THE OLD MERCHANTS OF NEW YORK CITY
        Second  Series

By  Walter Barrett, Clerk
     1863

     MERCHANT  DESCRIPTIONS

       CHAPTER  30


FAMILY  AND  MERCHANTS  OF  THE  HICKS  NAME

      There have been many merchants in this city, during the past one
hundred years, of the name of Hicks. Some were very eminent, and became very
rich. Probably they all came from the same stock.

      Oliver H. Hicks, who was of note here for some years, was a son of
Stephen, and came from Rockaway, Long Island. He had a brother Stephen.

      Another family of the Hicks name was that of Isaac, Samuel and
Valentine, that afterwards became the great house of Samuel Hicks & Son, of
which the principal was Samuel Hicks, Jr. All were sons of Samuel Hicks, who
was a clever tailor at Westbury, L.I. He went about doing small jobs. Isaac
started the house in 1796, at 14 Crane wharf (South street.) He did a very
extensive commission business; and if he had done nothing but bringing up
Jacob Barker, that would have been sufficient to immortalize his name. The
celebrated Jacob was in the counting-house of Mr. Hicks until 1800, a period
of three years. In 1802, Samuel and Valentine Hicks (brothers to Isaac)
opened a store at 345 Pearl. The next year, Sylvanus Jenkins was taken into
partnership, and the firm was changed to Hicks, Jenkins & Co. In 1805, the
concern moved to 67 South street.

      About this time, or in 1806, Isaac retired from business with a very
large fortune, and gave his business to the firm of his two brothers. He
lived at 272 Pearl. I believe he died about 1811. Samuel moved to 215
Broadway, opposite the Park, in 1814 and there he lived a great many years.
His firm, Hicks, Jenkins & Co., continued in business as late as 1818. They
had moved up to 154 South street, above Peck slip. About that time Sylvanus
Jenkins died. He was a splendid merchant. A Liverpool packet ship was named
after him. In 1819, Samuel Hicks continued on the business under his own
name. In 1825 he took into partnership two of his sons, John and Henry, and
the firm became Samuel Hicks & Sons. They moved down to 80 South street,
where the firm did an enormous business until 1837, when old Samuel died at
his house No. 245 Broadway. The concern was then changed to Hicks & Co., and
the sons carried on the business for a great many years after. John Hicks
died about six years ago. Both of the sons had families. Old Samuel Hicks
was very much respected. I could write a lengthy article about him and his
house, but I did not commence to do it. I have digressed.

      The Hicks merchants of whom I intended to write, are another family. I
have alluded to the above houses in order to make the distinction. Whitehead
Hicks was a celebrated merchant, who came to this city in 1796. He was
descended from Thomas Hicks, who married Deborah, a daughter of Daniel
Whitehead, a great land owner in Flushing, about 1723. He had a son
Whitehead, who was born in 1728, and who was the last British mayor. He was
a lawyer, and I have nothing to say about him, except that he married, in
1757, Charlotte, the only child of John Bennett, and their son, Thomas,
married Martha Buchanan, a daughter of Thomas Buchanan, spoken of in the
last chapter. He had three daughters, and he died in 1815. Mayor Whitehead
Hicks had a brother Gilbert, who married Mary Allen. The latter had a son
that he named Whitehead, after his grandfather Whitehead; he married in
1795, and the next year started as a lumber merchant in Lumber street
(Changed in 1805 to Lombardy street, and yet later to Monroe street.) About
the year 1801 he moved to No. 1 East Rutgers street. He was one of the
founders of the Seventh Ward, and bought the first foot of land that old
Henry Rutgers ever sold in Market street. That old Henry Rutgers, had he
lived until now, could not have done what he did do for many years, from
1800 to 1820, viz: to every New York boy that would call upon him on New
Year's he gave a cake and a book. Thousands of boys would go and see him on
these conditions. Whitehead Hicks made a large fortune in the lumber
business. He built blocks of houses, and got the famous Georges street
broken up. It is now Market street. It began in Division street, and ended
in Cherry street. It was the devil's own hole. It was worse than the Five
Points was in 1830.

