John Hicks (abt. 1614 - bef. 1672)

Born about 1614 in St Olave, Southwark, Surrey, England [uncertain]

Husband of Harwood Long — married 14 Mar 1637 (to about Jun 1645) in St Faiths Church, London, England

Husband of Florence (Unknown) Hicks — married 1656 (to 7 Feb 1660) in New York

Descendants

Died before 14 Jun 1672 before about age 58 in Hempstead Town, Yorkshire, New York Colony

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John Hicks migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Directory, by R. C. Anderson, p. 161) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

John Hicks was a New Netherland settler. Join: New Netherland Settlers Project Discuss: new_netherland

Disputed Origins

An 1890 genealogy claimed that this John Hicks was baptized 25 Oct 1607 in Southwark, London, England, son of Robert Hicks and Margaret (____) Hicks.^[1] However:

• The 25 Dec 1607 record is for a daughter Sara, not a son John.^[2] (If she survived, she did not emigrate with the family. See below.)
• There was a John bapt 12 Oct 1605, son of Robert Hicks, but the 1645 will of Robert Hicks calls Samuel his oldest son and names no son John;^[3] Samuel was bapt 18 Aug 1611, meaning that any older sons were dead by 1645 therefore this John Hicks could NOT have been son of Robert Hicks of Plymouth.
• Four children came with their mother in 1622 to Plymouth. These four were named in 1627 when cattle were distributed to families: Samuel, Ephraim, Lydia and Phebe.^[4] (A later son, Ephraim, would be born in Plymouth.) Therefore, Robert's son John who'd been baptized in 1605 must have died before 1622 when Margaret brought the children over on the Ann.
• John's 1637 marriage record has been found. It lists his age as 23, calculating back to a 1614 birth.

Biography

John Hicks immigrated to New England between 1621 and 1640 and later departed for Long Island

Based on his marriage record, John Hicks was born about 1614, possibly in St Olaves parish, Southwark.^[5]

He married first about 14 Mar 1636/7 at St. Faith's, crypt of St. Paul's, London, England Harwood (aka Horod, aka Herodias) Long,^[6] daughter of William:

Mar. 14, 1636[/7]

Wch date, appeared p[er]sonally John Hicke of ye parish of St. Olaves in Southwark Salter and a batchelour aged about 23 yeares and alledged that he intendeth to marrie with Harwood Long spinster aged about 21 yeares ye daughter of William Long Husbandman who giveth his Consent to this intended marriage And of ye truth of the pr[e]mises as also that he knows of no Lawfull let or impediment by reason of anie pr[ior] contract Consanguinity affinitie or otherwise to hinder this intended marriage he made faith and desires license to be married in ye parish Church of St ffaith London [signed] John Hicke^[7]

They emigrated to New England shortly after, lived two or three years at Weymouth, Mass.,^{[citation needed]} and subsequently at Newport, Rhode Island, where he had children, the first two by Horod:^[1]

1. Hannah, b abt 1638-9
2. Thomas, b abt 1642

A previous version of this profile included a daughter Elizabeth without source.

He started seeking a divorce from Horod June 1, 1643 in the Court at New Amsterdam by Gov. Peter Stuyvesant. She sought a divorce in Rhode Island, the same year, being the first divorce granted in the New Colonies. It was eventually granted 1 Jun 1655.^[8]

Horod Long Hicks subsequently cohabitated with George Gardener or Gardiner, by whom she had many children, and became a "Friend" (Quaker), for which she was brutally whipped and jailed at Boston.^[1]

As a divorcee, John Hicks married second, Florence, widow of John Carman.^[9]

He married third shortly after 22 January 1661/2, Rachel, widow of Thomas Starr,^[10][11]

22 Jan 1662. "Conditions of an Agreement made betwixt John Hickes of Hempsted of the one Party, And Rachell Starre of Oysterbay of the other Party ... before they enter or joyne in Marriage estate, about the settling of their Estates, and ffor the prevention of Differences betwixt the Children of the said John Hickes and Rachell Starres Children ..." Their estates were inventoried at the time and when one of them died first, that inventoried estate was to go to the children of the deceased. Any increase inthe estate since the marriage would be divided in half, one half to the children of the deceased. Further John Hickes gave to Rachel Starre, if he died first, during her widowhood, the house and lands where he lived, arable land and meadow belonging to it, six cows, four oxen, the instruments of husbandry belonging to them, and whatever household stuff she found needful.^[12][13]

By 1645 John Hicks was in Flushing, Queens, and was among the first English immigrant patent grantees by New Netherland Governor William Kieft there on 10 Oct. 1645.^[1]

John's supposed brother Stephen Hicks followed John to Long Island, and later John's children joined him there as well.^[1] (Better source sought to prove they were brothers.) Stephen Hicks owned a large tract of land at Little Neck; he left no male descendants.^{[citation needed]}

By 1645 John Hicks was in Flushing, northern Queens, western Long Island, and was among the first English immigrant patent grantees by New Netherland Governor William Kieft there on 10 Oct. 1645. Flushing was established by Dutch settlers on the eastern bank of Flushing Creek under charter of the Dutch West India Company. The settlement was named after the city of Vlissingen, in the southwestern Netherlands, the main port of the company; Flushing is an anglicization of the Dutch name that was then in use. In its early days, Flushing was inhabited by many English Quaker colonists, in defiance of a prohibition imposed by New Amsterdam Director-General Peter Stuyvesant. The Flushing Remonstrance, signed in Flushing on December 27, 1657, protested religious persecution and eventually led to the decision by the Dutch West India Company to allow Quakers and others to worship freely. As such, Flushing is claimed to be a birthplace of religious freedom in the new world.

