Perhaps Margaret Powell Ricketts is Hezekiah's Melungeon mother, perhaps living at the Fort Shirley Community, or perhaps with her roots from the melungeon community of Rockbridge County Virginia. ~~~ There is a Thomas rickets of Amherst County, Virginia, which is next-door to Rockbridge County, Virginia, who died in 1803 and is buried in his Thomas Ricketts family graveyard which is located on the 300 acre tract which adjoins Possum Island Road where wolf branch--off of Stovall Creek--crosses under Possum Island road. This old Thomas Ricketts family cemetery was probably established in the 1770s or 1780s. ----- This Thomas rickets was born circa 1735 and is highly Possibly an uncle of Hezekiah Ricketts, and would most definitely be somehow extended family to the Hill Valley, Pennsylvania Ricketts. This same Thomas rickets acquired a land-grant in 1773 for 350 acres on Possum Island Road surrounding Stovall creek at Wolf branch, in Amherst County Virginia. This Ricketts Cemetery in Amherst County Virginia is four- square poles, which is approximately 66' x 66' (feet)in dimension, And is listed in a 1799 deed of sale where Thomas Ricketts is selling most of his acreage, most likely to liquidate, and settle his estate, as he probably knows that he is not to live much longer, having died in 1803. ------ Genealogy Researchers should consider all angles of possibly for the father of Hezekiah. Hezekiah Ricketts was deeded his huntingdon County PA homestead in 1784, by a "Zachariah and William Ricketts from Rockbridge Co, VA," and perhaps these were his brother and brother, or nephew, with their mother (Margaret Powell?) (Powell is considered a minor Melungeon surname. AND an American Indian surname as cited in Dawes listing) My hypothesis is that Hezekiah and Zachariah were brothers with their mother being a "melugeon Indian" woman, and thus perhaps Margaret Powell was a melugeon woman, and Zachariah deeded the Hill Valley farm in 1784 to his brother Hezekiah. (PERHAPS Hezekiah & Zachariah Ricketts were twins of Margaret Powell Ricketts because their names rhyme :-). An online source says Hezekiah and Hannah (both at 21 years) were married in 1775 in Highland, Ross County, Ohio. That's the Indian town of Chillicothe. At first this story seems far-fetched until one realizes that these early Pennsylvania Ricketts (and Willcoxs) were the earliest of frontiers people, and who were trading with the Indians. Modern Shirleysburg was earlier an Indian trading center, and with the Indian village called Aughwick. And if Hezekiah's mother, Margaret Powell Ricketts, was indeed a (melungeon) Indian she would have certainly made things more welcoming between the whites and the native Indians at chillicothe. So If the story is true I would propose the possibility that Hezekiah's "Indian" mother (and Hannah's future mother-in-law) was a member of this chillicothe expedition. If William Wilcox was still alive in 1775 then he may have been on that expedition to give his daughter in marriage (the likelihood is exceedingly high that William is Hannah's father). There is plenty of scholarly articles and books online that cite The modern site of Chillicothe ohio as comprising seven Indian villages between 1758 to 1787, with as many as 2500 living at the height of its population, with Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans all living together and dealing in the trade goods livelihood. So Hezekiah Ricketts and Hannah Wilcox being married in Ross county Ohio in 1775 at 21 years old is not so far-fetched, given the trading history of the Indian villages of Chillicothe, Ohio.