Plain Wickenden (1650-c1695) (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2020 Week #42) Theme: "Proud"

Being pious Baptists and perhaps afraid that their newborn daughter might grow up to be too proud, her parents sought to ensure humility by naming her "Plain". 

1999 photo of present-day First Baptist Church, Providence R.I.

My 8X great grandmother Plain Wickenden was born about 1650 in Providence, Rhode Island to Reverend William Wickenden and his first (unnamed) wife. Reverend Wickenden was associate pastor along with Reverend Chad Brown for the First Baptist Church in Providence, Rhode Island, and after Reverend Brown's resignation, he took over as sole pastor for several years. William is best known as one of the signers of the Providence civil compact in 1637 which is credited as being the first  document in America to enshrine separation of church and state. Wickenden Street in Providence is named in his honor.

Providence Lots at the time of Plain's Birth
William Wickenden's lot highlighted in pink
(another ancestor Stukely Westcott also highlighted)

Toward the end of his life, he also preached in New York City, a location not as tolerant of Baptist religious beliefs as was Rhode Island. William was imprisoned for 4 months and returned to Providence in broken health. He died 23 February 1670/71 at a place called "Solitary Hill".  

Because of her father's position and education, Plain would have been a well-educated woman for those times. It is possible that her privileged life could indeed have gone to her head, but her given name and character seemed to keep her feet firmly planted on the ground.

She grew up knowing Samuel Wilkinson and married him about 1674 in Providence. With both her parents now being deceased, it isn't clear if anyone in her family objected to her marriage outside the Baptist faith. In any event, her down-to-earth nature stood her in good stead as the newlyweds moved out of the comfortable town of her youth to live on their farm in the wilderness about 10 miles north. 

Samuel was a Quaker, one of those who aspire to plain dress and plain talk. Perhaps her Plain name had attracted Samuel to her, but one might guess that she was actually a very attractive young woman. Especially if one is inclined to believe all the flowery language contained in the Reverend Israel Wilkinson's 1869 Memoirs of the Wilkinson Family in America. Like so many histories of that time, it is difficult to ascertain how much is factual and how much is inserted for over-the-top wordy effect. The language is anything but plain. For example, on page 327: 

Plain was an accomplished young lady of a sprightly disposition, and was discreet and prudent in her conduct notwithstanding her fearlessness and boldness, and was highly esteemed by all who were acquainted with her. She was possessed of more than ordinary executive ability, and performed feats that would astonish, and perhaps shock the exquisite sensibilities of modern ladies of fashion. Her education in consequence of her father's position in society, and the excellent opportunities of home instruction, was far superior to many of her day and sex. 

Notwithstanding being a peace-loving Quaker, Samuel was commissioned as captain in the provincial militia of Rhode Island and took part in King Philip's War.   When the war broke out, he sent Plain and their first-born child Samuel to Providence for greater safety while he performed his duties as a soldier. After the war ended, they returned to their farm. There they raised their family of six children, four sons and two daughters. Their fourth son, Joseph (1682-1740), was my 7X great grandfather. 

Samuel was active in civic affairs, acted as a surveyor and justice of the peace.

Plain did her part too, as described in 1869 by Reverend Israel Wilkinson, page 329: 

Plain was a decided character, and some traditional anecdotes are still related concerning her. After they were well established in their new home, she assumed and performed the duties of a pioneer housewife with an energy that bespoke the former training she had received at the hands of a Baptist minister of the primitive days of Rhode Island Colony.. . .

Cattle, sheep, swine and horses were soon raised, and luxuries began to flow  into their wilderness home, not however, without the toil and perseverance of Plain. Sugar, tea, coffee, raisins and the groceries so common now in every country store could not at that time be so easily obtained. Providence was ten miles away, and was but a small town. Boston was about forty miles distant, and abounded with the much coveted articles. Samuel could not leave his farm and stock long enough to do the shopping, and like a sensible man allowed Plain to do the small business of this kind. Mounted upon her own mare with panniers filled with the veal of the well fatted calf, killed the night before, and such other articles of farm produce as would find a ready sale by way of barter -- at three o'clock in the morning she might be seen wending along the bridle-path I have described, making her way to Boston. Winding through the forests, descending the hills, through the vales; turning now to the right, now to the left, as the blazed trees would indicate, till she came to the river at "Martin's Wade," when gathering up her feet to keep them out of the water, she would cross and arrive at what is now called Attleboro at sunrise. After breakfast she would remount and pursue her journey to "Shawmut," "the City of Notions," alias Boston; exchange her cargo, receive her longed for luxuries, and return home next day, and none the worse for wear! Now there's a wife for you! No wonder her husband valued her above rubies. 

Undertaking such a journey alone through the wilderness to conduct the bartering for groceries is indeed a remarkable feat. In addition to the potential perils of the wilderness trail, Boston itself posed significant danger for anyone of a Baptist or Quaker religion. It was common at the time for members of such faiths to be whipped or imprisoned. (For example, in addition to her Baptist father's treatment in New York mentioned above, another Quaker ancestor Herodias Long was whipped 10 lashes in Boston because of her faith.)  It is not known if or how Plain remained able to make these journeys to Boston after all the children started arriving.

No other anecdotes have been found, but she clearly had a self-reliant streak.  

Samuel died 27 August 1727 but no actual record has been found as to when Plain died; Family Search gives an unsourced date of 1695. 

Again quoting Reverend Israel Wilkinson, p.328:

The precise location of the old house of Samuel Wilkinson is at this late period (about 200 years after its first settlement) difficult to ascertain. The "Great Road" leading from Providence to Worcester is known to pass through his lands.. . .Within this solitary enclosure, by the side of a thrifty growth of at least the tertiary forest -- surrounded by a thick stone wall, may be seen some very ancient mounds of earth nearly leveled with the surrounding land, and marked by rough, unhewn, moss-covered stones. No inscription informs the passer by who sleeps beneath them, and the uncertain index of tradition hesitatingly points to them as being the last resting place of Samuel and Plain Wilkinson. 

She may have been called Plain and she may have refrained from feeling proud of herself. Nonetheless, she was a woman whose descendants can be justifiably proud to claim her as an ancestor.

 

Some Resources:

• "The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Providence: National Biographical Publishing Co., 1881, p. 57 accessed online 26 September 2020 through Internet Archive at https://archive.org/stream/biographicalcycl00nati/biographicalcycl00nati_djvu.txt
• Wilkinson, Rev. Israel, Memoirs of the Wilkinson Family in America, Jacksonville, Ill: Davis & Penniman, Printers, 1869 accessed online 4 October 2020 through Internet Archive at https://archive.org/details/memoirsofwilkins00wilk/page/476/mode/2up