November 14, 1889

After such a long absence from writing here, I've had a difficult time deciding where to pick up again. Then recently I noticed a special day in my family history was approaching. November 14th, 1889 was my great grandfather's birthday. It would be the perfect day to start again.  It was an extra special birthday for Isaac Rickell. 

Isaac Rickell born 14 November 1859,
 Lincolnshire, England

52 Ancestors - Week 8 - Heirloom, "Please Save"

"Please Save". Isaac and Ida Rickell's daughter, Bertha, wrote this on dozens of little slips of paper.  Poor health kept her home bound much of the time during the later years of her life. She made scrapbooks, wrote memories of her childhood, and was quite the family archivist.

I found this particular note in a leather accordion style folder. On the back of the note she wrote "this red billfold" was to be passed to her daughter. "It was a gift to my father from my mother before they were married in '89". The red billfold itself is a treasure. But the contents are a family historian's dream.

The contents include Isaac's 1883 Declaration of Intention to become a U.S. citizen, renouncing his allegiance to the Queen of Great Britain of whom he was a subject. Also, a Certificate of Membership in the International Order of Odd Fellows, a crisp two dollar bill (much larger than the bills we know today), a recipe for "Oil for Wounds, Cuts or Burns" in Isaac's father's handwriting in 1861, Isaac's homestead papers, deeds, Isaac and Ida's application for a marriage certificate, a personal note from Ida to Bertha, Bertha's high school graduation announcement and marriage record, greeting cards, letters, and the list goes on.

It seems I come from a long line of savers. This explains a lot!

If you are researching any of the individuals featured in my blog posts, please leave a comment. I would love to share information. Perhaps we can break down a brick wall together.

52 Ancestors - Week 7 - Valentine...Nebraska

As I was thinking about Valentine's Day this week, the story of my great grandparents, Isaac Rickell and Ida Ellen Andrews, came to mind. They were early residents of Box Butte County in western Nebraska, Isaac arriving when the area was still part of Dawes County.

Both Isaac and Ida had experienced much loss in their lives by the time they came to western Nebraska when they were both in their twenties. Isaac had lost both of his parents and all five of his brothers and sisters by the time he filed his Declaration of Intention to be come a citizen of the United States on the 6th of October in 1883, a month before his 24th birthday.

Isaac Rickell
Declaration of Intention
Original in Isaac's Personal Papers

Not quite two years later, Isaac appeared at the land office in Valentine, Cherry County, Nebraska, over 300 miles away, to claim a homestead in the future Box Butte County. Perhaps this business card is how he learned about free land. I wonder where he found it. Probably somewhere near his home in Platte County.

Original in Isaac's Personal Papers

The reverse side of the card gives a list of train fares from various places in Nebraska to Chadron. Is Chadron where he met Denis Daly?

Original in Isaac's Personal Papers

I'm not sure what the reverse side of the card means, exactly. Did the X's mark acreages that had already been claimed?

At any rate, Isaac chose the SW 1/4 of Section 14 in Township 27 of Range 50 West. Somehow he traveled over 100 miles from Valentine to Hemingford. Did the land agents go with their prospective homesteaders? Then travel the 100 miles back to the land office in Valentine?

Ida lost her mother when she was a child. After her grandfather, Elias Jones, passed, she came with her grandmother, Annis Cole Jones, in the spring of 1888 to the village of Hemingford in Box Butte County, where an uncle, B. F. Jones, had a general store. The family lived together in rooms over the store.

Isaac and Ida told their daughter, Bertha, about the day they met...when both went to the town well for water. I would love to know more details of their meeting that day at the well and the courtship that followed, but we do know that Isaac carried Ida's pail home for her. For her birthday, in September of 1889, Isaac gave Ida a beautiful red velvet photograph album. And, less than two months later, on Isaac's thirtieth birthday they were married.

Isaac Rickell and Ida E. Andrews
14 November 1889

The Rose is Red

the Violet blue

of all the earth

I love but you

When these lines

you here do see

will you agree

to marry me

If my name you now can guess

write your own

and Ans yes

Could this be how Isaac proposed to Ida? We will never know, but either way, it seems Isaac was quite the romantic soul!

Isaac Rickell (1859-1936)

On this day, 158 years ago, Isaac Rickell was born in Yarborough Parish (Louth Registration District) Lincolnshire, England, to John and Mary Ann (Sinyard) Rickell.

In the 1861 England census John, Mary and Isaac were enumerated in the Yarborough parish, which according to Ancestry.com is/was an ecclesiastical parish associated within the Louth registration district. The entry for their household shows John was born in Laceby Parish, Mary in Welton Le Wold Parish and Isaac in Yarborough Parish (which I understand today is Yarburgh).

When Isaac was eight years old he lost his father in a tragic accident.

Lincolnshire Chronicle pub. 12 July 1867, pg. 5, col. 5

John Rickel left a wife and three children, the youngest only two weeks old. This article found online (BritishNewspaperArchive.co.uk) just last year, confirms the story passed down through the generations. Google is a beautiful thing.

Mary Rickell Wilson recorded this record of her family. Brandon is not a surname, but rather the name of the town in Wisconsin where she lived at the time.

