Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry continues her series on Mayflower descendants, focusing again on Jennifer (Koehler) Mackall and the Nickerson family line. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.

Chatham, Massachusetts, once known as the village of Monomoyick, was settled by William Nickerson (1604-1689), whose name is featured on the granite monument that commemorates the pioneering settlers.

The inscription reads:

In Memory of the Pioneers of Chatham

William Nickerson

He came from Norwich, England, in 1637. He acquired from the Indians by a series of purchases, prior to the year 1683, the greater part of the present township then known as Monomoyick.

He and his sons and sons-in-law

Robert Nickerson • Samuel Nickerson • John Nickerson • William Nickerson • Joseph Nickerson • Robert Eldredge • Tristram Hedges • Nathaniel Covell

were, with their families, the first settlers. They were soon followed by

Edward Cottle • Thomas Crowell • John Downing • William Griffith • Teague Jones • Caleb Lumbert • John Savage • Hugh Stuart

Later came

John Atkins • Samuel Atkins • Thomas Atkins • Nathan Bassett • Benjamin Bearse • William Cahoon • John Collins • John Crowell • Paul Crowell • Thomas Doane • Jehoshaphat Eldredge • John Ellis • Morris Farris • George Godfrey • Jonathan Godfrey • Moses Godfrey • Daniel Hamilton • Joseph Harding • Ebenezer Hawes • Isaac Hawes • Thomas Howes • Richard Knowles • Elisha Mayo • Judah Mayo • William Mitchell • Robert Paddock • Benjamin Phillips • John Ryder • Daniel Sears • Richard Sears • Edward Small • John Smith • John Taylor • Nathaniel Tomlon • Samuel Tucker • Jonathan Vickery

He who has no feelings of veneration for his predecessors should expect none from those who follow him.

Presented to the town of Chatham by William Emery Nickerson of Boston, a descendant in the ninth generation from the first William Nickerson, AD 1924.

William Nickerson, a weaver by trade, arrived with his family on the ship John and Dorothy, captained by William Andrews from Yarmouth, England, in 1637. His wife was Ann Busby, daughter of Nicholas and Bridget (Cicke) Busby of Norwich, England.

To honor the 1876 Centennial celebration of the Declaration of Independence, the Barnstable Patriot published a history of the town of Chatham.

The article covers the early explorers who recorded and documented their journey to the area, which included Captain Bartholomew Gosnold and Samuel de Champlain, following up with the later arrival of the Pilgrims on the Mayflower in 1620.

Here is a clip from this article, about William Nickerson.

This clip reports:

We now pass over to the year 1665, at which time Mr. William Nickerson bought of John Quason, alias Towsomet, sachem of Monomoyick, by which Indian name the town was then known, a large track of land; and also in 1672, June 19, of Mattaquason and John Quason, sachems of Monomoyick, for and in consideration of 1 shallop, 10 coats of trucking cloth, 6 kettles, 12 axes, 12 hoes, 40 shillings in wampum, 1 hat, and 12 shillings in money, ——– land on the west side of Muddy Cove and extended southerly to Matchapoxet Pond, thence by a creek to the sea and extending to the Oyster Pond. Mr. Nickerson enlarged his purchases in 1678 and 1682.

Below is a map of his land plots, published in the Nickerson Genealogy in 1973.

The right having been granted by the Colony Court to Mr. Thomas Hinckley and others to purchase lands at Monomoyick, it interfered with Mr. Nickerson’s purchase, who had acted without a grant. In 1667 his purchase was before the court on a petition from William Nickerson, Senior; Nicholas Nickerson; Robert Nickerson; Samuel Nickerson; John Nickerson; William Nickerson Jr.; Joseph Nickerson; Robert Eldred [Eldridge, married Elizabeth]; Tristram Hedges [married Anne]; and Nathaniel Covil/Covell [married Sarah] – all of the Nickerson family, father, sons, and sons-in-law.

Here is another clip from the article:

This clip reports:

The name of Monomoyick was subsequently changed to Chatham and incorporated a township by that name in 1712. The first public meeting of which we have any record was May 12, 1693. William Nickerson was then clerk, though there is no record of his being chosen at that time. At this first meeting George Godfrey and Joseph Nickerson were chosen surveyors, Samuel Nickerson coroner, Wilham Nickerson and Joseph Harding towns-men, and Nichols Eldridge agreed to bring for the town’s use one half bushel, one peck, and one half peck.

The article also states that William Nickerson was a religious teacher and helped repair the meeting house.

Below are photos of the descendants of William Nickerson and the other pioneers of Chatham who married into Mayflower lines. Some of the early settlers of Barnstable County are purported to have married women of the Wampanoag Nation and include Maker, Bearse, Jones, Wixon, Crowell/Covell, and Chase.

As noted in my last few stories covering the Mayflower lines of Jennifer (Koehler) Mackall, her great-aunt, Pauline Frances (Wixon) Derick, was a historian and genealogist.

She, along with other members of the Nickerson Family Association, conducted decades of research that was published in a book covering the first seven generations of the Nickerson family.

Below is a photo of Pauline with her sister Adelia Marion (Wixon) West, great grandmother of Jennifer.

Here are more photos from Jennifer showing descendants of the Nickerson and allied family lines – all Mayflower descendants.

In these photos we see: Nathaniel Smith Hawes, son of Thomas Hawes and Miriam (Smith) Hawes; and his wife Thankful Freeman (Nickerson) Hawes, daughter of Jonathan Nickerson and Thankful (Higgins) Nickerson.

Here is Edgar Francis Wixon, son of Ira Wixon and Ethina (Twining) Wixon, and husband of Adelia Marion Hawes.

This is: Lydia Doane (Wixon) Joy, daughter of Edgar Francis Wixon and Adelia Marion (Hawes) Wixon; and her first husband Nehimiah Francis Joy, son of Nehemiah R. Joy and Sarah D. (Nickerson) Joy. Lydia married 2nd Elisha F. Chase, son of Thomas Eldredge Chase and Rebecca (Rogers) Chase.

In this group photo we see (left to right): Elisha F. Chase and wife Lydia Doane (Wixon) (Joy) Chase; Nathaniel Hawes Wixon; Sylvia B. (Chase) Megathlin; Adelia (Hawes) Wixon; Elthina Foster (Wixon) Joy; Edgar Francis Wixon; Mary Rogers (Wixon) Chase; and Sylvia (Rogers) Baker.

Here is another group photo, taken in Onset, Massachusetts, c. 1915. In this photo we see (standing, left to right): Ernest Megathlin; Nathaniel Hawes Wixon; Georgie May Spinnett; Tom Hunter; and Eva May (Goff) Hunter; (seated, left to right): Adelia Wixon; Elthina Foster (Wixon) Joy; Edgar Francis Wixon; Lydia Doane (Wixon) (Joy) Chase; Mary Rogers (Wixon) Chase; and an unidentified child.

To be continued…

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Note on the header image: “Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor,” by William Halsall, 1882. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Related Articles:

• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 53 (part 1)
• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 53 (part 2)
• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 53 (part 3)