Ilion High School - Class of 1882

Source pdf file is here Herkimer NY Evening Telegram 1945 01389.pdf on fultonhistory.com

Ex-Prosecutor Marks Birthday At Office Desk

Ilion - Arleigh D. Richardson, 70 John St., former district attorney and for 25 years an Ilion school board member, celebrated his 81st birthday today by reporting to his office on E. Main St., the same office his father opened in 1864.

Believed to be the oldest practicing member of the bar in the county, Richardson was district attorney from 1892 to 1895 and was president of the school board when the Ilion school was built. He served six years on the State Hospital Commission and for several years was village attorney.

His office over the Ilion National Bank & Trust Co. still contains the sturdy oak desk and chair which served his father. A wealth of information is stored in the law library which was started about three-quarters of a century ago is still one of the best privately owned law libraries in this area.

Born In Frankfort

Born in Frankfort, Aug. 7, 1864, he came to Ilion with his family Two years later he married the former Alice Hyde Shepard, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Shepard, members of an old Ilion family. The ceremony was performed in St. Augustine's Episcopal church by the Rev. Sheldon M. Griswold, later bishop of Kansas. For 44 years they resided in a West Hill house. a wedding gift from Mrs. Richardson’s father, before moving to their present home.

Enthusiastic Sportsman

He played tennis a great deal and for a number of years played a game for each birthday he had celebrated. Golf also numbered among his favorites and he played his best game on his 70th birthday. An enthusiastic hunter and fisherman, he was a member of the Adirondack Club and visited the mountains several times a year.

Richardson & Son law office is one of the oldest establishments in Ilion, and both the men worked long and diligently for their many clients for nearly a century.

Aside from their daughter, Mrs. George B. Thurston, who lives in Morristown, Conn., they have a son, Arleigh D. Richardson, Jr., of Groton, Long Point, N. J..

Mr. Richardson has three sisters, Dr. Jennie Richardson, president of the Women's Associate Board of Ilion Hospital; Miss Carrie Richardson, honorary president of the library board; and Mrs. Lillian Shepherd, all of 317 W. Main St.