Ricketts is also spelled Rickeots, Rickeotts, Rickett, Rickets, Ricket, Rickel, Rickle, Rickels, and
Rickles.
Woodford County, Illinois was formed in 1841 from parts of Tazewell and McLean Counties. Metamora (Hanover before 1845) was the county seat from 1843-1894.
In the Civil War (1861 to 1865) eleven Southern states seceded from the U.S. and formed the Confederate States of America.
Robert L. Ricketts was born on February 8, 1835 in Dearborn (now Ohio) County, Indiana. His parents were William Ricketts and Harriet Dean.
When he was 25, he married Rebecca Pigsley on October 11, 1860 in Woodford County, Illinois. Rebecca was born on May 19, 1843 in Illinois. Her parents were Welcome Pigsley and Thirza Clark.
. . .the Rev. Welcome Pigsley and his wife and Ben Johnson were some of the pioneer teachers of the Hendryx school. There was not a Hendryx school. There was not a school house in Deerfield township when we located there in 1833. The Hendryx school house was built in 1837 or 1838, on the old Baughman place. . . My recollection is that Mrs. Thirza Pigsley, wife of the Rev. Welcome Pigsley, taught the first school in the old Hendryx school house. The big boys and girls kept coming until she had 60 scholars—more than she could handle—and her husband was employed to finish the term. ("A Rampler's Notes," by Joseph Mitchell, Canton Weekly Register, December 29, 1905,
transcribed by Dorene Fox-Sprague.)
Robert and Rebecca's children included:
Charles Alvin Ricketts (1861, married Anna Gertrude Eugene),
Samuel Wilson Ricketts (1863, married Ollie Viola Shaw),
Abby Lenora Ricketts Holliday (1864, married Charles Sumner Holliday),
Harriet Thirza Ricketts Ford (1867, married James F. Ford),
and Amanda Maria Ricketts (1869).
In 1870 Robert and Rebecca were in Abingdon, Indian Point, Knox, Illinois. the household consisted of Robert age 35, Rebecca age 27, Chares A. age 9, Samuel W. age 7, Abby age 5, Harriet T. age 3 and Amanda M. who was six months. Robert was a farmer.
Robert died when he was 64 on June 1, 1899 and Rebecca died on February 17, 1919 in Sedalia, Pettis County, Missouri.
Ohio County, Indiana was first created in 1844 from Dearborn County. The county seat is Rising Sun which is in Randolph Township. Ohio County is in southeast Indiana on the Kentucky border. In 1826, the Dearborn County Courthouse burned containing all records.
Illinois became a state in 1818. A large influx of American settlers came in the 1810s by the Ohio River.
