1852 Hicks Families of Cobourg and Hamilton Township, Northumberland County, Canada West
Research Note by Wesley Johnston
Last Update 3 Jun 2013
New information 3 Jun 2013: I received the following information from the Cobourg Public Library, which has not yet been incorporated into the text below nor into my tree/database. "... We do have Hamilton Township Census and Assessment Indexes covering from 1797 to 1850. ..." These Hicks references were found prior to the 1851/2 census of most of Canada:
- Daniel Hicks in the 1829 Census & Assessment
- Easter Hicks in the 1848
- James Hicks and Joseph Hicks in the 1850 Census & Assessment
- George Hicks 1851 (NOT clear if this was the Canada census or the Hamilton Township assessment)
Overview
Based on an autosomal DNA match that is most likely through my match partner's ancestor George Hicks, I am researching George Hicks' ancestry in order to determine if we do have a connection that we can document. My own Hicks ancestors are from Luxulyan, Cornwall. And George Hicks resided in the 1851 Canada Census (actually taken i 1852) at Hamilton Township, Northumberland County in Canada West -- what is now called Ontario. This is NOT Hamilton, Ontario, which is not even close to Hamilton Township. Hamilton Township includes the area around Coburg, Ontario, and was definitely a place where Cornish immigrants settled -- in a swath along the northern shore of Lake Ontario that extended west to where my own Butson ancestors arrived about 1839.
This research note is the first step in trying to establish the ancestral origin of George Hicks. It documents all of the Hicks families found in the 1851/2 Census of Hamilton Township and Coburg, Ontario. It also explores the Hicks families who had settled in Riley, Michigan, in the 1860 US Census, since that is where George Hicks had move his family, by the time his daughter Mary was born, either later in 1852 or in 1853.
George Hicks and Clairssa McNutt Family of Hamilton Township V-7
1851/2 Canada Census
George Hicks appears in the 1851/2 Census of Hamilton Township, Northumberland County. The record spans 3 images (Ancestry images 53-55, stamped page numbers 53-55, written page numbers 28-29), the last of which contains no information. The Ancestry URLs for the first and second images are:
http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=1061&path=Canada+West+%28Ontario%29.Northumberland+County.Hamilton.53
http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=1061&path=Canada+West+%28Ontario%29.Northumberland+County.Hamilton.54
The second image adds only two pieces of information: (1) they lived as the only family in a 1-story frame home and (2) daughter Lydia was born in the year 1851. The first image provides the bulk of the information about the four members of the family, all of whom were shown as born in Canada and of the Methodist religion.
George Hicks - Laborer [sic = not Labourer] - age 38
Clersy Hicks - age 23
Sarah Jane Hicks - age 6
Lydia Ann Hicks - age 1 [born in 1851 per the column for that purpose on the following page]
It is important to note the McNutt entries on the same page, since George Hicks' wife Clarissa was a McNutt, so that there is high likelihood that these are her relatives. The immediately prior family is that of Daniel McNutt (30), and the second family prior to Daniel is that of James W. McNutt (55), who was probably the father of both Daniel and Clarissa. All members of both McNutt families are shown as born in Canada.
George Hicks was a laborer and apparently owned no land, since he does not appear in the agricultural census of Hamilton Township. However, his neighbors may be able to help determine where he was living.
The second family after him in the census is William Linton, and a William Linton is shown owning 37 acres of Lot 1 of Concession 5 and also 100 acres of Lot 9 of Concession 6. The two families prior to Daniel McNutt in the population census are both shown on Lot 7 of Concession 5 - James McNutt with 92.5 acres and A. Brisban with 50 acres.
The URL of all these, which are on the same page is:
http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/View.aspx?dbid=1061&path=Canada+West+%28Ontario%29.Northumberland+County.Hamilton.138
The most likely explanation is that the laborers Daniel McNutt and George Hicks and their families were living on the land of their father and father-in-law, respectively, on Lot 7 of Concession 5.
The 1878 county atlas map of the township is at:
http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/countyatlas/showtownship2.php?townshipid=hamilton
The lots were numbered from east to west, so that Lot 7 of Concession V was then owned by A. Noble, F. Carroll, and R. Eagleston. The only nearby name from 1852 is T. Linton on Lot 7 of Concession VI. It is worth noting that a fair number of the names on the map are still Cornish: Bray, Harper, Rosevear, Davey.
1860 US Census
In the 1860 US Census, the enlarged family lived in Riley, St. Clair County, Michigan. The parents and oldest two children (Sarah and Lydia) are shown as born in Canada, and the other children are shown as born in Michigan. The oldest three children are shown as attending school during the year. Robert Price, 25-year-old New York-born farmer, is shown living in the same household, owning $500 in real estate and $185 in personal property, so that it is most likely that they were renting from him, since George Hicks owned no real estate.
The URL for the image of this record is:
http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=7667&path=Michigan.St+Clair.Riley.4
George Hicks - age 47 - Farm labourer [sic = not laborer] - owns $145 in personal estate
Clairssa Hicks - age 33
Sarah J Hicks - age 14
Lydia A Hicks - age 9
Mary M Hicks - age 8
Cinda Hicks - age 5
Martha E Hicks - age 1
A very siginificant fact is that their daughter Lovina Hicks (age 3, born Michigan) was, for some reason that I have not yet determined, listed at the bottom of the page in the home of 43-year-old England-born farmer John How.
The last three families on the prior page, which continue on to the top of this page, are all McNutt families: James, Jeremiah and James (Jr).
Marriage Record
I have not found a marriage record for George and Clarissa, who probably married in 1844 or 1845, based on their daughter Sarah's age of 6 in 1852.
