John Ricksecker
John Ricksecker, an aged man and highly respected resident of Richland county for more than 60 years, died Monday at 10 a.m. at his home, four miles west of the city on the Fourth street road. "Father" Ricksecker, as he was familiarly known to a large circle of friends and acquaintances, had been ill for some time. The infirmities of age had long since pressed heavily upon him and for momths he has been very feeble. He had reached the advanced age of 95 years, six months and 20 days, having been born in Frederick County, Maryland, Aug. 19, 1803. He was the oldest member of the Mansfield Methodist church, having been affiliated witht hat denomination for 74 years.
Father Ricksecker was an active member of the church of his choice and even during the closing years of his long and useful life he was a regular attendant upon the means of grace. In the years preceding the civil war he was a strong anti-slavery man and often assisted in the work of the "underground railway." When he came to this county he settled on the farm where he died. His wife died a number of years ago and last August his youngest daughter, Mary, passed away. He leaves two sons, W. K. Ricksecker, of Cleveland, and J. H. Ricksecker, of Kansas City, Mo., and five daughters, Mrs. Estella P. Thompson, Bellefontaine; Mrs. Anna Orindorff, Lyons, Kans.; Mrs. Belle Seltzer, of Turon, Kans.; Mrs. Ada Davis, of Cleveland, and Mrs. J. C. Thompson, of Findlay.
Funeral services at the family home Wednesday, March 8, at 10 a.m. Interment at Ontario.
Source unknown
John Ricksecker was 95 years old Friday, Aug. 19, 1898, and it was the saddest anniversary of his life, for upon that day the mortal remains of his daughter, Mary, were consigned to the grave. She was his youngest child and had the principal care of the household for 25 years, as her mother had become an invalid. After the death of the mother, the father and daughter lived alone, which made him feel the loss the more. She was a kind and loving daughter and devoted her life to the care of her parents. Mr. Ricksecker was born in Frederick County, Maryland, but came to Ohio over 60 years ago and located on the West Fourth Street Road, four miles from Mansfield, and owns the place he cleared from the forest. He was a carpenter and cabinet-maker by trade, and as a specimen of his work he has a bureau he made over 50 years ago, and its close joints and fine veneering shows his skillful workmanship. He also served his neighborhood as an undertaker, using a one-horse wagon as a hearse, and in the absence of a minister at a funeral he conducted the services. Father Ricksecker is the oldest member of the Mansfield M.E. church, having been a member of that denomination 73 years, and his life is an exemplification of the psalmist invocation "Let my prayer be set forth in thy sight as the incense and let the lifting up of my hands be an evening sacrifice". He was converted at a camp meeting held at Rattle Snake Mountain in 1825. This camp meeting was a memorable one which Father Ricksecker yet vividly recalls. The Methodists of Washington City, Baltimore and other places, joined in this out-door convocation of worship. Hundreds of tents and thousands of people were upon the grounds. The Negroes were also there, but as the color line was drawn, they had a camp of their own. The principal encampment consisted of white tents forming a semi-circle surrounding an amphitheatre of rude seats facing a rustic pulpit, canopied by the boughs of the trees. The seats were made by placing boards across logs which had been placed in position for that purpose. For lighting purposes four posts were placed in the ground upon the top of which was built a platform covered with gravel and pine knots from the forest were placed upon this and lighted, which illuminated the grounds, making a beautiful blending of light and shadow. The singing was by the congregation and never could vocal music have been more expressive and sacred, never more triumphant, as in great waves of melody it rolled up through those forest trees, filling the air with a joyful sound. Then came words of prayer and of exhortation. Even the birds, as they flitted from bough to bough in the green canopy of the trees, seemed to tune their morning carols and evening orisons in touch with the worshipful below. Among the noted preachers present were Novel Wilson, Stephen Rossel and John A. Collins, noted pulpit orators, at a time too, when oratory meant something more than a name. Father Ricksecker is well preserved physically and is in the full possession of his mental faculties, and a stranger in conversing with him would hardly place his age at over 80. He cultivates his garden, take care of his horse and drives to town frequently. He is regular in his church attendance, has a good word for every one and is respected and held in the highest regard and esteem by the whole community. Another daughter, a Mrs. Thompson, has come to make her home with her father. In the ante-war times, Father Ricksecker was an anti-slavery man, and as he lived near a station on the "under ground railroad" he often assisted the Finneys in caring for the traffic upon that line. One of the most noted stations of the "Underground railroad" was at "Uncle" John Finney's in Springfield Township, four miles west of Mansfield, on the Walker's Lake road, where the Mansfield and Cookton road crosses the road leading from Spring Mills to Lexington. The farm is now owned by George F. Carpenter, the well-known lawyer and capitalist. It was during the administration of Martin Van Buren that the doctrine of the abolition of slavery began to be propagated. At first there was a distinction drawn between those who were opposed to the extension of slavery and those who were in favor of the abolition, but as revolutions seldom go backward the latter in time absorbed the former. "Uncle" John Finney was a man of strong conviction and as bitter as Cato was in ancient Utica, when he denounced the fugitive slave law under the operation of which runaway slaves were returned to bondage. Finney did not want to simply drift with the tide -- he was too assertive and strong willed for that -- he wanted to take an active part in forming public opinion and shaping public events. The fugitive slave law not only required people to assist in returning slaves to their masters, but made it a penal offense to refuse to do so, which rendered it so repugnant to the people of the north that they prided themselves more upon its breach than upon its observation. [portion of text describing various incidents along the underground railroad omitted] John Finney's first wife was a Marshall, an aunt of John Marshall, of Bowman Street, this city. James Finney owned the farm south of his brother John's and facing on the Leesville Road, where his daughters, Miss Jennie and Miss Lizzie, yet reside. Among Mr. Finney's old-time neighbors were John Neal, James Marshall, John Ferguson, Mr. Maybee and John Bishop, some of whom preceded and others followed Mr. Finney to where under-ground railroads are unnecessary and unknown. -- A.J. Baughman.
From The Mansfield Semi-Weekly News, September 13, 1898
