Background

Author: Nev. Ramsden

The Kelsick Family of Whitehaven & Virginia

Kelsick is a  hamlet situated a short distance to east of Abbeytown in Cumberland; also there is a farm called Kelsick, near to Wythop chapel in Lorton Parish, situated on the west side of Bassenthwaite lake.

The new town of Whitehaven started out as a very small hamlet situated within the large parish of St.Bees on the west coast of Cumberland.

The earliest Kelsick entry in the St.Bees Register is for Elizabeth dau.of William Kelsick bapt. – 10 May 1542

In West Cumberland the two names Kelsick & Keswick appear to be interchangeable.

Whitehaven in 1685. “There were 46 vessels belonging to this port, exclusive of boats, of from 12 to 94 tons, equal to 1,871 tons. The largest of these, the Resolution, of 94 tons, was “commanded by Richard Kelsick, in which he crossed the Western Ocean oftener than once to the province of Virginia, and there took in a cargo of tobacco, and discharged the same at Whitehaven.”

See Jefferson History of Cumberland 1842  p363

Any person with an interest in the early Kelsick families of Whitehaven & Virginia must read the first 40 pages of : The Kelsick--Dobyns--Sutton families; Statement of Responsibility:
by George H. Rose, 1901 - (Main Author); Publication: Provo, Utah : J. Grant Stevenson, 1971 and it is available on the Web.
                                    

Robert Carter was a member of the Council of Virginia, acting governor 1726-1727, and a political power in the colony.       

see -  www.carter.lib.virginia.edu

Letter from Robert Carter to Captain Richard Kelsick, July 8, 1729

     Robert Carter writes to Captain Richard Kelsick of the Mazareen , July 8, 1729, authorizing the captain to sell the 6 hogsheads of tobacco that Carter has on board, and ordering bottles and coal.

Rappa [hannock, Lancaster County, Virginia] -  July. 8. 1729

Capt Richard Kelsick, Sir
     My Old Correspondent in your Port has for many years been Mr. John Gale whose Candour and integrity I have a very great Opinion of However in regard you have no freight Tobacco on board your ship but what is Consigned to your Self I am contented you should have the dispose of my 6 hogsheads Also for which I herewith send you a bill of lading desiring you will bring me in 4 or 6 gross of yr best & Strongest Quart Bottles and a cauldron of your Coals I would have them brought in with as little Charge as Possible the coals may come in loose and the bottles in Crates which is the Cheapest way

     I Heartily wish you a good Voyage and am your Humble Servant, Robert Carter

Source consulted: Robert Carter Letter Book, 1727 April 13 to 1728 July 23, Carter Family Papers, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond.

Robert Carter noted in his diary January 19, 1727, the arrival of the Mazareen at his house and a visit from her captain, Richard Kelsick, four days earlier.  Kelsick, with Peter How, a merchant of Whitehaven, traded with the Fredericksburg, Virginia, area from the early 18th century.

See:- Paula S. Felder. "Fredericksburg and Whitehaven Connection to English Port, a Forgotten Chapter in Area's Colonial History Living-history Program," Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star.

Captain Younger Keswick, 1765-1797

Younger Keswick was the son of Isaac & Frances Keswick & was born & brought up in Whitehaven. He was trained to be a mariner but at some stage he moved to the Port of Liverpool to further his career. He took his first command in 1796 when 31 years old. He made three voyages during the period 1795 to 1797, concerned with the, so called, Africa trade. During the third trip on board the ship Governor Williamson, starting 19 July 1797, he died in Africa. His Will showed that his estate was valued at £2,000.

The Captains in the British Slave Trade  -  from 1785 to 1807  by Stephen D. Behrendt

March 1798

The Abigail on her passage from Africa to Jamaica recaptured an American vessel, the Governor Williamson, Captained by [Younger] Kelsick. The Governor Williamson was subsequently lost going into New Calabar [a river in present day Nigeria], the crew and part of the cargo being saved.

 History of the Liverpool Privateers, Wars of the French Revolution,   page 364
 

How & Kelsick Merchants of London

The identity of the members of the firm of How and Kelsick, London is revealed by a power of attorney from Peter How and Richard Kelsick of Whitehaven, County of Cumberland, England, dated 1740, by which they appointed John Champ and William Jordan of Richmond County, Virginia as their agents. (Richmond Co. Va. Records. Order Book 1 p. 152.)

The effect of these  documents is to show that the Kelsicks were carrying on their commercial activities in both London and the County Cumberland in the first half of the Eighteenth Centuries.