Richmond, Dean (31 March 1804–27 August 1866), businessman and politician, was born Elkanah Dean Richmond in Barnard, Vermont, the son of Hathaway Richmond, a manufacturer, and Rachel Dean. He never used his first name. He received only a few years of formal education during childhood, and after 1816, when the family moved to Salina (now Syracuse), New York, he learned the skills of salt production from his father and three uncles, who together operated a salt manufacturing concern. In 1821 Richmond’s father died, and Richmond took his father’s place in the salt business. Richmond married Mary Elizabeth Mead in 1833, and the couple had eight children. In 1842, after twenty-two years as a moderately successful businessman in Syracuse, Richmond moved to Buffalo, New York, and opened a new concern as a grain transporter. He also cofounded and directed the Buffalo & Rochester Railroad....
