ROBERT JICKLING, an eminently worthy citizen of Kalamazoo County, and a prosperous farmer of Comstock Township, residing on section 6, was born in Norfolkshire, England,in the village of Hitcham, September 2, 1821. Robert Jickling, his father, was a native of the same place, born May 2, 1794. In 1835, he emigrated with his family to Overbeck, Canada, the journey across the water and into the interior of the country being accomplished in seven weeks and three days. He became an early settler of the town of Woodstock in Upper Canada, and there slent the rest of his days at his occupation as a farmer, dying April 9, 1872, at a good old age. He was a son of Valentine Jickling, who was an Englishman, and born in the same shire as himself. The mother of our subject was Mary Lee in her maiden days, and she was born in 1788 in the same English shire as her husband and other members of the family. She died December 10, 1831, at the age of forty-three years. She bore seven children, two of whom died young, one in infancy and one at the age of seven years. John and George are residents of Canada; Sarah is the wife of Abram Bray, who resides near Woodstock, Canada; Mary is the wife of William Everets of the village of Mitchell, Canada. After the death of the mother of our subject, his father married Mary Whitby in 1832. She was born in England, December 30, 1807,and became the mother of ten children, as follows: William F., who has been on the police force in Chicago for nineteen years, and who was a soldier in the Civil War; Elizabeth, wife of Will iam McClain, of Manitoba; John D., a resident of Jasper County, Iowa; Susan, wife of William Wood, of Canada; Thomas, a resident of Canada; Rowland, deceased; Samuel, who was a member of the Seventeenth Michigan Infantry during the late war, and is now at Annapolis; Hannah and Rebecca deceased; Joseph B., a resident of Manitoba. lie of whom we write is the third son and third child of his parents. Ile remained at home with them until the family came to America, and he was then bound out to David Ford, with whom lie came to Michigan, and remained with him until he was twenty-six years old. At that age, he was married in Galesburgh to Julia Ann, the oldest child of Fay and Lura (Johnson) Aldrich, the marriage ceremony being performed by George Simmons, December 5, 1847. And thus for more than forty-four years they have lived and labored together in a wedded life that has brought them as much joy as usually falls to tile lot of mortals, and among its attendant blessings are the eleven children born to them, namely: Adeline, born October 1, 1848, and the wife of Frederick Shay, of Richland Township; Marquis, born August 2, 1850, now a farmer of Richland Township; Lura, born October 3, 1852, and the wife of Joseph Newell, of Richland Township; Mary, born October 26, 1854, wife of Gordon B. Brigham, of Richland Township; Sarah, born May 25, 1857, married Henry Tolhurst, of Richland Township, and died May 9, 1888; Ella, born March 13, 1860, wife of Sabin B. Nichols, of Kalamazoo;Albert, born August 14, 1862, foreman of the Dewing Manufacturing Company, at Kalamazoo; Walter W., born September 28, 1864, residing with his parents; Emma, born June 10, 1867, died May 22, 1889; Clara E., born December 29, 1869, wife of the Rev. John Humphreys, pastor of the Congregational Church at Rylander, Wis.; Howard B., born October 20, 1873, a student at the Business College at Kalamazoo. The wife of our subject was born six miles from the town of Angelica, Allegany County, N. Y., and she came to Michigan with her parents at the age of four years. The journey was made with an ox-team, and led through the famous Maumee Swamp. The family was among the first to settle in Charleston Township. Mrs. Jickling's father and mother were natives of New York, as was her paternal grandfather, Abram Aldrich, and he too was an early settler of Kalamazoo County, coming here in 1833, and taking up land from the Government. Mr. Jickling located where he now resides after his marriage, buying the land of his old employer, Mr. Ford. There were no improvements on the place except a small log house, 18 x 20 feet in dimension, and the roof covered with shakes. He and his wife lived in that humble abode nine years. All the furniture they had when they set up housekeeping was just barely sufficient for their wants-a primitive cook-stove, a chest, that served asa table, and a few other indispensable articles. The surrounding country was a wilderness, and there were no roads or scarcely any evidences of civilization, and our subject and his wife had to face many a hardship and to endure many trials before the land was brought into its present fine condition, and provided with neat buildings and everything to facilitate farming. Mr. Jickling has now a fine farm of one hundred and ninety-two acres, all of which is under cultivation, but about twenty acres. One hundred and forty acres of this land have been cleared by himself. Mr. Jickling has made a name and a place for himself in his adopted township second to that of no other man, and he is greatly respected by the people among whom he has lived for so many years. In his political relations, he is a Republican. He has helped forward the cause of education in this locality in his capacity of School Director, which office he has held many terms.
Portrait and biographical record of Kalamazoo, Allegan and Van Buren counties, Michigan, containing biographical sketches of ... citizens ... governors of the state, and ... presidents of the United States.
Collection p. 787-8