Born in Richland County, Ohio, August 16, 1833, and died at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, June 18, 1925. His parents were Samuel and Barbara (Smith) Rickel, They removed with their family to Springfield, Illinois, in 1839, a few years later to Galena, Illinois, and in 1849 to Elkader, Iowa. Henry learned the cabinetmaking trade of his father. He attended school in the frontier neighborhoods in which they lived, and also a select school at West Union conducted by J. E. Cooke. In 1856 he engaged in hardware business at West Union, and later in the book and stationery business. In 1860 he was lured by the discovery of gold at Pike's Peak, Colorado, into making an overland trip to that region. After returning from it he began the study of law at West Union with L. L. Ainsworth, later congressman from the Third Iowa district. In 1862 he helped Mr. Ainsworth raise Company C, Sixth Iowa Cavalry, enlisted, and was mustered in January 31, 1863, and commissioned second lieutenant of the company. Ill health compelled him to resign in June, 1864, when he resumed his law studies, reading in the office of William McClintock, with whom he formed a partnership on his admission to the bar in 1866. Later he had as partner for a time W. V. Allen, who was afterward a United States senator from Nebraska, and also W. E. Fuller, later a congressman from the Fourth Iowa district. He served as mayor of West Union and in 1877 was elected representative and served in the Seventeenth General Assembly. In 1878 he removed to Cedar Rapids and practiced his profession there continuously until his death. He was a lawyer of ability, and a business man of varied interests, He was active in the prohibition cause during the years when that struggle was dominant.