John Morgan Richards

Curator's Note: Not married in CT. CT marriage notices refer to articles published in various newspapers that refer to the marriage, but do not indicate the place of the marriage. -- Jessica Marie German

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John Morgan Richards

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Morgan Richards (February 16, 1841[1] – August 11, 1918), was an American businessman and entrepreneur who made his fortune from the promotion of patent medicines and American cigarettes in Britain. He was the father of the novelist Pearl Mary Teresa Craigie (who worked as John Oliver Hobbes).

Richards was born in Aurora, Cayuga County, New York, the son of Dr James Richards, a Presbyterian minister of English descent, and Elizabeth Beals.[1]

A Boston resident in adulthood, he married Laura Hortense Arnold in 1863, and moved to London permanently in 1867, though retaining his American citizenship all his life.[2] The Richards attended the City Temple.

His best known business achievement was a major and successful marketing campaign from 1877 onward to popularise the cigarette in Britain.[2] This was achieved through "vigorous advertising and some ingenious and original methods of trade promotion" [2] such as offering chemists an incentive - he would pay for their tobacco trading license - if they supplied his cigarettes, Allen & Ginter's Virginia-made "Richmond Gems".[1] He also marketed the patent medicines Carter's Little Liver Pills and Dr. Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People.[3]

He was chairman of the American Society in London, and a member of the Reform Club.[2]

In 1903 he purchased Steephill Castle near Ventnor, Isle of Wight, where he lived for the remainder of his life.[4] He largely retired from business after the early death in 1906 of his daughter Pearl Craigie, who lived and worked part-time in her own villa near Steephill.

His Times obituary recalled him as "the pioneer of a doubtful benefit", though crediting him with having "helped greatly to promote trade relations between England and the United States".[2]

Bibliographic information:

• Page name: John Morgan Richards
• Author: Wikipedia contributors
• Publisher: Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
• Date of last revision: 6 December 2023 02:36 UTC
• Date retrieved: 12 February 2024 18:40 UTC
• Permanent link: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Morgan_Richards&old...
• Primary contributors: revision history statistics
• Page Version ID: 1188545184

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• Note: John Morgan Richards 1841 - 1918 American patent medicine entrepreneur who brought us 'Carters little Liver Pills' and is credited with the dubious distinction of introducing cigarette smoking to Britain in 1877 with 'Richmond Gem Cigarettes' : From his first visit in 1872 Richards was captivated by Ventnor writing in later life "We never felt elsewhere the charm and delight that captured our fancy and revealed to us our ideals of Country and Seaside life that instantly claimed our delighted souls and held them captive to this very day" - From his London home in Lancaster Gate Richards would encamp each year usually with an extensive entourage to spend long stretches of summer months at various locations in Ventnor living permanently from 1908 at Steephill Castle' which he had purchased in 1903 - Laura Richards his eccentric wife became one of Ventnor's more colourful residents. Considering herself a direct emissary of God she would dispatch curt telegrams to world leaders directing them in their affairs of state, often adding fanciful postscripts such as "Aren't the daffodils lovely for this time of year" or "Have faith in Onions" - Laura died in August 1914, A fateful month for the Richards.

From: https://www.ventnortowncouncil.gov.uk/about-ventnor/famous-residents/ , courtesy of Charles William Γιώργος Schwartz, V

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Source:
Newspaper Name Index, USA, Canada, and Australia
MyHeritage.com [online database], MyHeritage Ltd.
https://www.myheritage.com/research/collection-10969/newspaper-name...

Record:
https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-10969-2494097363/john-mo...
John Morgan Richards

Citation:
Norwich Bulletin. - 1918-08-12
Text: ... Italy's industrial develj opment, JOHN MORGAN RICHARDS FATHER OF NOVELIST CRAIG1E Died Sunday at His Home, Steeple , Hill Castle, Ventnor. Ventnor, Isle of Wight, Aug. 11. : Pohn Morgan Richards, for many-years i prominent in the American colony of ! London, died at his home, Steephill Castle, here today, after a long illness. ' He was born in Aurora, N. ...
Publication title: Norwich Bulletin.
Publication place: Norwich, New London, Connecticut
Date: Aug 12 1918

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Page 285

Bibliographic information:

• Genealogy of the Cowles families in America / compiled by Calvin Duvall Cowles.
• by Cowles, Calvin D. (Calvin Duvall), 1849-
• Publication date 1929
• Publisher New Haven, Conn. : Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, 1929.
• Contributor Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center
• No copyright.
• Pages 1544
• https://archive.org/details/genealogyofcowle00cowl/page/71/mode/1up

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Page 242

Bibliographic information:

• The descendants of Rev. Thomas Hooker, Hartford, Connecticut, 1586-1908 : being an account of what is known of Rev. Thomas Hooker's family in England : and more particularly concerning himself and his influence upon the early history of our country : also all items of interest which it has been possible to gather concerning the early generations of Hookers and their descendants in America
• by Hooker, Edward
• Publication date 1909
• Publisher Rochester, N.Y. : Margaret Huntington Hooker
• Book from the collections of Harvard University
• Pages 612
• Possible copyright status NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT
• https://archive.org/details/descendantsrevt00hookgoog/page/38/mode/1up

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• With John Bull and Jonathan. Reminiscences of sixty years of an American's life in England and in the United States
• by Richards, John Morgan, 1841-1918
• https://archive.org/details/withjohnbullandj00richrich/mode/2up?q=H...
• Reference: https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KG21-3QD
• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Feb 15 2024, 19:10:35 UTC schwartz
• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Feb 16 2024, 20:58:04 UTC