Chapter 13 – The Ricks Family

The Page Family of England

Henry Page lived in Norfolk, England.  He was born about 1535, and died January 16, 1555.  He married a widow, Mrs. James Page, who was born about 1517 in Acles, Norfolk, England.  They were the parents of Robert Page.

Robert Page (1550 - May 15, 1587) was a farmer who also lived in Norfolk, and in 1577 he married a woman named Martha in Suffolk, England.  She was born in 1553.  They were the parents of:

• another Robert Page
• Edmund Page

• Cicely Page

• Margaret Page

This Robert Page also lived in Norfolk.  He was born in 1577.  On July 16, 1598, he married Margaret Goodwin, born April 23, 1570.  Robert Page died July 16, 1617, and Margaret Goodwin died twenty years later, April 11, 1637.  They were the parents of Rebecca Page and another Robert Page (born ca 1627, married Elizabeth -----, died after 1714 in York, Virginia).

Margaret Goodwin, above, was the daughter of Francis Goodwin  and his second wife,  Joan Lyles .  Francis Goodwin was born in 1544 in Hemblington, Norfolk, England, and died June 25, 1602.  He was the son of  John (the elder) Goodwin , born in 1510 and died in 1562 at Blofield, England, and his wife Alice. John (the elder) Goodwin was the son of William Goodwin, born ca. 1480 in Blofield, England, and his wife Margery.

Norfolk County, England, was generally prosperous during the seventeenth century.  There was strip farming and peat mining, and much of the oak used to build Queen Elizabeth’s navy came from Norfolk.  Especially in the years from 1660 to 1685, Quakers and other non-Anglican Protestants were persecuted.  Quaker assemblies were unlawful, and Quakers were often arrested, sometimes accused of sexual perversion.

Rebecca Page, daughter of Robert Page and Margaret Goodwin, was born May 16, 1608, and died after April 5, 1677.  Not much else is known about her, not even her husband’s name, but we do know that she was the mother of Isaac Rickesis.

Isaac Rickesis  Comes to Virginia

Isaac Rickesis  was born in Norfolk County, England, in 1638 (Some say he was born in Buckinghamshire,.)  Just a few years later, Quakerism began to explode upon the scene in England.  The Quaker leader George Fox  began his ministry in 1647, and really got going in 1652.  Isaac Rickesis migrated to America, landing at Jamestown, Virginia.  He married Kathren (born ca 1645 in Isle of Wight County) in Isle of Wight County, Virginia, about 1668.  They settled in Warrasquyeake, which was later re-named Isle of Wight County. 

Lies, Miracles, False Doctrines, and Prophecies

Isaac and Kathren were Quakers, and as such faced discrimination.  Quakers were said to be disorganizers and enemies of society, and were acused of teaching lies, miracles, false doctrines, and prophecies.  In 1688, a Quaker meeting was held at the home of Isaac Reeks, and in 1699, he was appointed “clerke of ye yearly meeting.”  On June 8, 1702, Isaac Rickesis  and several others bought an acre of land on the Western Branch of the Nansemond River for a Quaker meeting house, and Isaac Rickesis  donated 400 pounds of tobacco towards the construction of the meeting house.  He and the Densons were said to be the guiding spirits of the Western Branch Meeting.  Also during 1702, Isaac Rickesis  was a representative to the first recorded session of the Virginia Yearly Meeting of the Quakers in Chuckatuck.

Kathren died August 11, 1717, in Isle of Wight County, Virginia.  Isaac Rickesis  died November 8 or January 2, 1732, in Chuckatuck, Suffolk, Virginia.

