CHAPTER ONE (sample)

Ricks, The Descendants of Jonas Ricks and Other Ricks Families in America,(Dexter, Mich., Donald M. Ricks, 1998)

[sample of contents and footnotes]

Ricks Settlers in Colonial America:
A Survey of Genealogical Records

The Land Story

     Captain John Martin owned and operated one of the earliest private plantations in Virginia, known as Martin's Brandon.1  It was first settled about 1616 —17, situated on the south side of the James River and northwest of the mouth of Upper Chippokes Creek. The original charter of the plantation made it initially independent of the Jamestown General Assembly, which first met 30 July 1619.2  John Martin supposedly died at Brandon in 1632. On 5 August 1643, 4,550 acres of land, "commonly known by the name of Martin Brandon lying betwixt Chippokes Creek and Wards Creek" became the patent of Symon Sturges, John Sadler, and Richard Quincy, of London, Merchants.3

     Martin's Brandon was originally a part of Weyanoke Parish when Charles City and seven other "Shires," immediately referred to as counties, were formed in 1634. The remaining seven were Accawmack, Charles River, Elizabeth City, Henrico, James City, Warrosquoyacke, and Warwick River. The Maryland Charter of 1632 set the northern boundary of the Virginia area. In 1634, James City County included the area south of James River now known as Surry County, which was formed in 1652. In 1637, Warrosquoyacke County became Isle of Wight County. In 1753, Sussex County was formed from the southwest part of Surry County.4

     On 4 June 1655, the area of Martin's plantation became part of Martin Brandon Parish, Charles City County. In 1703, Prince George County was formed from the southwestern part of Charles City County, south of James River. Martin Brandon Parish remained in the new county. In January 1721, parts of Westover and Weyanoke Parishes united with Martin Brandon. Thereafter, Martin Brandon Parish remained predominantly in Prince George County.

     To the northwest of Martin's Brandon and Upper Chippokes Creek, along and south of the James River, was another plantation called Ward's, established in 1619. To the east of Upper Chippokes Creek along and south of the river was Captain Lawne's Plantation at Lawne's Creek, south of Hogg Island, settled in 1619. The Parish of Lawne's Creek, created in 1640, "...was the first of such organizations within the limits of colonial Surry County."5  Southwark Parish lies along the western boundary of Surry County, and members of the Ricks family settled there after 1700.

     Several James City County patents identify some of the earliest land owners along and in the vicinity of Upper Chippokes Creek. These individuals and their families formed the nucleus of the community:6

    Book 1
  • · 462. Thomas Weekes, 21 August 1637. 100 acres abutting Chipokes Creek &c Wm Rookins7  dividend lying on the west.
  • · 548. John Fludd [Flood], 12 May 1638. 2100 acres. Adjoining the land of Capt. Henry Browne, north upon the main river, west upon Benjamin Harrison's marked tree [being up the west side of Sunken Marsh Creek].8
  • · 554. William Rookins [Rookings], 5 March 1638. 150 acres. Upon the upper Chippokes Creek, northerly upon James river adjoining the land of Samuel Edmonds.
  • · 556. Benjamin Carrill, 16 May 1638. 700 acres. Beg.g [beginning] at Sandy point and extending down the river to Dancing point.9
  • · 557. Charles Foard [Ford], 19 May 1638. 250 acres. Over against Dancing point on the Southly side of the river.10
  • · 566. John Senior & Henry Carman, 10 May 1638. 150 acres. North upon upper Chippokes Creek, adjoin.g the land of Thomas Weekes.
  • · 583. Edward Minter, 25 July 1638. 300 acres. At the upper Chippokes, on the west side with a great swampe next to the land of Benjamin Harrison.

     Others who later acquired property along Ward's Creek were:  In 1655, William Bayly patented 400 acres;11  Elias Osborne patented 200 acres on the south 1 January 1668;12  and Ralph Rachell patented 200 acres on the southeast side 28 January 1670.13

      While Richard1 Ricks arrived in the New World very early, he was not one of those early land owners in this area of Charles City and Surry Counties. There were few Rickses documented in Virginia before about 1650, and it appears that this family resided in the Ward's-Upper Chippokes Creek area as early as that year, perhaps earlier. Life was difficult for those early immigrants; and at one point, after the devastating Indian massacre in 1622, the mortality rate for the settlers was about seventy-five percent.14 While there is no confirmation of the Ricks surname in extant colonial records during that infamous attack, they were certainly there during the second massacre that occurred 18 August 1644. "The Indians fell upon the settlers along the frontier near the head of the rivers and south of the James River."15 The total number killed-at least 500-was more than the losses suffered in the 1622 massacre.16 A peace treaty was signed in 1646, a peace that lasted until 1676. Richard1 Ricks, his wife Elizabeth and their children probably lived in the Charles City County area in 1644.17

