THOMAS WICKHAM OF CHICHESTER, SUSSEX, ENGLAND
AND WETHERSFIELD, CONNECTICUT
In attempting to connect Thomas Wickham of Wethersfield, Connecticut, to other Wickham families in New England, earlier studies have suggested several possibilities for his English place of origin. In his History of Ancient Wethersfield, Stiles indicated a possible Yorkshire connection, which was reiterated by Charles Hoppin in his Wickham Manuscript. AA more recent report presented a detailed account of the Wethersfield family and suggested a possible connection to Chipping Sodbury in Gloucestershire, but did not, however, show a direct link with Thomas Wickham of Wethersfield.2
The existence of a tie between Thoms Wickham and the Chatfield family has long been recognized, but no specific connection has been identified. New Information ties Wickham to the Chatfield family of Guilford, Connecticut and East Hampton, Long Island. It was the relationship between Wickham and his uncle Thomas Chatfield, both in Connecticut and in England, that provided the basis for the present study.
Ancestry of Thomas Wickham
On 19 May 1652 Thomas Wickham filed suit against Thomas Chatfield in an action of debt with the damages to the value of ,60.3 The account reads as follows:
Thomas Chatfield and John Cooper Acknowledgeth themselves Bound mutually each to other in an Assumpsitt of 60 pounds that they will Stand to the Award of Mr. John Tailcoate [i.e. Talcott] and Mr. Matthew Allyn, if they agree and putt a finall end to all differences between Thomas Wickham and Thomas [Chat]field by eight of the Clock of morrow morninge, if not, then the Courte Shall have power to Chuse an umpire to whose Issue they Ingage to Stand as before.
Nothing further is stated about the case, but several question come to mind. How could Thomas Wickham, not yet a freeman and in the colony for only a few years, provide Thomas Chatfield with the considerable sum of ,60? The situation suggests that Thomas Wickham had arrived in New England with a sizeable estate. Who was Chatfield that Wickham would have been able to advance him ,60 without collateral? These questions led to a study of the Wickham and Chatfield families in both America and England, and resulted in the identification of the ancestry of Thomas Wickham of Wethersfield.
Recent discoveries in manorial records, 4 combined with an analysis of the literature, parish registers, and court and probate records, have now determined that Thomas Wickham came from Chichester, Sussex. The Wickham family has been traced for three and possibly four additional generations back to the 16th century, to the Manor of Fisher and Brimfast in North Mundham and Hunston, Sussex, and before that to Boxgrove, Sussex.
In 1916 Elizabeth French [later Bartlett] published the results of her research in English records of the Chatfield family. 5 The work include an incisive account of the descendants of Thomas Chatfield of Bedyles near ,Ditchling, Sussex, England, among whose descendants were the Chatfield families of Chichester, Oving, and Pagham in West Sussex. One of these was the family of HenryA Chatfield (GeorgeB, FrancisC, RichardD, JohnE, ThomasF) of South Mundham near Chichester, who made his will in 1636/7, and was buried at North Mundham 1 February 1636/7.
Miss French=s study included abstracts of several English wills, parish registers, and feet of fines relating to the Chatfield family of Ditchling and other parishes of Sussex. Of particular interest were the wills of Henry Chatfield in 1636/7 and proved 3 March 1636/7, 6 identified him as of North Mundham, Sussex, named his wife and executrix Jane, and made bequests to son-in-law and Habell [Abel] Ingram, son John Chatfield, son-in-law and co-executor Edward Fowle, son-in-law Norris, 7 sons Francis and Thomas Chatfield, and son George Chatfield (under 21 years). Jane Chatfield of North Mundham, In her will dated 15 March 1638/9 and proved 22 March 1638/9, 8 named her sons Francis Chatfield, Thomas Chatfield, and George Chatfield who was identified as her youngest son. She named daughters, Miriam wife of Abel Ingram, and Elizabeth, wife of Edward Fowle, and her grandchild Thomas Wykeham, and appointed her sons-in-law Edward Fowle and William Langrish executors. In the will Jane stated that her youngest son George Chatfield was to receive all the goods from the estate of her first husband, George Wickham, which were not listed in the inventory of Henry Chatfield=s estate.
Miss French concluded that Henry Chatfield was married twice, first to an unidentified wife with whom he had three children, and secondly, 16 July 1610, to Jane Wickham, widow of George Wickham of Hunston. She also reached the conclusion that Jane ( ) (Wickham) Chatfield Ahad by her first marriage at least on son and also two daughters, Elizabeth, wife of Edward Fowle and Martha, wife of William Langrish.@9 Recent research shows, however, that these women were Jane=s Chatfield daughter and the remarried widow of her Wickham son. It would appear that all of henry Chatfield=s children were with Jane, except perhaps John, who is named in his will but not hers; Henry may have had a first wife who died in childbirth, or the sone John may have been Jane=s and died in the interval between their two wills.
