Hichens History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

During the 19th century thousands of impoverished Irish families made the long journey to British North America and the United States. These people were leaving a land that had become beset with poverty, lack of opportunity, and hunger. In North America, they hoped to find land, work, and political and religious freedoms. Although the majority of the immigrants that survived the long sea passage did make these discoveries, it was not without much perseverance and hard work: by the mid-19th century land suitable for agriculture was short supply, especially in British North America, in the east; the work available was generally low paying and physically taxing construction or factory work; and the English stereotypes concerning the Irish, although less frequent and vehement, were, nevertheless, present in the land of freedom, liberty, and equality for all men. The largest influx of Irish settlers occurred with Great Potato Famine during the late 1840s. Research into passenger and immigration lists has brought forth evidence of the early members of the Hichens family in North America:

Hichens Settlers in United States in the 20th Century

• Mr. Edward Hichens, (b. 1883), aged 22, Cornish saddler from Camborne, Cornwall, UK travelling aboard the ship "Umbria" arriving at Ellis Island, New York on 30th July 1905 en route to Torrington, Connecticut, USA 1
• Mr. Richard Choak Hichens, (b. 1875), aged 30, Cornish stone cutter travelling aboard the ship "New York" arriving at Ellis Island, New York on 9th May 1905 en route to Boston, Massachusetts, USA 1

Hichens Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

• Miss Rose Hichens, (b. 1849), aged 20, Cornish general servant departing from Plymouth in November 1868 aboard the ship "Corona" arriving in Hobsons Bay, Port Phillip, Victoria, Australia on 23rd February 1869 2

• Robert Smythe Hichens (1864-1950), English writer, journalist, novelist, music lyricist, short story writer, music critic, best remembered as a satirist of the "Naughty Nineties"