OUR WICK FAMILY








Generation 1
JOHN WICK (mar. Temperance)

Generation 2
HENRY WICK (mar. Mary Cooper)

Generation 3
MARY WICK (mar. Dr. Ebenezer Blachly III)





Graphic by Rhio



JOHN WICK
Generation 1

JOHN WICK, born 1661, was the first of this name in Southampton, Long Island. First mention of him was on April 4, 1693, when he was granted a site for a fulling mill on the “Streame of the Little River called by the name of peaconnuck”. He was a sergemaker.

He also was a yeoman, or farmer, as most people were.

Between 1699-1702, he was sheriff of Suffolk County, and thereafter he was called “Mr. John Wick,” or “Justice Wick.” From 1702 until his death, he was a Magistrate. He did have a fair share of mention as a “man of importance in his day”.

He removed to neighboring Bridge Hampton, where his homestead was on the corner of the main country road and the road to Sag Harbor. The lot mentioned in his will (see below) as lying southeast from this, was bounded west by the road to Mecox, south by the road to Sagg, and north by the main road to East Hampton.

It has been alleged that his name was “Wickham” rather than “Wick,” but no evidence has been found to imply that, and no evidence has been found to connect him with Joseph Wickham, of Sagg, Long Island. This subject was the topic of a letter dated in 1957 from Donald Lines Jacobus, publisher of The American Genealogist, a copy of which is in my files.

His wife’s name was TEMPERANCE.


THE WILL OF JOHN WICK

Page 63. – John Wick. In the name of God, Amen. I, John Wick, of Southampton, in the County of Suffolk, being very weak in body.

I give to my son, Job Wick, all that my close of land lying against Jeremiah Culver’s. Also the £30 I paid to Stephen Boyer on his account. And 4 two-year old cattle.

“My will is that my son John be brought up to learning at colledge,” and for that I give to him to be sold by my executors in trust, a £100 allotment of upland, lying in the last 30-acre Division in the lot with James White, Also my little plowing close joining to Nathaniel Howell and Jonathan Raynor. Also all my right of upland and meadow lying within the Patentship of Moriches, which I bought of William Smith, Esq. And I empower my executors to sell the said pieces of land and the money to be laid out for his bringing up.

I leave to my son Henry my now dwelling house, and barn, and home lot. Also my right in lot No. 1 and 14, adjoining to my said home lot, And all my lot of land lying south east of my now dwelling house bounded east by Abraham Howell, Jr., and on the other sides by highways. And all my right in Sagg Swamp, lying with Abraham Howell and Theophilus Howell. And all my right at Montauk and all my right of meadow in Red Creek neck and 3/4 of a £50 right of Commonage throughout the bounds of Southampton.

All the rest of my lands, meadows, and Commonage I leave to my sons Daniel and James.

All the rest of my personal estate is to be sold at “publick vendue” as soon as possible, and the money to be put at interest “at six in the hundred rather than lye dead,” and for the use of my wife to support the children till the youngest is fourteen years of age, and be bound out to learn some trade.

I leave to my wife Temperance, the east end of my dwelling house, and the use of 1/3 of the real estate during her life.

All the personal property that may be found when my youngest child is fourteen years of age, is to be divided between my wife and my children Temperance, Edith, John, Henry, Anne, Phebe, and James. My wife and my daughters, Temperance, and Edith, may purchase at the vendue articles to the value of £50, to be deducted from their share. I make my friends Matthias Burnett, “cordwinder,” and Thomas Cooper, yeoman, and Alexander Willmot, “joyner,” executors, till my sons John and Henry are of age, and then they are to be joint executors.

Dated, December 15, 1718. Witnesses, Samuel Gelston, Theophilus Howell, Nathan Sayre.
Proved at Court of Common Pleas in Southampton, April 3, 1719.

From pgs. 191-93 in Abstracts of Wills – Liber 9.


John Wick died on January 16, 1719 and at his own request was buried on his own land. His burial stone stood about forty rods north of the country road, and about the same distance west of Lumber Lane, in the center of a six or eight acre lot in Bridgehampton, and bears the inscription:

Here
was layed
the body of Mr,
John Wick, Esq.
who dyed Janvary
the 16th, Anno 1719
in the 59 year
of his age.


