Augustus Corey Richards (1815-1886)

He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and came to New York City as the resident partner of the Boston firm J.W. Paige & Co., agents to the wool and cotton mills of New England. He became a Director of the Metropolitan Bank and the Home Fire Insurance Company. During the Civil War he helped raise funds for the Union Army as a member of the Union Defence Committee. He bought an estate at Fort Washington on Manhattan in 1855 and two years later employed Alexander Jackson Davis to build "Woodcliff" there in Manhattan schist. Davis modified it and it became known as "Castle Richards". After Richards sold it, it was owned by General Libbey, Alexander T. Stewart and the notorious "Boss" Tweed among others. In 1874, he consulted with Davis again when he built "Ridgeview" at Irvington which was later converted into Cedar Lawn. He married Mary, daughter of Zachariah Lewis, and they were the parents of six children.