Saturday, 9 August 2025

John Wickes (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2025 Week 33 theme: "Legal Troubles")

My 9th great grandfather John Wickes (1609-1676) came from Staines, England, to New England aboard the Hopewell in 1635. Like many of my English ancestors, John had come to New England for religious freedom, but his nonconforming religious beliefs landed him in trouble wherever he went. It seemed it was acceptable among nonconformists to be nonconforming -- provided you conformed to the predominant nonconformist dogma. Religious freedom always had its limits.

John was a tanner by trade. He, his wife Mary Rhodes and their baby daughter Hannah (my 8th great grandmother) settled first in Plymouth Colony. John and Mary went on to have two more daughters and a son. 

Within a few years, John had become a "Gortonist", following the beliefs of the radical  Samuel Gorton. The group was progressive in many admirable ways, believing in such things as abolition of slavery, religious freedom for all, and women's right to speak and to be listened to. Outrageous! Blasphemy! Heresy!

Gorton was willing to accede to the authority of the King of England but denied being subject to local civil authority and its magistrates when he was taken before them. John Wickes was among those banished from Plymouth. Thinking to find acceptance in the more liberal-minded colony of Rhode Island, they moved first to Aquidneck (later known as Portsmouth), but they were soon expelled from there too, and finally even from Providence, where Roger Williams and his Baptists had moved to escape from Puritan rule. In fairness, the civil authorities at Providence were probably more problematic for the Gortonists than were the Baptist religious leaders.

Heading into the wilderness outside Providence, the group intended to settle at Pawtuxet but a handful of English settlers already there were not happy to accept them, so they moved on yet again.

In 1642 John Wickes was one of the original purchasers of Shawomet (later known as Warwick, RI) from Miantonomi, the Narragansett sachem. The Gortonists felt more welcome among the Narragansetts than among their fellow English settlers. 

By 1643, Massachusetts was demanding that the settlers of Shawomet appear before their court; the Gortonists sent a lengthy letter denying that Massachusetts had any jurisdiction over them. This angered the Massachusetts authorities who responded by saying armed guards would be sent to force their compliance. And thus began a "little war" with the 11 Gortonist men badly outnumbered. No one was killed and not a single shot was fired by the Gortonists who ended up taken away as prisoners to Boston with no idea what would become of their families. 

On 17 October 1643 the prisoners were brought before the court on charges of heresy and sedition. The wording of the charge from page 20 of the History of Warwick Rhode Island is given for Gorton (but was very similar for all the men charged, including John Wickes):

Upon much examination and serious consideration of your writings, with your answers about them, wee do charge you to bee a blasphemous enemy of the true religion of our Lord Jesus Christ and His Holy ordinances, and also of all civil authority among the people of God, and particularly in this jurisdiction.

Gorton was condemned to death but the majority of the court refused to sanction this sentence. In the end, he and  six others were sentenced "to be confined to irons during the pleasure of the court and, should they break jail, preach their heresies or speak against the church or state, on conviction they should die." The seven men were separated and sent in chains to different towns. John Wickes was sent to Ipswich.

The pleasure of the court did not last very long. By April 1644, the men were welcomed back by their families and the Narragansett sachems; a new council was formed in which all agreed to submit themselves and their lands to the government of England. Samuel Gorton, John Wickes and two other men were appointed as commissioners. 

On 15 May 1646, the first meeting of the General Assembly of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was held in Portsmouth. On 19 March 1647, a formal charter was adopted including the towns of Providence, Newport and Portsmouth; Warwick was added to the group. Six men were to represent each town and a council (including John Wickes) was elected. In a somewhat ironic twist of fate, John also served as Town Magistrate. He was Assistant on the Governor's Council in 1659, 1665 and 1666. In all, John Wickes represented Warwick in the General Assembly for 19 years. 

John's wife Mary died in 1661. All four children grew up, married and had lives of their own. 

At the time of King Philip's War (1675-1678), Wickes was not persuaded that he needed protection from the Native Americans; he felt sure that his lifelong good relations with the Narragansetts would hold. It is said that when the attack came, it was not by the Narragansetts but by Pequots and Mohegans, strangers to him  from Connecticut.  In any event, after the town was burned, he ventured out to try to find his cattle and did not return. His severed head was found placed on a pole outside the burned remnants of his home. In the end, it was not his legal troubles that proved to be his greatest danger. 

John Wickes Memorial photo by Garrett Green on Findagrave.com - This is a two-sided memorial with this side containing the harrowing description of his death


Some Resources:

  • Chapin, Howard M., Documentary History of Rhode Island, Providence: Preston & Pounds Co, 1912 accessed 21 July 2025 on Internet Archive at https://archive.org/details/cu31924028851711/mode/2up?view=theater
  • Dae Powell, "Ancestral Glimpses", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/ancestral-glimpses/I5923.php : accessed 17 July 2025), "John Wickes (1609-1675)".
  • Fuller, Oliver P., History of Warwick Rhode Island, Providence: Angell, Burlingame & Co., 1875 accessed 18 July 2025 on Internet Archive at https://archive.org/details/historyofwarwick00fullrich 
  • Warwick Rhode Island Digital History Project accessed 19 July 2025 at  https://www.warwickhistory.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=476:samuel-gorton-15931677&Itemid=130

2 comments: