What can I say about Robert and Margaret? Well, they grew up on neighboring farms. Robert was about 6 years older than Margaret. When he was 23 and she was 17 they got married. She was a June bride. Less than ten months later their first child, Thomas, was born.
No doubt their entire adult lives revolved around their family, their faith, and their farm. Robert not only worked on his father's farm, he inherited it and worked the same farm land his entire life. Concerning their home, Horace Ickes, my great-grandfather, who was born in 1868 wrote, "The home of my boyhood was many years behind the times and slow in trying new methods and appliances. I remember very well when my great-grandfather, Robert Callihan on my mother's side, got his first cook stove and kerosene lamp, up to that time he cooked over the fire and used tallow candles for light."
A history of the local congregation of The Church of the Brethren, also known as the Mock Church (as the land on which it was built was owned by a member of the Mock family), indicates that Robert was appointed a deacon. Robert and Margaret are both buried in the cemetery adjacent to the church.
Margaret spent her entire adult life birthing and caring for children. Her first child was born when she was 18 yrs. old. She gave birth to 14 living children over the span of 29 years. All 14 of those children lived into adulthood. Going by the birth dates of her surviving children, she could have given birth to other children who died in infancy or were stillborn, though we have no evidence or proof of any others. Of course, I believe that all women need and deserve some time to themselves to pursue their own interests. A career for a mid-19th century farmer's wife, I'm sure, was unthinkable. But maybe Margaret would have liked to have had a flower garden. Maybe she wanted to try her hand at painting. I don't even know if she was literate. I don't really know what kind of resources were available to her to pursue some kind of self-interest when raising children was no longer her primary concern. Unfortunately, she never had the opportunity to find out. Margaret died at the age of 47 giving birth to her 14th child. Robert never remarried, even though he out-lived Margaret by about 31 years.
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| Mock Dunkard Church and Cemetery |
Their 14 children provided them with a huge posterity. Descendants of Robert and Margaret were photographed sometime around the 1900-1910 timeframe at the Holsinger Church. My direct ancestors left the area in 1884 and are not represented.
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| Photo courtesy of callihanfamilyresearch.org and Donald M. Callihan |
All original content, images, commentary, etc. copyright © by Joy Denison 2015-2016. All rights reserved. All writings, poems, speeches, essays, images, scans, likenesses, etc. by Adam Ickes (b 1845) as well as personal histories, images, and all other content by all persons referenced and discussed within the pages and posts in this blog may not be copied, shared, or reproduced in any way without expressed permission by the owner unless included here from other referenced sources or are historical records already considered to be in the public domain.
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