Life of a Laramie Plainswoman #465: Harriman Daniel Richardson Family Papers
Beulah Etta Richardson was born on a homestead near Laramie in 1875. Her father, Harry Richardson, had moved west to work on the Union Pacific Railroad. He and his young family decided to settle northeast of Laramie, thanks to the Homestead Act of 1862.
The Richardsons laid claim to 160 acres and became successful ranchers of horses, cattle and sheep. Beulah matured into an accomplished horsewoman and was adept at all sorts of ranch work, including shearing sheep.
When she was nineteen, she found work delivering mail on horseback between Laramie and Summit, twice a week. It was an unusual job for a teenaged girl. She made the trip armed with a Winchester rifle.
Beulah married Elmer LaPash in 1896. She cut a pretty figure in a dress made of nine yards of silk. She and Elmer went on to raise a family of five girls, all born in the span of eleven years. Like their mother, the girls grew up comfortable on horseback.
Learn more about the life of Beulah Richardson LaPash Berner in the Harriman Daniel Richardson Family papers at UW’s American Heritage Center.