More for the History Buffs ... Fulton Turtle Cannery, of Rockport, Texas
Joel Henry Rickel
Company G, 24th Ohio Infantry
Chanute Daily Tribune, Monday, June 30, 1924, Pg. 1
GEN JOEL H. RICKEL DEAD
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Funeral Services in First Baptist Church at 10 Tomorrow Morning
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PAST COMMANDER KANSAS GRAND ARMY
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He Was a Member of Commission Which Erected State Memorial Building
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A Resident of Kansas Since 1878, He Had Lived Here Twenty-Eight Years
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Gen. J. H. Rickel, past commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, Department of Kansas, died at 7:40 o'clock last evening. The funeral services will be held in the First Baptist church at 10 tomorrow morning. The G. A. R. will have charge and the clergyman will be the Rev. Percy R. Atkins, pastor of the First Christian church, a former service man.
Mr. Rickel was born December 8, 1844, on a farm near West Salem, O., where he spent his boyhood days. During his young manhood he lived in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa. He came to Kansas with his family in 1878, settling near Eskridge, Wabaunsee county, where he maintained his home until he moved to Chanute in 1896.
General Rickel is survived by his widow, his brother, J. M. Rickel and family of Chanute; his sister Rebecca Jane Peck of Tower Hill, Illinois, and his five sons, Edgar of South Dakota, Milton of Gridley, Kan., H. E. of Eskridge, Kan., B. G. of Kansas City, Mo., and Willard H. of Topeka.
Soldier and Citizen.
General Rickel was a veteran of the Civil War, enlisting May 28, 1861, in the Twenty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He served more than three years was engaged in twenty-three battles and was wounded three times. As a distinguished mark of honor he was elected by the full vote of his regiment, while suffering from a wound received in the battle of Stone River, the "100 Veterans Regiment" to be placed on the roll of honor.
In public life he served on the treasury board of examiners of Wabaunsee county, Kansas. In 1881; was assistant state treasurer examiner in 1883; commissioned as quartermaster general in the Veteran State Organization with rank of brigadier general in 1885; served on the staff of four national G. A. R. commanders and six departmental commanders; was department commander of the Kansas Grand Army of the Republic in 1909, and on the commission that erected the Memorial Building in Topeka--the only marble building ever erected by the state.
Widely Traveled.
His life was one of ceaseless energy. He was always active, always thriving. He had traveled extensively, there being but few world ports at which he had not touched. During his travels and marine research work, he accumulated a vast store of curious, souvenirs, fossils, and deep sea specimens, much of which he voluntarily donated to the exhibit at the Soldier's Memorial Home in Topeka.
Although hampered more than most men by physical disabilities, he was actively engaged in the affairs of life up to the hour when he was stricken. His life may aptly be compared to a huge wave that surges amid the floods and beats against the grand cliffs of the North Atlantic, gradually diminishing as it hurls its foamy crest against the rock-bound shores of New England, finally to break into tiny peaceful wavelets upon the sandy beaches of far-famed Florida, so he, from an active, aggressive life on this earth, passed into that of the infinite future with a scarcely preceptible change in the transition--the end was simply the unconscious drifting into eternal sleep.
His Views on Infinity.
At the time of his death he was not a member of any church organization, but if "religion consists of man's duty to man," General Rickel marched in the advance column. His views on death and an immortal life are perhaps shown by quoting from an extraordinarily patriotic address delivered by him in Chanute on Memorial Day in 1898. In that address he said:
"The history of all the generations of men fully establish the eternal fact that no human being can escape the final dissolution of all earthly ties; that each and every individual of our race must sooner or later close this earthly career and bid adieu both to friend and foe and close his eyes on the great panorama of human experience.
"At the witnessing of such scenes the mind naturally soars to the height of imagination and roams through the infinity of eternal space beyond the human knowledge, seeking a final abode for our departed friends. Then it delves down into the unfathomable abyss to ask of some unpictured being if there, is some ordeal through which our friends must pass before they can be admitted to the Celestial Home beyond the river, and when imaginative speculation has run the height and depth, length and breadth, of its scope, it then wanders back to the sphere of human comprehension, and, while we seem to be confronted with realities we cannot fully explain or for which we can give no satisfactory reason, we are compelled to say, there is a Power that doeth all things well and we will trust the interests of our loved ones in His hands."
His Work for Community.
If the measure of a man's citizenship, if the measure of his worth to the community , consists in the results of his life's work, then General Rickel's work for Neosho county and Chanute will rank high. To mention but one of his many activities will serve to place him in the front rank of pioneer builders. He more than any other one individual, was the prime instigator and worker in the movement that equipped the car of the Neosho county exhibit that, with flaming banners, on its way to Washington, D. C., proclaimed to the world the wonderful resources of our county and city.
General Rickel was loyal to his county, city and state. He was loyal to the country, and to the Grand Army of the Republic. He was aggressively human, having comrades as well as many friends, but all who knew him will admit that he had many virtues that he who survive him will do well to emulate.
From volume 4, pages 2082-2083 of A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, written and compiled by William E. Connelley, Secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka. Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company, copyright 1918
JOEL H. RICKEL. Among the citizens of Chanute, one who has had a most interesting career is Joel H. Rickel, a resident of this city since 1896, and now the owner of a carriage and repair shop and the owner of a valuable farm. Mr. Rickel is a veteran of the Civil war, and has been a prominent figure in Grand Army circles, being a past commander of several posts in Kansas and a past department commander of the State of Kansas. He was born in Ashland County, Ohio, December 8, 1844, and is a son of John S. and Jane (Fulks) Rickel.
