• Born 1804 Hopkinton, Massachusetts
• Baptized 1836
• Ordained Elder 1837
• Mission to Eastern States 1837
• Mission to England 1837
• Married Jennetta Richards 1838; later practiced plural marriage
• Ordained Apostle 1840
• Second Counselor to Brigham Young 1847
• Died 1854 Salt Lake City, Utah

Willard Richards was born to Joseph Richards and his wife Rhoda Howe June 24, 1804 in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. He took up the practice of medicine near Boston. It was while so engaged that a copy of the Book of Mormon came into his hands. Captivated, he read it completely through twice in ten days, settled his business affairs and journeyed to the Church in Kirtland, Ohio.

He was baptized by Brigham Young December 31, 1836 and was ordained an Elder some two months later. Shortly after his ordination, he undertook a three month Mission to the Eastern States. The day after his return he was sent on a longer mission  to Great Britain.

While on his mission to Great Britain, Elder Richards took his first wife, marrying Jennetta Richards, daughter of the Reverend John Richards on September 24, 1838. Later he praciced plural marriage. The Ancestral File lists some eighteen wives but with certainty five of them are duplicates. And another one appears to be a duplicate so we can say with relative assuredness that Elder Richards had at least twelve wives.

While still in England, Elder Brigham Young ordained him an Apostle on April 14, 1840.

He was with the Prophet and Hyrum in Carthage, Illinois when the two were murdered at the hands of a bloodthirsty mob but survived to bear solemn testimony against the devilish fiends .

In 1847 President Young selected him to be the Second Counselor in the newly reorganized First Presidency . He served with honor and distinction until his death March 11, 1854 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

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Bibliography

2003-2002 Church Almanac, pp. 59-60

Lyndon W. Cook, The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.233

Andrew Jensen, LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, p.53

Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Vol.4, Appendix 1

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Selected Discourses and Writings

TITLE	LOCATION & DATE
Letter to the Editor In re: Mission Report	The Millennial Star, May 1840
Letter to James Arlington Bennett In re: Bennett as a V.P. Candidate	Nauvoo, Illinois, March 1844
Letter to Orson Hyde In Re: Westward Movement	Nauvoo, Illinois, May 1844
Letter to Brigham Young In re: Nauvoo Affairs, Including the Martyrdom June 30, 1844	Nauvoo, Illinois, June 1844
Dedication Prayer	New Adobe Tabernacle, SLC, April 1852