Assessor Richard A. Sickles, of Shrewsbury, died on Sunday morning at the age of seventy years. Seventeen years ago he had a severe attack of pleurisy, which left him with abscesses on the lung. These abscesses were never completely cured. They troubled him greatly from time to time, and were the ultimate cause of his death.

Mr. Sickles was the oldest son of John Sickles, who was a native of Shrewsbury. There were six brothers who grew to manhood, Richard A., George H., Gordon, Jacob, Theodore and John. Besides the sons there were two grown-up daughters, Catherine, who died a number of years ago, and Charlotte who is still living. The last named is the only one of the family who is unmarried. Besides these there were several other children who died in childhood. Richard is the first to die of the grown-up sons.

In 1866 Mr. Sickles married Miss Ann Eliza Burdge of Middletown. They had no children. Mrs. Sickles died about six weeks ago after a long illness. For several years past Richard Sickles, jr., Gordon Sickles son, lived with Richard A. Sickles, and his care for the comfort of Mr. and Mrs. Sickles could not have been greater had he been their own son.

The Sickles were originally Free Soil Democrats, but they broke from the Democratic party in 1856 when John C. Fremont was the candidate for president. Since that time all the brothers have been the strongest kind of Republicans, and it is doubtful if any one of them ever split his ticket or voted anything but the straight Republican ticket.

Richard A. Sickles had been an officeholder since 1849. In that year he was elected constable. He held that office for one year, and in 1850 he was elected collector of Shrewsbury township. He was collector for four years, and in 1854 he was elected assessor, which office he has held continuously from that time until his death. He was in comfortable circumstances, but the amount of his estate is not known.

His funeral was held at his late residence this morning, the Rev. Thaddeus Wilson, of Shrewsbury, preaching the funeral sermon. A very large number of persons were present at the services. The body was interred in Fair View cemetery.

Death notice lists his age as 70 years, 5 months and 14 days.

Source: Red Bank Register Wednesday, November 21, 1888

Some additional excellent resources for your research are:
• Interment.net ~ Cemetery Transcriptions on the net.

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