He was the son of Oliver Richmond (died 1853). He was educated at the Oxford Academy, and in 1834 began work as a chainman at the construction of the Chenango Canal. In 1837 he married Anna A. Dennison (died 1854), and they had four children.
In 1837, he was appointed resident engineer of the Erie Canal at Lyons, New York. In 1842, he was appointed division engineer of the Middle Division of the State Canals at Syracuse. In 1848, he resigned and began to work for the Oswego and Syracuse Railroad, but soon after returned to canal work as chief engineer of the construction of the canal from Jordan, New York to the Cayuga Marshes. In 1850 he left the canal works and became division engineer of the Rochester and Syracuse Railroad. In 1852, he was appointed again division engineer of the Middle Division of the State Canals by William J. McAlpine, was maintained in office by Whig state engineer John T. Clark, but was removed in 1856 by the American Party majority of the Canal Board.
[1]Biographical Sketches of the State Officers and Members of the Legislature in the State of New York in 1859 by Wm. D. Murphy (pages 29ff; C. Van Benthuysen, Albany NY, 1859)