The three youngest sons of Henry and Jane Chatfield all immigrated to Connecticut in 1639.10 Jane=s will, naming Thomas Wickham as a grandson and as a nephew to Francis, Thomas and George Chatfield, is of great interest in light of the 1652 lawsuit of Thomas Wickham against Thomas Chatfield in Connecticut.
The mention of the will of the estate of her first husband Wickham and the naming of grandson Thomas Wickham indicated that Jane had at least one son with her first husband. A search of the various probate jurisdictions for the area of Chichester and North Mundham revealed the administration of the estate of George Wickham of Hunston, given July 1609 to his widow Jane.11 She filed a report placing a value of ,255 18s 4d on the estate.
Hunston is directly west of North Mundham and two miles south of Chichester. George Wickham=s death was at the right time and place to be tied to the Chatfield family of North Mundham. A search of parish registers of Hunston and surrounding parishes revealed the following entries for Wickhams and families which, as the search progressed, were found to be connected:
HUNSTON:12
5 May 1599 bp. Sara, daughter of George Wickham and Jane
14 May 1599 bur. Sara, daughter of George Wickham and Jane
13 Feb.1599/1600 bur. Katharine, wife of Edward Wickham
27 April 1600 bp. Thomas, son of George Wickham and Jane
8 July 1600 mar. Edward Wickham of Hunston and Joan Allwin of Elstead
2 March 1605 bp. John, son of George Wickham and Jane
9 May 1605 bur. Miriam, daughter of George Wickham and Jane
16 July 1610 mar. Henry Chatfield of Pagham and Jane Wickham of Hunston
NORTH MUNDHAM:13
19 June 1589 mar. Edward Wickhams and Alice Barret
1591 bur. Joan Wickans, wife of Edward, householder
17 Dec. 1591 burn. Jone, wyfe of John Wickam
1 July 1593 bur. Agnes (Alice?), wife of Edward Wickams
1 Nov. 1593 mar. Edward Weckem and Katherin West
14 June 1614 bur. Henry Chatfield
5 Feb. 1623/4 mar. Thomas Wickham and Martha Chitty
25 Jan. 1625/6 bur. John Wickham
May 1632 bur. stillborn child of William Langrish
12 May 1633 bp. William, son of William Langrish
14 May 1633 mar. Edward Fowle and Elizabeth Chatfield
mar. Abell Ingram and Myriam Chatfield
2 Nov. 1634 bp. John, son of Abell Ingram
1 Feb. 1636/7 bur. Henry Chatfield
16 Dec. 1637 bp. Isack, son of Abell Ingram and Myriam
25 Feb. 1637/8 bp. Richard, son of Mr. William Langrish and Martha
7 Aug. 1637 bur. Martha, daughter of Mr. William Langrish
21 Jan. 1638/9 bur. Isack, son of Abell Ingram
16 March 1638/9 bur. Jane Chatfield, widow
(Record ends and resumes in 1662)
BOXGROVE: 14
23 May 1575 mar. John Wyckom and Joan Hobson, daughter of Henry Hobson
LURGASHALL:15
29 May 1592 mar. John Wickham and Alice Lickfold
CHICHESTER, ST. PETER THE GREAT (SUBDEANERY):16
20 April 1624 bur. Thomas Wickham, at (North) Mundham
19 Oct. 1624 bp. Thomas, son of Thomas Wickham
3 Sept. 1627 mar. Will: Langrish of this parish and Martha Chitty of the same parish
4 Jan. 1929 bp. Elizabeth Langrish, daughter of Will: Langrish
29 Jan. 1642 mar. William Langrish and Mary Peachey of Oving
CUCKFIELD:17
13 May 1609 bur. George wickooms of Hunstoune nere Chichester
The Bishops Transcripts for Chidham18 show that Jane Shepard of that parish married George Wickham of Hunston on 30 January 1598. Record of this marriage suggests that Henry Chatfield was married only once and that all of his children were with Jane.
A search of probates revealed the nuncupative will of Thomas Wickham of the parish of St. Peter the Great or the Subdeanery in Chichester, made 15 April 1624.19 The witnesses who had heard of the will, John Kay and Margaret Chittie, on 8 June 1624 swore that Thomas had left all his temporal goods to his wife Martha, appointing her sole executrix. In both the probate and the inventory the widow is referred to as Martha Chittie, Relict of the deceased, an apparent error on the part of the clerk - Martha, had, after all, been the wife of Thomas Wickham for less than two months before he died. The court diary on the date of 8 June 1624, records the same probate statement but refers to the executrix as AMartha Wickham, Relict of the deceased.@20 The same statement which appears with the probate of the will was added to this inventory including the reference to the widow as Martha Chittie. Curiously, her maiden name was also used in the record of her second marriage.
