Transcribed from Goodspeed’s History of  Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present; Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketches of from Twenty-Five to Thirty Counties of East Tennessee, Besides a Valuable Fund of Notes, Original Observations, Reminiscences, etc., etc. (Chicago and Nashville:  The Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1887), pp. 962-987.  See footnote below for on-line access.

John RICHEY was born in Blount County, November 9, 1830, the son of Eli and Nancy (DUNCAN) RICHEY. They were of Scotch and Irish descent. The father was born in Mecklenburg County, N. C., about 1795, and died in Bradley County, Tenn., in 1857. The mother was born in Washington County, Tenn., about 1801, and died in Bradley County, in February, 1863. The parents were married in Washington County about 1816. Soon after their marriage they moved to Blount County, and lived there till 1849, at which time they came to Bradley County, and settled where our subject now lives, where they spent the remainder of their days. The father was an influential citizen, and quite a successful planter. In 1855-56 he represented Bradley County in the State Legislature. He was a stanch Democrat, and of the Presbyterian persuasion, but not a member of the Church. The mother was a worthy and strict member of the Seceders Church. Our subject is the sixth of eight children. He secured, by his own efforts, a good education in his youth, in Blount County. He began life as a farmer in Bradley County. Afterward, in 1865, he went into the mercantile business at Ducktown, Polk County, and Charleston, Bradley County–four years at Ducktown, and eight years at Charleston. In 1857 he purchased and settled on the old homestead, and since that date to the present he has given his attention exclusively to the farming interests. He now owns upward of 500 acres of fine land in Bradley County. One farm of 238 acres is in the Eleventh District. On October 1, 1850, he married Miss Frances BOWMAN, born in Monroe County in February, 1829. They have had two children–one son and one daughter. The daughter, Nancy A., died in infancy. Our subject, in the fall of 1862, entered the Confederate States Service, and served with credit over a year, and in February, 1864, he received a discharge and returned home.

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This biography was transcribed by Sherry Pollard. We thank her for transcribing all the Goodspeed’s biographical sketches.

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