Children of Isaac Rickesis  and Kathren  were:

• Isaac Ricks
• William Ricks  (August 15, 1670 – July 11, 1694)
• John Ricks  (October 30, 1672 - 1711)
• Abraham Ricks  (b October 3, 1674)
• Jacob Ricks  (January 17, 1677 – May 5, 1706, married Mary Exum, below, October 14, 1699)
• Robart Ricks  (October 14, 1679 – March 23, 1742/1743)
• Benjamin Ricks  (b. 1682)
• Kathren Ricks  (b. 1683, lived 10 months and 2 weeks)
• Richard Ricks  (June 30, 1685 – Jnue 30, 1703)
• Jeane Ricks  (b. June 30, 1687)
• James Ricks  (January 17, 1690 – ca. 1703)

In 1702, Robert (or Robart) and Abraham Ricks, sons of Isaac Rickesis  and Kathren , built a Quaker meetng house on the Western Branch of the Nansemond River, for which they were paid 32,000 pounds of “tobb” (tobacco), which was the medium of exchange.

Jacob Ricks, son of Isaac Rickesis and Kathren, has an interesting connection to Fort Valley, Georgia. As repeated later in this chapter, Jacob Ricks married Mary Exum, and their children were Isaac Ricks and Martha Ricks. This Isaac Ricks married Sarah -----, and among their five children was a son named Abraham Ricks, who married a woman named Anna, perhaps Anna Goodwin. They had two children, another Isaac Ricks and Mary Ricks. Isaac Ricks married Olive Fort, who was the daughter of John Fort and his first wife, Olive -----. Olive ----- died, and John Fort then married a woman named Agnes. John and Agnes were the parents of Arthur Fort, a Revolutionary War veteran for whom the town of Fort Valley, Georgia, is named.

Isaac Ricks, son of Isaac and Kathren Rickesis,  was born in Southhampton County, Virginia, June 17, 1669.  About 1697 in Isle of Wight, Virginia, he married Sarah McKinnie (died ca 1717) , daughter of Barnaby McKinnie  (1773-1739) and Mary Exum .  [At least one Ricks researcher says that Isaac’s wife Sarah was not named McKinnie.] Barnaby McKinnie  lived in Chowan County, NC, and deeded several pieces of land to Isaac Ricks , who lived in Isle of Wight County.  Barnaby McKinnie’s father was Michael McKinnie, who was a member of the North Carolina General Assembly from Edgecomb County in 1735. Barnaby McKinnie’s mother was named Elizabeth.  Mary Exum was born about 1675.  She was the daughter of Jeremiah Exum (born in 1650, married Ann Lawrence ), who was a justice of the County Court of Isle of Wight County in 1693 and 1694.  Jeremiah Exum was the son of Richard Exum , born in England and died before October 28, 1668.  Mary Exum married first Jacob Ricks.  She married second William Murphrey, Jr.,  who died sometime before April 25, 1715.  She married third Barnaby McKinnie before February 22, 1719.

An Early Relationship between Two Families

Interestingly, Isaac Ricks  signed the will of Francis Denson  as a witness in 1698.  So did Needham Bryan  and Alice Needham  Bryan (See Chapter 7), so we know that the Ricks and Bryan families were acquainted in Virginia, long before they migrated to Georgia.

Isaac Ricks  died March 11, 1748 in Edgecomb County, NC, leaving slaves to three of his sons, Abraham , Robert , and John , and other property to his daughters Mary Pope  and Martha .

It is interesting to note that Isaac Ricks , a Quaker, owned slaves.  But, the fact is that early Quakers owned slaves just like many of their neighbors.  John Woolman , a New Jersey Quaker, was the first Quaker to oppose slavery, but it wasn’t until a few years after Woolman’s death in 1772 that all Quakers in America had freed their slaves. 

Altogether, Isaac Ricks and Sarah McKinnie (if that were her name) had at least four children:

• William Ricks
• Isaac Ricks (see below)
• Jacob Ricks, born February 11, 1705, in Chuckatuck, Virginia
• Jonn Ricks, born in 1722 in Chowan County, NC, and died in 1787
  

Some researchers say that Isaac Ricks and Sarah McKinnie had at least eight more children:

• Benjamin Ricks, born in 1707 in Chuckatuck, Virginia, died May 5, 1777, Edgecomb County, NC
• Robert Farry Ricks, born in 1709 in Warrasquyeake, Virginia
• Richard Ricks, born in 1711 in Nansemond, Chuckatuck, Virginia
• Abraham Ricks, born in 1714 in Chuckatuck, Virginia
• Alice Ricks, born in 1715 in Middletown, Newport, Rhode Island, but Christened in Chuckatuck, Virginia
• Elizabeth Ricks, born in 1720 in Chuckatuck, Virginia
• A daughter, born about 1724
  

Isaac Ricks, son of Isaac Ricks and his wife Sarah McKinnie, was born December 27, 1702, near Chuckatuck, Virginia. Before 1720, Isaac moved to Chowan County, Albermarle County, North Carolina, with his brother William.

Isaac purchased land in Chowan County from William and Esther Ricks on or before April 6, 1722. Apparently, he soon sold this land to his brother Jacob Ricks.

Sometime about 1727 or 1728, Isaac Ricks married Eleanor Johnson, daughter of James Johnson of Isle of Wight County, Virginia, and widow of John Bunn of Edgecomb County, North Carolina.

On August 10, 1743, Isaac Ricks bought 200 acres on the south side of the Tar River from John Bunn for eighteen pounds. He also owned a grist mill at the Great Falls of the Tar River, land where the town of Rocky Mount, North Carolina, is now located, and various other pieces of land.

Isaac Ricks died in 1760.

Children of Isaac Ricks and Eleanor Johnson were:

• James Ricks (born ca 1730)
• John Ricks (see below)
• Sarah Ricks (1734-after 1781, married Daniel Ross)
  

John Ricks, son of Isaac Ricks and Eleanor Johnson, was born in 1732. He married first Ann Ross, daughter of Kallum (Callum) Ross and Elizabeth Skinner. John Ricks married second Esther Horn Ross, widow of Andrew Ross, in 1762 in Edgecomb County, North Carolina, and John Ricks married third Mary Denson, daughter of Benjamin Denson of Edgecomb County, about 1776.

Children of John Ricks and his wives, in no particular order, were:

• Anne Ricks
• Lewis Ricks (Born before 1770)
• Richard Ricks
• John Ricks
• Jacob Ricks
• Gideon Ricks (Went to Leighton, Alabama)
• Redmond Ricks (May have married Polly Williams on May 25, 1810, in Jasper County, Georgia)
• Larry Ricks
• Delilah Ricks
• Sarah Ricks (Married John Denson, below. John Denson was born in 1760.)
• Jesse Ricks
• Johanna Ricks (Her guardian before 1800 was John Watkins.)
• Isaac Ricks
  

Ann Ricks was the daughter of John Ricks and Ann Ross. She married John Watkins.

Richard Ricks, son of John Ricks and his wives, was born after 1770 and married Elizabeth Herring, probably in Emanuel County, Georgia, and died in 1853. Children of Richard Ricks and Elizabeth Herring were:

• John Ricks (Born 1789, Emanuel County, GA, married Lila Carter)
• Richard Ricks (Born 1791, Emanuel County, GA, married a Lindsay)
• Easter Ricks (Born 1793, Emanuel County, GA)
• Arthur Ricks (Born 1795, Emanuel County, GA, died young)
• Daniel Ricks (Born 1796, Emanuel County, GA, married Mary Mason)
• Barbara Ricks (Born February 12, 1799, Emanuel County, married Walandton Thigpen)
• Nancy Ricks (Born 1804, Washington County, GA)
• Arthur Ricks (Born 1805, Washington County, GA)

Jacob Ricks, son of John Ricks and his wives, was living in Twiggs County, Georgia, when it was formed from part of Wilkinson County in 1809. In 1810, Jacob Ricks and four others were appointed Commissioners to contract for and superintend the construction of Twiggs County’s first courthouse in Marion, Georgia. Incidentally, when the county seat was moved from Marion to Jeffersonville in 1868, the courthouse was disassembled and moved six miles to the new location on wagons. The courthouse burned in 1901, and the accompanying loss of records makes genealogical research difficult in Twiggs County.

