Thomas WICKES

Abt 1615 - 1670  (55 years)

• Name	Thomas WICKES  [1]
  	"Connecticut Ancestry": Thomas Wickes (or Wilks) was born about 1615, perhaps in Shottery, a suburb of Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, England, perhaps a son of Edward Wilks and Katherine Rogers. Katherine Rogers was a sister of Thomas Rogers and aunt of William Rogers, the immigrant to America who was closely associated with Thomas Wickes. Thomas Wickes died at Huntington, Suffolk County, Long Island, new York between 3 July 1670 and 19 march 1670/71. Care must be taken to distinguish him and his family from the "Thomas Weeks of Oyster Bay, Long Island". The name of his wife has not been determined, although Seversmith felt it was possible that she was related to Jonas Wood "Oram." Thomas Wicks and Jonas Wood "Oram" were certainly closely associated in Huntington records and shared many boundaries with each other. There can be no question that his name was spelled both Wilks/Wilkes on the one hand and Wicks/Wickes on the other, even though we don't know the reasons. Joseph Bailey, the official records of the Town of Huntington (Whose own name was often spelled Bayley or even Baiely), recorded Thomas Wickes' land holdings and those of his son and namesake in Huntington in 1669. A perfect transcription of those records demonstrated that in both cases, the recorder, while not being completely consistent, nevertheless make the clear efort to give spellings of the name both with and without the (1) namely, "the Record of the lands and Medow off Thomas Wilks (Wickes) Senr in the year 1669", and "the Record of the Lands and Medow off Thomas Wilks (Wicks) Junior in the yeare 1669". The spelling "Wickes" is used herein to reflect the most common usage of his descendants. Thomas Wickes appears to have made the same migrations as many other early stamford families. He was in Watertown, Massachusetts in 1635, and shortly afterward in Wethersfield, Connecticut with the first settlers there. he was part of the Wethersfield group that agreed to settle Stamford, Connecticut, and was in Stamford with the first group in 1641. Except for his original agreement to settle there, and some very early tax information, there are no further records of Thomas Wickes in Stamford. Many Stamford settlers soon left with the Rev. Richard Denton to settle a community at Hempstead, Long Island in 1643-1644, and Thomas Wickes was part of this group, as well. A later (undated) summary of the rights of the original proprietors of Hempstead includes a section of considerable property "Laid Out to the Propriety Right and blank of Thomas Wilks Ye Following Parcells of land viz." Since all the other rights so listed were to original Hampstead proprietors, we may conclude that he was among them. A reconstructed overall listing of those proprietors that appeared in the same published volume of Hempstead Records included the name of "Thomas Hicks", which has more recently been shown to be an error for the correct name, "Thomas Wilks." In 1724, his son Thomas Wickes of Huntington made a quit claim deed to Joseph Smith of Hempstead for "all Such right Estate title Interest and Demand Whatsoever as he the said Thomas Wickes had or ought to have of in or to all those tracts of parcels of Land and Meadow Land With all those Rights of Land Within the Township of Hempstead that did formerly belong to Thomas Wickes of Hempstead formerly Deceased by any ways or Means Whatsoever." Thomas Wickes made one more move during his lifetime, that being to another new settlement on Long Island at Huntington. On 30 July 1656, Jonas Wood, William Rogers and Thomas "Wilkes" purchased the major portion of what would become the Huntington Lands from Asharoken Montinnicok, Sachem, and the other native Americans "for and inconsideration of 2 coates, fore shertes, seven quarts of licker and aleven ounces of powther." If he were indeed the son of Katherine Rogers of Stratford0on-Avon, then he and William Rogers would have been first cousins. Thomas Wickes was a significant landholder in Huntington. The 1699 listing made by BAiley for the town records described 9 separate parcels scattered throughout the town, the largest being about 8 acres "Late in the tenor or ocupacon of Noah Rogers but since estrainged to Thomas Wilks." Noah Rogers was a brother of jonathan Rogers who married Thomas Wickes' eldest daughter Rebecca. A Huntington town meeting of 7 June 1662 decided to require that any new settlers desiring to purchase lands in that town be first reviewed and approved by a committee consisting of Mr. Leverge (the minister), William Smith, Thomas Weekes, John Lum, Goodman (thomas) Jones, James Chichester and Jonas Wood. Thomas Wickes made his will at Huntington on 3 July 1670, witnessed by Samuel Wood and Caleb Wood. His wife (not named) was to receive the use of 1/3 of his "accommodations" for her life, then to son John. he also mentioned his son thomas, Daughters Rebecca and martha and their children, and other children Elizabeth, Mary and Sarah. Isaac Platt and Thomas Powell were named executors. Unfortunately for us today, he did not give the married names of either of the two daughters who were married and had children by 1670. Letters of Administration were granted to "widow Wickes" on 19 March 1671. [1]
  Birth	Abt 1615	Shottery, Warwickshire, England   [1]
  Gender	Male
  Death	Between 3 Jul 1670 and 19 Mar 1670/71	Huntington, Suffolk County, Long Island, New York   [1]
  Person ID	I68901	Main Tree
  Last Modified	14 Aug 2021

  
  

  Family	Unknown
  Children	+ 1. Rebecca WICKES,   b. 1648, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA  [Birth]   2. Martha WICKES   3. John WICKES   d. Abt 1729   4. Thomas WICKES   5. Elizabeth WICKES   6. Mary WICKES   7. Sarah WICKES  [Birth]
  Family ID	F27767	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	7 Aug 2012

  
  

• Sources

  [S4916] Connecticut Ancestry 2007 November Vol. 50 No. 2.