Willard Richards (June 24, 1804 – March 11, 1854) was a physician and midwife/nurse trainer and an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement. He served as second counselor to church president Brigham Young in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1847 until his death. Early life Willard Richards was born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, to Joseph Richards and Rhoda Howe on June 24, 1804. He was the youngest of eleven children. At the age of four, he injured his head in a fall and was left with some residual muscle tremor and paralysis. As a child, Richards was very inquisitive and would ask questions and read constantly. This was especially the case during the six months the local congregational minister resided in his parents' household. Because of his tendency to ask questions as to why things were how they were, he was denied admission to the local congregational church. As the injury limited his physical activity, he focused his attention on education and obtained a teacher's certificate at age sixteen. He taught school in Chatham, New York, and in Lanesborough, Massachusetts. In 1823, he moved to Naussau, New York. Richards pursued additional studies in physical mechanics and science, and studied the clarinet. At age 27, he became an itinerant lecturer, traveling throughout New England giving lectures on various scientific subjects. At the age of thirty, after the death of his sister Susan, Richards decided to become a medical doctor. He studied at the Thomson Infirmary in Boston, focusing on medication and herbal preparations. As a student at the Thompson Infirmary, Richards was immersed in emergency and trauma surgery. He was at the hospital for hundreds of casualties of the Boston Abolition Riots of 1835. He then settled in Holliston, Massachusetts, where he practiced medicine. Richards stayed true to the Thompsonian System of Botanical Treatments, a precursor to revolutionary pharmaceuticals such as Eli Lilly's Quinine. In 1836, Richards was introduced to the newly published Book of Mormon by his cousins, Joseph and Brigham Young. Richards read the book twice within ten days and soon made preparations to move to Kirtland, Ohio, to join the Church of the Latter Day Saints; a bout of "palsy", however, prevented him from traveling until a year later. Richards was baptized on December 31, 1836, by Brigham Young and ordained an elder on March 6, 1837.