      The Quakers clubbed together and bought a block of ground to build
upon, and tried to improve this fearful neighborhood, where all kinds of
debauchery was carried on. In 1814, the Quakers and respectable people in
the vicinity, who did not wish their property depreciated in consequence of
the bad name of the street and its well known vile character, petitioned to
the Corporation that it might be changed from Georges to Market street. At
the same time, all the bad women got up a petition and presented it to the
Corporation. They, too, wished Georges street to be changed, and to have it
named after Commodore Rodgers, a popular naval commander, who had just been
winning a great victory over the English. The quakers, carried the day
against the frail women, and the street was named Market street. It is now
one of the best streets in the city. In 1811 he took into partnership
Michael M. Titus, and the firm was Hicks & Titus. Both parties are now dead.
Mr. Titus left a son, who is now in the Seventh Ward Savings Bank. Mr.
Whitehead Hicks died in 1830. He had two sons. One was named Gilbert, after
his grandfather, and the other was Robert T. Hicks Jr. In 1819, the latter
went into the ship chandlery business, under his own name, at 107 South
street. That property was owned by the old house of Bogert & Kneeland (still
in existence.) At that time, 1820, the water had just been filled in with
dirt. Those stores were just put one story, and then allowed to stand one
year. It was called Crane's Wharf. I have already alluded to it in this
chapter. The store, No. 107, was three doors above the Fulton market. That
same store stands now. Mr. Hicks bought it. In 1825, Robert took in his
brother Gilbert, and the firm became G. & R. T. Hicks. The house did a very
heavy business in supplying ship chandlery to numerous vessels. It also
owned a great many vessels, that traded to the West Indies and South
America.

      Gilbert Hicks married Miss Embury, a daughter of Effingham Embury. His
health was very poor, and his friends advised that if he wished to save his
life, or to prolong it, he should go to the West Indies. He selected St.
Thomas, and there opened a house in connection with the New York house. He
received vessels and consignments of goods from all parts of the United
States, and he shipped goods from St. Thomas on his own account. St. Thomas,
with its splendid climate and mild government, is a paradise. It is
wonderful to me that thousands do not go thither every winter. It belongs to
Denmark, and so does Santa Cruz, a lovely island only a few hours' sail from
St. Thomas. Mr. Gilbert Hicks was a very hospitable man, and no American
visited that island that he did not invite to his house____and it made no
difference whether he did business with him or not. I dined with him
frequently in 1833, being in that port with a brig and cargo that I
afterwards took down the Spanish main. Although I consigned to W.B. Furniss
& Co., yet at no house was I so kindly received as by Mr. Hicks. Of course
he spoke Danish freely, and the best Danish society on the island could be
found at his dinners.  They have a good old fashioned custom after dinner of
all kissing each other, and saying in Danish something  like this: "May God
bless what you have eaten and drunken to your future good, and may you
always be very happy." At any rate it is very pleasant. Mr. Hicks found that
at home or abroad consumption had fastened upon his vitals, and he returned
home to die. I think he lived until June of 1834___the next year after I met
him.

      Robert T. Hicks kept the same business for a number of years, under
the firm of Robert T. Hicks & Co. He married in 1822 a daughter of Thomas
Everitt, a heavy leather dealer in the Swamp, but who resided in Brooklyn.
This fact made the son-in-law go over there and buy ground to build a house
on for himself. Land was cheap, and he bought largely, resulting in making
him the owner of a large property in after years. Old Mr. Everitt was a fine
man, and an extensive merchant. He did business many years. His house at one
time was Thomas Everitt & Sons. He had several sons. There were Henry,
Richard and Valentine. I believe the house is still continued in the
business, under the firm of Hyde & Everitt, at No. 32 Ferry street.

      Robert T. Hicks kept in business in the old stand in South street
until about 1848, when he retired rich. About 1859, he moved up to
Poughkeepsie, where he had built him a splendid country seat. No man has
worked harder than he to acquire a competency, and he has proved himself a
sagacious merchant. He had two sons. One was named Gilbert. He married Miss
Gibbs. Archibald Gracie Jr., a son of our much esteemed New Yorker, Robert
Gracie, married another sister. Another son is Robert. After old Robert T.
Hicks retired from business it was carried on by Hicks  & Bailey, at 36
South street, for four or five years later. The partner was Gilbert E.
Hicks.

      Oliver H. Hicks, to whom I alluded, was a very eminent and a very
extensive merchant in the early part of this century. He did a large
commission business, and sold more pipes of imported Holland gin than any
other merchant of his day. He went into business as early as 1800. His
counting house was at 83 South street, and he lived at 87 Maiden Lane. He
continued to do a very large business as late as 1819. In that year, the
Fulton Fire Insurance Company was incorporated with a capital of $500,000,
and he became its secretary. Anthony L. Underhill, of whom I have written,
was its president. Mr. Hicks was secretary of that company until 1828. In
1831, he was elected president of the Farmers' Fire Insurance and Loan
Company, and he continued to be its president until 1832, when he died of
the cholera. He was a man universally respected.


Source:  The Old Merchants of New York City
Author:  Walter Barrett, Clerk           Second series
Publisher:  Carleton, Publisher, 413 Broadway
Entered according to the Act of Congress 1863
             _____________________________________

    Researched, Prepared and Contributed by Miriam Medina
                  For the Brooklyn Information Page

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