Colonial Connecticut Genealogy Help Needed - Hickok-Prime

Question

Looking for information about the wife of James Prime, named Sarah

* Sarah's son, Rev Ebenezer Prime, recorded her death in his church records "On the 20th of August 1721 Sarah Prime, my tender and godly Mother departed this life at Milford."

* I have not found a birth nor marriage record for her, but trees on Ancestry and FamilySearch indicate that she was born Sarah Hickcok (various spellings)

* A merge has been suggested between Sarah <unk> Prime (Unknown-390121) and Sarah Hickcok Prime (Hickcok-6) but there is quite a discrepancy in their years of birth (1665 vs 1634).  Given that Sarah and James are believed to have married in 1894  1694, and the birth years of their known child range from 1695-1711, the earlier birth year seems quite improbable.

* there are trees on Ancestry with unmarried Sarah Hickcok who died in 1721 (as did Sarah Prime).  Perhaps there is a Hickcok family genealogy?  No sources cited in the several trees that I reviewed.  This Sarah  Hickcok was born 1676 - a good candidate for this Sarah.

Anyone with knowledge of CT records - help is appreciated!

Comments

An observation, in the hopes of keeping all information about this search in one location, should anyone also pursue this challenge:

I mentioned there are trees with Sarah, d/o Joseph Hickcok and his wife Mary Carpenter, b.1676, and, per the trees, d.1721, Milford.  **There's a problem here!!** Joseph died in 1687, and the probate states he left behind his widow, 3 sons and 2 daughters.  Daughters were Elizabeth and Mary.  No mention of Sarah, so I don't think this is Sarah, even if she existed, is a candidate for the wife of James Prime and mother of Ebenezer.

Answer 1

There certainly is not a lot of information on James. Lots of sources don't even mention the second marriage.  The civil records mention his marriage to Martha, but not the births of their alleged two children. The church records mention the baptisms of children of Sarah and James.

I think the two profiles are the same person, because of the daughter attached Deborah married Adino Strong.

However the designation that she's Sarah Hickock is really suspect. The ancestry trees indicate that her father was Benjamin (1675-1745). It's hard for someone born 1675 to have a daughter Sarah (b. 1694) who was married in 1694. So whoever Sarah is she's not the daughter of that Benjamin. Benjamin's 1745 will mentions grandson Silas Clark son of his dtr Sarah decd.

So you should probably merge them, but it needs to merge into Unknown. I can ppp the (ask) so you can merge them without fear of it going the wrong way. I would leave the birth date blank. 1665 is closer but it's more likely to be 1669-1674

Comments

Anne -

Are you saying, merge the two profiles, leaving the maiden name as "unknown" - because I am not convinced that her maiden name was Hickcok.  In fact, I'm becoming more convinced that it was not Hickcok.

I was also going to visit the library to see if NEHGS (or whatever they're called now) has anything in their database, and also try to research the Milford church.

Thoughts?

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Yes leave the maiden name Unknown.

The will I mentioned above is for a different Benjamin. I think this may be the Sarah Hickox m. to James Prime. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hickock-33, which is where the confusion is from.

It won't hurt to do more research, before the merge.

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Hi, Anne

I can confirm that "Sarah the wife of James Prime admitted to full communion" is in the First Congregational Church (Milford) records.  The date is quite blurred, but it is consistent with the date I've seen published.

The film of the church records can be seen at any Family History Center.  The early records are (of course) often difficult to read, especially the left margins where the dates are.  I have the impression that there may be a missing page.  At any rate, I did not search a lot of pages, but I did not see any marriage records in what I examined.

So, do you want to do your magic and merge the two Sarahs into the one that is unknown?

Another note for the record - I did not find any pertinent records on American Ancestors or whatever it is that NEHGS calls itself now.

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Forgot to add - looking for info about membership practices in 17th century New England congregational churches.  Since she was admitted to full communion - was it because she was coming from an outside church and needed to transfer her membership - or was it because only married women were admitted?

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Thank you. I've ppp Unknown and proposed the merge.

When people transfer from another church it will frequently say something about coming from somewhere. Single women could be admitted. My understanding is that you had to go through some steps (of acceptance and commitment to Jesus) to be admitted to full communion.

Answer 2

There is a Hickok genealogy at Archive.org. I did not look at it, but here is the link to it https://archive.org/details/hickokgenealogyd00hick

Comments

Unfortunately, the book begins with William Hickocks, who died in 1645.  He had two children, both sons.  My Sarah would need to be one of their children to fit into the time frame, but they do not have a Sarah listed.

The book is also on Ancestry - I hadn't looked at it until you cited it - but here's a link to one of the pages of 2nd generation children:

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/11595/dvm_GenMono001157-00012-1/21?backurl=&ssrc=&backlabel=Return&rc=712,457,981,515;708,526,990,583;400,660,680,713;678,662,946,716;672,731,937,785;624,800,910,858;697,869,983,926;812,939,1083,992;379,1146,680,1204;659,1149,1010,1208;1894,1242,2122,1302;1058,1672,1319,1731;1297,1675,1691,1750;319,1758,562,1811;711,2314,1051,2373;1015,2702,1360,2761;1745,3070,2082,3129;639,3148,917,3203;831,3287,1100,3343;718,3425,1000,3481;742,3564,1032,3618;609,3700,896,3755;707,3770,979,3822;694,3840,971,3892#?imageId=dvm_GenMono001157-00005-1

It would make sense that Sarah was somehow related to him - perhaps William was an uncle?  Or perhaps this book missed this child?

Answer 3

son Joseph Prime-323, baptized Feb 7 1697, married Sarah Hickock-33  (Hickok / Hicock, Hickox).  She was born Jul 23 1698. Died after 1757

I assume you have a typo on marriage date, which should be 1694, not 1894.

I have this family in my ancestors.  Hickok name is spelled so many ways in so many places. 

Hickok Genealogy   https://archive.org/details/hickokgenealogyd00hick/page/402 is tracing William Hickock from Farmington, CT - Searching for Ebenezer Prime showed him in 3 pages, but all were because he married people in Huntington, Long Island, NY.  Searching for Joseph Prime found 2 locations (this is my family relationship).  Searching for James Prime did not find anything so your Hickok / Prime family is not in this book, probably because your profiles are showing them from Milford, CT which is in a different part of the state than Farmington, CT

There are some sources on Families from Milford, CT but the pages that would be about 'Prime' were not viewable.

I found Long Island Genealogy page that looks like it is about the Prime family from Milford, and James who was the father of Ebenezer.   http://longislandgenealogy.com/Surname_Pages/prime.htm

  

Comments

Thank you for your comments and links to resources.  I have not found any reference to Sarah <Unknown> Prime's maiden name, and am reluctant to approve the proposed merger with Sarah Hickcok.  The only explanations I have found are ancestral trees that do not give sources except, perhaps, another tree.

So, I wonder if Joseph's marriage caused the initial confusion re: Ebenezer's mother, or if Joseph married some sort of cousin.

There are some references in materials I've read to the Milford church that Ebenezer was raised in, and some references to Sarah being accepted to membership (I think that's the right term?) into that church.  Not sure those records still exist, or is they might be online.

BTW - Rev Ebenezer Prime's church records exist, and have been transcribed, available online.  Dunno if you've found them, or if they might help your research.  That's how I became interested in him - he's not an ancestor, but members of my line were his church members.

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Also - still looking for information about Ebenezer Prime's mother, Sarah <unknown> Prime.  Maiden name?  Baptismal or birth record?