Draft:Thomas Wickham (Rhode Island judge)

Thomas Wickham (? 1700 – 1777) was a justice of the Colonial Rhode Island Supreme Court from May 1761 to May 1762.

Of Newport.

Thomas, son of Samuel and Barbara (Holden) Wickham, was born at Newport, Rhode Island, July 30, 1700. He died on May 19th of September, 1777, and both he and his wife were interred in Trinity churchyard in Newport. On the 23rd of March, 1725, he married Hannah Brewer, and they became the parents of 13 children. Thomas Wickham was one of the original members of the Newport Artillery Company and was one of the corporators of the historic Redwood Library of Newport. He served as a deputy in the general assembly in 1748, and through his connection with the militia he gained the title of captain.

Thomas Wickham was born in Newport, Rhode Island, on April 5, 1736, being the fourth son and child of Captain Thomas and Hannah (Brewer) Wickham, and grandson of Samuel and Barbara (Holden) Wickham. He settled in business in Newport, of which town he was admitted freeman in May, 1759. In 1762 he married Elizabeth, daughter of the Hon. Joseph Wanton (afterwards Governor of the Colony) and Mary (Winthrop) Wanton. In the period of the Revolution he was, like his father-in-law, faithful to the mother country, and in consequence was sentenced to six months' imprisonment in Newport jail in November, 1780, and to the payment of a fine of five thousand silver dollars. In August, 1781, being still in prison, and unable to pay the fine, he petitioned the General Assembly, which reduced the amount to $500. He and his wife were still living in Newport in September, 1793.

References

Category:Justices of the Rhode Island Supreme Court

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