DeForest Richards

DeForest Richards ( born August 6, 1846 in Charlestown, New Hampshire, † April 28, 1903 ) was an American banker, farmer and politician ( Republican), who was from 1899 to 1903 Governor of the State of Wyoming.

Early years and political rise

Richards attended Phillips Andover Academy in Massachusetts. After the American Civil War he took an active role in the reconstruction. He was a member of the State Legislature of Alabama, he worked as a sheriff and treasurer of Wilcox County, Alabama. In 1888, he moved to Douglas in Wyoming Territory, where he established a bank and a trading company, and from 1891 to 1894 as the mayor worked. He also represented Wyoming in 1889 at the first Constitutional Convention and was a term in the Senate of Wyoming operates.

Governor of Wyoming

Richards won 1898 election as governor of Wyoming and held the office from 2 January 1899 to 28 April 1903. As governor, he supported the assignment of state-owned land to the state and rejected the federal lease of land as grazing land from, favoring instead either own or free. He was also an advocate for social reform, strove for state funds from the legislature for their own prisons, a home for the mentally ill, a common hospital, a school for the disabled and a home for soldiers and sailors. He supported the construction of railways and worked as an officer for a railroad company, the Union Pacific Railroad tried to connect with the mining areas in Wyoming. Richards died four months after the start of his second term as governor. After his death, he was buried at Lakeview Cemetery in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

He was married to Elsie Jane Ingersol and the couple had two children together.