John Hicks appeared as representative from Flushing to the New Netherland Conventions of November and December 1653, which were called in New Amsterdam by Governor Stuyvesant.^[1]

He was a member of English Convention for Flushing in 1658 and appointed at Hempstead to settle lines with Indians in 1658.

Soon after this date, John Hicks removed to nearby Hempstead. He is named as a patent grantee as "John Hicks, Justice of the Peace" on the 6 March 1666 in the patent of confirmation of the town of Hempstead, by New Netherland Governor Nicolls.^[1] The first patent for Flushing granted by Governor Keith to English emigrants included John Hicks.

He acted as Assistant Magistrate in 1663. He was a delegate to Hartford from Hempstead 1665.

He died between 29 April 1672 (will) and 14 June 1672 (probate) in Hempstead, Yorkshire, New York (see will, below). (Queens County was not created until 1683.) He left only one son, Thomas, who married first Mary Washburn, by whom he had sons Thomas and Jacob. Mary Washburn died young, and then Thomas married his second wife, Mary Doughty, who bore him ten more children. Thomas died in 1740.^[1]

The Last Will & Testamt of Jno Hicks of Hempstead being weak in Body ... Sonn Thomas Hicks Exicutor ... Forasmuch as there was an Agreemt heretofore between mee & my Wife ... Shee now being desireous to relinquish those Condicons; & that former Agreemt ... For her own Satisfaction; My Will is that my Sonn Thomas pay to my Wife Rachel Hicks one hundred pounds in Neat Cattle according to whiat (?) at five shillings p Bushell & ye Bed & Bedding that shee usually lyeth on, with all its furniture, & one Brass Kettle, & ye Lesser Iron Pott, besides her own wearing Cloaths, and what Goods my said wife brought wth her to mee." He gave his daughter Hannah Haviland's children farm animals and to her £100 in animals. He gave son Thomas' children animals also. "Also I give to my Son in Law Josyas Starr" animals. The will was dated 29 April 1672, and signed by both John Hicks and Rachel Hicks. Presented in court 14 Jun 1672, Thomas was appointed administrator.^[15]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7} Thomas Clapp Cornell, "The Hicks Family", in Adam and Anne Mott: their ancestors and their descendants (1890), pp 371-372
2. ↑ Southwark church of St Mary Magdalene, Bermondsey, Entkres for October 1607, Image 37 Ancestry link (subscription); Ancestry Sharing Link.
3. ↑ Mayflower Descendant, 8:144-46, citing PCPR 1:1:703
4. ↑ Louis E. DeForest, Moore & Allied families (1938), p 297. https://archive.org/details/moorealliedfamil00defo
5. ↑ Unless otherwise cited, information on this profile is derived from Josephine C. Frost, The Haviland Genealogy: Ancestors and Descendants of William Haviland of Newport, Rhode Island, and Flushing, Long Island, 1914
6. ↑ G. Andrews Moriarty, "Additions and Corrections to Austin's Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island (cont'd)," in The American Genealogist, 39(1963):2, citing London Marriage Licenses, p. 153, British Rec. Soc.
7. ↑ Ancestry.com,, London and Surrey, England, Marriage Bonds and Allegations 1597-1921, Vol. 19: pg 92, indexed under John Hicke. Ancestry Sharing Link.
8. ↑ "Early Families of New England," entry for Thomas Starr (AmericanAncestors.org). Moriarty (1963) also claims 1655, citing O'Callaghan, Hist. MSS. Office of Sec. of State, Albany, p 149.
9. ↑ Robert Charles Anderson, Great Migration Begins, Boston, MA: NEHGS (1995), p 311
10. ↑ Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume VI, R-S. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009. https://www.americanancestors.org/DB397/i/12124/491/23901571 Sketch of Comfort Starr.
11. ↑ Antenuptial agreement dated 22 Jan 1661/2 between Rachel Starr and John Hicks in Hempstead, Long Island, published in NYGBR 42:185
12. ↑ Hempstead (N.Y.), Benjamin D. Hicks (ed.). Records of the Towns of North And South Hempstead, Long Island, New York [1654-1880]. Jamaica, N.Y.: Long Island Farmer Print, 1896. Vol 1. p. 119
13. ↑ This is referred to in the Early New England Families profile for Thomas Starr, cites an antenuptial agreement (published in NYGBR) between Rachel Starr and John Hicks, dated 22 Jan 1661/2. NYGBR 42:185 cites the Hempstead Town Records. 1:119
14. ↑ Jackson, Kenneth T. (December 27, 2007). "A Colony With a Conscience". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 2, 2013. Retrieved September 4, 2010.Cited in Wikipedia
15. ↑ Record of Wills, 1665-1916; Index to Wills, 1662-1923 (New York County); Author: New York. Surrogate's Court (New York County); Probate Place: New York, New York. Wills, Vol 001, 1665-1683 Accessed at Ancestry ($). Ancestry Sharing Link.

See Also:

• Brayton, John Anderson. "Robert, William, and Thomas Hicks of Flushing, Long Island, NY, and Granville Co., NC," North Carolina Genealogical Society Journal 29(August 2003):278–309.

• Moriarty, G. Andrews (July 1952)Herodias (Long) Hicks-Gardiner-Porter A Tale of Old Newport" Rhode Island History, Vol. 11, p. 84-92.

• Burnett Family records maintained by Walter Mucklow Burnett.

• https://gw.geneanet.org/tdowling?lang=en&p=john&n=hicks

• Frost, Josephine C. "John and Harwood Hicks." New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. Vol 70, p 116 Film # 008595661 Image 608.