James Ricketts and Sarah "Sally" Prather

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Husband James Ricketts ^{1 2 3}

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           Born: 18 May 1766 - New Jersey 4
     Christened: 
           Died: 6 Mar 1857 - ? Venango Co, PA 5
         Buried:  - U. P. Cemetery, Plumer, Cornplanter Twp, Venango Co, PA 6

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         Father: [Father] Ricketts (      -      )
         Mother: 

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       Marriage:  - Huntingdon Co, PA

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   Other Spouse: Jane McCalmont (1794-1861) 2 7

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Wife Sarah "Sally" Prather ^{4 8}

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           Born: 25 Oct 1780 8
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

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         Father: Thomas Hicks Prather, Sr. (1755-1818) 9
         Mother: Elizabeth Crunkleton (1758-1831) 10

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Children

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1 M George C. Ricketts ¹

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

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General Notes: Husband - James Ricketts

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About the year 1795, he migrated to Cornplan-ter township, Venango County, Pennsylvania, from Huntingdon County. When he arrived at Pittsburgh, he found it only a small town, which was made up chiefly of log huts. He stopped there only a short time, just long enough to procure some articles of clothing, and probably something to eat, when he resumed his lonely journey up the Allegheny, fishing and hunting as he went. He was in quest of better hunting grounds than could be found in the county whence he made his exit. When he neared the place where Franklin now stands, he saw only small log houses, and the number of them was so small that it could scarcely be called a village, though it was the largest in the county at that time. He came on up the river as far as the mouth of Oil creek, or the present site of Oil City, which was then an Indian village, inhabited by the Cornplanter tribe. Instead of following the river farther, he started up Oil creek, and traveled as far as the site of Petroleum Centre. He then left the creek and took an easterly course for about two miles, when he reached the place where he subsequently settled and reared a family of children. There was not another white inhabitant in the township at this time. His only companions were his horse and dog, and his only protection from all sorts of wild beasts was his rifle. There was not a road surveyed in the township, nor was there a fence to be seen. Nothing prevented him from traveling in any direction except the thick growth of underbrush. For many years nothing was done but hunting and fishing. Game of all kinds was plenty. Bears, deer, wolves, wildcats, and occasionally a panther could be found in the forests. The Indians were seen daily, passing to and from their village at the mouth of Oil creek.
In the early part of the nineteenth century, it is related that among the settlers of the area lived a man named Sours, who was a source of great annoyance to them, on account of his practice of sorcery upon them. He had a wonderful hatred for James Ricketts, upon whom, by way of revenge for some trivial offense, he imposed many base misdemeanors. Clothes were cut to pieces in an instant, when there was no one to be seen in reach of them. If a neighbor would come in, and lay off his hat or coat, they would be cut in shreds. All such insults were practiced for about eighteen months, when they made some apology to the old man, for which he relieved Mr. R. from further annoyance. [HVC 1879, 575]

The first white man to establish a habitation in the valley of Oil creek was James Ricketts, a native of New Jersey, and later a resident of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. He was a hunter by avocation and followed the chase in Kentucky and Ohio, acquiring a wide acquaintance with frontier life in all its various phases. It was probably with the idea of remaining temporarily that he came to this county in the summer of 1795, and the condition of the country at that time doubtless impressed a man who expected to derive his subsistence by the use of his trap and gun favorably. Game did not disappear with the advent of other settlers so rapidly as in other parts of the county, and, finding his neighbors congenial, Mr. Ricketts remained. In 1810 he bought three hundred acres of land from the Holland Company, situated at the source of Cherry run, and built a mill on that stream. He was twice married and was the father of twenty children, but one of whom was still a resident of the township in 1890. He was a Democrat in politics and a member of the old Seceder church at Plumer. [HVC 1890, 644]

He was the first white settler in Cornplanter township, Venango County, Pennsylvania. He was a hunter, familiar with frontier life in all its phases, and came to Venango County in the summer of 1795. Finding the game here plentiful, the Indians friendly, and the incoming settlers agreeable, he decided to stay. In 1810 he bought 300 acres from the Holland Company, situated at the source of Cherry run, and built a mill on that stream, one of the first within the original limits of Allegheny Township. He was twice married, and was the father of twenty children, one of whom was yet living in the township thirty years after the father's death. He was a Democrat in politics, and his religious connection was with the old Seceder Church at Plumer. [CAB, 365]

The Prathers and the Ricketts had lived near each other in Huntingdon County, before moving to Venango County.

1 J. H. Newton, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Columbus, OH: J. A. Caldwell Publishers, 1879), Pg 575.

2 —, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk, & Co., Publishers, 1890), Pg 545.

3 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 365, 453, 587.

4 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 365.

5 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 365, 369.

6 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 369.

7 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 453, 587.

8 Earl M. Prather, Pioneers 1795 - 1997 Ricketts, Prather, & McCalmont (Centerville, PA: Self-published, 1997), Pg 3.

9 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 366.

10 Earl M. Prather, Pioneers 1795 - 1997 Ricketts, Prather, & McCalmont (Centerville, PA: Self-published, 1997), Pg 2.