The tradition is that he gave direction to have his body laid here, but his friends disregarded it and attempted to dig a grave in the graveyard, but the ants (in January!) came out in such swarms and filled the grave as they dug, that they were compelled to abandon their purpose. Another tradition says that the heirs, not liking the disposition of the property made in his will, read a summons over his grave, calling him to appear in court and show cause why the will should not be broken.


CHILDREN OF JOHN & TEMPERANCE WICK

  1. Job Wick. The “Close” that Job inherited was in Southampton, on the south side of Hill street, about a mile west of Main street. The old mansion in which Job Wick and his descendants for four generations lived, was standing through the 19th century. The last male descendant in the town of Southampton was Lemuel Wick, a great-grandson of Job.

  2. John Wick. Graduated in 1722 from Yale College, per instructions in his father’s will.

  3. HENRY WICK was born 23 Oct 1707; mar. Mary Cooper.

  4. Samuel Wick.

  5. Daniel Wick.

  6. James Wick.

  7. Temperance Wick.

  8. Ann Wick.

  9. Phebe Wick.

  10. Edith Wick.






HENRY WICK
Generation 2

HENRY WICK was born October 23, 1707 on Long Island.

On February 12, 1735, Henry married MARY COOPER. She was born 4 April 1718 at Southampton, Long Island, the daughter of Nathan and Mary (Miller) Cooper.

Go to the
COOPER FAMILY


In 1737 they were living near Bridgehampton, on the way to Sagg.

In 1746 Nathan Cooper, of Roxbury (Chester) township, and Henry Wick, of “Suffolk County, Long Island,” jointly bought 1,114 acres on the Passaic River. It’s unknown if this Nathan was Mary’s father or younger brother. Two years later, in 1748, Cooper released his half to Henry Wick, who by then was of “Morristown, New Jersey”. So he doubtless went to New Jersey between those two dates. With later purchases the “Wick tract” came to measure over 1,400 acres, consisting of timber land and open fields, and, like other farmers in the area, they grew various crops including wheat, corn, rye, oats, buckwheat, apples and flax. And the years rolled by.


THE WICK FARM IN HISTORY

The Wick farm is located in what is called Jockey Hollow, about four miles southwest of Morristown, New Jersey, near the intersection of Tempe Wick Road and Jockey Hollow Road. The farm became an important historical monument in the famous 1779-80 encampment of General George Washington and his troops there.

The Wicks had hosted prominent officers before. The army had wintered there in 1776-77 following Washington’s Christmas Delaware crossing and victories at Trenton and Princeton. Although far fewer troops accompanied Washington in ‘76, their presence among the citizenry was devastating. One fourth of the population died from small pox or dysentery. During that winter, the Wicks hosted Captain Joseph Bloomfield.

Later, in 1779-80, Mr. Wick opened his house as quarters for Maj. Gen. Arthur St. Clair, then commander of the Pennsylvania Line encamped in Jockey Hollow on his, and a couple of adjacent, farms. Portions of the Continental Army used the Hollow for a total of 24 months during the American Revolution.

Nine hundred acres of Jockey Hollow timber, notched together and chinked with clay, made the army’s winter quarters – 12 soldiers in each of 1,000, 14’ x 16’ huts – where the men made do with a trickle of rations and beds of loose straw. A thousand soldiers deserted; but most remained. There was no great turning point reached here. A battle was waged here, however, to keep the Continental Army intact. If it had been lost, then Yorktown – the battle where the Continental Army gained final advantage in the War – would have a far different meaning in our lives.

By Spring of 1780, due to the encampment in Jockey Hollow, made Morristown one of the ten largest cities in the Colonies. Even so, it was only one element of the small village’s eight year involvement in the conflict. There was a nonending military quest there for munitions and supplies, a constant procession of refugees, and a host of Loyalist trials, jailings, and hangings. This produced a war-weary atmosphere in the area, and it can have been nothing short of depressing.

Henry Wick was Captain of a company of Morris County cavalry that did good service in the war, and engaged in at least one sharp fight, though he was frequently detailed as guard for Gov. Livingston and the Privy Council.

The best explanation to get a sense of what was going on in Jockey Hollow is presented in a website called New Jersey Skylands. The webpage is called “The Great Story”. Below is an excerpt from that website.