On November 20, 1810, Jacob Ricks was listed as a Commissioner of the Twiggs County Academy, and on November 29, 1810, he was appointed a Justice of the Inferior Court of Twiggs County.

On October 5, 1811, John Denson, Jacob Ricks, Edward Nix, William Coates, Sarah Denson, Susannah Ricks, Elizabeth Lipham, Sally Parrott, Anna Hammock, Sara Glenn, Nancy Powell, and a colored woman, Cloe Hodges, became charter members of Richland Creek Baptist Church, located six miles west of Jeffersonville, Georgia. Jacob Ricks was the first clerk, and Susannah Ricks was Jacob’s wife. Sarah Denson was John Denson’s wife and Jacob Rick’s sister, born in 1761. John Denson (son of Benjamin Denson and Mary Whitehead) and his wife Sarah both died in Twiggs County in 1849, just twenty-six days apart.

Jacob Ricks died before April 17, 1816.

No list of Jacob Ricks’ children has been found, but the following people are possibly children of Jacob Ricks and his wife Susannah, because of their various connections with Twiggs County:

• Richard Ricks
• Mary Ricks (married a Pope)
• Sarah Ricks
• Harris Ricks
• James Ricks
  

Richard Ricks, possible son of Jacob Ricks and his wife Susannah, was Clerk of the Superior Court of Twiggs County, Georgia, in 1815. Richard Ricks moved to Laurens County, Georgia, where he died in February or early March, 1844. His wife’s name is unknown, but their children were:

• Hampton Ricks
• Rutherford Ricks
• Caswell Ricks
• Arcissa (?) Ricks
  

Mary Ricks, possible daughter of Jacob Ricks and his wife Susannah, had a life estate in 50 acres of Lot 83 in Twiggs County.

The name of Sarah Ricks, possible daughter of Jacob Ricks and his wife Susannah, appears on a list of people who had letters in the post office in Marion, Georgia, on July 1, 1823.

Harris Ricks and James Ricks, possible sons of Jacob Ricks and his wife Susannah, were executors of Jacob Ricks’ estate, and sold some of his personal property, including a horse, some cattle, sheep, goats, a yoke of oxen, and two shot guns, on May 31, 1816.

Isaac Ricks, son of John Ricks and his wives, was born before 1770, and died about August, 1825, in Edgecomb County, North Carolina. He probably married Anne Denson. Their children were:

• Willie Ricks (Probably married Polly Burke October 7, 1824, Edgecomb County, NC)
• Delilah Ricks
• Nancy Ricks
• Richard Ricks
• Sally Ricks
• John Ricks

According to census records, John Ricks was born in North Carolina about 1797. It seems likely that this is the same John Ricks who was the son of Isaac Ricks and Anne Denson, but this is not proven. John’s father could have been any of the sons of John Ricks and his wives (except perhaps Richard, Gideon, and Redmund), or someone else.

John Ricks was in Crawford County, Georgia, by 1830, and in Taylor County, Georgia, by 1860. His wife was Nancy (perhaps Nancy Mason), born in North Carolina about 1799.

John Ricks purchased 202 ½ acres of land, lot 161 in the 7th District of Crawford county, Georgia, from John L. Joiner on January 1, 1828.

On May 18, 1830, John Ricks was appointed a Road Commissioner in Captain Bailey’s District of Crawford County, Georgia.

On January 8, 1835, John Ricks was appointed guardian for Susannah Mason and Arther Mason. His relationship to them is unknown.

John Ricks sold 202 ½ acres of land, Lot 84 in the Second District of Crawford County to Richard Ricks of Twiggs County on December 1, 1835. Because of this connection of John Ricks to Twiggs County, it is possible that John Ricks was a son of Jacob Ricks and his wife Susannah. However, it seems more likely that John and Richard were both sons of Isaac Ricks.