Critical information appears in the will of Martha=s father, Richard Chitty, weaver, of Chichester. In his will dated 20 April 1635, proved 10 January 1637, 21 Richard stated that he was Afour score and three yeares@ old. He left his properties in Chichester and also in Godalming, Surrey, to his wife Margaret Chitty and his daughter Martha Langrish as his sole executors, with his cousins Richard Greenfield of Chichester and his friend Nathaniel Yeoman of North Mundham to assist them. Of his daughter Martha he stated [emphasis added]:
After my wife=s decease, I give and devise the same unto Martha my daughter, now the wife of William Langrish for and during the terme of her naturall life only, and afterwards, I give, will, and devise the same to Thomas Wickham, the son of Thomas Wickham deceased, and of the said Martha, daughter and to heires of the body of the said Thomas Wickham the sonne lawfully begotten . . I give and bequeath unto my grandchild Thomas Wickham four pound in money to be payd to him at his age of one and twenty years accomplished. Also my will is that he shall have all my bedding and goods in the Parlor of my sayd dwelling house as the same parlor is now furnished therewith and also my best Coverlett and my Brasse Furnace in the kitchen of my said dwelling house.
Richard Chitty went on to name the other living children of his daughter Martha and William Langrish as William Langrish, Jr., and Elizabeth Langrish.
Much additional information was found in the court rolls of the Manor of Fisher and Brimfast (a manor granted to Eton College in 1441), which begin in 1446.22 The Wickham, Chatfield and Langrish families lived on the lands of this manor in North Mundham and Hunston. The first appearance of the name Wekeham, Weekham, Wieckham, or Wickham on the rolls was in 1591 when Edward Wekeham was listed as a tenant. Edward appeared regularly after that, and in 1607 he was referred to as resident of a Amansion house@ and a Acustomary tenant.@ In 1602, Edward was joined on the court rolls by his wife Johanna, and the roll of 1605 shows them also with a daughter Margaret. On 28 November 1606, Edward Wekeham was listed on the roll and John Wekeham of Hunston, yeoman, was received as a new tenant for his life and the lives of his son George and George=s son Thomas. This John Wekeham held the office of constable of the manor at the time at which Robert Adams, gentleman, was steward of the manor. The grant of copyhold includes the name of George Wekeham, son of said John Wekeham, and Thomas Wekeham, son of said George Wekeham. On the court roll dated 20 July 1607, held at the Amansion house@ of Edward Wekeham, a customary tenant of the Manor, Edward was listed, as was John Wekeham, son of Edward. It was also noted that John Caplan turned over to John Wekeham, son of Edward and Johanna Wekeham, a cottage site in Hunston. John then asked permission of the Court to lease the cottage out - this may have been where George Wickham was living at the time of his death 1609.
In the court roll for 1612, Edward and Johanna Wekeham were listed, along with John Wekeham, George Wekeham, son of John Wekeham, and Thomas Wekeham, son of George Wekeham. Following these was the listing of Jane and Henry Chatfield of Hunston, yeoman, followed by John Wekeham, son of said Jane Chatfield and also Alice, wife of John Wekeham, yeoman, of North Mundham. Between 1612 and 1642 there is a gap in the manorial court rolls.
In 1642 (the court rolls was dated 1642 to 1645/6), Sir William Morley, Knight and a prominent Royalist in West Sussex, was Lord of the Manor and Thomas Bettesworth was steward. Homage was paid to them by the tenants of the Manor including William Langrish, gent., and Francis Chatfield. Reference was made in the court roll to the death of Margaret Langrish, leaving land at Fisher in North Mundham which was then assume by William Langrish. On a court roll dated 25 June 1649, William Langrish, again paid homage to the Manor. The records state that Marie, William, and Nathaniel Sowton received a cottage and house from Thomas Chatfield, that was Alate in occupancy of Thomas Wickham,@ and that AThomas Wickham went to the Lord of the Manor and turned back in his property to the Lord of the Manor to do with as he pleased.@ This property was then turned over to William Langrish with the stipulation that the land interest would belong to Maria Rolfe of Kingsgate in Chichester after the death of William Langrish. In 1656/7 the court rolls show William and Maria Rolfe as the tenants of the house along with Nathaniel Sowton.
