Also see [Railway Officials in America 1906]
Abraham Rickert was born in Lancaster County, Penn., in 1782, and married Mary M. Eagle in 1810. They became
the parents of seven children, viz.: Leonard, who was born in 1811; Catharine, Abraham, Mary, Samuel and Jacob.
The two latter children were born near Wooster, Ohio, to which State the family removed in 1823. Having disposed
of a farm purchased near Wooster, they, in the spring of 1829, purchased three yoke of oxen and as many wagons,
and, in company with a family named McIntaffer, came to Michigan. While en route they overtook a family named Bowers
and they then pursued their journey together. They came by the way of the Maumee or Black Swamp, which was so nearly
impassable that sometimes not more than two or three miles progress would be made in a day, and at night huge logs
were cut and rolled together and brush piled on them, on which the beds were placed to keep them out of the water.
This same year, Mr. Rickert purchased land opposite Mottville, in the counties of Cass and St. Joseph, where their
son Abner was born in 1829. In the winter of 1829-30, they subsisted on beans, hominy and corn meal. The honiiny
was manufactured by pounding with the poll of an ax corn placed in a hole burned in the top of a stump. A Mr. Cutler
possessed a hand-mill with which two men could grind one bushel per hour and here a portion of their meal was ground.
Before leaving Ohio, Mr. Riekert shipped a quantity of flour around the lakes and up the St. Joseph River to Mottville;
but it was so delayed that it did not reach its destination until the summer of 1830, for it became frozen up in
the lake, which caused the family great inconvenience.
In 1841, Leonard Rickert purchased land in Calvin Township, on which he moved with his wife, Margaret A. (Crawford),
to whom he was married December 15, 1842. His death occurred May 10, 1854, and his widow and family of six children
named Mary E., Charles C., George A., Olive L., Ambrose R. and Celestie L., lived on the farm until her death,
which occurred May 31, 1877. Mrs. Rickert eame with her parents from Lake County, Ohio, in 1836, and settled on
the farm now owned by Mr. Hanson.
Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Rickert were honored members of the Baptist Church, and were highly esteemed by the community
with whom they spent so many years.
Charles C. Rickert, who was born January, 1846, now owns and farms it on the old homestead in Calvin, and has always
engaged in agricultural pursuits. He was married May 24, 1877, to Snsanah, daughter of Nathan Shaw, who was born
October 29, 1845. They have but one child, Ellen Sophronia, who was born June 3, 1878. George Rickert lives on
a farm adjoining the paternal estate. Ambrose and Celestie are deceased, while Mary E. and Olive L. still reside
on the old homestead.
History of Cass Couny, Michigan
With Illistrations and Biographical Sketches
of some of it's Prominent Men and Pioneers.
Waterman, Watkins & Co., Chicago 1882.