The Rickel family, which originated on the Rhone, Germany, was founded in this country during Colonial times, and three bearing the name fought with the Patriot army during the war of the Revolution, one meeting his death at the battle of Brandywine. Michael B. Rickel, the grandfather of Joel H. Rickel, was born in 1776, in Tuscaraugus County, Pennsylvania, and became a pioneer into Ohio, where, in Ashland County, he entered a farm from the Government. There he passed the remainder of a long and industrious life, and died in 1868. John S. Rickel was born in Ashland County, Ohio, in 1813, in the same house in which was born his son, and was reared and educated in the community. He was a millwright by trade and a civil engineer by profession, and in 1841 went to Kosciusko County, Indiana, where he cleared a farm from the heavy timber. There he spent the remainder of his life, and died in 1853. He was a whig in politics and a member of the Masonic fraternity. Mr. Rickel married Miss Jane Fulks, who was born in 1813, in Wayne County, Ohio, and died in Kosciusko County, Indiana, in 1858, and they became the parents of three children: Joel H.; Rebecca Jane, who is the widow of Dick Peek, who was a farmer, and resides in Shelby County, Illinois; and J. M., president of the Chanute Tank Company, of Chanute, Kansas.
Joel H. Rickel was reared on his father's farm in Kosciusko County, Indiana, until he was ten years of age, at which time he returned to Ashland County, Ohio, and was there given a common school education. After the death of his father he resided on the farm of his grandfather until he was fifteen years old, at which time he struck out for himself, but his career was interrupted by the outbreak of the Civil war. In 1861 he enlisted in the Twenty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he served until June 19, 1864. During this period he saw some of the severest fighting of the entire war, taking part in no less than twenty-two engagements, including such notable battles as Shiloh, Corinth, Murfreesboro and Chickamauga. At Stone River, Mr. Rickel was shot through the right foot, and September 19, 1863, he was again wounded, this time seriously, three ribs being broken. He was unconscious when found, and his comrades thinking him dead, prepared for his burial. He laid on the funeral pile for fourteen hours, when they discovered that life was not extinct. He was five months recovering from this injury, but rejoined his regiment as soon as he was able. Mr. Rickel's war record was one of which any man might well be proud. He was courageous in battle, earning the admiration of his comrades, and his faithful performance of whatever duty was imposed upon him gained him the respect of his officers.
At the close of the war the brave young soldier returned to Ashland, Ohio, but he had seen enough of the outside world to desire to see more, and also felt that the West held out opportunities that his home community could never give him. Accordingly, in 1866, he went to Blackhawk County, Iowa, where he engaged in farming for three years, and in 1869 located on a farm in the vicinity of Flora, Illinois. After one year of agricultural work, he moved into the town, where he followed carpentry for three years, and in 1873 first came to Kansas, settling in the vicinity of Emporia, where he farmed with some degree of success for two years. At the end of that time he went to Wabaunsee County, Kansas, and during the next ten years was engaged in the real estate and loan business, an enterprise in which he met with success. Mr. Rickel's love of adventure, however, remained unsatisfied, and at that time he went to sea, fishing for turtles, under a contract with the Fulton Turtle Cannery, of Rockport, Texas, which called for all the turtles weighing over 200 pounds that he could catch. In this capacity he fished all along the coast of Mexico and Central and South America and his catches were phenomenal during the three years of his contract. While thus engaged he brought many strange fish and curios to the surface of the waters, and eventually decided to make a collection of curios, which he brought back to the United States. These included a dolphin whale, a hammer-head shark, a man-eating shark, a black shark, and a mammoth sawfish twenty-one feet long and weighing 2,500 pounds. All of these he had mounted by a taxidermist, and a large collection of radiates, zuphites and molusca, which were subsequently placed on exhibition in Texas, Arkansas and Kansas, and finally were established at Chanute. Many of these curios have since been sold to exhibitions, museums and dealers, but Mr. Rickel still possesses 800 of the smaller specimens, including rare and valuable species of the finny tribe, which form a most interesting collection and have been viewed by thousands of people, many of whom came from long distances solely to see them. Mr. Rickel has added other features to the collection, including a piece of rosewood veneering which was taken from the first piano (or spinnet) ever shipped to America.
Mr. Rickel came to Chanute in 1896, and here has since been the proprietor of a carriage and repair shop. He is also superintending the operations on his farm, which lies one mile west of the limits of Chanute, a handsome property which has been brought to a high state of cultivation and yields a good income. He likewise owns other real estate, including a brick flat building at No. 318 East Main Street. Mr. Rickel is a stand-pat republican, and cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln, since which time he has given his ballot to every presidential candidate of his party. He is a member of the Odd Fellows and the Triple Tie, and stands high in the councils of the Grand Army of the Republic, being a past department commander of the Grand Army of the State of Kansas. He is now a member of Chanute Post No. 129, of which he is past commander, as he is also of two other posts in the state.
Mr. Rickel was married in December, 1890, at Guthrie, Oklahoma, to Miss Mary A. Hardy, daughter of William and Ann (Garrity) Hardy, farming people, both of whom are now deceased. By a former marriage Mr. Rickel had three children: Henry E., who is the editor of a newspaper at Eskridge, Kansas; B. G., who is a contracting painter at Portland, Oregon; and Willard H., who is engaged in the real estate and loan business at Eskridge, Kansas.