As indicated in the manorial rolls, prior to 25 June 1649 Thomas Wickham had Alately@ given up his occupancy of the cottage and house in Hunston which had been handed down to him form the estate of his grandfather George Wickham, and had returned his inherited lands to the Lord of the Manor. This is consistent with the appearance of Thomas Wickham in Wethersfield, Connecticut, in October of 1648. Thomas Chatfield, Thomas Wickham=s Uncle, was given the authority to settle affairs regarding their property and perhaps Chatfield=s failure to deliver funds gained in the transfer of their property was the cause of the suit filed by Wickham against Chatfield in 1652.
The record of the Court of Chancery for 1645 shows a replication by Thoms Wickham to William Langrish and wife (his stepfather and stepmother).23 This action coincides with Thomas reaching age of 21, when he was legally entitled to receive his inheritance of land and property. Two years later, Thomas was involved in a Chancery suit to recover his property from his stepfather, as discussed more fully below:
The West Sussex Record Office holds maps of the Mair of Fisher and Brimfast showing field names, tenants, and acreages. A map dated about 1630 shows the Wickham tenancies and field holdings at Fisher and in North Mundham near the parish church. A second map dated about 1637 sows the Wickham house occupied by William Langrish, near the house previously occupied by the widowed Jane Chatfield.24
Based on information found in this research we propose that Thomas Wickham who was born in 1624 in Chichester, Sussex, son of Thomas and Martha (Chitty) (Wickham) Langrish, and with the family of his step-grandfather Henry Chatfield and his grandmother Jane (Shepherd) (Wickham) Chatfield of the Manor of Fisher and Brimfast in North Mundham, where the Langrishes lived and the Wickhams held copyhold tenure.
Additional research is needed to determine the birthplace of Thomas Wickham=s great-grandfather, JohnC Wickham or Wyckom, who married Joan Hobson in Boxgrove, Sussex, in 1575, and to discover whether the Edward Wickham who was a customary tenant of Fisher and Brimfast Manor in North Mundham and Hunston, Sussex, as early as 1591, was indeed John=s father.
ANCESTRY OF THOMAS1 WICKHAM
1. [EDWARD?]D WICKHAM was probably the husband of the AJOAN WICKANS, wife of Edward, householder,@ who was buried at North Mundham in 1591, the day and month not recorded. Record of his own burial has not been found ,and it is not clear whether it was he or his presumed son Edward who was listed as a tenant in the earliest appearance of the Wickham name on the rolls of the manor of Fisher and Brimfast in 1591. The rolls indicate that the Court of 20 July 1607 was held at the Amansion house@ of Edward Wekeham, a customary tenant, and John Wekeham, son of Edward, was also listed.
Until further evidence may be found, this probable Edward is presumed to be the father of:
2. i. JohnC Wickham, b. probably ca. 1555; m. (1) Joan Hobson, (2) Alice Lickfold
ii. Edward Wickham, b say ca. 1565; m. (1) at North Mundham, 19 June
Alice Barret, who was probably the AAgnes,@ wife of Edward Wickhams, who was buried there 1 July 1593. He m. there (2) 1 Nov. 1593, KATHERINE WEST, who was buried at Hunston, 13 Feb. 1599/1600. He m. (3) at Hunston, 8 July 1600, JOAN ALLWIN of Elstead. He is probably the Edward Wekeham on the court rolls of the manor of Fisher and Brimfast in 1602 with wife Johanna, and a daughter Margaret listed also in 1605. Edward and Johanna were listed in 1612, after which there is a gap in the rolls until 1642. The will of John Wickham (cited below), dated 1 Nov. 1624, includes a bequest of 3s 4d to Edward Wickham, son of Edward Wickham. No baptisms of children have been found.
2. JOHNC WICKHAM (?EdwardD) was born probably in Sussex about 1555, and he was buried at north Mundham, 25 January 1625/6. He married at Boxgrove, Sussex, 23 May 1575, JOANE HOBSON, who was born there about 1555 and was buried at North Mundham 17 December 1591, daughter of Henry and Joan (Chatfield) Hobson. 25 John married, second, at Lurgashall, Sussex, 29 May 1592, Alice Lickfold.
John Wekeham was constable of the manor of Fisher and Brimfast, as noted above. He was called a yeoman when he received a copyhold grant on 28 November 1606, for the term of his lives of his son George and George=s son Thomas.
