Richards was born in
Richmond, Massachusetts. He married
Jane Snyder in
Nauvoo, Illinois. After helping her and their children start on the
Mormon exodus to the west in 1846, Richards and his brother,
Samuel, departed on a mission to Great Britain. He served there as a
missionary from 1846 to 1848, and on at least two more occasions, during the 1850s and 1860s.
Calling Lyman Wight was excommunicated from the church in December 1848 because he refused to join the church in the
Salt Lake Valley. This left an opening in the Quorum of the Twelve. To fill the vacancy, and to bring the number of the quorum up to twelve, Richards was called and ordained as the fourth of four apostles on February 12, 1849. The other three apostles were
Charles C. Rich,
Lorenzo Snow, and
Erastus Snow. A short time after his
call to the Twelve, Richards went to England, where he served as the
president of both the British and the European
missions. In these positions, Richards also served as editor of the
Millennial Star and as director of the
Perpetual Emigrating Fund's operations in Europe. He helped compile the documents that are now part of the Pearl of Great Price while serving as a mission president. From 1889 until his death, Richards was the church's twelfth official
Church Historian.
President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles When
Wilford Woodruff died on September 2, 1898, Lorenzo Snow succeeded him as
church president. As the second apostle in seniority, Richards became the President of the Quorum of the Twelve. His term ended when he died fifteen months later. He was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve for more than 50 years, the longest tenure of any person who did not become the church's president.
Death Richards suffered a stroke and paralysis in the autumn of 1899. He died peacefully in his home in
Ogden, Utah, on December 9, 1899. The vacancy in the quorum created by his death was filled by
Reed Smoot. ==Family==