Thomas Nickerson 1696 Lydia Covell 1701-1750

Thomas Nickerson
Parents Lieutenant Thomas Nickerson and Mary Bangs

Born 24 Dec 1696 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, British Colonial America
Married 1) Lydia Covell 16 May 1716 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, British Colonial America

Note: there is a marriage record with the name Thomas Nickerson and Lydia, but the year is wrong - 1705, which would make her 4 years old and him about 9, so though I think it is them, because of the date, I believe it was a clerical mistake...and the clerk that made the mistake was none other than a Thomas Nickerson.
2) (Widow) Sarah Crowell 5 Jul 1751 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, British Colonial America

Note: marriage intention published 5 July 1750

Note: on family search, for place of marriage it claims London Grove Township, Pennsylvania, but the extracted work claims it was Chatham, Massachusetts. An extraction error?
3) Bethia Harding 26 Dec 1763 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, British Colonial America

Thomas and Bethia's marriage record. The 6 on the 26th is very hard to see unless you really enlarge it. Note: marriage intention (engagement): 3 Dec 1763 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, British Colonial America

Died after 1763 (when he married Bethia)

Buried
Sources
Birth: AGBI and IGI Film 0001251 V4 Batch C510401 dated 1696-1733
Marriage to Lydia: Massachusetts Town and Vital Records

Marriage to Sarah: Massachusetts Town and Vital Records

Marriage to Bethia: Massachusetts Town and Vital Records

Family Search

ancestry.com

Lydia Covell
Parents Joseph Covell and Lydia Stuart

Born 12 Jul 1701 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Died 18 Oct 1750 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts

Note:  Big fat question mark: Thomas was engaged to marry his second wife by July of 1750, so...he was engaged before Lydia died?  Were he and Lydia divorced? or are there two Thomas Nickerson's with wife's named Lydia?
Sources
Parents and birth date: Book: History and Genealogy of the Mayflower Planters and first comers to ye olde colonie Vol 2 (the Sandys and Brewsters of Scrooby Manor) by Leon Clark Hills, 1936, page 94 

Family Search

ancestry.com

CHILDREN

Desire Nickerson
Born 5 Feb 1718 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts

Desire Nickerson birth record. 
Note:  the year has been wrongfully thought to be 1715

Married Elisha (Eliaphas) Nickerson 1735
Children: Elisha, John
Died 28 August 1786 Argyle, Queens, Nova Scotia, Canada

Buried Canada
Sources

Birth: IGI Film 0001251 V4 Batch C510401 dated 1696-1733
Family Search

ancestry.com

*Thomas Nickerson
Born 28 Feb 1720 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts

Thomas birth record

Married Dorcas Sparrow 6 May 1741 Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Children: Sparrow, Thomas, Phebe, Hugh, Dorcas, Rachel, Sarah, Sabra

Died

Buried
Sources
Birth: Massachusetts Town and Vital Records, AND IGI Film 0001251 V4 Batch C510401 dated 1696-1733
Family Search

ancestry.com

Lydia Nickerson
Born 30 Mar 1722 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Note: Given name spelled Ledea in record

Lydia's birth and death record

Died 15 Aug 1722 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Sources

Birth: Massachusetts Town and Vital Records AND IGI Film 0001251 V4 Batch C510401 dated 1696-1733

Death: Massachusetts Town and Vital Records

Family Search

ancestry.com

Lydia Nickerson
Born 16 Feb 1724 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, British Colonial America

Note: name is spelled Ledea in record

Lydia's birth record

Married Thomas Snow 5 Sep 1773 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, British Colonial America

Children: none

Died after 1790

Buried
Sources

Birth: Massachusetts Town and Vital Records AND IGI Film 0001251 V4 Batch C510401 dated 1696-1733

Family Search

ancestry.com

Ansel Nickerson
Born 2 May 1727 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, British Colonial America

Ansel's birth record

Married: Bathsheba Small 21 May 1748 Harwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Children: Levi (later renamed Ansel after his father died)

Died 1 Nov 1750 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, British Colonial America

Ansel's death record

Life Note: Ansel Jr. was acquitted of murder. See the story below

AT THE ATWOOD HOUSE A Chatham Murder Mystery by Spencer Grey

On Nov. 15, 1772, when Captain Joseph Doane of Chatham was on board his schooner in Cape Cod Bay, he saw a vessel flying a distress signal. Coming alongside, he discovered it was the Schooner Abigail, Thomas Nickerson of Chatham, master, en route from Boston

to Chatham. When he boarded the Abigail, he confronted a horrifyingly gruesome scene. Her deck was covered with blood, and the captain, his cousin, Sparrow Nickerson, and his brother-in-law, Elisha Newcomb, all lay there, clearly having been murdered. Chests had been smashed open and rifled; a rum barrel with its head stove in was almost empty, and only one member of the crew, Ansel Nickerson of Chatham, also a cousin of the captain, remained alive. Although highly agitated and distressed, Nickerson was able to present his version of what had occurred.

