John Rickert, farmer, was born near Gratz, Lykens Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, 4 January 1829, a son of Henry Rickert and Sarah [Romberger] Rickert.
Adam Romberger, maternal grandfather of John Rickert, married Mary Werner. She died and he was married a second time to Miss Paul. He was the father of twenty-four children, twenty of whom were girls.
Henry Rickert, father of John Rickert, died aged sixty-five years, five months and fifteen days. His wife, Sarah [Romberger] Rickert, died at the age of eight-three. Their children were:
Elizabeth Rickert;
Hannah Rickert;
Mary Rickert;
William Rickert;
John Rickert;
Sarah Rickert;
Rebecca Rickert;
Jonas Rickert; and
Lucetta Rickert.
John Rickert was only a few years in the public schools of his native township. He was early thrown upon his own resources and began to learn his livelihood at nine years of age. He first hired out to do farm work for Daniel Leopold, Lykens Township, for three years, receiving one dollar a month for the first year, two dollars a month for the second year, and three dollars a month for the third year. For the next three years he was with George Rutter, in Armstrong Valley, Halifax Township. After this he was in the service of the Summit Branch Railroad Company until 1854. He worked the next year at the saw mill of Benneville, Witmer and Company, Millersburg and then a year for the Northern Central Railway Company. After this he was engaged in various occupations until 1859. From that year until 1862 he worked for Peter Berl, Georgetown, Northumberland County.
On 18 October 1862 [Civil War], Mr. John Rickert enlisted at Harrisburg for three years in Company H, One Hundred and Forty-seventh Pennsylvania Infantry [147th Pennsylvania Infantry], veteran volunteers. The regiment was sent from Harrisburg to Harper’s Ferry, thence to Dumphreys, thence to Wolf’s Run Shoals, thence back to Dumphreys, thence to Chancellorsville, thence to Acquia Creek, to the Battlefield of Gettysburg, where they remained a few days. Here Mr. Rickert received a dangerous wound in the groin and was sent to the hospital at Washington, where he lay two days and two nights, and was then sent to Tener’s Lane Hospital at Philadelphia, where he was under treatment for six months. When discharged from the hospital Mr. Rickert rejoined his regiment at Bridgeport, Alabama, and moved with it to Lookout Mo0untain, thence to Chattanooga, from which point they set out on the Atlanta campaign. The regiment then moved with Sherman’s army and shared in the encampments, marches and battled which have become famous in history. It went down to the sea and up the Atlantic coast, was at the final surrender and marched in the Grand Review at Washington, D.C. It was finally mustered out and the men honorably discharged 15 Jul 1865.
After his discharge, Mr. John Rickert was employed by the Summit Branch Railroad Company on the road for nine months, after which he was transferred to the round house, where he remained about one year. In the spring of 1867 he removed to Halifax Township and farmed one year for Sawyer and Read. Then, returning to Millersburg, was employed by N. C. Frick and Company for two years. After that, until 1890, he was engaged in a variety of occupations. In 1890 he was put on the pension roll. In 1877 he bought the ground and built the house where he now has his residence.
Mr. John Rickert was married 31 July 1853, to Sarah Ann Palmer, daughter of Abel Palmer, and Mary [Keiter] Palmer. They have five children:
Benjamin Franklin Rickert, born 23 June 1854, married Lizzie Keagley;
John Henry Rickert, born 28 July 1857, married Hannah Littich;
Elizabeth Salome Rickert, born 3 October 1859, wife of John Crawley;
George McClellan Rickert, born 17 March 1862, married Annie Sharon; and
James Monroe Rickert, born 7 July 1866, married Mary Carl.
Mr. Rickert is a Republican. He attends the Reformed church and his wife the Lutheran.
Abel Palmer, father of Mrs. Sarah Ann [Palmer] Rickert, died about seventy. His wife is still living.
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The above information was modified/edited from Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County, published in 1896 by J. M. Runk and Company of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. A free download is available from the Internet Archive.
Findagrave Memorial #152780492. According to records of the Soldiers Home at Hampton Roads, Virginia (pictured at the top of this post – from an old print), John Rickert died there on 21 November 1910. His remains were supposedly sent to Millersburg‘s Oak Hill Cemetery for interment. The grave marker at the Oak Hill Cemetery, as pictured on Findagrave, gives his birth year as 1830, which is a conflict with the information in the Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County, which gives the year as 1829. Also, there is no death date on the stone, so he may have been buried in the home cemetery in Virginia.
See also:
http://civilwar.gratzpa.org/2011/06/147th-pennsylvania-infantry-pennsylvania-memorial-at-gettysburg/