Nielsen Hayden genealogy

William Nickerson

William Nickerson

Male 1609 - 1690  (~ 82 years)

Personal Information    |    Media    |    Notes    |    Sources    |    All

  • Name William Nickerson  [1, 2, 3
    Birth Between 1607 and 1609  Norwich, Norfolk, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [4
    Gender Male 
    Death Between 30 Aug 1689 and 8 Sep 1690  Monomoit, Barnstable, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location  [5
    Burial Burial Hill, Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location  [5
    Person ID I20189  Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others | Ancestor of BAM, Ancestor of LDN
    Last Modified 4 Mar 2020 

    Father William Nickerson,   b. Between 1560 and 1570   d. Bef 23 Oct 1625, Norwich, Norfolk, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 65 years) 
    Family ID F12157  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Anne Busby,   b. Bef 2 Feb 1608, Norwich, Norfolk, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Aft 18 May 1686, Monomoit, Barnstable, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location (Age > 78 years) 
    Marriage 1627  [3, 4
    Children 
    +1. Elizabeth Nickerson,   b. Bef 1 Jan 1630   d. Bef 3 May 1706, Monomoit, Barnstable, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location (Age < 76 years)
    +2. Nicholas Nickerson,   b. Abt 1630   d. Bef 26 Mar 1682 (Age ~ 52 years)
     3. Samuel Nickerson,   b. 1638   d. Bef 17 Aug 1719 (Age < 81 years)
    +4. Sarah Nickerson,   b. Abt 1644, Yarmouth, Barnstable, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Aft 1715 (Age ~ 72 years)
    +5. William Nickerson,   b. Bef 1 Jun 1646, Yarmouth, Barnstable, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Bef 7 Apr 1719 (Age < 72 years)
    +6. Joseph Nickerson,   b. Bef 16 Dec 1647, Yarmouth, Barnstable, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Between 1725 and 1731, Harwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location (Age > 77 years)
    Family ID F12130  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 4 Mar 2020 

  • Photos
    NickersonPlaque
    NickersonPlaque

  • Notes 
    • "William Nickerson was a man of intelligence and of great energy and strength of will, which degenerated into obstinancy. He could not brook opposition nor readily accomodate himself to his neighbors. He was litigious, insisting upon the letter of what he thought his rights. He was no doubt a religious man, and at Monomoy acted as a religious teacher to the infant settlement, but he could not agree with his Yarmouth brethren and had at least one of his children baptized in Barnstable. His purchase of land at Monomoy was doubtless in part dictated by a desire of independence and his intention to found a settlement of which he should be the head. After his removal to Monomoy he resisted the authority both of Yarmouth and Eastham, which the colony court successively extended over the place. His purchase at Monomoy was contrary to a salutary law of the colony of which he could not have been unaware, although when confronted with its penalty, he claimed ignorance. He more than once expressed regret that he had violated the law but at no time did he alter his course. His persistence in the end, it is true, brought him substantial victory, but his unaccommodating spirit made many years of his life a series of conflicts with the colonial authorities and others, in which he was almost uniformly worsted. As has been seen, he disposed of all his property before his death and therefore his name does not appear on the probate records. This action on his part was perhaps due to distrust of the public authorities, produced by his years of conflict with them." [James W. Hawes, "William Nickerson", in Library of Cape Cod History & Genealogy (vol 1-105). Yarmouthport, Mass.: C. W. Swift, 1912-23.]

  • Sources 
    1. [S2620] The Yarmouth Families of Eldredge by Amos Otis. Library of Cape Cod History & Genealogy No. 47. Yarmouth, Massachusetts: C. W. Swift, 1914.

    2. [S3434] Eldred/Eldredge Genealogies by James W. Hawes. Library of Cape Cod History & Genealogy No. 101. Yarmouth, Massachusetts: C. W. Swift, 1911.

    3. [S964] A Historical Sketch of Nicholas Busby, the Emigrant compiled for Anna C. Kingsbury by William Emery Nickerson. 1924.

    4. [S2582] Richard L. Bush, "The English Ancestry of William and Anne (Busby) Nickerson of Chatham, Massachusetts, and of Nicholas and Bridget (Cocke) Busby of Boston." The American Genealogist 85:242, 2011.

    5. [S2654] The Nickerson Family: The Descendants of William Nickerson, 1604-1689, First Settler of Chatham, Massachusetts, Parts I, II & III: The First Six Generations with Vital Statistics of the Seventh Generation, The Combined 2nd Edition With Corrections by Pauline Wixon Derrick with Gertrude James and Barbara E. Goward. Cape Cod, Massachusetts: The Nickerson Family Association, 1997.