Background

Author: Nev. Ramsden

The Hicks Family of Whitehaven and Maryland

Hicks Lane - Whitehaven

Hicks Lane runs along the side of the old Gaiety cinema from Tangier Street to Senhouse Street & passing the end of Kelsick Lane. Hicks Lane was named after William Hicks, a Presbyterian, who was a merchant in Whitehaven, which was a major west of England port situated on the Cumberland coast. Shipping goods to and from America accounted for most of his business and a John Carlyle was his business agent in Virginia. William Hicks bought Tangier House (later to be the Waverley Hotel) in Whitehaven, from William Gilpin for £800 in 1745 and lived there until his death in June 1758. William Hicks was appointed Sheriff of Cumberland in 1756. William's nephew, also called William Hicks, also became Sheriff of Cumberland in 1772 and continued to live in Tangier house until his death in 1788.

William Hicks’ wife, Sarah, was a sister-in-law of Richard Gilpin, elder brother of William. It is likely that Captain Gilpin of the ship 'The Hudson'  was from the same family. Tangier house had been occupied from 1716 to 1720 by Henry Blencow, Collector of Customs, who was possibly the father of Peter Blencow mentioned in John Carlyle’s first letter of the 10th August 1744.

Legal documents for Sarah Hicks: Whitehaven R.O. – D/HUD 8/32

Mrs Sarah Hicks of Whitehaven, widow, and the terms of her marriage settlement and the Will of her late husband William: letters, memoranda, case, opinions, arbitration bond which relates to William Hicks, merchant, and Sarah Hudson; their marriage settlement 1728, confirmed in William's will dated 1729. He died in 1758. Includes copy of the will; also "observations" on surviving family, their eligibility and schedule of property (with prices and exact dates of purchase) bought by William 1728-1749, including the house and wine vault in Tangier Street where Mrs Hicks was then living. Also the estates in Papcastle and Whitehaven.

It also concerns Mr Gilpin's Scaleby mortgage to Edward Stephenson; and the bankruptcies of Messrs. How, Griffiths, and Ross, of Whitehaven.  Date:     1758 - 1770

THE SKELTON & HICKS FAMILIES OF PAPCASTLE.

Tangier House

On September 9th, 1725, Gustavus Thompson of Arkleby sold Tangier House to Mr. William Gilpin, having previously granted a three years lease of the same to Ferdinando Latus, Esq. The grandfather of Gustavus seems, in his own person, to have exhausted the family good fortune [in the South Sea Bubble]            

taken from William Jackson on Whitehaven, 1877

On the 3rd of July, 1745 William Hicks became the purchaser of the Tangier House in Tangier Lane property from William Gilpin, merchant of Whitehaven, for £800. I suppose him to be the son of another William Hicks, a witness to one of the Old Hall deeds, dated 22nd March, 1687, He married, 4 April, 1728, Sarah, the second of the four co-heiresses of Enoch Hudson, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, a rigid Presbyterian; the third married Richard Gilpin, elder brother of the William whom I have just mentioned ; and the fourth daughter Hannah, married Mr. Robert Ellison, of Whitehaven, of whom I shall also seek to speak at a future time. William Hicks was Sheriff of Cumberland in 1736. He was appointed a trustee of the James Street chapel, of which he was a member, March 5th, 1732. He is named as one of the trustees of the Whitehaven roads in the Act of 1740. He was buried in the churchyard of St. Nicholas, July 1st, 1758. His son of the same name was sheriff of the county in 1772, and with his wife Priscilla they had a family. Elizabeth Hicks, one of the daughters, married Arnoldus Skelton, who took certain property belonging to her father at Papcastle. Another, Ann, married in August, 1782, Roger Fleming, of Whitehaven, to whom she bore Daniel, the fifth baronet. This William died in 1788, and the property, having been long encumbered, was sold by his widow Priscilla, then of Flimby, with the concurrence of the rest of the family, June, 1797, to Anthony Adamson for £1,100, by whose assignees after the failure of the bank, the business of which was conducted on these premises, and in which he was a leading partner, it was conveyed, January 4th, 1826, to George Harrison and others.

          taken from - W. Jackson, F.S.A., Whitehaven: Its Streets, Its Principle Houses and their Inhabitants, Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, Old Series, vol. iii, p. 369.]
                              

The Hicks family of Whitehaven & its connections with Maryland, USA  

John Hicks,  born England,  died 20 Aug 1753, St. Mary's County, Maryland

His son William Hicks married Priscilla Hebb, born abt 1738, St. Mary's County, Maryland   and died after 1757, St. Mary's County, Maryland (Age ~ 20 years)

HICKS, JOHN, St. Mary's Co., his will dated 30 May 1749; and who died 20 Aug 1753

Probate

To my eldest son, William Hicks, a plantation called "St, Johns," 250 acres which I occupy and adjoining to "Saint Barbarys" whereon I live. My desire is that as my said “son William who is now in England” with his uncle, if his uncle provides well for him there, my desire is that he give unto his brother George Hicks the said plantation called "St. Johns" above devised to him but this is left to himself.

