F 더 A MEMORIAL OF A RESPECTABLE AND RESPECTED FAMILY AND ESPECIALLY OF JOSHUA BICKNELL, FARMER, REPRESENTATIVE, SENATOR, JUDGE, AND "THE NOBLEST ROMAN OF THEM ALL." COMPILED BY THOMAS WILLIAMS BICKNELL. BOSTON, MASS.: NEW-ENGLAND PUBLISHING CO., PRINTERS. 71 B58 1880 PREFACE. To know one's ancestry is both a duty and a pleasure. Especially is this true when the line of descent is marked by men and women of integrity, virtue, manly self-reliance, and Christian deeds. Of the Bicknell family, it is quite remarkable that, while few of its members have amassed great wealth, or have achieved great names among the world's greater lights, there have been but few, if any, instances where persons have erred from the paths of honest toil and the principles of honest living before God and men. To say thus much is to confer on one's kinship a title to nobility which is essentially valuable and worthy of transmission from sire to son. I have taken great pleasure in studying my lineage to find so clear a record for all, and this little memorial of my grandfather's descent, and of his offspring, is a tribute to the labors and memories of good men and pure women. A word or two of explanation should go out with this memorial. The first relates to the spelling of the name, Bicknell. Two spellings appear on the tombstones in Barrington, Bicknell and Bicknall, and the latter form is still in use by a few members of the family now living. That the name is Bicknell there can be no doubt: (1) It is the English spelling, by all of our family, past and present. (2) It was so spelled on the records of the ship Assurance. (3) It was so spelled by Zachary and John, and in the Plymouth Colony records. (4) It is so spelled invariably on the Weymouth tombstones. (5) It is so spelled by all the Weymouth Bicknells and their descendants, except in Barrington. (6) It is so spelled in the deeds and wills of most of the Barrington Bicknells. (7) It is so spelled on several of the tombstones |