomplaining gentleness through all his sufferings, which were great, and the sincere loving appreciation he manifested for all that was done to relieve or benefit him, endeared him more and more each day to those who had the privilege of being near him and administer to his needs. When satisfied himself that he would not be restored again to health and strength in mortal life, he talked calmly and resignedly of the change so near approaching him and expressed gratitude that he had been allowed to remain here until the springtime had come instead of having been called home while the snow and cold wintry season made the world less beautiful. To his wives he said one day, "I will make you a better home 'over there' than I have provided for you here." Then with the caution which was natural to him he quickly added, "That is, if I shall be permitted to do so." To these remarks his trusting companions unhesitatingly and with the utmost assurance eagerly replied, "You will be! Such a life as you have lived here cannot fail to secure unlimited privileges and powers in the life to come!" Bro. Richards was no enthusiast. When some one spoke cheerfully to him of the "good time and place" he had certainly earned and was soon to enter, he replied brightly, "We shall all know what awaits us when we get there—I think not before." As his sons were assisting him to turn and change his position in bed, but a few hours previous to his departure, he "got off" a clever pun, comparing his condition to something else in a humorous way, and when the absurdity of his witticism brought smiles to the faces of his attendants he laughed lightly himself and concluded by settling down with a contented, "O well!" The day he died was a pleasant, sunny one, as he had hoped it would be, and his going was as peaceful as the falling to sleep on its mother's breast of a happy babe. This change for him from mortal life to immortality occurred at sundown March 30, 1914, at his home in Salt Lake City. (L. L. G. R.)
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