George B. Richards

YPSILANTI - George B. Richards, 86 years old, former Michigan Central railroad baggageman and operator of a dray line for a number of years, died yesterday at the home of his daughter, Mrs. A. J. Boatwright, here.
Mr. Richards was born Oct. 22, 1851, in York township, the son of Thomas and Urania Blakeslee Richards, pioneer Michigan residents. He attended the Milan public schools and later the Cook school in York township, now the Oak Grove school. He married Alma Drury of York township on Dec. 23, 1874, and they settled in Milan, where Mr. Richards operated a dray service between Ypsilanti and Milan before the completion of the Wabash railroad line.
Three years later he purchased a farm in London township, Monroe county, and he served as township treasurer for two years and township clerk for five years. The family moved to Ypsilanti in 1890, and Mr. Richards became night baggageman for the Michigan Central railroad. He was foreman of a warehouse for a time and with his son, Guy, operated a dray line for several years. Since the death of his wife, April 18, 1917, he has been living with his children.
Surviving are five daughters, Mrs. A. H. Ainsworth, Claremont, N. H., Mrs. Hattie A. Woodward, Ann Arbor, Mrs. Boatwright, Ypsilanti, Mrs. L. L. Miller, Battle Creek, and Mrs. Walter Dietz, Ypsilanti; two sons, Guy of Bradenton, Fla., and Carl of Garden City; 10 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren; and a half-brother, Walter Richards of Chicago. A sister, Mrs. Elizabeth White of Traverse City, died in 1937.
Funeral services will be held at 2 o'clock Friday afternoon at the Jay Moore funeral home, Rev. William R. Shaw of the Baptist church officiating, and interment will be in Highland cemetery.