The entry of Mary's death appears to be in the handwriting of her son, Isaac. Isaac's death was recorded by his daughter, Bertha.

Photo of Mary Ann Sinyard Rickell and her children taken in England.
Original with the Rickell family papers

Mary immigrated to the U.S. in 1869 with relatives. They eventually settled in Wisconsin. John William died 8 Jun 1869, about two weeks shy of his second birthday. Daughter Mary Ann died 20 Mar 1870, age eight. Of Mary's six children, only Isaac lived to adulthood.

According to family tradition, Mary "brought her three (surviving) children to America where there were better advantages and a chance for a good education for her children. Two or three families of their relatives came over at the same time but we don't know where they settled. It took two weeks to make the trip in a "sailing vessel". She and her children settled in Brandon, Fon-du-Lac County, Wisconsin. (Isaac) was nine years old at the time. (Mary) kept a boarding house to make a living for her family and send her children to school." This information was written by Isaac's daughter.

I wonder if the above photo was taken shortly before Mary and her family left for America. The children would be about the right ages. Perhaps a farewell gift for the family she left behind?

Isaac Rickell

Mary Ann Sinyard Rickell

At the time these two photos of Isaac and Mary Ann were taken, they were likely the only family left. There are no other photos with the same framing. And, Isaac's last sibling died when he was ten.

Isaac Rickell

Back of Photo

Isaac Rickell - Probably taken in Nebraska

A quick Google search of Hutchings R.R. Photo Car indicates they operated in central Nebraska. This photo was likely taken after Isaac and his mother moved to central Nebraska.

Isaac's mother died 9 May 1883 and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery, St. Edward, Boone County, Nebraska. Isaac was now alone and in the words of his daughter "decided to cast his lot with the pioneers of western Nebraska". Free land was available to United States citizens, and at 23, Isaac (a subject of the Queen of Great Britain) filed a Declaration of Intention to become a U.S. citizen.

Isaac Rickell - 1883 Declaration of Intention

On Isaac's 30th birthday, 128 years ago today, he married Ida Ellen Andrews in Hemingford, Box Butte County, Nebraska. More about Isaac's life and family in Box Butte County in a future installment....

Ida Ellen Andrews Rickell - Part II: Ida's Death Certificate - Will it Reveal Her Parents?

A 1983 copy of Ida's death certificate gives more clues about her life. Her husband, Isaac provided her personal information.

Mrs. Ida E. Rickell, Certificate of Death

He reported that she was born in Indiana, the 20th of Sept., 1865, that her mother's maiden name was M. Jones and her father was J. Andrews. Interesting. Did Isaac not know their full given names? Could he have been guessing about the initials?

Isaac gave Ida this photo album for her birthday before they were married. The album contains several photographs of the Jones family which helped me begin to piece the family together.

"Uncle Frank Jones, My Mothers Uncle" and "Aunt Mary Jones, My Mothers Aunt"
The handwriting is that of Ida's daughter, Bertha

"These two are Brother and Sister"
"Uncle Sherman Jones" and "Grandma R's aunt"

"Charlie Jones, My Mother's Cousin"
and
"Edith Jones, My Mother's Cousin, was holding her Daddys watch."

 And loose in the back of the album I found this memorial card.

Hmmm. Who is D. J. Lehr? A name I hadn't heard before. Or had I? I kept looking. He must be an important person to Ida and Isaac. And, then I noticed this.

Witnesses to Isaac and Ida's Marriage

On 2 Aug 1884, B.F. Jones, a merchant in Central City, Nebr. signed a "Homestead Proof - Testimony of Witness"  for the homestead application of David J. Lehr. Lehr was applying for an additional homestead of 80 acres, adjacent to his original 80 acre homestead where he had lived for 11 years. The digitized document can be viewed here at Ancestry.com with a paid subscription.

And, among the treasure trove of items Ida and Bertha left behind is this 1903 letter Isaac wrote to his "wife and daughter" in care of R. S. Jones, Central City, Nebraska.

Apparently Ida and Bertha were visiting in Central City and would "start" for home in a few days. Isaac mentions "Grandma" and "Sherm".

In 1900, Sherman Jones, a single man born in Aug 1852, was working as a carpenter and living in Central City, Merrick Co., Nebraska. His widowed mother, Annis Jones, born in New York in Feb. 1821, was living with him. Annis was the mother of six children and only two were still living. You can view this census record at Family Search here. It seems the R.S. Jones on the above letter must have been R. Sherman Jones and the Grandma in the letter was likely Annis Jones, Ida's grandmother!

It took me another three years, but in 2015, I found an index of early Merrick County obituaries on a genealogy website. It included a 1906 obituary for an Annis Jones. I was hopeful the obituary would list Ida as Annis' granddaughter. A library assistant at the Central City Public Library was able to locate the obituary.

No mention of Ida. As often is the case with a new discovery, it answers a few questions and raises a few others. It clears up the names of her sons, Benjamin Franklin Jones and Roger Sherman Jones. It seems they commonly used their initials or middle names rather than their first names. Their father was Elias D. Jones. The obituary states Annis had seven children. (The 1900 census showed six.) Elias had died about eighteen years earlier. Annis other children were not named. If Annis was Ida's grandmother, one of the unnamed daughters was Ida's mother.

What next?