Remembering Freedom

Interviewer: Justin Hawkins

J: And what object did you bring today?

Rickman: I brought photos, pictures of ancestors, people from around this area. Uh, Longtown, Philothea, Carthagena, which is up towards Celina, and family things.

J: Sure, and so what, how long has your family been in the area?

Rickman: A long time. Um, we have, Ricky Cotton has done a lot of research about people coming up from Virginia and things like this.

J: Do you know around what time?

Rickman: Maybe 1840’s, 1850’s. The Rickman family, they’ve settled in Philothea and Carthagena, which is up towards 1-27, towards Celina, the communities up there, very community like this . This was probably one of the biggest ones here in Longtown, Philothea and Carthagena were smaller. Mainly German, but very mixed population, uh, there were, you know, free blocks and people came up and there were a few people down in Anna, Ohio who came up, and the Randolph slaves, the Randolph farms people who probably [???????] that in history. Mr. Randolph, one of the signers of the, uh, the Declaration of Independence and yeah, he freed some slaves. We’re not really particular relation to them, our family came up, like I said, from Virginia, stuff like that. And history, you know, you lose history and records trail off. But, Ricky is providing a sheet that traces a lot of our family. I know our connection to Longtown here is Ricky and my, um, my father and Ricky’s mother, their mother was born here in Longtown. Her name was Ora Bass, and my grandfather, um, was from Carthagena, and he married Ora Bass here. They have children, my father and Ricky’s….

J: Now, when I was driving in I saw the Bass cemetery, so…

Rickman: Yeah, that was part of the family here, it was a big family here. My grandmother was born here, and then she moved to Philothea with my grandfather, Uria Rickman, and um…

J: Do you know what their occupations were?

Rickman: Yeah, they were farmers. My grandfather was a farmer, as many of these people were down in Carthagena, Philothea, it was, they had farms. And uh, my grandfather was one of about 9 sisters, I’ve provided some pictures, I don’t think there’s a picture of my grandfather there but his sisters are in there, and some of the census history lists his name, lists his families, my great-grandfather Uria, he was a Civil War veteran. He enlisted in 1864 and served for about a year, listed out of Cincinnati, and he’s listed in my Civil War records as brought up from their muster roles in the Civil War. And, uh, that’s the connection with him and they had about 6 other children. My grandfather Uria was like, probably one of the next to last born. Like I said, they had about 8 siblings and I’ve provided some pictures of the women especially. My aunt Mary… my great-great grandmother Mary, and her daughters. And, uh, that’s about it. My father… my great-grandfather came back from the Civil War and then they, they got their farm started over in Carthagena and Philothea, and then their son Uria is uh, my grandfather who married Ora Bass, from here. And that’s how my branch of the family and their children, Woodrow, my dad, I’m named after my dad, and Ricky, of course, his mother was Luis, she was the youngest in the Rickman family. And again, their mother was from here. So that’s how… that’s our connection.

J: Do you have any… Do you live in the area still, or?

Rickman: I live in St. Marys, yeah. I, uh, I live in St. Marys. I have sons who live in Madison, Wisconsin. They’re in their third year???????, started late. Uh, I have two grandchildren there. But yeah, I grew up in St. Marys.

J: Do you have any, uh, family traditions that you still do that connect you with….

Rickman: Well, we get together for a Rickman reunion, although we kinda stopped, my dad really enjoyed it and one of his brothers, a couple of his brothers, could make it but now they’ve all passed on. You know, my dad and my mom was the last, she was from Lima, my mother passed about 2 years ago. So, but my dad was 96, 97, and my mom was 98 when she passed, going on 99. So hopefully I got some of those longevity genes. And uh, yeah. We wanna try to start it again next year, in the summer. We’re gonna try and get the family together again. Ricky is pushing it, [???] is pushing it, and yeah. He has, his family, his side, like I said, his mom was the youngest of the family… the Rickman, the youngest daughter. She married Copman [?????bass], they were from over here. And Ricky and that part of the family, they grew up in Indiana. But they would always come over to visit, and we would go visit them. Mom and dad, Ricky’s mom and dad, they often met here when they were younger. When we were babies at best, you know, maybe a little older. But, uh they would meet here in this community and um, that’s about it!

J: I guess my last question for you would be, you know, what does ‘freedom’ mean to you, to your family, to this community?

Rickman: Oh, very important. You know, I’m a history student. I got a degree in history and, uh, I always follow this stuff, and you know this is, I’m always proud of this and my family, especially from the military side with my great-grandfather being in the Civil War, 15th United States Colored Troops. He was recruited in this area, in Cincinnati, so a Major of Cincinnati recruited people. My grandfather was in, all my uncles on both sides of the family, we’ve all, it’s a long tradition. My dad didn’t have to go in, he had, uh, medical problems. And when he did get it resolved, near the end of, well actually it was in 1944, uh, he was going to be drafted by the [?????], so they were not drafting men with children, so I was a year old I guess it was. So, I kept my dad out of the military. All my uncles, my dad’s brothers, they were all in the military. My mom’s… they were all World War II veterans. Uh, I have cousins, one of my dad’s sisters, lived here for a long time with her husband. Her son’s cousins were much older than me, but they grew up here. Uh, they were military. World War II. Korea. I myself am a Vietnam veteran. I served in Vietnam and I was in the Air Force for 6 years.

J: Do you have any stories about your great-grandfather? Did he see, uh, any action, or, no?

Rickman: No, we really don’t. You know, records get lost, and…

J: Right, yeah. It was a few generations ago.

Rickman: I know he enlisted sometime, it was like the summer of 1864, and he was in active duty through like, November of 1865 and then he was mustered out. He was a private, most soldiers were. And, we found some medical records. He was in a hospital, military hospital in Tennessee sometime like, uh, in the spring of around the time the war was ending, or something…

J: Do you know why he was in the hospital?

Rickman: No I don’t. You know, it’s just a very small record.

J: Yeah, you lost em.

Rickman: I found, uh, a record of when my, a great-grandmother applied for widow’s pension. It was her name and my great-grandfather Uria written. Other than that, I’m not, Ricky’s a little into more than I am, far as he’s a little better at it. Not that I don’t, I search things, I [????] ancestry, and that but, uh, the records, like I say, they get lost and destroyed and they’re old records. But, I have found, like I said, the widow’s pension application, a little medical record on my grandfather being in the military hospital and uh, I also found when he was a muster roles, roll called, and then when he was mustered out. I think I found something like that. He was, um, discharged from the army. It was like maybe November or December of 1865. Something like that.

J: Okay, great. Is there anything else that you wanted to tell us…

Rickman: No that’s all.

J: Great, thank you so much. I hope you can use that, and use it……