Hikinson History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

• Origins Available:
• Ireland
• England

Early Origins of the Hikinson family

Early History of the Hikinson family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Hikinson research. Another 115 words (8 lines of text) covering the years 1588, 1616, 1629, 1630, 1652, 1692, 1698, 1708 and 1764 are included under the topic Early Hikinson History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Hikinson Spelling Variations

Within the archives researched, many different spelling variations of the surname Hikinson were found. These included One reason for the many variations is that scribes and church officials often spelled an individual's name as it sounded. This imprecise method often led to many versions. Higginson, Hickinson, Hickenson, Hickeson and many more.

Early Notables of the Hikinson family

Notable among the family name at this time was Isabel Hickinson who was buried at St. Johns Church, Dublin. Francis Higginson (1588-1630), was an English-born Puritan minister who led a group of about 350 settlers on six ships from England to New England in 1629, one year before the Winthrop Fleet. He became the first minister of Salem, Massachusetts. A portion of his diary was published in 1630 under the title, "New Englands Plantation, or a Short and True...
Another 79 words (6 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Hikinson Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Hikinson family

The 19th century saw a great wave of Irish families leaving Ireland for the distant shores of North America and Australia. These families often left their homeland hungry, penniless, and destitute due to the policies of England. Those Irish immigrants that survived the long sea passage initially settled on the eastern seaboard of the continent. Some, however, moved north to a then infant Canada as United Empire Loyalists after ironically serving with the English in the American War of Independence. Others that remained in America later joined the westward migration in search of land. The greatest influx of Irish immigrants, though, came to North America during the Great Potato Famine of the late 1840s. Thousands left Ireland at this time for North America, and those who arrived were immediately put to work building railroads, coal mines, bridges, and canals. In fact, the foundations of today's powerful nations of the United States and Canada were to a larger degree built by the Irish. Archival documents indicate that members of the Hikinson family relocated to North American shores quite early: Anne, Charles, Frances, John, Mary, Neophytus, Samuel, Pheophilus, Timothy Higginson, who all settled in Salem, Massachusetts in 1629; Humphrey Higginson settled in Virginia in 1635.