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ROBERT HICKS (c. 1578–1647)
MARGARET UNKNOWN (d. 1665/7)
Robert Hicks was born about 1578. [1] He died on 24 May 1647. [1] He married Margaret ___. [1]
Margaret ___ died between 8 July 1665 and 6 March 1665/6.
Robert came to New England in the Fortune in 1621. [1] Margaret and her children came on the Anne in 1623.
In England, Robert was a fellmonger—a person who dealt in hides and who might prepare them for tanning. [1]
Robert is on the list of those admitted as freemen before 1 January 1632/3. [1] He is on the list of 7 March 1636/7 freemen. [1] He is in the Plymouth section of the 1639 list of freemen in Plymouth colony with the annotation "dead." [1]
Robert was granted an acre in the Plymouth land division as a passenger on the Fortune. His wife and children were granted four acres as passengers on the Anne. [1] In the 1627 Plymouth cattle division, Robert, Margaret, Samuel, Ephraim, Lydia, and Phebe Hicks were people number six to eleven in the twelfth company. [1]
Robert was assessed 18 shillings in the 25 March 1633 tax list and 12 shillings in the 27 March 1634 tax list. [1]
Robert was one of the Purchasers. [1]
On 14 March 1635/6 Mr. Hicks, George Watson, and Richard Higgins were allocated land at Island Creek for planting in 1636. On 20 March 1636/7 they were allocated the same land for 1637. [2, 1: 40, 56]
On 5 February 1637/8 George was granted four acres of land lying next to Mr. Thomas Hill's on the north side. [2, 1: 76] On 30 November 1640 he was granted six acres of marsh meadow at Green Harbor [Marshfield] marsh. [2, 1: 167]
Robert made his will on 28 May 1645; it was proved on 15 March 1648. He left his wife Margaret, whom he named his executrix, three rooms in his house and her one-third of the land during her widowhood. He left his son Ephraim his house, barn, and buildings in Plymouth, three fields on the north side of the town, all but 40 acres of his upland at Island Creek, another 50 acres, all of his household goods, and two oxen. He was to pay his mother's third and supply her with 20 loads of wood a year. He left his grandson John Bangs 40 acres of upland at Island Creek. He left 50 acres each to John Reyner, the son of Mr. John Reyner the teacher, if Mr Reyner would stay in Plymouth; his eldest son Samuel; John Watson; John Bangs; the younger of Mr. Charles Chauncey's sons. He left 20 shillings each to William Pontus, John Faunce, Nathaniel Morton, and Thomas Cushman. He left ten shillings each to Mr. John Howland and Mannasses Kempton. He left Joshua Pratt a suit, Samuel Eddy a pair of stockings and the town of Plymouth a cow. Inventory (his death date is found in this record) was taken on 5 July 1647. It amounted to £39-13-00. [1]
On 1 May 1660 George asked the court, on behalf of his son John and his nephew John Bangs, that whereas Samuel Hicks was mistakenly listed as purchaser of lands at Cushenah and Accoaksett, could this be corrected to say Robert Hicks. The court deferred the matter until June. [2, 3: 186]
Margaret Hicks, widow of Plymouth, wrote her her will on 8 July 1665. She mentioned her son Samuel and his seven children; her daughter Lydia; her deceased son Ephraim; her grandchild John Bangs; the children of her son-in-law George Watson and her deceased daughter Phebe Watson. The was exhibited to the court on 6 March 1665/6 on the oaths of Captain Thomas Southworth and George Watson, whom she had named overseers. [3] George Watson was granted letters of administration on the estate of Mistress Margaret Hicks on 6 March 1665/6. [2, 4: 117] Her inventory was exhibited the same day and George Watson took oath to it. [3]
Children of Robert Hicks: The first baptisms of the first eight are recorded at St. Mary Magdalen, Bermondsey, Surrey. [1]
i. Thomas Hicks was baptized on 19 February 1603/4. He was buried on 23 April 1604 in St. Mary Magdalen. [1]
ii. John Hicks was baptized on 12 October 1605. There is no further record of him. [1]
iii. Sarah Hicks was baptized on 25 October 1607. She was buried on 24 February 1617/8 in St. Mary Magdalen. [1]
iv. Richard Hicks was baptized on 17 September 1609. There is no further record of him. [1]
v. Samuel Hicks was baptized on 18 August 1611. He married Lydia, the daughter of John Doane, on 11 September 1645 in Plymouth. [1]
vi. Lydia Hicks was baptized on 6 September 1612. She married Edward Bangs. [1]
vii. Phebe Hicks was baptized on 15 March 1614/5 in St. Mary Magdalen, Bermondsey. She died on 22 May 1663 in Plymouth. She married George Watson.
viii. Mary Hicks was baptized on 11 May 1617. She was buried on 14 September 1619. [1]
ix. Ephraim Hicks was born about 1625 in Plymouth. He died "a violent death" on 12 December 1649 in Plymouth. [1] He married Elizabeth, the daughter of John Howland, on 13 September 1649 in Plymouth. [1]
References:
1. "The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620–1633, Volumes I-III," digitized book, AmericanAncestors.org, originally Published as: Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, 3 volumes (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), 924–5.
2. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, Records of Plymouth Colony: Court Orders, vol. 1, 1633–1640, vol. 2, 1641–1651, vol. 3, 1651–1661, vol. 4, 1661–1668, vol. 5, 1668–1678, vol. 6, 1678–1691 (Boston: William White, 1855, 1866).
3. "Plymouth County Wills and Inventories," Mayflower Descendant 16 (1914): 157–8.
©a. buiter
25-Dec-2022