Somewhere in the neighborhood of 1754 three brothers named Rickenbach emigrated from their native country of Switzerland to the then colonies of the United States of America. They were Jacob, Johnathan and David. I have learned recently from a man who is personally acquainted with a colony of Rickenbachs in Switzerland, that the place they live in is called Rickenbach also and I believe they are known as the "Rickenbach Clan."
It is therefore not surprising that apparently the three Rickenbach brothers that emigrated from their native land so many years ago, were the only pioneers of the clan. The only contact I have made with anyone of that name has been right in my own locality and all are descendants of the three brothers, who all had fair sized families. I have crossed the states from coast to coast a number of times, have stayed in different localities weeks at a time, spent eleven years in Los Angeles, California; a cosmopolitan city where one meets every body, yet I have never once met any one that even knew there was such a name. Also my ancestors lived true to type for unto the last generation the Rickenbachs of the States also became a clan of sorts in as much that the farm or portion of lands, purchased from the government by the two brothers, Jacob and Jonathan were still in possession of their descendants up to a decade or so ago. The great great grand children of Jacob still possess the greater portion of the land purchased by heirs almost two hundred years ago.
Whether David was more restless than the other two or whether he liked the locality better, I have no way of knowing but David purchased some land in Center County, Pennsylvania and as far as I know some of his descendants are still there. Some drifted to the middle west where we lost track of them, quite a number of years ago.
The two brothers, Jacob and Jonathan, each purchased a portion of land in the state of Pennsylvania, located in the county of Berks; near the city of Reading, on the Schuylkill River about 75 miles north of Philadelphia. Jonathan's farm lies east of the Schuylkill and Jacob's farm lies west, the river forming the eastern boundary line of Jacob's farm and western boundary line of Jonathan's.