To understand why its a great story, walk to the top of the hill in Jockey Hollow that held 200 soldier huts for the Pennsylvania Brigade. Walk up one day in January and imagine staying there until it gets warm enough sometime in April to take off your down jacket. Imagine standing there without your shoes on, without even one of the huts on top of the hill for retreat from the incessant cold. Try to conceive of something important enough to keep you on that hill for the rest of the winter. When you get home, imagine what it would be like if 13,000 ragged, homeless men with guns marched into your town. How would you feel if someone in your family caught small pox from the men and died? Would you have sympathy for the soldiers as they foraged in your barnyard, or for the General who headquartered on the other side of the village at Ford’s Mansion?

Ask most people what happened in Morristown during the American Revolution and they’ll undoubtedly mention Washington’s Headquarters. But the untold stories of thousands of Continental soldiers and a few hundred townspeople magnify the American legend at Morristown. Perhaps it is because there were no great battles at Morristown that historical texts often gloss over the events here and focus on more catastrophic circumstances such as those at Valley Forge. The Jockey Hollow encampment of 1779-80 endured a winter more severe, including seven blizzards in December alone, than that at Valley Forge, where thousands died. Yet only about a hundred soldiers at Morristown did not see the spring of 1780.

“The Great Story”.



Henry Wick died on December 21, 1780 at Morristown, Morris County, New Jersey. Mary Cooper Wick died there on July 7, 1787.




CHILDREN OF HENRY & MARY (COOPER) WICK

  1. Henry Wick, born 9 Mar 1737; d. 10 Sep 1781; mar. 7 Feb 1760 Elizabeth Cooper (b. 1746 – d. 1 Feb 1782); two children. Henry was insane.

  2. MARY COOPER WICK, born on 13 Aug 1739; mar. 19 Jun 1758, Dr. Ebenezer Blachly III. She died 18 Sept 1786. She was the ancestress of many Woodruffs, Blachlys, and others. In 1786, she was bequeathed 250 acres of land in Morristown, Mendham Twp., Morris Co., New Jersey, from her mother.

    Go to the
    BLACHLY FAMILY


  3. James Wick, b. 19 Dec 1741; not married.

  4. Phebe Wick, b. 9 Nov 1746; d. 15 Jun 1806; mar. 5 Apr 1770, Dr. William Leddell II.

  5. Temperance ("Tempe") Wick, b. 30 Oct 1758. She mar. Capt. William Tuttle (previously a private in Capt. Dickerson’s company), 3d Battalion, Second Establishment, Continental Army. As well as her sister, Phebe, she was an ancestress of Blachlys. She died on April 28th, 1822.

    Aunt Tempe’s rescue of her pet saddle horse has added interest to the old house. Click here to read this most interesting story about her and her horse.






REFERENCES

Francis E. Woodruff. The Woodruffs of New Jersey: Who Came from Fordwich, Kent, England, by way of Lynn, Massachusetts, and Southampton, Long Island. New York: The Grafton Press, 1909. This book is a revision and enlargement of the book, “A Branch of the Woodruff Stock”.

George R. Howell. The Early History of Southampton, Long Island, New York, with Genealogies. 2nd ed. Albany, NY: Weed Parsons & Co., 1887. Pgs. 405-6. SLC FLC 974.725/S3 ltzh.

See William Smith Pelletreau S. T. R., Vol. III, pg. 27.

History of Morris County, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of prominent citizens and pioneers. New York : W.W. Munsell and Co., 1882. See pg. 35 (Henry Wick). SLC FHL Microfiche 6052113.

“Wick House”. See Harper Magazine (1859).


INTERESTING WEBSITES

“The Great Story” – a fabulous synopsis of Jockey Hollow and Morristown in the American Revolution. New Jersey’s Great Northwest Skylands Internet Website.

Morristown National Historical Park

The Revolutionary War in New Jersey – in North Jersey’s Internet Magazine. This is a great resource. Also contains a Wick House Photo Gallery.

NPS Museum Collections – American Revolutionary War

Morristown National Historical Park, Morris County, New Jersey

Morris County Visitors Center.












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Official Website of the
River-Hopkins and Related Families

This is the Wick Family Page

Joann Saemann
Bountiful, Utah

Presentation © 2007
Last Updated - 11 November 2009







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