Joan Wickham and her son George received bequests in the will of her brother, Richard Hobson the younger, of Boxgrove, Sussex, dated 24 July 1585 and proved 19 August 1585, which also names uncles Richard Hobson and George Chatfield.1 After requesting burial in the churchyard at Boxgrove, he made the following bequests [emphasis added]:
To the Cathedral Church at Chichester, ,2; to the poor of Boxgrove ,7; to Phillip Browne, godson, one sheep; to Alice Caxen [?Capon], widow, 3s 4d; to Joan Lansle, 5s; to George Wikham, my sister=s son ,7; my sister Mary Joope=s four daughters, ,A each; to father-in-law Thomas Easte, the right to live on lands and perches for 10 years after I die, then to my Sister Wikham=s and sister Joopes= children then living, in equal shares; to cosin john Hobson, 4 bushels of barley; to Clement Hobson, 4 bushels of barley; to sister Mary Joope, money; to sister Joane Wikham, ,20; to Mary Joope my sister, one pair of blankets; to Joane Wikham my sister, one dresser and caster; to Agnes Fuller, one year lambe; to Hester Hortley [?Horley], one year lambe; the residue of goods to uncle George Chatfield. Executors: Uncle George Chatfield, uncle Richard Hobson and father-in-law Thomas Easte. Witnesses: Thomas Stampe [?Stempe], Thomas Easte.
The will of John Hills of Pagham, dated 1581, was witnessed by John Gold, John Wicham, and Alice Gold wife of John Gold of [?Banwell].2 Banwell Farm is one mile from Fisher in North Mundham. John Wickhams of North Mundham, was one of the overseers of the will of Agnes Payne, widow, of South Mundham, in 1612.3
In his own will dated 1 May 1624 and proved in 1625,4 John Wickhams of North Mundham requested burial in the churchyard there, and made bequest as follows:
2d to the Cathedral Church in Chichester; to Mary Lickfold [no relationship stated] 1 great dripping pan, 1 great pannel chest, 5s; to John Wickhams, son of George Wickhams, 1 set of silver buttons; to the poor of the parish of North Mundham 5s; to each of my Godchildren - 12d apiece; to every servant dwelling in my house at my death, 2s apiece; to Edward Wickham, son of Edward Wickham, 3s 4d. The rest of my estate to Alice Wickhams, who is appointed Executrix. John Woodyer and John Lickfold appointed overseers. Witnesses: James Broker and William Woodyer.
Child:
3. i. GeorgeB Wickham, b. ca. 1577; m. Jane Shepherd.
3. GEORGEB WICKHAM (JohnC, ?EdwardD) was born about 1577, probably in Sussex, the son of John Wickham and Joane Hobson. He was buried at Cuckfield, Sussex, on 13 May 1609.
He married at Chidham, Sussex, 30 January 1598, JANE SHEPHERD, who was born about 1580, probably in Sussex, and was buried at North Mundham 17 March 1638/9, daughter of William and Joan ( ) Shepherd of Chidham. Jane married second, at Hunston, Sussex, 16 July 1610, Henry Chatfield, who was born at Pagham, Sussex, about 1585 and died before 1 February 1636/7 at North Mundham. With her second husband she had at least eight children.30
Jane=s father, William Shepherd of Chidham, Sussex, made his will 12 October 1615.31 He asked to be buried in the churchyard of Chidham, left to the parish church there 3s 5d, and made other bequests:
To the Cathedral Church of Chichester, 6s. To all my god-children, [money]. To the poor of the parish of Chidham, 5s. To William Shepherd the sone of William Shepherd my son, 20s. To my daughter Alice Wardner, 7s; to George Hunter=s children that were hd by my daughter Alice Wardner, ,3 apiece; to Margery Colpis my daughter, my best feather bed and the (bolster) with all the things belonging to the same after the death of Joan my wife; to Alice (Eabots), my daughter Colpis= daughter, 10s; to every one of my daughter Colpis= children, 7s; to my daughter Jane Chatfield, the great mashing bowls and my panel cupboard in the house after the decease of Joan my wife; to my daughter Jane Chatfield=s children, 7s apiece; to [Richard]Colpis ,20 be paid after the decease of Joan my wife; to George Shepherd my son, the second feather bed and the [bolster] with all things thereunto belonging after the decease of Joan my wife; to my son Thomas Shepherd=s children, 5s apiece; to my daughter-in-law Anne Colpis the wife of Andrew Colpis, one quarter of barley; to Andrew Colpis= children [money]; to George Shepherd the son of George Shepherd, 30s; to Thomas Shepherd=s youngest son, my best and greatest brass pots after the decease of my wife Joan; the rest of my goods moveable and immoveable to Joan my wife. Executor: Joan Shepherd; Overseers: Thomas Bickley, Esq. Of Chichester, John Wheeler the Younger. Witnesses: Richard Sirrick (clerk), Andrew Colpis [his mark], George Shepherd [his mark].
