Robert Kerr Richards

Robert Kerr Richards (August 26, 1834 – December 31, 1924) was an American who was prominent in New York Society during the Gilded Age.

Robert Kerr Richards
Born(1834-08-26)August 26, 1834
DiedDecember 31, 1924(1924-12-31) (aged 90)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Alma materYale University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Parent(s)William H. Richards
Maria Kerr Richards

Early life

Richards was born on August 26, 1834. He was the son of William H. Richards (1808–1881) and Maria E. (née Kerr) Richards (1806–1879).[1]

He namesake was his uncle Robert Kerr Richards (1806–1874), a Yale and Litchfield Law School graduate who married Matilda Lamb (1806–1854),[2] the daughter of General Anthony Lamb (son of Revolutionary War General John Lamb).[3][4] Another uncle, Timothy Pickering Richards was married to Agnes Treat Lamb, the sister of his aunt Matilda.[5] His niece was Sarah F. Richards of Black Stump Road in Queens.[6]

Richards attended Yale University, where he was a member of the Sigma chapter of Delta Psi fraternity, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was a member of the Tau Chapter of Delta Psi Fraternity.[7]

Society life

In 1892, Richards was included in Ward McAllister's "Four Hundred", purported to be an index of New York's best families, published in The New York Times.[8] Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into Mrs. Astor's ballroom.[9] Richards regularly attended the Patriarchs Ball (founded by McAllister in 1872) and many society events including musicales at the Waldorf,[10] performances at the Metropolitan Opera,[11] and the Bradley-Martin Ball in 1897.[12]

Personal life

Richards had a home in Bayside on Long Island known as Greenoak Farm.[13]

Richards died after a brief illness on Wednesday morning, December 31, 1924.[14] His funeral was held at St. James's Chapel at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and he was buried at Grace Episcopal Churchyard in Queens.[15] His niece Sarah was the executrix of his estate.

References
  1. Index to Marriages and Deaths in the New York Herald: 1871-1876. Genealogical Publishing Com. 1987. p. 574. ISBN 9780806317694. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  2. Supreme Court. General Term-First Department. 1891. pp. 62–64. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  3. "Litchfield Ledger - Robert Kerr Richards". www.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org. Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  4. College (1718-1887), Yale (1880). Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale College. The College. p. 132. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  5. Treat, John Harvey (1893). The Treat Family: A Genealogy of Trott, Tratt, and Treat for Fifteen Generations, and Four Hundred and Fifty Years in England and America, Containing More Than Fifteen Hundred Families in America ... Salem Press publishing & printing Company. p. 316. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  6. Prominent Residents of Long Island and their Pleasure Clubs. New York: Thompson & Watson. 1916. p. 122. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  7. "Robert K. Richards". The Long Island Daily Press. January 23, 1925.
  8. McAllister, Ward (16 February 1892). "THE ONLY FOUR HUNDRED | WARD M'ALLISTER GIVES OUT THE OFFICIAL LIST. HERE ARE THE NAMES, DON'T YOU KNOW, ON THE AUTHORITY OF THEIR GREAT LEADER, YOU UNDER- STAND, AND THEREFORE GENUINE, YOU SEE" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  9. Keister, Lisa A. (2005). Getting Rich: America's New Rich and How They Got That Way. Cambridge University Press. p. 36. ISBN 9780521536677. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  10. "The Social World". The New York Times. 28 Jan 1896. p. 8. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  11. "'LOHENGRIN' IN NEW DRESS SUNG IN ENGLISH AT METROPOLITAN | Wagner Opera Restored to Repertory With Ambitious Designs of Scenery". New York Herald. 3 Feb 1921. p. 11. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  12. "DINNERS BEFORE THE PARTY | A Number Enjoyed, the Guests Being in Fancy Costumes". The New York Times. 11 Feb 1897. p. 2. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  13. Social Register: Contains the Summer Address where it Differs from the Winter Address of the Residents of New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Cleveland ... [etc.]. summer ... Social Register Association. 1919. p. 238. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  14. "DIED" (PDF). The New York Times. January 1, 1925. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  15. "DIED" (PDF). The New York Times. January 2, 1925. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
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