He was a member of the Council of Fifty and Anointed Quorum and served as a physician for movement founder Joseph Smith and others during the years the Latter Day Saints were established in Nauvoo, Illinois.

In the late 1830s, Richards served as a counselor to Joseph Fielding in the presidency of the church's British Mission.

They left their only child, Levi W. Richards, in care of family members on the advice of Brigham Young.

[5] After completing their mission, the Richards returned to the United States and headed on Utah Territory where they joined their son Levi W., who was by this time eight years old.

Richards lived for several years in downtown Salt Lake City on the block where Crossroads Plaza Mall was later built.