To my son George Hicks, plantation whereon I dwell called 'Saint Barbarys," of 100 Acres.

To my daughter Mary Kenner the wife of William Kenner of Cherry Point in Northumberland Co. Virginia, my plantation called "Church Hill" lying on the heat of St. Inegoes Creek, St. Mary's Co., conveyed to me for 650 Acres with land I bought of Matthew Harbert and conveyed by Wm. Thompson and his wife Ellinor, mother to the said Matthew Harbert and given to said Ellinor by James Pattinson her father and she then was wife to Harbert - which will appear by said Pattinsons will and deeds.

As for the land at Piscatoway which I bought from Thomas and William Egerton after they had cut off the entail thereof, 2,400 Acres by Resurvey in the Provincial court in May 1743, the executor to go to get the possession of, from the heirs of George Noble and the four Edlins who are at present possessed thereof and when so done

I appoint said executor to sell the same and give 1/4 pt of money to son George Hicks, 1/2 to retain himself and other 1/4 to my wife.

Notes: The fact that Priscilla Hicks [nee Hebb] who was born in Maryland, came to England and died at Moresby near Whitehaven validates the Maryland / Whitehaven connection.

              taken from the Web-site of “Early Colonial Settlers of Southern Maryland and Virginia's Northern Neck Counties”     

Last will and Testament of William Kenner, mariner of Whitehaven County of Cumberland in England, dated 11 December 1758, and probated 9 November 1762

1. My cousin (nephew?) Richard Kenner of Northumberland County in Virginia £100 -
2. My son, John William Hicks Kenner, who is underage.
3. Sister-in-law, Mrs. Elizabeth Hall, all my late wife's clothing, which is now in possession of her brother, Mr. William Hicks of MARYLAND merchant.
4. Custody and tuition of my son to my friend, Mrs. Sarah Hicks of Whitehaven, widow. She is to continue him at some school in England.
Reversion of half my estate to my cousin (nephew?) Richard Kenner: - the other part to the children of my brothers and sisters, Matthew Kenner, Francis Kenner, Elizabeth and Nancy – to share alike -
Sarah Hicks, executrix as long as she lives, then my friend, Henry Ellison of WHITEHAVEN, merchant. The said William Hicks (of MARYLAND) and Richard Hull and Thomas Jones of Northumberland County (Virginia) to have government and tuition of my son in his minority. Witnesses: James Wherry, James Wherry Jnr,, John Finlay.

True copy taken from original Will of William Kenner in possession of Mrs. Sarah Hicks and compared at WHITEHAVEN this 2lst day of April 1762 by Henry Littledale, Publick Notary, Administration granted to Francis Kenner.

Northumberland County,_Virginia, Record Book 6. 1762-1766 page 139
 

September 14, 1758 - Sarah Hicks of WHITEHAVEN, IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY, executrix of the late William Hicks, Esqr. of the Town and County aforesaid, gives a Power of Attorney to Colonel John Carlyle of Alexandria, Fairfax County, Virginia, merchant, to receive from JeremiahAderton of Chicamaxen, in the PROVINCE of MARYLAND, etc,
Witnesses: Thomas Benson, Deckar Thompson
Recorded: February 6, 1759.

Northumberland County,_Virginia - Deed Book E, page 209

------- the exchanges of William Hicks, who ran a store from about 1756 to 1759, and of his father-in-law and neighbor, merchant William Hebb, re?ect the diversity of economic activities found in the Town Land. Some area residents paid Hicks for goods from surpluses of Corn and wheat as well as tobacco**. (William) Hebb, who died in 1758, left 395 debts receivable, of which 164 -or 42 percent -were payable in grains. Hicks’s personal expenditures re?ect other diversified local activities. He made purchases from local planters of butter, pork and beef, feathers by the pound, beeswax, myrtle wax, tallow, plank, staves, barrels, tar, and pitch. He bought live cattle, hogs, and turkeys. He paid tor coopering and tailoring, and one John Cole built him a pigeon house. He outfitted a ship, Betsy, with sails, masts, and other fittings he obtained from local residents (although not from Deacon, by that time deceased); and he purchased some locally made walnut tables, although not from Ingalls, who, likewise, had been dead for several years.

** 1. The William Hicks Factorage Accounts contain references to his "Corn book" and his "wheat book." Hicks, who inherited property in Whitehaven and returned there in 1759, ran a Factorage business with his Whitehaven uncle. Later, the heir of his uncle's widow sued Hicks for sums he believed due to the uncle's estate, hence the account summaries.

2. William Hebb was the father of Priscilla Hebb who was married circa1756 to William Hicks (1726-1788).

Work and Labor in Early America, edited by Stephen Innes - 1988

Cumberland Pacquet 21 May 1799

Burial: November last at St.Mary’s River, Maryland, Mr.William Hicks the eldest son of the late William Hicks esq. of this town.