Ricketts is also spelled Rickeots, Rickeotts, Rickett, Rickets, Ricket, Rickel, Rickle, Rickels, and
Rickles.
Queen Anne Parish, Prince George's County, Maryland was established in 1704 when St. Paul's Parish was divided.
Queen Anne's town was created in 1706 on the Patuxent River.
Bedford County, Pennsylvania was created on March 9, 1771 from part of Cumberland County.
Maryland was established with religious freedom for Catholics. The colonial economy was based on tobacco cultivated by Africans who had been enslaved.
The rod or perch or pole is a surveyor's tool equal to 5 1⁄2 yards.
It was common for bequests to include wearing apparel.
Lush forests in Colonial America allowed settlers to build wooden homes.
Edward Ricketts was born in Maryland on September 15, 1706. His birth was recorded at Queen Anne Parish in Prince George's County, Maryland. His parents were Thomas Ricketts, Jr. and Rebecca Nicholson.
He (Edward Rickeots) married Mary Ann Cheney (Chaney) on February 3, 1729 in Anne Arundel, Maryland in All Hallows or South River Parish. Mary Ann Cheney was born at Anne Arundel, Maryland about 1706. She was the daughter of Charles Cheney and Ann Jones.
Edward and Mary Ann's children probably included:
Ann Ricketts (December 26, 1730), Cheney Ricketts (1732),
William Ricketts (1734), Edward Ricketts, Jr. (1736), Richard Ricketts (1738),
Thomas Ricketts (1740),
Reason Ricketts (1744),
John Ricketts (1752)
and
Hezekiah Ricketts (1754).
In 1744, Mary inherited 1 schilling sterling from her father. According to Karl Larew:
Mary's father did not approve of the match, however, and he cut Mary off with only one shilling in his will. Edward luckily, was himself a wealthy man.
It is not likely that Edward was wealthy when they married, since his father was having money problems at the time they married. A shilling was a common bequest to a daughter. A one shilling bequest may signify that an heir has already received a portion of the estate and the small bequest ensures that the heir is assumed not forgotten.
They settled in Shaver's Creek Valley in Pennsylvania. Shaver's Creek Manor in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania was reserved by the proprietaries of the province for heir own use. The warrant for its survey was dated October 30, 1760. Edward and Cheney Ricketts received Lot 8 which was 284 acres and 50 perches.
Bedford County was created in 1771 from part of Cumberland County.
In 1771, Edward Ricketts had 300 acres with one acre cleared. He lived on Standing Stone Creek.
Rickett’s Fort was located about midway between Saulsburg and Manor Hill. Captain William Haymond (1740) was in command at Rickett's Fort from June 12, to July 12, 1777.
A 1778 Bedford County, Pennsylvania roster of men who swore an oath of fidelity during the revolution included Cheney, Edward, Jr., Edwards, Sr., Hezekiah, Richard, Zachariah, and Jeremiah Ricketts.
Hezekiah, Nathan, Edward, Thomas and Robert Ricketts were rangers on the frontier with the Bedford County militia between 1778 and 1783. Edward was a lieutenant in the Second Battalion under Hugh Davidson. Edward and Thomas Ricketts were Captains in 1779 in the fighting at Frankstown and the lead mines.
In 1784 members of the Ricketts family received land warrants in Bedford County, which later became Huntingdon County.
Jeremiah Nov. 10 144 acres Nov. 12 150 acres
Cheney, Sr.
Dec 2. 400
Edward, Jr. Dec. 2 400
Thomas Dec. 2 150
Edward Dec. 2 400
Edward died in 1786.
Huntingdon County was created in 1787 from part of Bedford County.
In 1762 the town of Elizabethtown was founded in Frederick County, Maryland.. In 1786 it became the county seat of newly created Washington County. In 1813 the name was changed to Hagerstown.
Shays's Rebellion was an armed uprising in Massachusetts in 1786 and 1787. Daniel Shays led four thousand rebels (Shaysites) in rising up against perceived economic injustices.
Daniel Shays and Job Shattuck
from Bickerstaff's Boston Almanack
Prince George's County, Maryland was created in 1696 from portions of Charles, and Calvert Counties. It was divided into six districts called hundreds: Mattapany, Patuxant, Collington, Mount Calvert, Piscattoway, and New Scotland. A part the county became Frederick County in 1748.
The first European settlements in Maryland were made in 1634 when English settlers created a permanent colony.
Estate inventories give us a glance into the home life of Colonial Americans.
Early European settlers in the American colonies were mostly farmers and craftsmen. They had to work hard to provide daily neccesities for themselves.
American colonists continued to use British monetary units, namely the pound, shilling and pence for which £1 (orli) equalled 20s and 1s equalled 12d. In 1792 the dollar was established as the basic unit of currency.
Frederick County, Maryland was created in 1748 from parts of Prince George's and Baltimore Counties. In 1776 it was divided into Washington, Montgomery and, Frederick Counties. In 1837 parts of Frederick and Baltimore Counties formed Carroll County.
Mason County, Kentucky was established by the Virginia legislature in 1788 from Bourbon County. Nineteen Kentucky counties were formed from the original Mason County.
