William Stickney

Set forth from Hull, Yorkshire, England to Boston, USA, probably in 1637. Fellow passengers were Margaret Crosse, a widow; Michaell Hopkinson a servant to Jacob Elyott and Richard Swanne, a businessman. They moved to Rowley, Ma.

William and Elizabeth brought 3 children with them, Samuel, Amos and Thomas, who were probably baptized in England. Rowley was settled in 1639. William Stickney was a member of the committee (1652) to draw up a covenant and agreement between the town of Rowley and the first settlers of the Merrimack lands, now Bradford, MA. He was clerk of the Market, on jury trials in 1653, selectman in 1656 and 1661. He died Jan. 25, 1664-5. His will is preserved in the Essex Probate Office at Salem. While in Rowley he had other children, John, Andrew, Thomas, Faith and Mercy. Thomas and Elizabeth, (B. 1646) appear to have been twins, and so were Mercy and Adding (B. 1648)

He was clerk of market, on jury, and Selectman in Rowley (later called Bradford).

He was designated as Lieutenant in 1661

William was a Puritan. The Lincolnshire fens where the Stickneys came from was the hotbed of Antinomianism, with its great stress on the spirit.

There is record of a John de Stickney, a gentleman who, with 130 others, paid his taxes in Boston of Lincolnshire, England, during the reign of King Edward III (1327-1377); John paid £1, which was a large sum in those days. The parish of Stickney in Lincolnshire has a chantry founded in 1362, containing the Stickney coat of arms and an old moat house. After John we lose track of the Stickneys for a few generations.

The village of Frampton is some 3 miles south of Boston in Lincolnshire, about 4 miles west of the southwest corner of the Wash, where the River Welland empties into it. This was Puritan country during Elizabethan times. Many Stickneys were baptized, married, and buried there between 1558 and 1609, when our ancestor Samuel (?) Stickney and his family, including our ancestor, 17-year-old William, presumably moved to Kingston upon Hull in Yorkshire.

During the 1630s persecution of Puritans and other dissenters from the Established Church of England became markedly worse. The Archbishop of Canterbury William Laud and his lieutenant Bishops hounded dissenters: Parishioners were fined for nonattendance at Sunday service. The altar was railed off, the gulf widened between clergy and congregation, and ritualistic "popish" ceremony was emphasized. Sermons must not be too radically Protestant; in fact, they had to be shorter, and no "readers" were allowed to supplement the Anglican preaching. Private Puritan chapels were closed, and Puritan meetings were outlawed. Some dissenters were pilloried or mutilated.

Archbishop Laud commanded that the late King James I's Declaration of Sports, advocating Sunday afternoon game playing (in violation of the strict Puritan Sabbath), be read from the pulpit. English Puritans were aghast that Catholics in England were enjoying more toleration (because of the favor of Queen Henrietta Maria), and every Catholic victory in the continental wars made them more anxious. Many in the Puritan underground in the countryside were making plans to emigrate to the New World. Between 1637 and 1640, William Stickney and his wife, Elizabeth, migrated with their children Samuel, Amos, and Mary to Massachusetts Bay Colony; they were among the original settlers of Rowley (later called Bradford) in Essex County, Massachusetts.

See http://www.milkcanpapers.com/stickney1.html for more information, including maps.

William died at the age of 73.

http://dunhamwilcox.net/me/me_bio_stickney.htm

William Stickney, the first settler, was the ancestor of nearly all who have since borne that name in America. It is inferred from records procured in England that he was the William who is mentioned as baptized in St. Mary's Church, Frampton, Lincolnshire, England, April 6, 1592, and the son of William Stickney, of Frampton, who was baptized Dec. 30, 1558, and married June 16, 1585, Margaret Pierson, and the grandson of Robert Stickney, of Frampton, who made his will Oct. 3, and was buried Oct. 18, 1582. William Stickney, the settler, seems to have come probably from Hull, in Yorkshire, England, in 1637, and from the records of the First Church in Boston it appears that "The 6th of ye 11th moneth 1638 Willyam Stickney a husbandman & Elizabeth his wife" and others were admitted; and "The 24th day of ye 9th Moneth 1639, Our brethern Mr. Henry Sandys, William Stickeny * * * by ye Churches Silence were dismissed to ye gathering of a Church at Rowley if the Lord so please." William Stickney with his wife and three eldest children were among the original settlers of Rowley, Mass. "On the 7th of October 1640 * * * Willi: Stickney were admitted freeman." In 1639 William Stickney had land allotted to him upon which he erected a house, on the corner of Bradford and Wethersfield streets. He was a member of an important committee in 1652 to draw up "a covenant and agreement," between the town of Rowley and the first settlers of the Merrimack lands, now Bradford. He was clerk of the market, and on jury of trials in 1653, selectman 1656, and 1661, and in 1661 styled lieutenant. The ancient possession books of Rowley contain frequent records of grants of land to him and from him and his wife. In the town books of Rowley it is recorded that William Stickney was buried Jan. 25, 1665. Elizabeth Stickney survived her husband several years. The date of her death is not known. On the two hundredth anniversary of the death of William Stickney, a granite obelisk was erected on his grave bearing the following inscription: William Stickney Born in Frampton, England, A. D., 1592 Was, with the wife Elizabeth Of Boston, in N. E. in 1638 Of Rowley in 1639 Where he died A. D. 1665 Erected By his descendants Josiah Stickney, of Boston, Matthew Adams Stickney of Salem, Joseph Henry Stickney, of Baltimore, MD. 1865.

Children:

1. Samuel, born in England, 1633, married Julia Swan and Prudence Gage.

2. Amos, b. England 1635, married Sarah Morse, June 24, 1663.

3. Mary, b. England, 1637.

4. John, b. 1640.

5. Faith, b. 1641, married Samuel Gage.

6. Andrew, b. 1644, married Eduah Lambert and Elizabeth Jewett.

7. Thomas, b. 1646, married Mehitable Kimball.

8. Elizabeth, b. 1646, died Dec. 4, 1659, Rowley rec., Dec. 7 Court rec.

9. Mercy, b. 1648, died Jan. 14, 1676.

10. Adding, b. 1648, died Sept. 17, 1660.

• Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: May 29 2021, 18:23:22 UTC