Nancy Ricks’ name appears on a list of widowed Taylor County, Georgia, mothers of Confederate soldiers who were eligible to purchase salt from the State of Georgia during 1862-1864. Salt was very important because at that time, before the invention of refrigeration or canning, salt was the primary means of preserving meat, and it was also used as a dietary supplement for livestock. Before the war, most salt in Georgia had been imported from Europe, and the supply was interrupted by the Union blockade of Southern ports. The state sold salt to eligible households for one dollar per half-bushel. This was quite a subsidy, since the price of salt on the open market had risen to $24 per bushel by 1862. Some families also made salt from sea water, or recovered it from the dirt floors of their smokehouses. According to one newspaper account, a half-gallon of salt could be recovered from two bushels of dirt from a smokehouse floor.

According to the Federal census, John Ricks was 53 years old in 1850. Nancy Ricks was listed as a widow in the 1860 census, so John Ricks must have died between 1850 and 1860. The Butler Herald newspaper for Tuesday, July 6, 1886, says Nancy Ricks died “last Friday in the 95th year of her age.” She was a member of the Primitive Baptist Church.

Children of John Ricks and his wife Nancy were:

• L. L. Ricks (born ca 1831 in Georgia)
• John T. Ricks (born ca 1834 in Georgia, served in Company B, 22nd Battalion, Georgia Heavy Artillery, died December 25, 1861.)
• Isaac James Ricks (see below)
• William Ricks (born in Georgia ca 1836)

Another member of the household was Sarah Ricks, who was blind. She moved in with John and Nancy Ricks before 1830, and later received financial assistance from both Crawford and Taylor Counties. When she died in 1866, Isaac James Ricks received $13 in assistance for her medical bills and burial expenses. Sarah Ricks was born in 1795, but her identity is not clear – she may have been John Ricks’ sister, or cousin, or perhaps a sister-in-law.

Among the tombstones in Crowell Cemetery in northern Taylor County, Georgia, are two marked “John T. Ricks Died Dec. 25, 1861” and “Nancy Ricks died 1896 age 96 Wife of John T. Ricks”. Nancy’s seems to be marked incorrectly, because Nancy was the wife of John Ricks, not John T. Ricks, and she died in 1886, not 1896.

[Reference 53, History and Genealogy of the Ricks Family in America, says that our John Ricks, father of Isaac James Ricks, was born in Guilford County, North Carolina, about 1755. Census records show that John Ricks was born about 1797.

In addition, the Mormon website Familysearch.com says Sarah Ricks was the daughter of John Ricks and his wife Elizabeth. This couple also had a son named John, but John (the son) cannot be our John Ricks, because John (the son) testified in court in 1808 about his deceased father’s relatives and land transactions. In 1808, our John Ricks would have been only eleven years old, so it is unlikely that John Ricks who testified in court is the same person as our John Ricks.

In short, the theory that our John Ricks was the son of Isaac Ricks and Olive Fort seems to fit the known facts better than other theories that have been published in books and on the internet.]

Isaac James Ricks, son of John Ricks and Nancy,   was born in Georgia about 1834.  On January 26, 1862, Isaac James Ricks, married (in Taylor County, Georgia) Sarah Montgomery , who was born July 24, 1837 in Crawford County, Georgia. Isaac James Ricks served the Confederacy along with his brother in Company B, Twenty-Second Battalion, Georgia Heavy Artillery. 

Isaac James Ricks purchased land in Crawford County, Georgia, from Jimmy H. Mangham and the estate of John T. Gray on December 2, 1859. This land consisted of 180 acres in lot 181, 102 ½ acres in lot 180, 50 acres in lot 168, and 50 acres in lot 197, all of Taylor County, Georgia. This land came to be known as the I. J. Ricks Place, and there was a log house, later covered with weatherboards, on lot 180.  The house burned sometime about 1960.

Isaac James Ricks died intestate on April 14, 1895, “leaving a large estate of real and personal property worth the sum of ten thousand dollars,” and Sarah Montgomery petioned the court for Letters of Administration for his estate. Sarah Montgomery died August 11, 1920. Both are buried in Hillcrest Cemetery in Reynolds, Georgia. After Sarah’s death, her son-in-law, Joseph Jefferson Carson, purchased the I. J. Ricks Place from her estate on January 15, 1922. Ferdinand Augustus Ricks was her administrator. Joseph Jefferson Carson’s five sons inherited the Ricks Place upon their father’s death, and William Joseph Carson bought it from his four brothers on December 7, 1925. Francis Marion Carson bought the farm from his brother on December 15, 1945, and Charles Ferdinand Carson bought it on December 9, 1950, although he did not begin to operate the farm until January, 1954.

