Obediah Joseph Ikin (1782)

Born 18 Mar 1782 in Manchester, Lancashire, England

Ancestors

Died [date unknown] in England [uncertain]

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Biography

Obadiah was born on 18 March 1782 in Manchester, Lancashire, England. He was the son of Obadiah Ikin and Sarah (Butts) Ikin. (The source of Obadiah junior's birth date comes from a coroner's inquest in July 1796, where Obadiah junior gave evidence and stated he was "fourteen this 18th of last March").^[1]

"Obediah Joseph Ikin" was baptised on 24 March 1782 in Manchester Cathedral, Manchester, England. The Baptismal register recorded "Obediah Joseph son of Odediah & Sarah Ikin"^[2][3]

Obediah Jr arrived in Sydney with his parents and siblings on the "Surprize" on 26 June 1790. His father, Obediah was in the newly formed New South Wales Corps, who were guarding the convicts on the ship.

On 10 December 1791 his father enlisted Obediah Jr in the New South Wales Corps as a drummer. He replaced John Mackey/Maxey, a young drummer who died and was buried in Parramatta 11 Dec 1791.^[4]

Death: According to the book "A Colonial Regiment - New Sources relating to the New South Wales Corps - 1789-1810", Obediah died at the age of 15 on 24 July 1797 in Sydney, New South Wales.^[5] However it is very unlikely his death in Sydney actually occurred - see further Research Notes below. The online database of burials [Find a grave?] does include Obediah Ikin but the author confirms it was based only on a presumed date from 2nd sources and no actual burial record exists in St Phillips burials, the NSW Corps paylists, or St Johns Parramatta.

Research notes

The death date of Obediah Ikin Junior: Glen Lambert wrote in the NSW Corps facebook page on 18 April 2018:^[4]

"The death date of Obediah Ikin Jr originates from the 1992 publication 'New Sources Relating to the NSW Corps' edited by Pamela Statham. The publication has proven to contain numerous errors and irrational data. This death date 24 Jul 1797 for Ikin appears nowhere in the Corps records at all. In fact there is a gap in the paylists from 24 Jun 1797 to 25 Jun 1798, from which there are no surviving musters. I've seen other numerous presumed dates like this in the New Sources book, which have proven to be bad assumptions. The editor would simply use the date of the last muster that the person in question appeared in, which is certainly the method used here with Obediah Ikin. The only surviving records for this gap period are the monthly returns, which don't list the names of rank & file but do happen to record names of men who died or were discharged. The return of 1 Aug 1797, which covers July mentions only a single NSW Corps death - Barnaby Byron from Foveaux's Company, and two discharges from Johnston's. However, there is a drummer recorded on furlough in England. Tracking back through the monthly returns indicates this drummer left the colony abt Dec 1796. Drummer Obediah Ikin Jr is the only one of the 14 drummers of the Corps missing in subsequent paylists after the gap, with his brother William recorded as lone drummer in McArthur's Company all the way to Aug 1799, when a replacement for Obediah is finally appointed. One might more accurately consider that Obediah was sent back to England to attend to family matters and simply never returned to the colony. There is no other record of him in the military and several records in English records of a Joseph Ikin in the period that could relate to him"

Sources

1. ↑ Coroner's inquest, July 1796, SR NSW 2/8286, cited in Obadiah Ikin - the story of a Shropshire soldier and his family in Australia, by Grahame Thom and Margaret Miller, 1986.
2. ↑ Name: Obediah Joseph Ikin Event Type: Christening Event Date: 24 Mar 1782 Event Place: Manchester, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom Event Place (Original): Cathedral, Manchester, Lancashire, England Sex: Male Father's Name: Obediah Ikin Mother's Name: Sarah "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JSXK-6YC : 19 September 2020), Obediah Joseph Ikin, 1782.
3. ↑ Image of the baptism can be seen at Manchester, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1573-1812 (Cathedral) for Obediah Joseph 1778 - 1787 https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/789079:2964?tid=&pid=&queryId=2cdfe6e8720ac92b32935c0d900430cf&_phsrc=Dlw5264&_phstart=successSource (note that Ancestry.com has it indexed under the name "Skin")
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Glen Lambert, NSW Corps facebook page 18 April 2018
5. ↑ Source for Obediah Ikin junior's date of death is "A Colonial Regiment - New Sources relating to the New South Wales Corps - 1789-1810", Edited by Pamela Statham, privately published 1992, Canberra., quoted in Biographical report for Obediah IKIN Person ID: B#15001068701, Biographical Database of Australia (BDA) https://www.bda-online.org.au/mybda/search/biographical-report/15001068701?f=obadiah&l=ikin&ol=&i=3&s=&p=

• Obadiah and Sarah Ikin by Grahame Thom and Margaret Miller (Copied from Obadiah Ikin - the story of a Shropshire soldier and his family in Australia, by Grahame Thom and Margaret Miller, 1986, with minor alterations as indicated.)
• Flynn, Michael. The Second Fleet: Britain's grim convict armada of 1790. Sydney : Library of Australian History, 1993
• https://australianroyalty.net.au/tree/purnellmccord.ged/individual/I63185/Obadiah-Ikin
• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/30221977/obadiah-joseph-ikin : accessed 22 November 2021), memorial page for Obadiah Joseph Ikin (1782–unknown), Find a Grave Memorial ID 30221977, citing Old Sydney Burial Ground, Sydney, City of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia ; Maintained by Tony Larson (contributor 46936896) .