From "History of Wheeling City and Ohio County, West Virginia and 
Representative Citizens," by Hon. Gibson Lamb Cranmer, 1902.

Typed by Carol Taylor Lanza.

Page 751

HOWARD CAMPBELL RICHARDS is a prominent young attorney with office at 
No. 1404 Chapline Street, who served one term as sheriff of Ohio 
County, West Virginia, in a most efficient manner.  He was born in this 
city October 19, 1863, and is a son of Henry Smith and Mary (Campbell) 
Richards.

Mr. Richards received his primary education in the public schools of 
Wheeling, after which he took a complete course in the Wheeling 
Business College, graduating with distinction.  He then became 
secretary of the Wheeling Mining & Manufacturing Company, a position he 
filled with credit for a number of years.  Later he successfully 
engaged under his own name in the merchant tailoring business in 
partnership with his father, who had been in that business for many 
years, and in this continued until elected on the Republican ticket, 
sheriff of Ohio County in November, 1896.  The efficient and able 
manner in which he discharged the duties of his office won for him the 
hearty approval of the people, irrespective of party.  Democrats and 
Republicans unite in declaring him to have been one of the most 
satisfactory sheriffs the county ever had, although he was the 
youngest.  Being ineligible for a consecutive term, Mr. Richards took 
up the study of law, and during the past summer pursued a course in the 
law department of the University of Virginia.  He took the state bar 
examination before the law faculty of the West Virginia University at 
Morgantown, and was granted a certificate upon which he was admitted to 
practice law by the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, and at 
once began the active duties of his chosen profession.  A young man, 
possessing ability, tireless energy, and a courageous spirit, he can 
reasonably aspire to a high rank in the not distant future. 

Mr. Richards is single and resides at No. 1114 Chapline Street, 
Wheeling.  He is prominent in Revolutionary circles, being a great-
great-grandson of Capt. Nathaniel Irish, a great-grandson of Capt. 
Thomas Wylie, and a great-great-nephew of Major McColloch and Capt. 
Henry Smith, all officers in the Continental army, for the state of 
Pennsylvania. Politically, he is a strong advocate of Republican 
principles, and takes an active part in the affairs of his party.  In 
religious attachment, he is a member of the First Presbyterian Church 
of Wheeling.  Fraternally, he is a member of Nelson Lodge, No. 30, A. 
F. & A. M.; Wheeling Union Chapter, No. 1, R. A. M.; Wheeling 
Commandery, No. 1, K. T.; Osiris Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S.; and Black 
Prince Lodge, No. 19, K. Of  P.  He is also a member of the Sons of the 
American Revolution and of the Fort Henry Club.