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
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
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
3) Bethia Harding 26 Dec 1763 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, British Colonial America
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| 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
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
Lydia Covell
Parents Joseph Covell and Lydia Stuart
ancestry.com
Lydia Covell
Parents Joseph Covell and Lydia Stuart
Born 12 Jul 1701 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Died 18 Oct 1750 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
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
Married Elisha (Eliaphas) Nickerson 1735
Children: Elisha, John
Died 28 August 1786 Argyle, Queens, Nova Scotia, Canada
Married Dorcas Sparrow 6 May 1741 Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Children: Sparrow, Thomas, Phebe, Hugh, Dorcas, Rachel, Sarah, Sabra
Died 15 Aug 1722 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Sources
Married Thomas Snow 5 Sep 1773 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, British Colonial America
Married: Bathsheba Small 21 May 1748 Harwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Children: Levi (later renamed Ansel after his father died)
Life Note: Ansel Jr. was acquitted of murder. See the story below
Occupation: Mariner
ancestry.com
Desire Nickerson
Born 5 Feb 1718 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts
CHILDREN
Desire Nickerson
Born 5 Feb 1718 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts
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| 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
Sources
Birth: IGI Film 0001251 V4 Batch C510401 dated 1696-1733
Family Search
Born 28 Feb 1720 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Family Search
ancestry.com
*Thomas NickersonBorn 28 Feb 1720 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts
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| 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
Born 30 Mar 1722 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Note: Given name spelled Ledea in record
Sources
Birth: Massachusetts Town and Vital Records, AND IGI Film 0001251 V4 Batch C510401 dated 1696-1733
Family Search
ancestry.com
Lydia NickersonBorn 30 Mar 1722 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts
Note: Given name spelled Ledea in record
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| 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
Born 16 Feb 1724 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, British Colonial America
ancestry.com
Lydia NickersonBorn 16 Feb 1724 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, British Colonial America
Note: name is spelled Ledea in record
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| Lydia's birth record |
Married Thomas Snow 5 Sep 1773 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, British Colonial America
Children: none
Died after 1790
Buried
Sources
Sources
Birth: Massachusetts Town and Vital Records AND IGI Film 0001251 V4 Batch C510401 dated 1696-1733
Family Search
Born 2 May 1727 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, British Colonial America
ancestry.com
Ansel NickersonBorn 2 May 1727 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, British Colonial America
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| 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
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| 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
Birth 10 Aug 1729 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, British Colonial America
Story about his son: ancestry.com
Prince NickersonBirth 10 Aug 1729 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, British Colonial America
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| 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: 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
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
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
Seth Nickerson
Born abt 1731 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, British Colonial America
Married Mary 1756
Children: Ebenezer
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
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
Sources
Family Search
Born abt 1733 Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, British Colonial America
Married
Children
Died
Buried
Sources
Family Search
Sources
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