Aaron McLaughlin Richey was born on a farm near McConnellsville, Ohio, on January 19, 1837. He attended the public schools and later went to the Ohio University at Athens, Ohio. In 1860 he went west and spent some time at St. Joseph, Mo., and while there had the opportunity to go to California as “boss” of a wagon train. It took three months to make the trip and after he reached San Francisco did not like it and returned east by way of the Isthmus of Panama. After a short visit with his parents in Ohio he again went to St. Joseph where he later married a young widow with four children and lived there until forced by a severe throat trouble to seek a warmer climate. He decided to try Florida. He thought best to go if that would agree with his family so spent the spring of 1883 in Brooksville. His family was a wife with four children and he selected Brooksville because a friend of his in St. Joseph had just returned home from there and gave such a wonderful name to the town. The railroad only came as far south as Wildwood so the family had to finish the trip to Brooksville by hack. They secured room and board there with Mr. and Mrs. James W. Clark who during their stay with them invited them to go on a camping trip to their grove on the Cotee River. The Clark family had a small house on the river and also one in the grove and it was there this family saw the beautiful groves of Mr. Clark, Mr. M. N. Hill and Mr. H. W. Howse. They also saw a small grove owned by Mr. Felix Sowers which was for sale and which Mr. Richey bought. He also bought the Point, also owned by Mr. Sowers, May 1, 1883, and the family returned to St. Joseph.

The December following found the family on their way to Florida to live. As the railroad only went as far as Wildwood
Mr. Richey chartered a freight car to bring their household goods to Cedar Keys where he chartered a schooner, the Eugene Battey, a flat bottom 18-ton boat, to bring their goods to the Point. A small two room house was there so the best things were piled in the house, the rest left in the yard to the mercy of the weather. This was in December, 1883.

Mr. Richey later built on to the small house and also built a house for a store which he ran for some time. He had a small schooner built in Cedar Keys to run from the Cotee river to that town which he named the “Cootie.” This boat had to be registered and have a home port so Mr. Richey named the Point “Port Richey.”

In October, 1884, Gov. Safford and Mr. Richey surveyed the land on the point into town-lots and put them on the market for sale.

The name of the town will be Port Richey, it appears to be about where Sand Pebble Point Condominiums are on Brent Street now. He also had a post office established there by the same name which he ran until he moved to Tarpon in 1891. The post office was moved to the home of Mr. Clark who was postmaster as long as he lived. The small grove Mr. Richey bought was enlarged to 15 acres. The 1895 freeze killed this grove.

The 1880 census shows Richey as a horticulturist in Washington (Buchanan County), Missouri, and indicates he was born in Ohio.

A 1914 newspaper article reported on a fish fry on “Cap’n Richey’s Island at the mouth of the Cootee River.” A 1916 newspaper article has: “We landed on Captain Richey’s Island, who many years ago conducted a store there for fishermen, the ruins of which may still be seen as well as the remains of a large old-fashioned stone house, in which he lived.” Richey moved to Tarpon Springs on April 10, 1891. He served for two years as President of the Council and was the sixth mayor of the city, in 1894 and 1895. One of his acts while in office was to shoot a 12-foot alligator that some boys had noosed and tied to a tree, according to a 1975 newspaper article by Wilfred T. Neill. Richey was the census enumerator for Tarpon Springs in 1900, and his is is the first residence in the census for the city

A Dec. 13, 1914, newspaper article written by Mrs. Gerben DeVries has: “On an island in the Cootee river near the Gulf of Mexico is a dilapidated wooden building in which, years ago, Captain Richey, from whom the settlement is named, conducted a store for the convenience of fishermen and a few scattering settlers. A small slot in one side of the building indicates where letters were posted in the early days, the store also serving as a post office.”

I am Unable to locate this Island or even if it still exist , the geography maybe different now
Because of The 1921 Tarpon Springs hurricane

I believe this maybe the 1884 location of Port Richey

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