Sock It to Me,” “Here Come De Judge,” and “And That’S the Truth.” (Indiana Supreme Court Justice Frank N
“Sock it to me,” “Here come de judge,” and “And that’s the truth.” (Indiana Supreme Court Justice Frank N. Richman) Indianapolis Literary Club November 7, 2016 Philip. M. Coons, M.D. With theatrical help from Bernard Würger You may wonder why I picked this particular title. All I can say in my defense is, “The devil made me do it!” Please know that this essay is not about Laugh-In, the wildly popular NBC TV comedy program of the late 60s and early 70s The subject of my essay, Frank Nelson Richman, was born in Columbus, Indiana on July 1, 1881. He was the son of Silas Tevis Richman (1852-1938) and Elma Jane Baker (1857-1953). Our subject’s earliest Richman ancestor in the United States, Harmon Richman (1680- 1744), hailed from Germany and settled in Salem County, New Jersey. Although he was a Quaker, he and his son Jacob were early slave-owners in the northeast. By the time of the American Revolution, most Quakers had given up this practice and had become staunchly anti- slavery. Frank’s great-grandfather, William (1763-1823), was a school teacher and was the first of the Richmans to move west. He was a Quaker school teacher in Butler County, Ohio. One of his sons, Enoch (1800-1882), Frank’s grandfather, moved even further west to Decatur County, Indiana. He was a farmer and had transferred his allegiance to the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Baker side of the family was from Rowan County, North Carolina. Richman’s great- grandfather, Samuel Baker (1804-1849) settled near Azalia in Bartholomew County, Indiana.
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