JOHN STRICKLAND ORIGIN: Unknown MIGRATION: 1629 FIRST RESIDENCE: Charlestown REMOVES: Watertown, Wethersfield 1635, Fairfield 1640, Hempstead 1644, Huntington 1659, Jamaica 1663 OCCUPATION: Soldier. CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: On 26 April 1636 "Jo: Stickland" was included in a list of six men dismissed "by the Church of Watertown in the Massachusetts" on 29 May last "with intent to form a new church covenant in the River of Conectecott" [ CCCR 1:2]. FREEMAN: Requested 19 October 1630 (as "John Stickland" and admitted 18 May 1631 (as "Sgt. Stickland") [ MBCR 1:79, 366]. EDUCATION: He signed his will. OFFICES: On coroner's jury on death of William Bateman, 18 September 1630 [MBCR 1:78]. On jury "concerning an action of battery, complained of by Thomas Dextor against Captain Endicott," 3 May 1631 [MBCR 1:86]. Deputy to Connecticut General Court for Fairfield, 9 September 1614 [CCCR 1:67; TAG 11:84]. Hempstead magistrate, 5 March 1658 [TAG 11:85]. Huntington magistrate, 4 February 1660 [TAG 11:86]. Sergeant in Massachusetts by 1631 [MBCR 1:366]. On 1 November 1636 it is "ordered that Sergeant Stickland is to have for seven days service to the river's mouth, about cattle of Mr. Michell & the lo[rds?] or their agents, 21s." [CCCR 1:6]. ESTATE: "John Stickling" was granted a homestall of sixteen acres in Watertown, probably by 1634; by 1636 this had been acquired by John Whitney [ WaBOP 28, 85]. On 28 March 1640 John Strickland sold his homelot, house and barn at Wethersfield [ Wethersfield Hist 1:303]. In his will of 6 January 1644[/5] William Frost of Fairfield referred to "the housing and land I bought of John Sticklin [CCCR 1:466]. (John Strickland's Long Island landholding is summarized by Herbert F. Smith [TAG 11:85-86].) In his will, dated 5 September 1672 and proved 13 December 1672, "Mr. Jno Sticklin ... being in great pain" bequeathed to "my daughter Loum £10"; to "my daughter Matthews youngest child forty shillings"; to "Jonathan Mills one cow"; to "John Loum's eldest daughter one cow"; residue to "all my grandchildren to be divided equally among them, that is to say those children that have been born of my daughters and are now living"; "my son John Smith, my son Samuel Matthews, John Foster & Beniemin Coe" to be executors; "it is to be understood that those two cows mentioned to John Loum's daughter & to Jonathan Mills were my wife's and she gave them as she saw good, and I promising her to perform her will have accordingly disposed of them" [TAG 11:82-83]. (As with so many of the early New York wills, the published transcripts are seriously flawed; Herbert Smith was fortunate in this instance to find the original of the will, which he published in parallel with the "official" copy.) BIRTH: By about 1595 based on estimated date of marriage. DEATH: Jamaica between 5 September 1672 (date of will) and 13 December 1672 (probate of will). MARRIAGE: By about 1620 _____ _____. She predeceased him. CHILDREN: i (probably) ELIZABETH, b. say 1620; m. by about 1640 Jonas Wood "Oram" [ NYGBR 120:9]. ii Daughter, b. say 1625; m. by about 1645 John Lum [NYGBR 120:235-36]. iii Daughter, b. say 1628; m. by about 1650 John Smith "Blue" of Hempstead [TAG 11:206-07]. iv Daughter, b. say 1630; m. (1) by about 1651 Timothy Wood; m. (2) about 1660 Samuel Matthews [NYGBR 120:9]. ASSOCIATIONS: The possibility that John Strickland was related in some way to one or more of the other Strickland immigrants to New England has been discussed in detail in the articles by Smith and Jacobus (noted below). COMMENTS: Admitted as an inhabitant of Charlestown in 1629 [ ChTR 2]. On 4 September 1632 "John Stickland" was ordered fined £3 for refusing to take the watch; this fine was remitted in the general amnesty of 6 September 1638 [MBCR 1:99, 243]. The migrations of John Strickland are carefully traced and documented in the article by Herbert F. Smith [TAG 11:83-87]. John Strickland deposed in 1659, "being then of Huntington, L.I., ... that he formerly lived at Uncoway now called Fairfield and was deputed with others to treat with Stratford men about town bounds" [ FOOF 1:591, citing unknown source]. BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE: In 1934 and 1935 Herbert F. Smith (known later as Herbert F. Seversmith) published the definitive study of John Strickland, detailing his many migrations and examining carefully the identification of his children [TAG 11:81-87, 145-53, 197-208]. Smith concluded that the known children of John Strickland included only daughters, and that Thwaites Strickland was not a son. An important contribution of these articles was the comparison of the original will of John Strickland with the record copy and with the woefully inadequate published abstract. Nearly a decade later Donald Lines Jacobus surveyed all the early Strickland immigrants to New England, and did not alter the conclusions of Smith, explicitly agreeing that Thwaites Strickland was not a son [TAG 20:207-15, 21:85-92, with John Strickland treated at TAG 20: 207-10]. In 1989 and 1990 Matthew Wood published an extensive study of several immigrant families from Halifax, Yorkshire, including members of the Wood and Lum families who married daughters of John Strickland [NYGBR 120:1-9, 98-101, 142-47, 229-36, 121:96-101; see specific references under the appropriate children above]. PHILIP SWADDON