     Colonial Virginia was predominantly Anglican, but "Puritans were influential in Southside Virginia, south of the James River, where immigrants came largely from southern and southwestern England, the center of Puritanism in the latter country."18  It is not known if any Rickses in Virginia were Puritans, but most lived south of the James River in areas known as Prince George and Surry Counties. Isaac Ricks settled in colonial Isle of Wight County by 1682, and he was a Quaker.19  John2 Ricks (Richard1) owned land in Martin Brandon Parish, Charles City County, between Upper Chippokes Creek and Ward's Creek, but only in the 1680s and later.

     The following history is the only known genealogy published for this branch of the Ricks family. While the surname spelling appears in early records as Reeks or Reekes-other variations include Rooks, Ricks and Rix. The name spelled "Ricks" became more common after 1700, especially within the Isaac Ricks family, of Isle of Wight County, Virginia. Hereinafter, the surname spelling "Ricks" will be used in discussion, the exception being the name as presented in original and abstract records. All counties mentioned are in Virginia, except where noted.

[The following material in this chapter includes a thorough discussion and survey of records associated with Richard Ricks, Isaac Ricks, and Richard Rooks. Several other Ricks men are discussed briefly.]

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Footnotes

1Richard L. Morton, Colonial Virginia, Vol. 1, "The Tidewater Period, 1607—1710" (Chapel Hill, NC: University of N. C. Press, 1960), pp. 58, 62, 63, published for The Virginia Historical Society.

2Charles Francis Cocke, Parish Lines, Diocese of Southern Virginia (Richmond: Va. State Library, 1964), pp. 89—91; 84—85 for the discussion of Westover and Weyanoke Parishes.

3"Charles City County: Patents Issued During the Regal Government," The William and Mary Quarterly (hereinafter WMQ), Ser. 1, Vol. 9, No. 4 (April 1901), p. 233. WMQ, Ser. 1, Vol. 20, No. 3, p. 220, states that these three merchants obtained the estate called Brandon from Robert Bargrave, son of George Bargrave and Dorcas Martin, daughter and heir of John Martin. The land later descended to Robert Richardson, who in 1720 conveyed Brandon to Nathaniel Harrison.

4The information for this brief survey of Virginia county boundaries was taken from the computer program "AniMap Plus," Version 1.6, County Boundary Historical Atlas, © 1991—1995, State Group #1, revised March 1995, by Adrian B. Ettlinger, The Gold Bug Company, P. O. Box 586, Alamo, CA 94507.

5Cocke, Parish Lines, Diocese of Southern Virginia, p. 58.

6"Patents Issued During The Regal Government," WMQ, Ser. 1, Vol. 9, No. 2 , pp. 67 — 74.

7William Rookings, son of William Sr. (in this record), was one of Bacon's majors. Rookings had family ties to the William Short and Nicholas Wyatt families. Nicholas was another of Bacon's officers, and he was the brother-in-law of Capt. William Rookings (WMQ, Ser. 1, Vol. 5, No. 3, p. 191; Ser. 1, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp. 261 — 64).

8 "Some Old Surry Families," WMQ, Ser. 1, Vol. 16, No. 4 (April 1908), pp. 221—225. This is an excellent discussion of the Flood family.

9Dancing Point is located on the north side of James River, in Charles City County, due east about five miles from the mouth of Upper Chippokes Creek, opposite Stoop Point in the northwest corner of Surry County.

10Another reference for Dancing Point is that of a sharp point of land on the north side of James River directly across the river from Sunken Meadow Lake. The wording of this patent suggests the land was in the vicinity of Sunken Marsh.

11WMQ, Ser. 1, Vol. 24, No. 2 (Oct. 1915), p. 142.

12WMQ, Ser. 1, Vol. 13, No. 2 (Oct. 1904), p. 117.

13WMQ, Ser. 1, Vol. 13, No. 2 (Oct. 1904), p. 119.

14Morton, Colonial Virginia, Vol. 1, p. 88.

15Morton, Colonial Virginia, Vol. 1, p. 153.

16Morton, Colonial Virginia, Vol. 1, p. 156.

17For more on early colonial life, read Richard L. Morton's informative book Colonial Virginia.

18Morton, Colonial Virginia, Vol. 1, p. 151.

19This Ricks family is well documented in the minutes of Chuckatuck Monthly Meeting (MM) and in the Quaker abstracts by William Wade Hinshaw. Some new information on this family follows after the Richard Ricks material.
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