The previous evening, he asserted, they had been hailed and stopped by a topsail schooner, and as four boatloads of men rowed toward the Abigail, Nickerson lowered himself with a rope over the stern of the ship to escape what he believed either were pirates or English sailors planning to impress them into the British Navy. While he remained out of sight, the intruders killed everyone on deck, except a 13-year-old boy named William Kent, whom they took with them after they had raided the contents of the chests and drunk most of the rum in the barrel. Nickerson heard them discussing whether or not to burn the Abigail, but fortunately for him they decided against it and returned to their schooner.

Although Captain Doane found Nickerson’s account plausible, he nevertheless reported the incident to the county judge, Edward Bacon, Esq., of Barnstable, who was less convinced of the young man’s veracity. After other vessels had scoured the area for evidence of any pirate foreign vessels and found none, Bacon sent a copy of the report to the governor and had Ansel Nickerson locked up in the Barnstable jail for further questioning. In the meantime, news of the bizarre and bloody incident reached as far as Boston, where a young attorney

named John Adams read it and recorded in his journal that he considered it a “mysterious,

inexplicable affair.”

Even though Captain Doane could not corroborate all of the evidence provided by Nickerson, it seemed unlikely that he could have overpowered and murdered three

members of the crew, and moreover there was no clear motive for his doing so. 

Nevertheless, Bacon was sufficiently suspicious to have him sent to Boston to be tried for murder on the high seas by a special Court of the Vice-Admiralty. The trial was scheduled for July of 1773, and John Adams and Josiah Quincy, Jr. were appointed counsel for the defense. The defense maintained that Nickerson was a lucky survivor of a pirate attack and was in no way responsible for the murder of the three men and the pillage of the cargo.

At the end of a five-day trial the jury returned a tie vote, resulting in Ansel Nickerson’s acquittal. Yet John Adams was not totally convinced of Nickerson’s innocence, as he wrote in his diary after the trial, “I know not to this day what judgment to form of his guilt or innocence.”

Because the facts of the case remained murky and Nickerson remained under a cloud of suspicion, he apparently left Chatham and settled on the island of Eleuthra in the Bahamas. Even though there were uncorroborated reports that he confessed to the crime on his deathbed, the whole episode remains a mystery to this day

Sources

Birth: Massachusetts Town and Vital Records AND IGI Film 0001251 V4 Batch C510401 dated 1696-1733

Family Search

Story about his son: ancestry.com

Prince Nickerson
Birth 10 Aug 1729 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, British Colonial America

Prince's birth record

Occupation: Mariner

Married: 1) Lydia Cahoon 7 Oct 1750 Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Note: Her surname in the record is spelled Chohoon and his given name is spelled Prins
Children: Tabitha, Lydia
2) (Widow) Ruth Covell Atkins 22 Aug 1759 Barnstable, Massachusetts

Note: their engagement was published 2 July 1759. She had 3 boys and a girl before she married Prince. 

Children: twins, which survived her

3) Mary Crowell 12 Mar 1761 Yarmouth, Barnstable, Massachusetts

Children: Ansel, Esther, Susanna, Eldad, Sparrow, Anna, Elizabeth, Thomas 
Died 1 Jan 1812 Westport Clyde, Nova Scotia, Canada

Buried

Life Sketch: "An early settler Prince Nickerson who settled shortly after Elkanah Smith,  was living in Barrington in 1763. His property was bound on the South by Clam Creek. He had 3 sons; Eldad, Sparrow, and Thomas. 

Eldad was famous for ship building, setting the pace for Coffin's and Sutherlands, who milled their ship timber on the river and rafted it to the harbour"..."The oldest son Ansel went to Maria Joseph, the other sons settled at Port Clyde." The Barrington 1769 Census shows a wife, 2 sons, 3 daughters, cattle, sheep, swine, fish boat and dried fish. Prince was on the Committee for laying out Proprietors Land 1768-9. He sold his lot at Barrington Head to William Donaldson and his interest on Cape Island to Stephen Nickerson. He was living at Cape Negro in 1783.

