OBITUARY

Name:   Louis Henry Richardson

From:  The Wellsville Reporter, Wellsville, New York
Date:  April 30, 1956

Prominent Oil Man Dies During Surgery at Hospital in Leesburg, Va.

Louis Henry Richardson of Petrolia, one of this section's best known oil producers, died yesterday afternoon during surgery in the Leesburg, Va. hospital.

Mr. Richardson had been seriously injured on April 18 in an automobile accident at Gilbert's Corners near Leesburg.  The surgery was being performed on an injury which Mr. Richardson had suffered in the crash.

He had lived most of his life in Petrolia and came there as a small boy.

Mr. Richardson was born Jan. 22, 1881 in Turkey City, Pa. a son of John Amos Richardson and Paulina Sugden Richardson.  He was married Aug. 25, 1900 to Mae Galutia, who died Dec. 27, 1954.

Survivors include a daughter, Mrs. Irene Coots, Wellsville; a son, John M. Richardson, Wellsville; one grandson and two great-grandchildren; a sister, Mrs. Mae Brown and a brother, Harold C. Richardson, both of Wellsville.

Funeral services will be held Tuesday afternoon at 2 o'clock at the late home in Petrolia.  The Rev. O. B. Hill will officiate and burial will be in Woodlawn Cemetery.

Mr. Richardson was one of the original organizers and president of the Ebenezer Oil Company.  He was a director of the Field Trust Company and associated with many other oil companies.

He was a member of the Wellsville Lodge of Masons, the New York State Oil Producers Association, the Pennsylvania Grade Oil Producers Association and the Independent Oil Producers Association of America.

Mr. Richardson started in the oil business when he was only 12 years of age.  While attending school in Allentown, he worked with his father on the lease during vacations.  He learned more and more about the business and when his father died, he took over operations of the John A. Richardson Properties.

In 1902 he joined the late F. A. Richart and M. D. Haskins in oil production on a large scale.  In 1916 the late E. C. Brown of Wellsville and the late Dr. Harvey Jack of Hornell were taken in as partners and the Ebenezer Oil Company was formed.

As the years moved on, Mr. Richardson formed many other partnerships in various oil companies with local residents and members of his family.