Person:John Wickes (2)

Was killed in King Phillip's War [[3]]

1. ↑ Updike, Wilkins. A history of the Episcopal Church in Narragansett, Rhode Island, including a history of other Episcopal Churches in the State: with a transcript of the Narragansett Parish Register from 1718 to 1774, an appendix containing a reprint of a work entitled America Dissected, and copies of other old papers together with notes containing genealogical and biographical accounts of distinguished men, families, etc. (Boston, Massachusetts: D.B. Updike, 1907)
   2/2/411-12, 1907.

   "John Wickes, one of the first settlers "
   John Wickes, the progenitor of the family in Rhode Island, was born in 1609, and thus, although Callender
   calls him " a very ancient man," could have been but sixty-six years of age at the time of his death. He came from Staines, Middlesex, England, and embarked at London, in ship Hopewell, with his wife Mary and his infant daughter Ann, in September, 1635. He was in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1637, and appears as one of the signers of the Compact,at Portsmouth, Rhode Island, April 30, 1639. John Wickes was one of the eleven purchasers from Miantonomi of the trad of land called Shawomet (Warwick),January 12,1643,and in September of the same year was one of those summoned to appear7'" before the General Court at Boston, and was imprisoned for heresy and sedition at Ipswich during the following winter. He occupied most of the local offices, from town magistrate in Warwick to deputy and assistant in the Assembly. His calling was that of a tanner, and traces of his tan vats are still visible near the east end of the old Lippitt house, at Old Warwick.
   "He left one son, John."[[1]]
   
   The date of the birth of the second John Wickes is not known. He died in 1689. His wife, RoseTownsend, was apparently a sister of Richard, the husband of his sister, Elizabeth Wickes, whose overseer, at Oyster Bay, New York, he went thither to be, in 1671. By 1675 he had returned to Warwick, being made a freeman by the Assembly in that year. (Rhode Island Colonial Records, ii. 527.)

2.   Fuller, Oliver Payson. The history of Warwick, Rhode Island: settlement in 1642 to the present time; including accounts of the early settlement and development of its several villages; sketches of the orig in and progress of the different churches of the town, &c., &c. (Providence [Rhode Island]: Angell, Burlingame, printers, 1875)
   p 24, 78.

   [[2]]The following account of the death of John Wickes, is taken from Updike's Narraganset Church :
   
   "In relation to his death there is this tradition : That on the approach of danger, when garrisons had been provided and the inhabitants generally had repaired to them, he could not be persuaded that he required any protection against the natives. From his past experience of their uniform kindness and goodwill towards him personally, he was slow to believe himself in danger, and to the oft-repeated admonitions of his friends to be more careful of his safety, his answer was that he had no fears of injury from the Indians—that they would not hurt him. With this mistaken confidence in their fidelity, he ventured beyond the protection of the garrisons; and going at evening into the woods in search of his cows, he did not return. His fate was first known to his friends on seeing his head set upon a pole near his own dwelling on the following morning. This they immediately—and before venturing in search of the body—buried near the stone garrison and within a few rods of it. The body, which was found on the succeeding day, was interred beside the head, but in a distinct grave; and two little hillocks, which mark the spot are still shown as the grave of John Wickes."
   
   His dwelling house was on the corner leading to Rocky Point, nearly opposite the old Quaker Meeting House. It stood a short distance in the rear of the present residence of Mr. Thomas Wickes Gardiner. It was torn down about the year 1838. Thomas Wickes, a son of John, Senior, was a representative in the General Assembly for several years, and for more than twenty consecutive years (1715-1738), Assistant, a position corresponding to that of State Senator of the present day. He was Town Clerk from 1712 to his death in 1742, with the exception of the year 1720. His descendants are numerous in the State. One of the Coweset farms, set off in 1684, lying about a mile east of Rocky Hill School House, still remains in possession of his descendants, the present occupant being Mr. Oliver A. Wickes.