William Merchant Richardson (1774 - 1838)
Born at Pelham (NH); died at Chester (NH).
Lawyer, Chief Justice of New Hampshire Superior Court (later retitled Supreme Court).
Portrait by M. H. Bancroft, 1905
Presented to the State, date unknown

Charles H. Bell writes (in The Bench and Bar of New England, 1893) of Chief Justice Richardson that "...perhaps no occupant of the judicial branch has done so much to shape the jurisprudence of New Hampshire as the gentleman above named." Richardson as Chief Justice (1816/38) ensured that there were printed reports of cases previously adjudicated by the various state courts, and that established rules of practice in the courts were in place. Bell says that neither situation had existed previously, and that the state's legal system was in consequence not what it should have been.

Richardson was a farmer's son and he was himself a farmer until age fifteen (1789), when in an accident he mangled his hand so badly that he could not perform manual labor. Richardson then turned to study, and he graduated from Harvard College (1797). He then began teaching, first at the academy in Leicester (MA), then served as preceptor at the Groton (MA) academy.

While at Groton Richardson was encouraged to study law by (and with) Judge Samuel Dana. Richardson passed the bar examination in 1804, and he built a good legal practice in Groton. In 1811 he was asked to fill out the unexpired term of a Republican U.S. Congressman. Richardson was reelected and served November 4, 1811 until April 18, 1814 when he resigned.

Richardson moved to Portsmouth (NH) and became United States Attorney in 1814. He was appointed to the Court in 1816 and served until his death (March 15, 1838).

References: Charles H. Bell, The Bench and Bar of New England (1893); Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 - 1989 (1989); Dumas Malone, ed., Dictionary of American Biography, vol. XV (1935).