William M. Richardson
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMassachusetts's4th district
In office November 4, 1811 – April 18, 1814
Preceded by	Joseph Bradley Varnum
Succeeded by	Samuel Dana
Personal details
Born	William Merchant Richardson (1774-01-04)January 4, 1774 Pelham,Province of New Hampshire,British America
Died	March 15, 1838(1838-03-15) (aged 64) Chester,New Hampshire,U.S.
Political party	Democratic-Republican
Alma mater	Harvard University
Occupation	Lawyer

William Merchant Richardson (January 4, 1774 – March 15, 1838) was a member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMassachusetts and chief justice of theNew Hampshire Supreme Court.

He was born inPelham in theProvince of New Hampshire in 1774. He graduated fromHarvard University in 1797; studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice inGroton, Massachusetts, in 1804. He was elected as aDemocratic-Republican to theTwelfth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation ofJoseph B. Varnum; and was reelected to theThirteenth Congress and served from November 4, 1811, to April 18, 1814, when he resigned.

Richardson moved toPortsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1814. He became aUnited States Attorney in 1814; and in 1816 was appointedchief justice of New Hampshire and served as chief justice until his death in 1838 inChester, New Hampshire, where he is buried in the Old Cemetery.Dartmouth College gave him the degree ofLL.D. He was elected a member of theAmerican Antiquarian Society in 1819.^[1]

He is the author ofThe New-Hampshire Justice of the Peace (Concord, 1824) andThe Town Officer (1824) and was co-reporter of theNew Hampshire Superior Court Cases, of which the reports of several volumes are his alone (11 vols., 1819–'44). He is the subject of aLife (Concord, 1839).

He was the father of Anne, grandfather of sculptorDaniel Chester French, and uncle ofWilliam Adams Richardson who wasUnited States Secretary of the Treasury from 1873 to 1874.

• United States Congress."William M. Richardson (id: R000231)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Wilson, J. G.;Fiske, J., eds. (1900)."Richardson, William Merchant" .Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.

• 1774 births
• 1838 deaths
• Harvard University alumni
• Chief justices of the New Hampshire Supreme Court
• Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts
• People from Groton, Massachusetts
• People from Pelham, New Hampshire
• 19th-century United States representatives

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from July 2020
• Wikipedia articles incorporating text from Appleton's Cyclopedia