His will gave Mary his real and personal estate until her death, and then, to be divided between sons Eldad, Thomas, and Sparrow. It included the house and barn on three acres, fish house, stock, other land and meadows. Son Ansel received 10 Shillings and the daughters "all my household furniture to be divided equally" Eldad as executor of the estate after Mary died in 1830, wrote to Probate Court 21 June 1832, "...there is some land so dispersed belonging to the estate that it will be extremely difficult for the appraiser to view it will you please advise me whether it cannot be sold without a valuation" "Aug. 1, 1832 Probate judge gives land (agreeable to all) to son Eldad as it cannot be divided without great difficulty and expense".
Sources

Birth: Massachusetts Town and Vital Records AND IGI Film 0001251 V4 Batch C510401 dated 1696-1733

Marriage to Lydia: IGI Film 0905406 Batch M502466 dated 1654-1761
Family Search

Story: The Nickerson Family, Descendants of William Nickerson, Part II, 1980, pg 160.

I can't find the following 2 people in any official record's

Seth Nickerson
Born abt 1731 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, British Colonial America
Married Mary 1756
Children: Ebenezer

Died

Buried
Sources
Family Search

Edward Nickerson
Born abt 1733 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, British Colonial America

Married

Children

Died

Buried
Sources
Family Search

Thomas Nickerson 1744-1772 Ruth Hinckley 1743-1827

Thomas Nickerson
Born 19 Mar 1744 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Parents Thomas Nickerson and Dorcas Sparrow
Married Ruth Hinckley 27 Oct 1765 Harwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Died Nov 1772 (Murdered at sea)
Note:
HISTORY OF CHATHAM - (pages 330-331, edited for clarity)

On Sunday the 15th of November 1772, Capt. Joseph Doane Jr. sailed from Chatham Harbor on the Back of Cape Cod.  Soon after (about ten o'clock in the Forenoon) Captain Doane saw a schooner with a signal of distress.  

Going on board, they found one survivor, who appeared to be in a great fright.  He gave the following account: the day before the said schooner incident, Thomas Nickerson, Master, sailed from Boston Harbor bound to Chatham.  He continued: at two o'clock the next morning they saw a topsail schooner.  The survivor, fearing he should be impressed (impressment, colloquially, "the press" or the "press gang", refers to the act of taking men into a military or naval force by compulsion, with or without notice. Navies of several nations used forced recruitment by various means.) , slung himself with a rope and let himself over the stern and four boats with armed men came on board.  

Further, that whilst he was there hanging over the stern, he judged by what he heard that the Master, Mate, and one man were murdered and a boy carried away alive.  He heard talk of burning the vessel, but it was finally agreed to leave her to drive out to sea with her sails standing.  After they left her, the survivor came up on deck, found none of the crew, but saw the marks of their being murdered. 

Captain Doane says that when he came on board, the Decks were bloody, the chests all broke open and plundered and the head knocked out of a barrel of rum and two or three gallons only left in it.

Captain Doane brought the schooner to the harbor at Chatham and early the next day repaired to Barnstable and gave this account to Edward Bacon Esq., who forwarded it to the Governor and the same day went to Chatham to examine the person found on board. His name was Ansel Nickerson, a cousin of the captain.  NOTE:  ANSEL WAS ACCUSED BUT NEVER CONVICTED OF THE MURDERS

Sources
Family Search
Book:  History of Chatham, page 330-331
Birth: IGI Film 0161969 V9 Batch C510401 dated 1727-1787
Memorial:  https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/146948181/thomas-nickerson

Ruth Hinckley
Nickerson Crowell Phinney headstone

Ruth Hinckley
Parents Thomas Hinckley and Ruth Merrick
Born 27 Dec 1743 Yarmouth, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Married 2) Abner Crowell 03 Apr 1777 Harwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Children:  Simeon
3)  Gershom Phinney Jr, May 25,1785 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Children:  Gershom
Died 31 Aug 1827 Yarmouth, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Sources
Family Search
Headstone: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/42493544/ruth-nickerson_crowell_phinney

CHILDREN

Myrick's headstone

Captain Myrick Nickerson
Born 27 Mar 1767 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Married Esther Nickerson 5 Jul 1788 (License) Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Children:  Esther, Elizabeth
Died 27 May 1847 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA
Sources
1810 US Census Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA
1820 US Census Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA
1830 US Census Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA
1840 US Census Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA
Headstone:  https://billiongraves.com/grave/person/1948107
*Isaiah Nickerson
Born 10 Apr 1769 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Married Lydia Godfrey 12 Oct 1793 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Children: Isaiah
Died 29 Oct 1805 (Drowned at sea, therefore, no headstone)
Sources
1800 US Census Orrington, Hancock, Maine, United States

