Among the leading enterprises which contribute to the business activity and upbuilding of Clarinda is that conducted by the Clarinda Poultry, Butter & Egg Company, of which Mr. Richardson is secretary and manager. As the result of his close application and energy intelligently applied the business has made rapid and substantial advancement and he is today numbered among the most prosperous residents of this city. He was born in Lafayette county, Wisconsin, on the 31st of May 1873, is a son of Henry and Mary Ann (Winskell) Richardson. The father was a farmer by occupation, following that pursuit in order to provide for his family.
W. W. Richardson was but a young child when his parents removed from Wisconsin to Iowa and in the public schools of Kingsley in Plymouth county, he acquired his early education. Later he attended what is now the Morning Side College, being graduated therefrom with the class of 1889. He afterward studied law for a time, thinking to make that profession his life work, but later abandoned the idea and in 1892 entered the grain and implement business at Sioux City, Iowa, where he was thus employed for twelve years. During a part of that time he was credit man and traveling salesman for the house. Throughout the entire period he recognized that advancement follows earnest, intelligent effort as a logical sequence and by his persistency of purpose and unfaltering industry, he worked his way upward. On the 28th of December, 1903, he came to Clarinda and accepted a position in the Clarinda Poultry, Butter & Egg Company, being given charge of the separator and the creamery department. Later he became financially interested in the company and was made treasurer. He has since been elected secretary and general manager, filling the dual position for the past six years. In this connection he has done important work for the development 0f an enterprise which in extent and importance is one of the foremost 0f the county. The volume of trade annually managed by the company is very extensive and has been a source of general prosperity in southwestern Iowa.
Mr. Richardson was married on the l0th of June, 1896, to Miss Lida J. White, of Sioux City, Iowa, a daughter 0f Captain Allen B. White, well known as a merchant. They have one child, Ethel Maurina. Mr. Richardson is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he is serving as a trustee, and in the work of the church he takes an active interest, while to its support he contributes generously. In his fraternal relations he is a Mason and exemplifies in his life the beneficent spirit of the craft. He has figured for many years as a leading and prominent business man of Page county and his record proves that there is no discordant element between success and honesty.