Pickering, William

From: An Island Refuge- Loyalists and Disbanded Troops on The Island of Saint John, The Abegweit Branch of UELAC, 1983

  • One of the early settlers to the New London Bay Settlements was WILLIAM PICKERING. A member of the St. John’s Volunteers, it is not certain whether William emigrated from England or the Thirteen Colonies. It is held by some Pickering descendants that William came out from Kirkham, England; while other descendants feel certain that William came here from Salem, Massachusetts. A hopeful solution would be that William Pickering went to Salem from England, and then later moved to the Island of Saint John. The problem with this explanation is that the well-known Pickering family of Salem arrived in Masschusetts in 1636.
  • Tradition has it that William was a crew member on a British man-of-war, captained by his uncle. The ship was supposedly seized at one point by the French, then seized back by the English. Passing by the Island of Saint John, probably in 1775, William is supposed to have asked to be let off. He had had enough of the seafaring life, and was interested in settling down.
  • On November 17, 1783, William Pickering married Janet Anderson, daughter of Alexander Anderson, another early settler of the New London Bay Settlements. William and Janet set up farming at Lot 22, in what is now part of the community of Stanley Bridge. ‘Kirkham’ is the name that they gave to their two hundred acre farm, and it was situated on the point of land now occupied by Seawood Estates.
  • Six sons are believed to have been born to the Pickerings. As far as can be ascertained, they were Alexander, James, Thomas, William, Anthony and David.
  • It would seem very likely that William Pickering was married a second time. On August 29, 1826, a marriage license was issued to a William Pickering, widower, and Mary Smith, spinster, both of New London. The reason for believing this to be our William Pickering, senior, is that in his last will and testament William refers to his wife, Mary.
  • William Pickering died at New London on June 30, 1837, at the age of eighty-seven. He was buried on his farm, ‘Kirkham.’ His grave was covered by a wrought-iron affair, which looked slightly like an over-sized lobster trap. It was the length of the grave, and consisted of a number of semi-circular hoops. This marker was on the property until the 1960’s, when it was sold for scrap iron. Janet Anderson, William’s first wife, was buried at Kirkham. As for the suspected second wife, Mary, nothing is known of her.