Son of Cornelius VAN SICKLE and Elizabeth ROLOSON.

Oxford Mirror, 2 September 1909

MR. LEVI VANSICKLE

In the death of Levi VanSickle, which occurred at the old family home in Massillon township, Cedar County, Iowa, on Monday evening, August 23d, 1909, the community lost not only one of the very earliest settlers but also a man who attained a remarkable age and kept the respect and esteem of all who knew him.

He was born in Delaware county, Ohio, August 15, 1819, making him eight days past the ninetieth mile stone ere his summons came to join the innumerable host which had preceded him to the world beyond the grave. Twenty years beyond the allotted span of life and ten years beyond that allotted by reason of strength speaks volumes for the clean straight life that kept his body and mind in fine condition until the very last year of his life. In fact it is less than a year since he came here to visit his eldest son, Lester, and had the pleasure of shaking hands with many of his old time friends who could but compliment him on his well preserved condition. He made his home with his younger son, Jasper, on the old homestead near Massillon where he received every care and comfort that thoughtful and loving minds could contrive.

For almost a century he had followed the development of this country, and as he was something of a traveler for the days when there were no railways, he saw and understood more of that gradual unfolding of a wonderful country than did most men. He spent the first twenty-one years of his life in the Ohio home but came west at his majority, stopping at Chicago when it was only a fort and one of the few regrets which he was known to utter was because he did not purchase the quarter section which later became the heart of Chicago when he had the opportunity and the money in his pocket. He, however passed on to Ogle county, Illinois, where he located following his trade of carpenter. In 1843 he returned to his Ohio home and a year later, September 21, 1844 was united in marriage to Miss Sara Cave who gave him three sons, Lester, Oscar and Jasper all who survive to mourn the passing of their aged parents for their mother lived until January 1st, 1903. She was sick for many months prior to her final release and it was then that the beautiful devotion of the already aged husband showed itself in untiring watchfulness and kindness to the sharer of all his joys and sorrows. After hear death came long, lonesome days for the deceased although every thing was done that could be contrived to while away the time for him. Fortunately, he was a confirmed fisherman, that one occupation that his advancing age did not hinder him from enjoying to the full and many and long were the days that he sat on the banks of the old Wapsie catching a goodly share of the finey tribe and no doubt dreaming again and again of those early days when he crossed the plains, seeing many wild scenes such as the vigilantes wrecking vengeance on two malefactors in Illinois, but most of all he thought of his own part in the building up of part of the state in which he was to reside so long.

He came to Iowa in 1854 locating on the farm of which he died. He was particularly well adapted to pioneer life as he not only knew how to hue lumber from the logs ere the day of saw mills, but he also knew how to work in leather and could supply his family with boots and shoes when those necessary articles were often hard to obtain. He hand build the home on the old farm and later, when the family had grown to larger proportions, build the cottage beside it especially suited to himself and wife in their old age. He also built the first steam saw mill located at Sugar Grove and many of the first houses in Olin.

Mr. VanSickle was a man whose early and middle life had been marked by industry and thrift, whose old age was peacefully serene, patient and kind, a fitting outgrowth of those qualities which had made him popular with a host of friends throughout his long life. He united with the Universalist church in 1850 and his burial was conducted by Rev. Bollman, of the Lutheran church at Massillon on Wednesday of last week, where a large concourse of old friends and neighbors met with the relatives to pay a last tribute to their old and respected friend and to extend their sympathy to the bereaved family.

Last June a family reunion was held at the old home attended by representatives of five generations as follows: eldest son, Lester, his eldest daughter, Alfreda (Mrs. J. E. Johnson, of Fairfield), her daughter, Erma (Mrs. Ed Tyrrell), and her daughter, little Ruth Lenora Tyrrell. Artist Russell secured a photo of this remarkable group which we take in reproducing here.

One other remarkable incident in the VanSickle family history is that in the past 66 years, death has claimed but two from the family circle, the aged wife and one great grand child which died in infancy, leaving the three sons, fifteen grandchildren, Mrs. J. E. Johnson, Mrs. Minnie Tanner, of Marion, Julius, Dolph, Mayme and Neil of the Lester VanSickle branch; Jessie, Della (Ernst), Frank and Ida (Covington of Clinton) of the Oscar VanSickle branch, and Bertha, Nellie, Joseph, Agnes and Robert of the Jasper VanSickle branch, together with fifteen great grandchildren and one great great grand child, little Ruth Lenora Tyrrell.