I am Edward Rickamer's Granddaughter and have been Looking for Relatives on this branch of my tree for well over 15 years now- In my quest I have found well over 200 hundred possible spellings for Rickamer (we always knew that wasn't the original spelling) Who know's how Rickemer was spelled before Martin, Edward's father, immigrated from germany My Mother is the sole survivor of the Rickamer family- Edward Joseph Rickamer and his wife Frances Wadsworth Rickamer owned and operated Rickamer's Jeweler's in Tupper Lake and LongLake Ny. Martin Rickamer and his wife Mary had three children George b.1908, Edward b.1911, Marie b.1915. George nor Edward had a son to carry on the family name- My brother was named after his grandfather to carry on the name- Edward Rickamer Hoover- He now uses Rickamer as his first name. As far as we can tell Martin immigrated alone- (I still have his steamer trunk he brought to Ny with him) possibly foolishly I still hold out hope that Martin didn't immigrate alone- The oral history is that he met his wife Mary Ryan on the ship?? According to the 1930 census Mary was born in Ireland. I have been told by my mother that the Rickamer family stoped speaking german- even in their home due to WWII. As far as we know there was Never any correspondence between Martin's family in germany after he came to Ny- BUT Edward had a friend named Setters, Buck and Margaret that owned a shipping company after Edward passed away they found a shipping manafest from the late 70's or early 80's for a ship named patricia rickamer, registered in Hamburg Germany. My mother's name is Patricia Rickamer born in 1945. When this info came to light I was a Junior in highschool who was in the german club (so I could go on a two week trip to Germany, Austria, and the Cech Republic- I have to tell you I learned more in those two weeks than in 4 years of high school) the instructor was the mother of a close friend so I wrote the family that owned the ship a letter and had the german instructor translate it for me, I sent it, but never heard back- by this time the family in Hamburg could have all been deceased. I have to wonder how if there was no communication from Ny back to Germany how this ship was named Patricia Rickamer????? When Edward was 17-18? He broke his hip while living in Binghampton- the story goes that the Dr that set his hip was drunk and set in incorrectly- and the had to re-break his hip and he was in a full body cast for the next 9months. Edward was told that he would never walk again, but his mother being a devout catholic stayed at his bedside day and night praying non stop for a miracle- Her prayers were answered Edward was not olny able to stand on his own, but he was able to walk, needless to say he walked with a severe limp. At some point shortly after his release from the hospital he decided to enter the preisthood. One night he and a friend snuck into the mess hall and swiped some left over chicken for a midnight snack- they were found out- my grandfather refused to "rat" out his friend and was thrown out (his friend told on him, and went on to become a preist) I found out after my Grandmother Frances passed away that she and my Grandfather Edward were never legally married because they were both catholic, Frances had been divorced- (her ex- Husbands name was Fairchild of NY) He had been married to a woman in Binghampton and had a child with her----------- Considering the ramifacations of the depressions - which I saw my grandfather relive with his alzhiemers- it's totaly possible in my mind that they could have seperated and went on with their lifes???? This is a great mystery to our family and one that gives us great hope. all of my mother's family is deceased- which has been extreemly hard on her- I can only imagine the joy in being able to tell her that I'd located her half brother or sister!! How can I trace the changes of the spelling of Rickamer<Rickemer< { I found a Martin Rickoner b. @ 1875 in Broome co in 1920 who immigrated from Ger} can I find out if this may be the same person. I realize that a majority of people were not able to read or write when they immigrated- therefore surnames were spelled as the sounded- even if they were able to sign their name didn't guarentee that would be the spelling- I've generated a list of over 200 possible spellings for rickamer, and now that I know the name has been changed atlease twice I need someone to point me in the right direction- other than the census where might I find this info? Is there a way that I can acess records to find out who owned and registered the ship "Patricia Rickamer" in Hamburg, Ger- {unfortunately the shipping manafest, the letter that I'd translated, and the owners address have all been misplaced :( } Where might I start looking for Edwards First wife +/- child??? i have not been able to locate any marriage or birth records Reserching: Beaver/Bieber/Bevier of PA Hoover of PA Crane of NY Fairchild of Ny Foley of Ny Mykel of NY Rickamer/ Rickemer of NY {Binghampton, Broome Co, NY>> Tupper Lake, Franklin Co., Ny} Skinner of NY Wadsworth of NY {Utica, Ithica, Cape Vincent} Genesee, Ny sharlene M. Hoover Subject: 1930 census Martin RickemerMary RickemerBinghamton, Broome, NYabt 1874 Germany Head Mary RickemerMartin RickemerBinghamton, Broome, NYabt 1881 Wife George J RickemerMartin Rickemer, Mary RickemerBinghamton, Broome, NYabt 1908 Son Edward RickemerMartin Rickemer, Mary RickemerBinghamton, Broome, NYabt 1911 Son Marie RickemerMartin Rickemer, Mary RickemerBinghamton, Broome, NYabt 1915 Daughter Judy Sheldon Greenbush, MI Member of Huron Shores Genealogical Society