John Smythe RICHARDSON, Congress, SC (1828-1894)

RICHARDSON John Smythe , a Representative from South Carolina; born on the Bloomhill plantation, near Sumter, Sumter County, S.C., February 29, 1828; pursued an academic course in Cokesbury, S.C., and was graduated from South Carolina College (now the University of South Carolina) at Columbia in 1850; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1852 and began practice in Sumter, S.C.; during the Civil War entered the Confederate Army as a captain of Infantry; later promoted to adjutant of the Twenty-third Regiment, South Carolina Infantry, and served until the close of the war in 1865; member of the State house of representatives 1865-1867; appointed agent of the State of South Carolina in 1866 to apply for and receive the land script donated to South Carolina by Congress; delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1876; elected as a Democrat to the Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1879-March 3, 1883); master in equity for Sumter County 1884-1893; died at his country home, ``Shadyside,'' near Sumter, S.C., February 24, 1894; interment in Sumter Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present