Abstracts of the wills of Henry Chatfield and his widow Jane Chatfield appear in the above page 3 and in Register, 70:58-59.
Children of George Wickham and Jane Shepherd, bp. At Hunston, Sussex:
i. Sarah Wickham, bp. 5 May 1599; bur. At Hunston 14 May 1599.
ii. ThomasA Wickham, bp. 27 April 1600; m. MARTHA CHITTY.
iii.Miriam Wickham, b. ca. 1603; bur. At Hunston 9 May 1605.
iv.John Wickham, bp. 2 March 1605/6; living in 1624/5 when he was named in the will of his grandfather, John Wickham. (Was he perhaps the otherwise unaccounted for Ason@ John Chatfield to whom Henry Chatfield left the very minimal bequest of 12d in his will dated 28 Jan. 1636/7?)
4. THOMASA WICKHAM (GeorgeB, JohnC, ? EdwardD) was baptized at Hunston, Sussex, 27 April 1600, the sone of George Wickham and his wife Jan Shepherd. His burial at North Mundham 20 April 1624 was recorded at Chichester, Sussex.
He married at North Mundham, 5 February 1623/24, MARTHA CHITTY, the daughter of Richard and Margaret ( ) Chitty. She was born at Chichester 20 August 1598 and died probably at North Mundham, after 1635 when she was named in her father=s will (abstracted above, page 6), and before 29 January 1642/3 when her second husband remarried. Martha married second, at Chichester, 3 September 1627, William Lanrish.
Thomas Wickham died two months after his marriage to martha. His mother-in-law, Margaret Chittie, and John Kay attested his nuncupative will:32
April 15. 1624. Thomas Wickham of the parish of Subdeanrie in the Cittie of Chichester in the County of Sussex, yeoman, being of good and perfect memory but weake and sicke of body did make his last Will and Testament Nuncupative as followeth: First hee made a religious profession of his fayth and bequeathed his Soule into the hands of God, and as for his temporal goods heed gave them all to Martha his wyfe, and made her Sole Executrix of his Last Will and Testament. And this was done the day and year above written in the presence of John Kay, Margaret Chittie.
The inventory of the estate of AThomas Weakames of the parish of Subdeanery with in the Cyttie of Chichester, deceased, taken and [a]prayzed the viii th [8th] daye of Maye 1624, by Richard Grenfield and George Evanes Aincluded:@ One leverie Cobored two Chestes, prise - x s . . . three littell pewter dishes and a little pewter cowpe, prise - ii s . . . One Silver Sponne and a littell Skillett and a dosen of Treanchers - viis . . . vii bushelles of peese and one bushell of benes and ii bushels of vaches [vetch] prise - 28s 2d . . . One Lande of dette of - xl ,
. . . his w(ea)ring aparell and moneye in his purse - iii , . . . five Sheepe and tenn pounds of woll - xx . . . A for a total of ,46 13s 10d, signed by Richard Grenfield and George Evenes.33
Martha had six more children with her second husband, William Langrish, as noted.34 William married, second, at St. Peter the Great, Chichester, 29 January 1642[/3], Mary Peachey of Oving.
In November 1647 Thomas Wickham, yeoman, of Chichester, brought suit in Chancery against William Langrish for his rights to the customary messuage and tenements in North Mundham after the death of his late mother Martha (Chitty) (Wickham) Langrish and his father Thomas Wickham, and also for his rights to the copyhold messuage, tenements, and garden in Chichester left to his mother by his maternal grandfather Richard Chitty and described in the will of Richard Chitty.
William Langrish=s answer was that he was entitled to hold the North Mundham property and that its value and that of Thomas Wickham=s father=s estate was less than Wickham had stated since soldiers had recently been quartered there. He mentioned also that Wickham=s grandmother, Jane Chatfield, had wanted Langrish to hold the North Mundham property. He stated further that Wickham could eventually hold the Chichester property since Wickham had done some work on it, and that it was very old, and that there were several deeds to the house before the time of Richard Chitty, belonging to William Shortred and Henry Colbrook.35
William Langrish, Gent. Of Fisher in the Parish of North Mundham, Sussex, died there in 1657, leaving a will dated 3 May 1654 and proved 21 August 1654.36 He bequests to the poor of the parishes of North Mundham and Bosham, and named his wife Mary Langrish, sons William, Richard, and Samuel Langrish, and daughter Elizabeth, wife of Samuel Wing. Executors were Richard Manning, merchant of Chichester, and John Smith, gent., of Vinitrow, North Mundham, Sussex.
