|
SUMMERS COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA
******************************************************************
Submitted to the West Virginia Biographies Project by:
Valerie & Tommy Crook
vfcrook@earthlink.net
July 6, 2000
******************************************************************
The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 454-455
SIMON PRINCE RICHMOND has followed the profession
of shorthand reporter for over twenty years. In that field
he has received real distinction by the skill, thoroughness
and reliability of his work. His service has been by no
means local. He has reported conventions and court pro-
ceedings in many of the sections of his home state and in
assemblies throughout the country.
Mr. Richmond was born on a farm in Summers County,
West Virginia, January 20, 1870, son of Enos R. and
Catharine (Walker) Richmond. His father is still living,
and they descended from William Richmond, who came
from England and settled in Norfolk, Virginia, but soon
after the Revolutionary war, removed to New River Falls,
in what is now Raleigh County, West Virginia.
Simon Prince Richmond had to work on his father's
farm a few years before and even while he was in his first
year in the common schools. He is one of the men who has
gone beyond his early environment, has overcome adversity
and difficulties in his path of achievement, and has made all
his opportunities. He completed his early education by at-
tending the Concord Normal School at Athens during 1889,
and at the age of sixteen taught his first term of school
in his native county. He continued teaching for fifteen
years, and after a term of from three to five months each
winter spent the rest of the year on the farm.
Mr. Richmond moved to Charleston in 1901, in which
years he graduated in shorthand and typewriting at the
Capital City Commercial College. He also studied law,
beginning in 1907, was admitted to the bar in 1910, and
for several years did office practice in the offices of Brown,
Jackson & Knight at Charleston, one of the most prominent
law firms of West Virginia, and the firm with which he
began his career of stenographer soon after graduating from
commercial school. In 1921 he withdrew from this firm and
became associated with Charles V. Price and Ben D. Keller,
a shorthand firm with offices in the Boyce Building. These
three men are official reporters for the Circuit Court of
Fayette and Nicholas counties, and also for the Circuit
Court of Webster, Braxton and Gilmer counties, and they
do the reporting for the Criminal Court of Raleigh County.
The firm conducts a general shorthand reporting business,
and handle a large volume of special work for conventions
and associations.
This has been the particular field of Mr. Richmond for
many years, and he is the official reporter for the State
Pharmaceutical Association of West Virginia, for the State
Bar Association and for a number of years has been the
assistant secretary and official stenographer for the Farm-
ers' National Congress. He reports all the annual proceed-
ings of this congress and prepares the reports for publica-
tion. Mr. Richmond is a Knights Templar and Scottish
Rite Mason and a Shriner.
He married Miss Sarah Pink. They have four children:
Justus O., T. Carter, Percy P. and Gladys.
|
