As noted in the biographical sketch on Valentine Ficus, he was the emigrant progenitor of his family in America. He was born about 1709 in the Palatinate region of Germany. At the age of twenty years, Valentine traveled from his home in Germany on board the ship, Mortonhouse. He arrived in Philadelphia on 19 August 1729 and took up residence in Huntington Township, York County.
Valentine Ficus married a lady by the name of Elizabeth at some time prior to 1744, when the couple’s first child was born. Although he would have been about thirty-five years of age at his marriage, Elizabeth was only twenty three, having been born in 1721. The couple gave birth to eight children between 1744 and 1759. Valentine Ficus made a living as a farmer.
One of the sons of Valentine and Elizabeth Ficus was Isaac. According to his tombstone information, Isaac was born in either 1745 or 1746. He was not baptised until 1749. The records of the itinerant preacher, the Reverend Jacob Lischy, includes the entry: “Isaac of Valentin Fickes and Elisabeth, baptosed July 9, 1749.”
Isaac, who spelled his surname as Fickes, married Rachel Asper about 1771. Their first child, Rachel, was born in 1772. They gave birth to six sons and two other daughters , the last one being born in 1789. The family resided in Huntington Towship, York County, Pennsylvania where Isaac made a living as a farmer.
Isaac Fickes served in the York County Militia, although the unit in which he served is unknown at this time. His name was listed in a roster of privates in undesignated companies.
After the American Revolutionary War, Isaac and his wife moved westward to Bedford County. He established a farmstead in St. Clair Township, and his son, Isaac Jr settled next door. According to family tradition, the family’s log house burned down at some time, and so Isaac refurbished an out building that he used as a chicken coop. The refurbished chicken coop was used as the family’s house thereafter.
Isaac Fickes Sr., died on 13 Mar 1827. Rachel had died three years earlier on 06 July 1824. Both were buried on their farm property in what became known as the Fickes Farm Cemetery.