Child of Thomas Wickham and Martha Chitty, born posthumously:
5. i. THOMAS1 WICKHAM, bp. At Chichester 19 Oct. 1624; m. SARAH .
5. THOMAS1 WICKHAM(ThomasA, GeorgeB, JohnC, ? EdwardD), son of Thomas Wickham and Martha Chitty, was baptized 19 October 1624 at Chichester, Sussex, England, six months after the death of his father, and he died at Wethersfield, Connecticut, 11 January 1688. He married, probably in England about 1647, SARAH , who died at Wethersfield 7 January 1699/1700.37
When he reached the age of 21, Thomas attempted to recover his right in property in England that had belonged to his father, and also property left to him by his maternal grandfather, Richard Chitty. The record of the Court of Chancery for 1645 shows a replication by Thomas Wickham to William Langrish (his stepfather) and wife (William=s second wife).38 In a court roll dated 25 June 1649, when William Langrish paid homage to the manor, it was stated that Marie, William, and Nathaniel Sowton received a cottage and house from Thomas Chatfield, that was Alate in the occupancy of Thomas Wickham,@ and that AThomas Wickham went to the Lord of the Manor and turned back his property to the Lord of the Manor to do with it as he please.@
Thomas Wickham first appears in New England at the recording of the birth of his oldest son at Wethersfield in October 1648.39 Between 1650 and 1653 Thomas and his young family lived in New Haven where his wife Sarah conducted a school for young women.40 The date of their removal to New Haven can be established as probably shortly before 14 October 1651 when their son Thomas was born there,41 for on 3 August 1652 in New Haven Court recorded:
Thomas Wickham was complained of for not paying his rates which he owed; and after some speech with Mr. Goodyeare about some worke hee had done for him, Mr. Goodyeare promised to paye for him; further, he was complained of for not bringing the name and birth of his child to the Secretary in season; he said he is a stranger and knew not the order upon which consideration the court past it without a fine, paying the ordinary fees which is 3d.42
At that time the law specified that parents report births of children to the Secretary of the Plantation, and pay three pence; the fee was sixpence if the report was more than one month late, twelve pence if two months late, or five shillings if three months late.43
Sarah appears in the court records of New Haven on 7 October 1651:
How, the daughter of Capt. [Daniel] How, was called before the Court (her mother being present) and told that she is complained of for a profane swearer ... Mrs (Anna) How said that her daughter hath learned some of this ill carriage at Goodwife (Sarah) Wicams, where she went to schoole. She was told that Court will inquire after taht, for they will not suffer to be instruments of corrupting children if they know it, specially such as keepe scoole.44
Before October 1653 the family returned to Wethersfield, where they were engaged in shipping and trading wool, a business that was continued by their son Thomas, who built a warehouse and cellar for storing wool on property in Wetherfield that had been purchased from Mathias Sension in the 1650s.45 In 1664 Thomas Wickham purchased 400 pounds of wool from various Boston parties.46 On 14 April 1644 Sarah Wickham was owed 300 pounds of marketable wool by William Vaughan of Newport, Rhode Island.47 Thomas Wickham purchased land in Eastbury (then a parish of Glastonbury), Connecticut, with his son Thomas in 1673 and was still living in Wethersfield in 1679.48
Children, born at Wethersfield, Conn., except as note:
i. THOMAS 2 WICKHAM, b. 10 Oct. 1648; d. evidently in infancy.
ii. THOMAS WICKHAM, b. 14 Oct. 1651 at New Haven.
iii. SARAH WICKHAM, b. 29 Oct. 1653.
iv. WILLIAM WICKHAM, b. 28 August 1657.
v. SAMUEL WICKHAM, b. ca. 1660.
vi. JOSEPH WICKHAM, b. ca. 1662.
vii. JOHN WICKHAM, b. ca. 1665.
viii. ELIZABETH WICKHAM, b. in mid-1668; living 19 Jan. 1668[9] when a prescription was entered by Winthrop for AWickham Elizabeth 2 y: daughter of Mr. Tho: Wickham of Wethersf.@49 No further Record.
NOTES ON THE NAME WICKHAM
Wickham is a place-name of great antiquity in Sussex and other counties of England.50 The hamlets of Hurst-Wickham and Clayton-Wickham are located in the parishes of Hurstpierpoint and Clayton in mid-Sussex. Wickham as a place-name is also found in Icklesham in East Sussex. These are among at least 28 Wicham places which are believed to define Romano-British habitation sites or settlements of the earliest period at which English place-names were developed.
