Complications with Commonly Used Birth Information

Most family historians and descendants of the English immigrant William Stickney of Rowley, Massachusetts are not concerned with the facts of his origin in England and concentrate on the facts and path of descent from him to their own existence here in America.  The particulars of his birth formally published in 1869, that he was baptized 6 Sep 1592, son of William & Margaret (Pierson) Stickney of Frampton, Lincolnshire, England, when examined do not measure up to the genealogical proof standard. Or one might question whether they are viewing the same records online that were used to determine this information published over one hundred and fifty years ago. Were there more detailed original parish records that are not available online today? A more recent study conducted in England in 1968 seem to indicate these are the same scantly detailed records. It is for that reason as well as overlooked burial records that seem to further discredit the validity of William’s commonly expressed origin, and why I find my research facing another brick wall as to when, where and to whom the immigrant William Stickney was born.

The popular account of the birth and parentage of William Stickney, the immigrant ancestor of the Stickney family in America, that has been perpetuated, comes from Matthew Adams Stickney. In his excellent collection of data on the Stickneys in America, The Stickney Family, A Genealogical Memoir of the Descendants of William and Elizabeth Stickney, From 1637 to 1869. On page one, Matthew states the following.

“WILLIAM STICKNEY, the first settler, was the ancestor of nearly all who have since borne the name in America.  It is inferred from records procured in England for the author, by Horatio G. Somerby, Esq., that he was the William, who is mentioned as baptized in St. Mary’s Church, Frampton, Lincolnshire, England, September 6, 1592, and the son of WILLIAM STICKNEY of Frampton, who was baptized December 30, 1558, and married, June 16, 1585, Margaret Peirson, and the grandson of ROBERT STICKNEY of Frampton, who made his will October 3, and was buried October 18, 1582.”

Matthew A. Stickney uses the term “inferred” regarding these records, to perhaps note that he himself was not  convinced that they were in fact the birth and parentage of the immigrant William Stickney. The source of this information, Horatio G. Somerby, was employed by several American family historian in the mid-eighteen hundreds to research their family origins in England that were later discredited. Not that he fabricated information but found records and produced a possible lineage. As noted in the preface to the book, Matthew A. Stickney mentions the town of Stickney in Lincolnshire where it is believed the surname originates so Lincolnshire would be a good place to look. The birth records commonly used as the birth date for the immigrant William Stickney are from St. Mary’s church in Frampton which is a short distance from the town of Stickney in Lincolnshire. But one cannot simply find a ”William Stickney” in records and conclude this is the immigrant William Stickney, it is necessary to find supporting details and/or additional records.

The parish baptism record used for the birth of the immigrant William Stickney can be found online at findmypast.com. This entry merely state a “ William Stickney” was baptized without giving any reference to a parent and appears to me to be September 16 not September 6, 1592. These records are extracts themselves and it is possible the original St. Mary’s church record provided more information about parents, but even if this birth record did show that this William Stickney’s parents were William Stickney (1558-1591) and Margaret (Pierson) Stickney (1562-1592/3), this still would not confirm this was the American immigrant William Stickney.

Below is my extract of the record found on findmypast.com, record set Lincolnshire Baptisms.

“1592 [noted on the previous page]

Septembr 16 wab{?] Thomas Sharpe ———— baptized

The same day wab[?] William Stickney ———- baptised”

The second more recent account of the immigrant William Stickney’s origin is by Emily Stickney Spencer published in 1970, English Ancestry of William Stickney of Rowley Massachusetts 1638. Emily travelled to England herself and using the findings of Somerby attempts to put together a detailed line of descent from a William Stickney (1465 – 1533) to the American immigrant William using many possible assumptions attained from court and parish records. The photocopy obtained of Spencer’s twenty-five-page publication is not well organized and has many typos. It consists of abstracts of Lincolnshire legal records involving suits, land transactions, and probates, along with parish baptism, marriage, and burial records. She presents transcribed wills of William Stickney (1558 – 1591), the supposed father of the immigrant, as well the will of Robert Stickney, the supposed grandfather, and the will of the supposed great-great-grandfather William Stickney (1465 – 1533). These wills give the best relationship accounting of this Stickney linage, but fail to give concrete evidence that this is the immigrant William Stickney’s line of descent because he is not mentioned in any of these. Spencer attempts to explain this stating William was a posthumous child, that his forth coming existence was not known when his supposed father, William Stickney (1558-1591), as her transcription indicates, wrote his will on December 26, 1591.

Spencer’s transcription of William Stickney’s (1558-1591) will does state a daughter, Elizabeth, who he bequeaths half his household and six pounds when she turns eighteen and if her mother remarries, the new husband must put up bond for her education and care. Margaret Stickney does remarry a John Harby on November 7, 1592, and  Margaret Harby dies prior to April 11, 1593, when a jury names her heir, Elizabeth Stickney, daughter of William Stickney, age seven years, but there is no mention of a son “William”.

I have since found two burial dates for a “William Stickney” that Spencer does not list and therefore are unexplained. From Frampton, Parish Register 1558-1686, viewed on findmypast.com image 56, is the following entry listed below the year 1591, and month December:

“23^rd wab[?] William Stickney ———— buried”

If this is the William Stickney (1558-1591)’s burial records it occurs three days prior to the date Spencer states is the date his will is written. Further down this same image 56, under year 1592 and month October is:

“29^th wab[?] William Stickney ———— buried”

Is this the William Stickney that was just baptized September 1592? Again, on this same page under the month of January with the old-style calendar year still in 1592 is:

“11^th wab[?] Margaret Harby ———— buried”

Here the death of Margaret (Pierson) Stickney Harby that initiated the court proceeding of April 11, 1593, and named her only heir, Elizabeth.

Going back to the Stickney Family book, Matthew A. Stickney does state on the same page as the quote above a reference to Yorkshire, England:

“Tradition and information obtained in England, render it probable that the family removed to Hull, or its vicinity. I learn from Mrs. Sarah Ellis . . . “The old family residence was at Ridgmont, a beautiful place about nine miles east of Hull . . .””

Spencer did travel to Yorkshire where she seems to be the first to discover where the immigrant William and his family were living in England prior to their emigration. She found the marriage record of William Stickney to Elizabeth Dawson at Cottingham, Yorkshire, a village a few miles northwest of Hull. Spencer also found the baptisms of the three children they brought to New England with them plus three more children they buried in England prior to their departure.

Many Stickney descendants from the immigrant William Stickney have taken the inference of his origin from Mathew Adams Stickney’s book as fact but can only be considered a theory. A theory I can no longer support. Yes the family who began using the surname “Stickney” probably originated from Lincolnshire, England, but the primary records are not sufficient to state that the William Stickney baptized on “September 6, 1592” is connected to William Stickney (1558-1591) much less to the New England immigrant William Stickney. Emily Stickney Spencer and many more authors of published works on descendants of the immigrant William Stickney are perpetuating this origin theory that has no merit. The most important facts from Spencer’s publication was in finding where the immigrant William Stickney lived in England before emigrating to New England. It is here in Cottingham, Yorkshire where Spencer should have begun her research and it will probably take a boots on the ground search of local histories and parish records in this area to find substantial answers to the origin of the immigrant William Stickney of Rowley, Massachusetts.