[NI4376]
[Usa.ftw]
FromT.W. Bicknell's 1913 genealogy book page 86
John Wilson Bicknell, when but a lad of fourteen or fifteen
years of age, went to sea as cabin boy; from that time until
about the year 1817 he followed a seafaring life, working up to
the post of Captain of a vessel, making voyages from 'Warren,
Bristol, Providence and other places to the West Indies, Africa
and China. He was twice shipwrecked, and at the earnest
solicitation of his wife gave up the sea for life on the land.
Was one of the Deputies from Barrington in 1814 and 1815.
In 1817 Captain Bicknell, with his family, removed from Barrington to
Canterbury, Connecticut, where he kept the Town's Tavern for
a period of four years.
In 1821 he removed to Canaan, Vermont, and settled
on a farm, which was their home for about seventeen years.
In 1838 this farm was sold and the family removed to Beloit,. Rock
County, Wisconsin, leaving Canaan early in the month of June
of that year.
The question of moving had been settled during the month
of October, two years previous, and the son, Otis P., in company
with his brother-in-law, Robert P. Crane, started for the
Western country on the 24th of October, 1836, and were then
preparing accommodations at Beloit to receive both the Crane
and Bicknell families.
George W. and Edwin also arrived in Beloit
in July, 1837. A daughter, Almira, then Mrs. R. P. Crane, arrived
in August. The movement, in June, 1838, was the cleaning
up, which included Captain Bicknell, wife and five of his youngest
children; his daughter, Amanda, the wife of Samuel B. Cooper,
and their two small children. These eleven precious souls started
on their journey of twelve hundred miles in two vehicles, a
carryall drawn by two horses and a wagon also drawn by two
horses. Besides the eleven persons to be transported there was
an assortment of household goods and family keepsakes that
were indispensable assets in a frontier home. Thus they traveled
from Canaan to Whitehall, New York, where the passengers and their
entire outfit were assigned a place on board a canal boat bound
for Buffalo. From there passage was secured on a steamboat
to Chicago, and from the latter place the journey was made with
their own teams, arriving at Beloit the 15th of July, 1838. Soon
a very comfortable two-story-and-a-half house was prepared for
their new home in the West, and the family saw that place they
selected grow to a beautiful city.
Captain Bicknell was a prominent member of the Order of
Freemasons and took great interest in the work of the Order;
and while away from home visiting, and in instructing new
organizations of the Order, contracted a severe cold, it being in
the winter season, and on reaching home was stricken with
pneumonia, from which disease he died March 2, 1857, and buried
with Masonic honors.
He was First Worthy Master of the Blue Lodge in 1846;
elected H. P. of Chapter in 1854, and Grand Captain of the Host
in the Grand Chapter of Wisconsin.
His wife died at the same home, which was with their eldest son,
Dr. George W. Bicknell, corner of Fourth and E Streets, in Beloit,
Nov. 19, 1860.
Their first five children were born at Barrington.
two at Canterbury, Connecticut, and the others in Vermont.
[NI4380]
[Usa.ftw]
From T.W. Bicknell's 1913 genealogy book page 186
George Wilson and Abigail first met at the home of Judge
Joseph Rawson, in Barrington, R. I., while Mr. Bicknell was
working at the trade of a jeweler in Providence, and at the same
time studying medicine with his uncle, Dr. Jacob Fuller, of that
city. After securing his medical education, he went to Vermont
and joined the Bicknell family in their Western venture. As the
little settlement of Beloit, Wisconsin., seemed insufficient to support
two physicians during its infant days, and as Dr. White, the agent
for the colony, was the senior in practice, Dr. Bicknell selected a
new field, going one hundred miles further west, to Potosi, Grant
County, Wisconsin.
As soon as the doctor felt reasonably sure that he might be
successful, he wrote to Miss Rawson, at her home in Mendon,
saying if she was willing to join him in establishing a home at
the West and would make the journey to Chicago he would
meet her there and accompany her to the home of R. P. Crane
in Beloit, where the marriage ceremony would take place. She
promptly accepted the proposition, the program was carried out
and they made their home in Potosi a few years; when at the
death of Dr. White, a general desire was expressed by the people
of Beloit that Dr. Bicknell should come to take the place made
vacant by the death of Dr. White. Having many relatives and
friends in Beloit was a strong inducement and about 1845 the
family settled there, and he soon acquired a generous practice.
In 1849 he went overland to California, but returned two years
later, entering upon a larger patronage than before, and came to
enjoy the confidence of all who were fortunate enough to know
him as their family physician, gaining for himself a wide repu-
tation as a very skillful practitioner.