Joshua and Emily Hicks Family of Hamilton Township III-21
1851/2 Canada Census
Joshua is the only other Hicks in Hamilton Township born about the same time as George. George was age 38 and Joshua 29. Both were born in Canada and were Methodist. So there is a possibility that they were related. Joshua's family appears many pages after George's in the 1851/2 Census. Joshua is on Ancestry images 96-98 (stamped page numbers 95-97, written page numbers 15-16). In fact, George was in Enumeration District 1 of Hamilton Township and Joshua in Enumeration District 2. It is clear that George went to live with his wife's parents' family after they married, so that the separation in the census does not eliminate them as being related.
The images of Joshua's family are at:
http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=1061&path=Canada+West+%28Ontario%29.Northumberland+County.Hamilton.96
http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=1061&path=Canada+West+%28Ontario%29.Northumberland+County.Hamilton.97
There is no information on the third page. The family were all born in Canada and all of the Methodist religion. The second page adds two facts: (1) they lived as the only family in a 1 1/2 story frame home, and (2) their son John was born in 1851.
Joshua Hicks - Shoemaker - age 29
Emily Hicks - age 26
Mary Hicks - age 6
George Hicks - age 2
John Hicks - age 1 [born in 1851 per the column for that purpose on the following page]
The top of the page is filled with Bible Christians, most of them with the surname HOARE. It is almost certainly the case that these were Luxulyan HOAR families, since the Bible Christian religion began at Luxulyan. And a search of the Cornwall Family History Society's research database solidly supports this hypothesis. The first HOARE family on the census page is that of William and Elizabeth HOARE, whose first child was born in 1830, so that they probably married in 1829. And the only 1829 marriage in Cornwall of a William HOAR with an Elizabeth was the 15 Nov 1829 Luxulyan marriage of William HOAR and Elizabeth HOBBAH. The next HOARE family on the census page is John and Maria HOARE, probably married about 1826. This couple is less certain, since there are two couples with those names: 5 Jul 1823 Maria TINNEY at Luxulyan and 7 Aug 1823 Maria BRAY at St Ausell (just south of Luxulyan) -- the only ones in all of Cornwall in this period with the correct names. Checking for baptisms of this couples two children in the census (Elizabeth c 1827 and William c 1835), there is only one candidate in all of Cornwall for Elizabeth: baptized 23 Apr 1826 at Luxulyan and only one for William 22 Jun 1834 at Luxulyan. So we definitely have a page with Luxulyan families, which probably include the Hicks family. Even though they were Methodist and not Bible Christian, Methodism was very strong in Luxulyan and St Blazey. The HOAR and HICKS families -- as were most families in Luxulyan -- were very much related to each other. The frustrating thing in all this is that we have no events in Cornwall for which to search for either Joshua or George Hicks' parents, since both were born in Canada. So we cannot be certain yet if they were related.
Even though Joshua Hicks was a shoemaker, he did own land. He owned 1 acre on Lot 21 of Concession 3 and is listed on the agricultural census in this image:
http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=1061&path=Canada+West+%28Ontario%29.Northumberland+County.Hamilton.152
Examining the 1878 map of Hamilton Township (see URL under George Hicks above), if I have the right lot, the owners were then J. H. Rosevear and H. McCarthy, although it appears that there are a few very small lots on the south half of the Lot (the portion mostly held by J. H. Rosevear).
1860 US Census
Joshua also took his family to the US, but to New York and not Michigan. They appear in the census of Potsdam, NY at:
http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=7667&path=New+York.Saint+Lawrence.Potsdam.95
Joseph Hicks of Cobourg
1851/2 Census
Unfortunately, all that survives of the Cobourg census is the agricultural census. The personal census is lost. The agricultural census recorded Joseph Hicks on Lot 21 of Concession B. This was the west side of town, the Concession bordering Lake Ontario. Not that Lot 21 is the same Lot on which Joshua Hicks as due north on Concession III. There was only one other person doing farming on Concession B within the town of Cobourg -- at the east end of town on Lot 14.
The image of this census record is at:
http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=1061&path=Canada+West+%28Ontario%29.Northumberland+County.Cobourg.1
He owned 16 acres, of which 6 were under crops, 9 under pasture and 1 under gardens or orchards. Of the crop acreage, 1.5 acres was in peas, yielding 15 bushels, 3 acres yielding 100 bushels of oats and 1.5 acres yieleding 45 bushels of potatoes. He had 1 cow, 1 horse, 4 sheep, and 2 pigs.
Unfortunately, this is all that the 1851/2 census tells us about him - no age, no birthplace, no family members. And there is simply not enough information to connect him to any Joseph Hicks in the 1860 US or 1861 Canada Census.
James Hicks of Ireland in Hamilton Township
1851/2 Census
There is only one other Hicks family listed in Hamilton Township or what surives of Cobourg in the census. James Hicks, age 23 and born in Ireland, lived on Lot 14 of Concession 1, which was just east of the northern part of Cobourg. He owned less than an acre.
He is in the personal census at:
http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=1061&path=Canada+West+%28Ontario%29.Northumberland+County.Hamilton.118
and in the agricultural census at:
http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=1061&path=Canada+West+%28Ontario%29.Northumberland+County.Hamilton.154
He was a;,pst certainly not a close relation -- if any relation at all -- of George Hicks, so that I include him only because he was a Hicks in the same area.
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Need to search Cobourg area directories - sent inquiry to Cobourg Library e-mail address 15 Feb 2013
What marriage records do exist for Northumberland county/Newcastle District prior to 1853?
"Maybe" stuff ...
- possible sister, whose parents are given: Ann (Hicks) Cook died 5 Jun 1893 at Clyde in St Clair County, MI at age 73, dau of Thomas and Susan Hicks ... but no Cornwall marriage found for such a couple: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FHP6-HPN