Edgar Richards

Edgar A. Richards was an undertaker and photographer who came to central Florida from South Boston, New Hampshire.

In this 1975 recording Hatabel Hyer and Mary Alice Nickels discuss Mr. Edgar Richards’ four volume scrapbook set of newspaper clippings, and photocopies of photographs, deeds, and probate documents relating to the Civil War, death of Lillie R. Geer and various Orlando business advertisements from the early 1890s.

His scrapbooks are currently housed at the Orange County Regional History Center.

LISTEN 30:48
Part One

In part one, topics discussed include:

1. Brief history of Edgar Richards; meeting his granddaughter, Mary Alice Nickels
2. Edgar Richards’ jobs in Orlando
3. First volume of scrapbooks
4. Newspapers in the first volume
5. Mary Wallace, Mary Alice Nickels’ grandmother
6. Edgar Richards and Mary Wallace marriage, arrival in Florida
7. Jacob Summerlin’s gift of land
8. “The Scrapbook”, a poem by Edgar Richards
9. 1893 article about origins of the name of Orlando
10. Mr. Richards’ life, including appearances on the 1880 and 1885 census

LISTEN 30:47
Part Two

In part two, topics discussed include:

1. Edgar Richards moving to Holly Hill
2. The hoax of a murdered man
3. Scrapbook article about the South Florida Railroad
4. Lillie R. Geer’s funeral
5. General talk about Edgar Richards’ scrapbooks
6. Advertisements in the 1893 paper

We are grateful for the Orange County Regional History Center’s making this recording available for Orlando Memory.

Listen to other oral histories with other Orlando pioneers.