David's headstone memorial

Captain David Nickerson
Born 18 Jul 1771 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Married 1) Priscilla Snow 8 Oct 1797 Harwich, Massachusetts
Children: David, Joseph, Jonathan, Frederic, Thomas, Priscilla
2) Eunice Freeman 24 August 1815 Massachusetts
Children:  Francis, Isaiah
Note:  5 Feb 1829, Eunice died of burns at the house of her brother-in-law Joseph Smith. According to family legend, she'd been reading in bed when her clothes caught fire, at which time she ran nearly a quarter-mile, burning, to her sister Polly's house, whereupon reaching the house, she dropped dead.  Note:  Not trying to be the family rain cloud, but a quarter mile of running while on fire seems more likely to be a tall tale.   
THE FAMILY LEGEND ABOUT DAVID 
David was supposedly in France during the "Reign of Terror" following the Revolution. One day while there, a woman confronted the young sea captain, thrust a baby in his arms, and exhorted him to take the child to America and to call him "Rene Rousseau". He obliged the woman, and, at age 23, the child was a sea captain himself. Rene, too, was lost at sea at age 25, and his name was placed on the same stone as Capt. David Nickerson. The boy was rumored to have been the "Lost Dauphin of France".
THE TRUTH REVEALED
An article in Winter 2014 edition (Vol 15, No 1) of American Ancestors Magazine (published by NEHGS) puts the myth and rumors to rest, explaining that Rene Rousseau was, in fact, born after the French Revolution and was, instead, an apprentice of Captain David Nickerson, evidenced by a legal document from Jun 20,1807 at Nantes.

Died 26 Feb 1879 Boston, Massachusetts (At sea)
Note:  David died aboard the schooner Hope on the Atlantic Ocean, dying of African Fever on the passage home from a trading voyage. 
Buried:  Old Burying Ground, Brewster, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States
Note:  The headstone that existed until the 1970's does not mark his final resting place, but, rather, is a memorial to the sea captain lost at sea. The stone itself was said to be under repair in 1979, but has not been seen again  Note:  the picture of the headstone (I could not make out what was on the stone, but it does look as if it has been repaired) was offered on findagrave).
Sources
Family Search (lots of errors and four wife's)
Headstone and story: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/42524086/david-nickerson

Thomas Nickerson headstone

Thomas Nickerson
Born 3 May 1773 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Married:
 Bethia Snow 13 July 1792 Brewster, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Children: Ephraim, Priscilla, Thomas, Benjamin, Hiram, Melinda, Sophia, Bethiah, Caroline, Charles, Sylvina
Died 23 Sep 1839 Readfield, Kennebuc, Maine
Buried:  Faylene Hutton Cemetery, Unity, Waldo, Maine
Sources
Family Search
Headstone:  https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/29854048/thomas-nickerson

Edward Bangs 1591-1677 Rebecca Hobart 1611-1679

Captain Edward Bangs
Parents John Bangs and Jane Charis
Christened 28 Oct 1591 Panfield, Essex, Massachusetts
Migration: 1623 on the ship "Anne"
Occupation: Innkeeper, Shipwright
Married 1) Rebecca (unknown surname)
Note: In the book "Legends, Loves & Loyalties in old New England" by Caroline Leonard
Goodenough, it is mentioned that Rebecca probably died soon after arriving in
America, leaving the two first children (Rebecca and Sarah) motherless.
2) Lydia Hicks 6 September 1627  Plymouth,  Massachusetts Bay, British Colonial America
3) Rebecca Hobart abt 1635 Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, British Colonial America
Died: Feb 1677 Massachusetts, Colonial America
ancestry.com
Sources
Dawes-Gates Ancestral Lines, B 12 F 12 Vol 2 p.60-67
Colonial Families. of America, Am 190 v.8.p.138,139
Americana, Am Pub F vol.26, p.545
Mayflower Descendants - Am Pub A v. 14 p.197, v.17, p.70
The Great Migration Begins, 1620-1633, Vol I, pages 86
Family Search
Rebecca Hobart
Parents Edmund Hobart and Margaret Dewey
Christened 29 Dec 1611 Hingham, Forehoe, Norfolk, England, United Kingdom
Died
Sources
Family Search
ancestry.com

