Latest Updates - We' re off to a good start this year with some fascinating updates to our website, including an indenture of Thomas Wickenden in 1845 as a seaman aboard the Caledonia, from which the image above has been copied.
New Wickendens - Last week, out of the blue, we received a message from Charles (Chip) Wickenden, grandson of Arthur Wickenden, who learned of the site from his daughter, Megan. So far we have engaged descendants of all four of the sons of Thomas Rogers and Ida Consaul Wickenden. However, we are still looking to contact relatives of the four Wickenden women - Lottie Wickenden Ogden, Ida Wickenden Nixon, Ruth Wickenden Winans, and Dorothy Wickenden Klag. If you know any of their descendants, please tell them about our website. I have gotten in the habit of sending off a short invitation to check out our website to any Wickenden I happen to come across on the Internet. I hope you do that also.
New Articles - I have finished drafting five papers about our Wicken ancestors. You will find them, along with a summary, on the Place-Name Tracing the Wicken page of the Wickenden History section of the site. The research uncovered so many fascinating historical facts about the Wicken (in addition to their establishing the Wicken den), that I was continually amazed. They have been submitted to various Journals and a publisher is being sought to print them together as a book.
New Documents - While rummaging through a file cabinet, I came across some long-overlooked documents. (If you have similar items of interest in storage, in the back of a closet, or in your attic, please contribute copies for our website.)
Letters: One of the most fascinating (and touching) is a letter from Thomas Rogers Wickenden to his Grandmother, Mary Quaife, from Toledo, Ohio, dated 1887, when he was just 24 and before he was married. He relates several family events and then tells her about a new lady companion whom "to say the least" he "esteems very highly." He is building his house at this point and says "when the nest is ready, look out for the bird!" He also says goodbye to his grandmother to whom he fears the Lord will soon say "come up higher."
Indentures: I also found two original parchment copies of indentures with interesting details. One is from 1845 for Thomas Wickenden to work for four years as a seaman aboard the ship Caledonia, owned by a second cousin, also named Thomas Wickenden. The image at the top of this message is taken from that document. The other was from 1865 for Thomas Rogers Wickenden to work for a local grocer for the next five years. He was only 12 years old at the time, but passed himself off as 14 "or thereabouts" and his mother co-signed with him to make it legal.
Thank you again for checking out our website. Be well and stay safe!
The Website Wickendens