Person talk:John Wicken (2)

1828 Immigrant [17 February 2018]

Is John Wicken of Cleveland the 1828 immigrant John Wickens?

On 21 May 1828 the English brig "William" landed at the Port of New York on a voyage from Rye, England. Included in the manifest are John Wickens, age 23, and Charlotte Wickens, age 20. They are the only Wickens listed on the manifest (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVPX-LM3F)

On 12 Nov 1828 Charlotte Wickens (age 20, b. England) died in Manhattan (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F69X-STT).

This suggests two hypotheses: 1. John and Charlotte were husband and wife, and upon Charlotte's death John would have been free to remarry; 2. Charlotte was John's younger sister

Potential origins of immigrant John Wickens [17 February 2018]

To address hypothesis 1, we would need to find a marriage in England. Only one appropriately timed marriage between a John Wicken and a Charlotte appears in the English vital records index at FamilySearch:

• John Wickens married Charlotte Bayley 17 Feb 1828 in Tenterden, Kent, England (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NN69-TJN https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QJDL-94GS https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QJDL-W1GQ)

Note that Rye is the closest port to Tenderden (about 10 miles), so is a highly plausible debarkation point for the newlyweds.

Looking for births/christenings in Kent, we find the following:

• John Wickens, s. William & Elizabeth, b. 30 Oct 1808, chr 8 Jan 1809, Tonbridge (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N6K3-CYH)
• John Wicken, s. Jonathan & Ann, b. 20 Aug 1812, chr 1 Nov 1812, Tenterden
• Thomas John Wickens, s. Thomas and Mary Jane, chr 11 Sep 1814, Greenwich
• John Wicken, s. John and Ann, chr 26 Jan 1815, Minster-in-Sheppey
• Charlotte Bayley, d. John and Sarah, chr 29 Nov 1807, Sholden (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NNPT-BXL)

The entry for Charlotte is a plausible date, but Sholden is relatively far from Tenterden. The only relevant date for John is the Tonbridge birth, which matches the dates given for the Cleveland John but does not match the age given in the ship manifest. However, that John is still living with his parents in Tonbridge at the 1841 census (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MQ2M-1XV).

Tenterden is near the Sussex border, so we should look there as well.

Other John & Charlotte families that remained in England

To be confident that the marriage identified above is the couple that immigrated to NY in 1828, we need to rule out similarly named families that remained in England.

The Kent parish records show a series of children of "John and Charlotte Wicken" (https://www.familysearch.org/search/record/results?facetType=ON&query=%2Bgivenname%3Ajohn%7E%20%2Bsurname%3AWicken%7E%20%2Bbirth_place%3Aengland%7E%20%2Bbirth_year%3A1800-1815%7E%20%2Bmarriage_place%3Aengland%7E%20%2Bmarriage_year%3A1822-1828%7E%20%2Bresidence_place%3A%22united%20states%22%7E%20%2Bresidence_year%3A1828-1900%7E%20%2Bspouse_givenname%3Acharlotte%7E&count=20&collection_id=1952887):

• Sarah, chr 13 Mar 1821, Westerham
• Jane, chr. 11 Aug 1822, Westerham
• Phoebe, chr 1 Feb 1824, Westerham
• John, chr. 16 Jul 1826, Westerham
• James, chr 27 Apr 1828, Westerham
• Sarah, chr 10 may 1830, Westerham
• Mary Anne, chr 10 May 1830, Westerham
• Anne, chr 17 Feb 1833, Westerham
• Hanna, chr 9 Nov 1834, Westerham
• William, chr. 8 Apr 1838, Westerham
• Emma, chr 7 Mar 1841, Westerham
• Charlotte, chr. 12 Nov 1843, Westerham

If this is all one family, then it is evidently a different one from the Wickens-Bayley marriage referenced above, given the christening dates of the youngest children. This family is more likely to be John Wicken and Charlotte Sales, m. 13 Jan 1821 in Westerham (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QJD2-N69P).--Bruce Kendall 18:45, 17 February 2018 (UTC)