CHILDREN

Rebecca Bangs
Born 1636 Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts
Married Captain Jonathan Sparrow 26 Oct 1654 Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Children: Rebecca, John, Sarah, Mary, Elizabeth, Lydia, Apphia, John
Died Before 19 Oct 1677
Buried Cove Burial Ground
Note:  The monument was put up by their descendants in the late 1800's
Sources
IGI Film 0778357 Batch C502465 dated 1628-1858
Marriage:  U.S. New England Marriages prior to 1700
U.S. and International Marriages
Book:  New England:  The Great Migration and the Great Migration Begins Vol 3 pages 1717-1718
Headstone:  https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/15871833/rebecca-sparrow
Family Search
ancestry.com
Sarah Bangs
Born abt 1638 Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts
Married Captain Thomas Howes Jr about 1656 Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Children:  Rebecca, Thomas, Jonathan, Sarah
Died 28 February 1682 Yarmouth, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Sources
Memorial: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/51595342/sarah-howes
Family Search
ancestry.com

Jonathan Bangs headstone

*Captain Jonathan Bangs
Born 1640
Married Mary Mayo Jul 1664 Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Children:  Edward, Rebecca, Jonathan (died as a child), Mary, Jonathan, Hannah, Thamason, Samuel, Mercy, Elizabeth, Sarah, Lydia, Jonathan
Sources
Marriage: IGI Film 0907350 Batch M502462 dated 1637-1885
Headstone: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/15177393/jonathan-bangs
New England Historical Genealogical Society Register July 2008
Family Search
ancestry.com
Lydia Bangs
Born 1643 Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts
Married Benjamin Higgins 24 Nov 1661 Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Children: Ichabod, Richard, John, Joshua, Lydia, Isaac, Rebecca, Samuel, Benjamin 
Sources
Christening: IGI Film 0778357 Batch C502465 dated 1628-1858
Marriage: IGI Film 0778357, 0905406 Batch M502465 dated 1654-1796
Memorial:  https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/51595492/lydia-higgins
Family Search
Hannah Bangs
Born 1645 Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts
Married John Doane Jr 30 Apr 1662
Children: John, Anne, Rebecca, Hannah, Isaac, Samuel, David
Died 19 Oct 1677
Buried
Sources
Memorial: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/51595665/hannah-doane
Family Search
Lieutenant Joshua Bangs
Born abt 1647 Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts
Married Hannah Scudder 1 Dec 1669 Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Died 14 Jan 1710
Buried Cove Burying Ground
His will:  Being in a weak and low condition, his wife, Hannah, he give "all his estate both real and personal during her natural life, including his house where he now lives in Eastham." To Anthony, his negro (Sambo), his freedom and forty pounds. He give to John Knowles, after his wife's decease "that his dwelling-house in which said Knowles now lives and all other out housing belonging to it, and land thereto adjoining, and his meadow near Black-fish creek in Eastham, containing 4 acres." "To Joseph Atwood, after my wife's decease, I give the house wherein I now live and the other housing thereto belonging and a house lot of 30 acres, and 3 parcels of meadow at Boat meadow in Eastham, and 2 lots of meadow or sedge found and all my rights to lands in Eastham." The rest of his estate after his wife's decease, he give to his sister Lydia Higgins one-eighth, and to his sister Apphia Atwood, one-eighth, and to the children and heirs of his deceased sister Rebecca Sparrow one-eighth, and to Hannah Doane's (his deceased sister's) children one-eighth, and his deceased sister Mercy Myrick's children one-eighth, and to Lydia, wife of Nicholas Snow, and her heirs one eighth. John Knowles and Joseph Atwood, sole Executors. Proved Feb. 7,1710.
Sources
Memorial and will: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/15872018/joshua-bangs
Family Search

Bethia's headstone

Bethia Bangs
Born 28 May 1650 Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts
Married Reverend Gershom Hall about 1668 Massachusetts
Children: Samuel, Edward, Bethia, Mercy, John, Unnamed daughter
Died 15 Oct 1696
Sources
Family Search
Mercy Bangs (twin of Apphia)
Born 15 Oct 1651 Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts
Married Stephen Merrick 28 Dec 1670
Sources
Memorial:  https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/51596160/mercy-merrick
Family Search
Apphia Bangs (twin of Mercy)
Born 15 Oct 1651 Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts
Married 1) John Knowles (who died in King Phillips war) 28 Dec 1670 Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts
2) Joseph Atwood 1676 Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Died 12 June 1722
Sources
Family Search