Sarah Montgomery  was the eighth of ten children born to Samuel Montgomery  and Vashti Branan .  Samuel Montgomery  was born March 6, 1800, in South Carolina, and Vashti Branan  was born April 1, 1803, in Morgan County, Georgia.  They were married on January 25, 1824, in Wilkes County, Georgia.  On December 26, 1832, Samuel Montgomery purchased land in Crawford County, Georgia, from Adam Carson .  By 1850 they had settled in Lumpkin County, Georgia, where Samuel was a farmer, and by 1860 they were in Taylor County.  Samuel Montgomery  died September 1, 1872, and Vashti Branan  died December 3, 1895, both in Taylor County, Georgia.  Samuel Montgomery was the son of William Montgomery  and an unknown mother, perhaps named Elizabeth.

Vashti Branan  was the daughter of James Branan  and Sarah Tommey (or Tommy) .

James Branan  and Sarah Tommey  were married in Warren County, Georgia, in 1795.  James’ father was Kenyan (Kenyou) Brannan , (born in Wales but settled in Virginia), and his mother was named Elizabeth.

William Montgomery , father of Samuel Montgomery, above, was said to be born in 1754 in South Carolina and died in 1818 in Georgia.  William’s father was John Montgomery .

On November 30, 1766, a ship called the Earl of Hillsborough departed Belfast, Ireland, with 230 Irish Protestant passengers.  It arrived in Charleston, South Carolina, on Thursday, February 19, 1767.  The passengers petitioned the Province Council of South Carolina for grants of land, and their petitions were granted on February 27, 1767.  Among those passengers were John Montgomery  who received 300 acres, and Rachel Montgomery  (age 30), Samuel Montgomery  (age 13), William Montgomery  (age 12), Latitia Montgomery  (age 9), and Henry Montgomery , who received 100 acres.  The Province Council authorized its Secretary to pay the owners of the ship for the transportation of the passengers pursuant to an act of the Council passed in 1761 to encourage poor Irish Protestants to come to South Carolina.  (The payments ended in July, 1768, partly because of abuse by the owners of another ship, the Nancy.)  This John Montgomery may possibly be the same person as “our” John Montgomery .

Children of Isaac James Ricks  and Sarah Montgomery, above,  were:

• Lula Clyde Ricks
• William Thadeous Ricks  (Sept 17, 1867 –      , married Esther -----)
• James Isaac Ricks   (Nov. 22, 1868 – Oct. 14, 1870)
• Olga Ann Ricks  (Nov 10, 1870 – March 26, 1902)
• John Samuel Ricks  (July 26, 1872 – March 14, 1873)
• Ferdinand Augustus Ricks  (September 8, 1884 – April 10, 1964)
• Sarah Colletta Ricks

Ferdinand Augustus Ricks , son of Isaac James Ricks  and Sarah Montgomery , became a prominent business, civic, and church leader in Reynolds, Georgia.  He married Frances Smith  (November 7, 1881 – May 12, 1956), and their home (designed by architect Charles E. Choate) was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.  Among their children was James Evans Ricks  (September 10, 1910 – January 25, 1974).  Ferdinand Augustus Ricks, Frances Smith, and James Evans Ricks all buried at Hillcrest Cemetery in Reynolds, Georgia.

Lula Clyde Ricks , daughter of Isaac James Ricks  and Sarah Montgomery , was born in Taylor County, Georgia on January 26, 1865 (or 1863).  On March 4, 1891, she married Joseph Jefferson Carson  (See Chapter 1), son of James Alston Carson .  Lula Clyde Ricks  died October 27, 1912.

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