Jersha Ann Richardson

History

"Jerusha Ann Richardson was born in Maine, 1818. She married Amasa Card, January 8, 1842, in Maine. He died just a year and a half later, June 17, 1843, in Lowell, Massachusetts. There were no children.

"On January 27, 1846, Jerusha was married to John Bair as his fourth wife. At the same time, she was sealed to Amasa Card, and John stood proxy. Her baby twins were born in Garden Grove, Iowa, and died there. Her next child also died before the trip across the plains. Jerusha was again expecting during the trek westward in 1850, and the baby was born just after arriving in the Deseret Territory. Her husband was Captain of the 50 in the Company.

"The family was called to settle Cache Valley in 1859, and they started the town of Richmond, Utah with twelve other families.

"Many times Jerusha had to share her meager supplies with the [Native Americans]. The grasshoppers ruined their crops several years in a row. The hardships of pioneer life took its toll, and Jerusha died, March 11, 1861. She is the first woman buried in the Richmond Cemetery."

Sources