Joel Ricks, 1804-1888, was the fourth child and second son born to Jonathan and Temperance Edwards Ricks, cotton farmers of Donaldson Creek, Christian (now Trigg) County, Kentucky. Ricks was hard-working, resourceful, and courageous; during his lifetime, he worked as a farmer and stocksman, a tanner, builder of homes, schools, and temples, businessman (treasurer, stockholder, etc.), ferryman, miller, etc. Ricks married Eleanor Martin on May 17, 1827, and 11 children were born to the couple, who later moved to Madison County, Illinois: Thomas Edwin (1828-1901), Lewis 1830-1894), Sally (Sarah) Ann (1832-1864), Clarinda(1835-1864), Temperance(1837-1916), William (1839 -1900), Jonathan (1841- 1925), Mary Elizabeth (1843-1929), Josiah (1845-1916), Joel Martin (1850-1850), and Nathan (1853-1929). The Ricks built a school and a religion there before bumping into LDS missionaries. Joel, Eleanor, and their older children were baptized, and Joel received the Priesthood and became a High Priest. They moved to Nauvoo a few years later, helped to finish and received their endowments in the Nauvoo Temple, and trekked across the plains with a contingent of Saints in 1848. Joel and Eleanor were sealed for time and all eternity on February 10, 1852, in Salt Lake City. On October 26, 1852, while settled in Centerville, Joel took as a second wife the widow of his friend Ezra Allen. Sarah Beriah Fiske Allen, who already had two small children (and had buried two more), gave Joel six more: Ezra Varnum(1853-1933, md. Lois Julia Clark and Flavilla Leavitt Adams), Sarah Beriah (1855-1869), Ellen Jane (1856-1935, md. Charles Wilson Nibley), Joel Jr. (1858-1944, md. Susette Cardon and Mary J. Sermett), Adelia (1860-1863), and Esther (1862-1949, md. Joseph Ellis Senior Wilson). In 1860, the families moved to Wellsville, Cache Valley, where Joel served in the bishopric. While in Logan, Joel established a few businesses: the ‘Hyde & Ricks’ carding mill, the ‘Hyde, Ricks, & Company’ flour mill, a joint tannery with Thomas Weir, and the Joel Ricks and Company ferry, in addition to his own farming and herding. He held stock in the Cooperative Institution of 1868, the Deseret Telegraph Company, and the Logan Canyon Road Company, and was Treasurer for Cache County. He and his family helped to build the Logan Temple. In late February 1882, Joel lost Eleanor; he followed her in death on December 15, 1888, and Sarah passed away in mid-June of 1891.
From the guide to the Joel Ricks Family Organization research collection, 1829-2007, (L. Tom Perry Special Collections)
