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| ⇐ Thomas, Sr. | Gideon ⇒ |
Thomas Wickham, Jr. & Mary HurlbutThomas, Jr, was born to Thomas Wickham, Sr. (28) and Sarah Goodrich in New Haven, CT on October 14, 1651; the second of seven children. He came to Wethersfield with his parents as a child. About 1672 (21) he married Mary Hurlbut, daughter of Thomas Hurlbut and Sarah ???. Thomas Hurlbut emigrated from England, was a blacksmith, militiaman, and prominent member of the town. They had eight children. The three oldest, all boys, died young. The next four children were girls and our ancestor Gideon was the last child. Typical of the time Mary had her eight children in the space of 18 years. She was probably still in her thirties when she had Gideon. Might she have died at that time, which would explain why she wasn't buried with her husband.
Thomas was a constable in 1677, leather sealer in 1705, a lieutenant and cornet of the Hartford Co. troop (dragoons) and did good service in the Indian and French campaigns. He was known as Cornet Thomas Wickham. He was appointed guardian of Jonathan and Bathsheba Lattiner on January 17, 1698. In September 1703 he witnessed the will of John Blackleach, and later inventoried his estate. In 1708 he witnessed the will of Elizabeth Blackleach, Thomas testified that he was 57 years old. In the same year, he inventoried the estate of Stephen Chester. On April 14, 1714, he was appointed to set out the estate of Thomas Welles and in 1717 he appraised the estate of Joshua Bowen. He seems to have been a man of some importance in Wethersfield as the prefix Mr. was accorded to him on tax lists, etc.
In 1673, his mother and father had given him the Mathias Sension house. In 1683, Thomas was given land by the river (which is now the cove) to set up shop upon. His house was made of brick and was even said to have been the first brick house in Wethersfield. His house and warehouse were near it on the north side of High Street common. The house was sold in 1712 to Daniel Woodhouse and over the years has been known as the Woodhouse homestead. Whether or not it was the Matthias Sension house or one he built himself is not known. The house survived until 1963 when it was torn down to make room for the new highway I-91. Thomas died on April 30, 1730 at age 78 and was buried in the Old Wethersfield Cemetery. His gravestone is inscribed: "Here lieth the body of Mr. Thomas Wickham, Cornet of the troop departed this life April 30, 1730 in the 79th year of his age." We don't know when Mary died; there is no marker for her in the cemetery.
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