James Richardson was a lawyer, a business and civic leader, and a member of the Massachusetts Senate from Dedham, Massachusetts.
Richarson was the law partner of Fisher Ames. He was also the president of the Dedham Mutual Fire Insurance Company and a founder of the Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike.
He served in the Massachusetts Senate. He once gave an address to a crowd that included President Andrew Jackson.
He was an incorporation of St. Paul's Church and a member of a number of Dedham's civic and social organizations.
After a prayer service to celebrate Dedham's Bicentennial, 600 people then processed to a pavilion erected to host a dinner on the land of John Bullard a few rods to the west. Richardson presided at this dinner, assisted by John Endicott, George Bird, Abner Ellis, Theron Metcalf, and Thomas Barrows as Vice Presidents.
A blessing was asked by the Rev. John White of the West Parish and thanks returned by the Rev. Dr. Jonathan Homer of Newton. After the cloth was removed, Richardson gave a number of toasts, interspersed with music from the band.
Louisa May Alcott's mother, Abba, ran an "intelligence office" to help the destitute find employment. When Richardson came to Abba seeking a companion for his frail sister who could also help out with some light housekeeping, Alcott volunteered to serve in the house filled with book, music, artwork, and good company on Highland Avenue. Alcott imagined the experience as something akin to being a heroine in a Gothic novel as Richardson described their home in a letter as stately but decrepit.
His sister, Elizabeth, was 40 years old and suffered from neuralgia. Elizabeth was shy and did not seem to have much use for Alcott. Instead, Richardson spent hours reading her poetry and treating her like his confidant and companion, sharing his personal thoughts and feelings with her. Alcott reminded Richardson that she was supposed to be Elizabeth's companion, not his, and she was tired of listening to his "philosophical, metaphysical, and sentimental rubbish." He responded by assigning her more laborious duties, including chopping wood and scrubbing the floors.
She quit after seven weeks in the winter of 1851, when neither of two girls her mother sent to replace her decided to take the job. As she walked from his home to Dedham station, she opened the envelope he handed her with her pay. She was so unsatisfied with the four dollars she found inside that Alcott family tradition states that she mailed it back to him in contempt.