When the Civil War came on he enlisted, receiving a commission
as Surgeon in the Twentysecond Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers,
which position he filled
acceptably to all till failing health from the exposure of camp
life compelled him to resign his commission and return home.
There followed him, however, almost immediately a commission
as A. A. Surgeon, Ti. S. A., at Camp Douglas, Chicago, Ill. Here
he remained until that camp was about to be deserted, when
again resigning his commission he returned to private practice at
Beloit, where he died June 16, 1870.
[NI4383]
[Usa.ftw]
From T.W. Bicknell's 1913 genealogy book page 310
John Francis received his early education in the public schools
of Beloit, Wisconsin., and the Preparatory Department of Beloit
College.
About the time of his contemplated graduation from this
department the Civil War came on, and he, with many of his
classmates, enlisted in a company of nine-months men;
at the close of that service he served as clerk in a hardware
establishment in Chicago, Ill. He came to Worcester, MA.,
during the summer of 1872, entering the employ of
Ellery B. Crane, who at that time was engaged in the lumber
business.
In 1879 Mr. Bicknell was given an interest in the business, but
retired in 1882 to engage in the lumber trade on his own account.
That business he continued up to the time of his decease, Nov. 15, 1899.
[NI4385]
[Usa.ftw]
From T.W. Bicknell's 1913 genealogy book page 310
Roscoe aquired his early education in the public schools of
Worcester, Massachusetts, the Worcester Academy and
Dean Academy at Franklin, Massachusetts, graduating with
the class of 1900, and soon succeeded to the business left
by his father.
[NI4396]
[Usa.ftw]
From T.W. Bicknell's 1913 genealogy book page 187
The Coopers removed West with the Bicknell family and
settled in Beloit, Wisconsin, in Jun 1838.
Samuel was a farmer, Justice of the Peace, Judge of Probate
and conducted a stone quarry, supplying stone for buildings
and other uses.
He was well versed in the law and drew many legal papers.
[NI4404]
[Usa.ftw]
From T.W. Bicknell's 1913 genealogy book page 187
Otis Paine went West and reached Beloit, Wisconsin., March 9,
1837, with his brother-in-law, Robert P. Crane. The country
there, at that date, was but a wild West, but soon, through the
intervention of the New England Emigrating Company, began to
take on the semblance of a village. Mr. Bicknell was a farmer
and hotel keeper, and was twice married. His first wife was
Sophia Foster; she died, and he married Cornelia Wells, by whom
he had a son, who died from a gunshot wound, accidentally re-
ceived while gunning, when about sixteen years of age. Mr.
Bicknell enlisted at the time of the Civil War, serving in the
Twenty-second Regiment, Company 13, Wisconsin Volunteers.
He was captured with others during an engagement and taken to
Libby Prison, with his nephew, Charles Jesse Cooper, who was
in the same company. They were soon exchanged and returned
to their regiment. At the expiration of his service he resided in
St. Louis, Missouri, for a time;
Purchaced a farm in or near Salina, Kansas, where he resided
at the time of his death.
[NI4405]
[Usa.ftw]
FromT.W. Bicknell's 1913 genealogy book page 188
Edwin Bicknell joined his father's family in their Western
venture, becoming an active assistant in helping to establish the
new settlement of Beloit, Wisconsin, where he married, Sept. 26, 1842,
Miss Jane A. Fisher, a native of Derby Line, Vt., born in 1816,
whose parents were among those stricken at that period with the
Western fever. Mr. Bicknell was an enterprising man, having
been engaged in various branches of trade as a merchant, and
for some years as a popular hotel keeper in Beloit and also at
La Crosse, Wisconsin.
He died Dec. 28, 1889, in Chicago, Illinois, where
for a number of years he was a dealer in real estate.
[NI4408]
[Usa.ftw]
From T.W. Bicknell's 1913 genealogy book page 310
Edward was a native of Beloit and a soldier in the Civil War,
gaining the rank of Major for active and meritorious service.
At the close of the war he was a merchant in Chicago for many
years, where his family resident.
Having aquired a competency, he retired from active business,
and, with his family, removed from Chicago about 1902,
establishing a residence at Mount Vernon, New York, to be
near the homes of their children, who had turned their faces
eastward from Chicago.
[NI4417]
[Usa.ftw]
From T.W. Bicknell's 1913 genealogy book page 188
In the winter of 1836-7, the year after their marriage, Mr.