The Amos Family by Maurine Collins Schmitz and Glendola Amos Peck, 1964
The Ricketts of Dearborn County, Indiana were born in Frederick County, Maryland in the 1760s, but were in Bedford County, Pennsylvania by the time of the Revolution. At that time Bedford County included what became Huntington County in 1787. It is in this area that the Ricketts lived during the Revolution.
The first tax list showing the name was in Cumberland County, Dublin township, where in 1769 Zachariah Ricketts had 100 acres called "Little Hell." In 1771 Edward Ricketts had 300 acres, 1 acres cleared here. He lived at one time on Standing Stone Creek. Hezekiah Ricketts was one of the pioneers of Hill Valley, Shirley township.
Edward and Thomas Ricketts were Captains in 1779 in the fighting at Frankstown and the lead mines. Robert and Zachariah Ricketts were Cumberland County Rangers. Zachariah, a private with the Cumberland County Militia, made a tour of duty in Kishocoquillas Valley in 1782. Robert, who came to Indiana was living in that Valley in 1782, according to his pension record. Hezekiah, Nathan, Edward, Thomas and Robert Ricketts were rangers on the frontier with the Bedford County Militia 1778-1783.
Edward Ricketts owned a tract of land in Franklin township, at the conjunction of Warrior's Mark Run and Spruce Creek (Coleraine Forge) which had been improved in 1781. First tax was on 400 acres here for Edward and on 80 acres for Richard Ricketts. In the Barree and Miller township lists of 1788 are the names of Chainey, Edward, Jeremiah, John Reason, Also, in 1788, Nathan was taxed in Huntington County, Huntington Township, and Robert and Edward were taxed in Frankstownship, Edward being non-resident at that time. Edward Ricketts had 100 acres in West township in 1789.
In Jones' History of Juniata Valley is found
The first white settlers in Warrior's Mark were the Ricketts family. They were all wild, roving fellows, who loved the woods better than civilization; and their whole occupation over and above tilling a very small patch of land, appeared to be hunting for wild game. When the Indian troubles commenced, the house of Ricketts was converted into a fortress and the men turned their attention to the protecting of the frontier. One of them--Capt. Elijah Ricketts---became quite an active and prominant man...Capt. Logan, an Indian Chief (Mingo) lived here during the Revolution not altogether inactive, for his sympathies were on the side of liberty. He formed a strong attachment to Capt. Ricketts of Warrior's Mark and they became fast friends. It was to Ricketts that Capt. Logan disclosed the plot of the torries under John Weston.
On the Huntingdon County 1780 census are listed Nathan, Hezekiah, Reason, two Edwards, Chainey, and Richard. Robert had left by then to go to Kentucky.
Earliest Ricketts men found in Dearborn County, Indiana are Nathan, Robert, and William. There was another William early in Switzerland County. With each generation supplying more of each name it is difficult to indentify each, but dates of birth in the 1820 and 1830 Indiana censues and names given in the 1850 census along with birthplaces, help.
Nathan, born 1760, and Robert, born 1765, both in Maryland, certainly were borthers and came from Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania to Kentucky and then to Randolph township, Dearborn County, Indiana. They were Revolutionary soldiers. Also, William, born 1766, married in Mason County, Kentucky in 1797 Lucinda Nash, and came to the same Randolph township. He was a private in the Virginia Militia; was in the Indian wars of 1791 and was severely injured in fighting at Mingo Bottom.
Ohio County was formed from Dearborn County in 1844. When the final county line was established between Ohio and Switzerland counties, it passed through the Ricketts land, so the families were nearer Rising Sun, Ohio County than Vevay, Switzerland County. Nathan and Robert are buried at Mt. Carmel cememtery on Highway 56. The county line passes though the cemetery lot wher they are buried, leaving Nathan in Switzerland County and Robert in Ohio County.
Barree Township, Pennsylvania was formed in 1767 and was originally part of of Cumberland County, then it became part of Bedford County until 1787 when it became part of Huntingdon County.
Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania was established on September 20, 1787 as a large region of Central Pennsylvania. It was previously part of Bedford County and the earlier Cumberland Region.
Kentucky was originally a Virginia county and included the lands west of the Appalachians. In 1780, it was divided into Fayette, Jefferson, and Lincoln counties. Kentucky officially became a state on June 1, 1792.
from the Descendants of Richard Cheney of Anne Arundel County, Maryland
Mary Cheney (Charles 2 , Richard 1 ) was born after Jul 1701. She married Edward Ricketts 3 Feb 1729, in Anne Arundel Co., Maryland. He was born 15 Sep 1706, in Prince George's, Maryland.
They had 9 children:
Ann Ricketts, born 26 Dec 1730, in Anne Arundel Co., Maryland.
Cheney Ricketts, born about 1732, died 15 May 1814.
William Ricketts.
Reason/Richard Ricketts.
Thomas Ricketts.
William Ricketts.
Edward C. Ricketts, born about 1736, died about 1813. Richard Ricketts.
Thomas Ricketts.
Edward also married Margaret Powell.
