Antoine Richards, 17981892 (aged 94 years)

Antoine Richards
Name
Antoine /Richards/
Given names
Antoine
Surname
Richards
Family with parents
father
mother
elder brother
17891856
Birth: July 28, 1789 39 30 Racket River, St Lawrence Co, New York, USA
Death: 1856Sparta, Monroe Co, Wisconsin, USA
elder brother
1789
Birth: July 28, 1789 39 30 St. Regis, Quebec, Canada
17 months
elder brother
17901855
Birth: 1790 40 30 Racket River, St Lawrence Co, New York, USA
Death: 1855
8 years
himself
Antoine Richards
17981892
Birth: April 3, 1798 48 39 Racket River, St Lawrence Co, New York, USA
Death: April 10, 1892Massena, St Lawrence Co, New York, USA
21 months
younger brother
17991878
Birth: 1799 49 39 Racket River, St Lawrence Co, New York, USA
Death: November 7, 1878Louisville, St Lawrence Co, New York, USA
3 years
younger brother
18011850
Birth: August 15, 1801 51 42 Racket River, St Lawrence Co, New York, USA
Death: 1850
3 years
younger sister
1804
Birth: May 31, 1804 54 45 St. Regis, Quebec, Canada
3 years
younger sister
1807
Birth: March 20, 1807 57 48 St. Regis, Quebec, Canada
3 years
younger sister
1809
Birth: November 12, 1809 59 50 St. Regis, Quebec, Canada
Father’s family with Mary
father
father’s partner
Family with Sarah Fields
himself
Antoine Richards
17981892
Birth: April 3, 1798 48 39 Racket River, St Lawrence Co, New York, USA
Death: April 10, 1892Massena, St Lawrence Co, New York, USA
wife
Marriage Marriage1820Massena, St Lawrence Co, New York, USA
2 years
son
18221859
Birth: February 1822 23 17 Massena, St Lawrence Co, New York, USA
Death: March 15, 1859
3 years
daughter
Maria Richards
18241887
Birth: 1824 25 18 Massena, St Lawrence Co, New York, USA
Death: December 31, 1887
4 years
daughter
10 months
daughter
18281895
Birth: May 12, 1828 30 23 Massena, St Lawrence Co, New York, USA
Death: October 29, 1895
4 years
son
18321901
Birth: April 14, 1832 34 27 Massena, St Lawrence Co, New York, USA
Death: November 21, 1901Barron, Barron Co, Wisconsin, USA
3 years
son
18351862
Birth: August 5, 1835 37 30 Massena, St Lawrence Co, New York, USA
Death: October 3, 1862
3 years
daughter
Sarah Ann Richards
18381915
Birth: January 17, 1838 39 32 Massena, St Lawrence Co, New York, USA
Death: March 18, 1915
3 years
son
18411862
Birth: May 7, 1841 43 36 Massena, St Lawrence Co, New York, USA
Death: September 23, 1862
17 months
daughter
Clarinda Richards
18421920
Birth: September 18, 1842 44 37 Massena, St Lawrence Co, New York, USA
Death: May 30, 1920
3 years
daughter
Samantha Richards
18451928
Birth: December 28, 1845 47 40 Massena, St Lawrence Co, New York, USA
Death: February 18, 1928Hermon, St Lawrence Co, New York, USA
Name
Burial
Note
Death

Died of pneumonia

Note

Source: S3

Antoine Richards, 1 of 10 children, was born in Clinton, Huron County, Ontario, Canada on 3 April 1798. He was baptized one week later on April 10th (one source says in Quebec, another says near Chazy, NY). His father was François Richards with probable middle names of Charles and Louis. His mother was Marie Josephte Martin, St Jean, or Bource.

Antoine said that his father was Col. Richards who came over from France and fought with Lafayette in the Revolutionary War. He grew up near Chazy. He worked for a while as a "white water man", riding rafts of logs which he guided down the Saint Lawrence River through the Long Sault Rapids to a lumber mill (probably in Montreal).

In 1820, Antoine married Sarah Fields, daughter of Robert Fields and Catherine Cook. (Sarah was born 20 Jan 1805 in Canada). The Fields family moved to Massena, NY in 1814 when Sarah was 9.

Antoine and Sarah (referred to by their grandchildren as Antoine and Sally) moved to Massena, Saint Lawrence County, New York in 1822. They had 10 children, all (except maybe Chapman) born in Massena:

  1. Chapman (Feb 1822 – 15 Mar 1858 or 1859)
  2. Mariah (circa 1824 – 31 Dec 1887)
  3. Louisa (25 July 1827 (prob. 1826) – 16 May 1895)
  4. Amanda (12 May 1828 – 29 Oct 1895)
  5. Joseph (14 Apr 1832 – 21 Nov 1901)
  6. Derius (5 Aug 1835 – 3 or 31 Oct 1862)
  7. Sarah Ann (17 Jan 1838 – 18 Mar 1915)
  8. James W. (7 May 1841 – 20 or 23 Sep 1862)
  9. Clarinda (18 Sep 1842 – 30 May 1921)
  10. Samantha (28 Dec 1845 – 18 Feb 1928)

Antoine could not read or write, and signed all legal documents with an X. In July 1844 he owned 14 acres of land valued at $42, for which he paid 56 cents in taxes. In 1855 and 1860 he sold land in Massena. In 1857 he bought land in Massena.

In the 1860 census, he was a laborer with an estate valued at $250.
In the 1870 census, he was a 72-year-old farm laborer
In the 1880 census, he was an 82-year-old laborer whose father was born in

France and his mother born in Canada.
In 1890 he received a notice to appear in court to sell his daughter Maria Stott’s estate.

According to a note at the Massena Museum, Antoine was a nice, clean man who lived where A. Clemmons did.

Antoine was a strong man. He told Carl Richards [his grandson] that in his younger days, it was his annual duty to carry two bushels of corn (or wheat) on his shoulder, 8 miles through the woods to the grist mill, then carry the flour back home. This was the family’s winter’s food supply. Corn, from which they made corn meal was their staple food. In middle age he was a big rawboned man, over 6 feet tall and powerful. Carl took his grandfather, Antoine to see his first train at Massena Springs, NY when the railroad was completed in 1886. (at this time Carl was 18, and Antoine was 88) Antoine had most of his teeth up to the time of his death. As an old man he could still crack hickory nuts with his teeth.

Antoine died of pneumonia at age 94 on 10 Apr 1892 in Massena, 11 days after his wife died. He is buried beside her in Massena’s Reed Cemetery. His name on the gravestone reads Antwine Richards providing a clue as to how people in Massena pronounced his name.

The Massena Cemetery Index Cards list his father as Francis (Canada) and his mother as Rachael Bush (US).

In the summer of 1840 the census lists:
2m 1f 0-5, Derius 4, Who is 2nd boy?, Sarah Ann 2
1m 1f 5-10, Joseph 8, Who is girl?
2f 10-15, Amanda 12, Louisa 14
1m 2f 15-20, Chapman 18, Mariah prob 16, and maybe a farm hand?
1f 30-40, Sarah 35
1m 40-50 Antoine 42
(2 employed at agriculture) Antoine & Sarah

Speculation based on 1840 census:

Antoine and Sally had a daughter born in 1830 (based on age 5-10 girl in 1840 census, and the fact that the mother had children about every 2 years except for a gap in 1830)

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