Crane, in company with his brother-in-law, Otis P. Bicknell, made
a trip to the States of Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin Territory,
for the purpose of locating homes in the Western country.
A place on Rock River, at the mouth of Turtle Creek, now known
as Beloit, was selected, and in the early part of the summer of
1837 Mrs. Crane, with her babe, Ellery B., left Colebrook in company
with her father-in-law, Eleazer Crane, his wife and daughter,
bound for their Western home, which the husband, Robert
Prudden, had prepared for their reception. The journey was
made with private team, the assistance of the Erie Canal boat and
a steamboat on Lake Erie. Mrs. Crane, with her nine months'
babe, Ellery B., arrived at the settlement, now Beloit, Wis., Aug.
7, 1837. During the first year the family lived in a rough board
shanty while the frame house that was to be the home was being
built. Here she passed the remaining years of her life. She was
a thoroughly competent housekeeper, a devoted wife and mother,
a Christian woman. Her death came all too soon, hastened by
exposures and trials incident to establishing a home in a wild,
unreclaimed country.
[NI4419]
[Usa.ftw]
From T.W. Bicknell's 1913 genealogy book page 189
Charles H. Bicknell was twenty years old when he arrived at
Beloit, Wisconsin, where the early years of manhood were passed in
farming and assisting his brother, Otis, in conducting the "Beloit
House," a popular hotel in its day. It was the stage house
from whence there went out daily four coaches, each drawn by
four horses, loaded with passengers bound in various directions
through the West. In addition, the house was filled with regular
boarders and other transients.
Sept. 12, 1848, he married Elizabeth Goodhue, and soon began
the study of medicine with his brother, Dr. George W. Bicknell,
of Beloit, and with Dr. Goodhue, at Rockford, Ill., taking courses
of lectures in Chicago.
He practiced his profession with success in Beloit, Wisconsin,
where he made his home and where he died in January, 1888.
His widow also died there, leaving two children.
[NI4421]
[Usa.ftw]
From T.W. Bicknell's 1913 genealogy book page 325
Charles was educated in the public schools of beloit, Wisconsin,
and for several years was a clerk and accountant in
one of the banks.
[NI4423]
[Usa.ftw]
From T.W. Bicknell's 1913 genealogy book page 326
Edgar was highly esteemed in Beloit, and served as Mayor of the city.
He was for many years an agent for the Chicago & New Hampshire
Railroad in Beloit.
[NI4436]
[Usa.ftw]
From T.W. Bicknell's 1913 genealogy book page 43
Asa was shot and killed while on board the Brigantine Crawford,
at sea, between Matanzas and Fall River, Massachusetts,
by pirates.
All the crew were killed and thrown overboard.
[NI4439]
[Usa.ftw]
From T.W. Bicknell's 1913 genealogy book page 88
He became an able lawyer and stood at the head of the Bar
of Oneida County, new York.
[NI4454]
[Usa.ftw]
From T.W. Bicknell's 1913 genealogy book page 43
Thomas was in the forth generation from William and Elizabeth Allin,
who moved from Prudence Island to West Barrington,
Indian Annawomscutt, before 1670, through Thomas and
Anna (Barnes) Allin, Mathew and Ruth (Stockbridge) Allin;
was a farmer and land surveyor, owning about one hundred
acres of his father's farm in Barrington.
At the opening of the War of the Revolution Mr. AIlin was
thirty-three years old, when his abilities and enthusiasm made
him a leader in civil and military affairs in town, colony and
country. On the reorganization of the Barrington Militia Com-
pany in June, 1775, Mr. AIIin was elected Captain, and it is
probable that he accompanied his brother, Matthew, and other
Barrington soldiers to Roxbury and Cambridge, about the time
of the battle of Bunker Hill. From this time until the close of
the war he was in military service, mostly within the colony.
Mr. AIIin represented his native town in the General Assembly
of the colony for the years 1772-3-4-5-6, 1781, 1791-4-5-6-7-8;
was a member of the Committee of Correspondence, a recruiting
officer for the Colonial army, and at the close of the war was
elected Brigadier-General of State Militia. He was a wember
of the General Assembly that enacted the Rhode Island Decla-
ration of Independence, May 4, 1776, and a member of the con-
vention that adopted the Federal Constitution, voting for both
measures. He was associated with Joshua Bicknell as co-man-
ager of the Barrington Meeting-House lottery. The mansion lie
built in 1788 still stands at West Barrington, and has been occu-
pied in part by his desccndants until the present time.