The parish registers of mid-Sussex show the Wickham family to be widely distributed there throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. Richard Wyckham is noted in Hurstpierpoint in 1452.51 The Susex lay subsidy rolls of 1524/552 show Wekeham, Wykeham, Wikham, or Wickham families at Beeding, Cuckfield, Hamsey, Hurstpierpoint, and Ringmer. The earliest subsidy rolls for Sussex53 show de Wykham, de Wycham, or Wykhame families at Clayton, Keymer, Nytimbre [Newtimber] and Pykcumbe [Pyecombe] in 1296 and at Hurst (Pierpoint) and Icklesham in 1327 and 1332.
The early Wykeham family of mid-Sussex was connect by marriage to two of the leading families of the county.54 Margaret Poynings, who died on 14 May 1449, third daughter of Sir Thomas Poynings of Boxgrove and widow of Sir John de Braos of Wiston (d.1426), married, second, Wykeham, who died in 1427.
The Wickham family of Hurstpierpoint parish in mid-Sussex has been described as of long standing in the yeomanry of that place:55
...... the family of Wickham at one time occupied a good position among the yemonary of the parish and the name is still common. It is scarcely doubtful that they derived their name from the Wickham (now styled Clayton-Wickham or Hurst-Wickham) in Domesday Book which was held under William deWarrene, by the family of Wattville, from whom they may be descended; and as the latter family bore two chevrons for their coat armour, which was the basis of that William deWykeham, it is not improbable that the ancestry of that celebrated personage might be found in the early Wickhams, a clue worthy the attention of genealogists in the elucidation of a much-controverted and obscure subject.
Coincidentally, an association with William of Wykeham exists in the vicinity of Chichester and in the western parishes of Sussex. William of Wykeham or Wickham (1324-1404) was born at Wickham, Hampshire, which is less than twenty miles from Chichester. He became Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor of England and was also the Founder of Winchester College and New College at Oxford.56 He was ordained as an acolyte in 1361 and as a priest in 1362, and he became Bishop of Winchester in 1367.
Significantly, William of Wykeham held the prebend of Appledram from 1363 to about 1365. He also retained an interest in Bosham Church after that time.57 In 1369 he acquired from Richard de Apelderham, parson of Tangmere, lands, grants, and tenements called la Setene and Stapele in Pagham. He then sold his land to John de Burle and Agatha, his wife, in 1370.58 This land, now know as Sefter Farm, is less than two miles from the Manor of Fisher and Brimfast where the ancestors of Thomas Wickham lived in the late 1500s. In 1370 Nicholas Wykeham, a possible second cousin of William of Wykeham, held the prebend of Appledram in Bosham Church.59
In the parish of Havant in Hampshire, ten miles to the west of Chichester, the first rector, Thomas Aylward (d. 1413),60 wrote a biography of William of Wykeham which was later lost. Aylward was one of the executors of Wykeham=s estate and was charged therein with completing a chantry at nearby Southwick Priory in Hampshire for the testator=s parents. Winchester College retained an interest in North Mundham and Hunston from the mid 1400s to the 1600s and later through the purchase of various estates.61
Alan A. Wickham, an analytical chemist, traces his ancestry to Thomas1 Wickham of Wethersfield, Connecticut and the Orange County, New York, family. His address is 1168 Foothill Drive, #614, Salt Lake City, Utah 84108. He thanks David E. Gardner of Salt Lake City for his valuable suggestions, Mrs. Alison McCann of the West Sussex Record Office and Mrs. Penelope Hatfield of the Eton College Library fro assistance with the manorial records, and mrs. Sara Rodger and Mrs. Heather Warne of the Arundel Castle Archives for their assistance, and also the staff of the British Isles Reference Desk of the Family History Library.
James Winter Petty, A.G., a professional genealogist and former C.A.L.S. (1984-1989), may be addressed at P.O. Box 893, Salt Lake City, UT 84110. Mr. Petty supervised microfilming in the eastern United States for Genealogical Society of Utah from 1973 to 1977 and served as Senior Consultant in the U.S. section of the Family History Library from 1977-1980.
56 Sir Leslie Stephen and Sir Sidney Lee, eds., The Dictionary of National Biograpy (Oxford, 1993), 21, 1140-46.
57 K.H. macDermott, Bosham Church: Its History and Antiquities (Chichester, 1912), 29.
58 Lindsay Fleming, The History of Pagham in Sussex (Ditchling, 1949), 2, 149.
59 T.F. Kirby, ed., Wykeham=s Register (London, 1896), 1, 46.
60 Charles John Longcroft, A Topographical Account of the Hundred of Bosmere in the County of South Hampton (London, 1857), 52-3.
61 Sheila Himsworth, ed., Winchester College Muniments, A Descriptive List, Volume 2, Estates (Chichester, 1984), 588-9.