William Ricketts of Ridgeland and Elizabeth Town, New Jersey

Profile & Legacies Summary

1723 - 1760

Biography

Inherited Ridgeland estate in Jamaica from his father William Ricketts who died in 1735.
Statement by William Ricketts, 18/03/1740, son and heir of William Rickets, late of Jamaica but more lately of New York, gentleman, being now about the age of 17 years, in which he elects his mother Mary Ricketts to be his guardian and guardian of his estate.
Listed in the Jamaican Quit Rent books for 1754 as the owner of 2100 acres of land in Westmoreland.
Three children baptised in Elizabeth, New Jersey to William and Elizabeth Ricketts: Violetta (1753), James (1754) and Elizabeth Katherine (1757).
Of Elizabeth Town, New Jersey, in 1760 which he bequeathed his sugar estate in Jamaica to his four sons William, John, Jacob and James.

Sources

See detailed, fully sourced family trees at http://powys.org/pl_tree/ps16/ps16_385.html and https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/21002145/person/20106110096/facts.

See separate entry for William Ricketts of Ridgeland.
A Kerstetter-Miller Family Tree on Ancestry, https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/21002145/person/20330672385/facts [accessed 20/12/2021].
'A List of landholders in the Island of Jamaica together with the number of acres each person possessed taken from the quit rent books in the year 1754', TNA CO 142/31 transcribed at http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Samples2/1754lead.htm.
Ancestry.com, New Jersey, U.S., Births and Christenings Index, 1660-1931 [database online].
New Jersey, U.S., Abstract of Wills, 1670-1817 vol. XXXXIII p. 353.

We are very grateful to Pamela Miller for her assistance with compiling this entry.

Further Information

Spouse

Elizabeth Emott

Children

William, John, Jacob, James, Violetta, Elizabeth Katherine, Mary, Jane

Will

Precis.

Will of William Ricketts of Elizabeth Town, County of Essex signed 06/03/1760.

To my sons William, John, Jacob and James, my plantation and sugar works in Jamaica, and my slaves and other lands on said island.

To my wife Elizabeth, my farm in Elizabeth Town, where I now dwell.

To my daughter Mary, £1,000.

To my daughter Jane Tongrelow, £1,000.

Both of my daughters are to have a handsome outset.

There remains a bond in the hands of John Lawrence, of New York City, and another in the hands of John Kelly, both of which were given for the property debt of my brother-in-lw, Philip Van Horne, and which I order to be paid.

To my father-in-law, John Emott, and to George Emott, each a suit of mourning.

My body is to be carried to New York and buried in my father's family vault, and my child, interred in Elizabeth Town, is to be put in the same decent mahogany coffin with me, and none to attend my funeral here to the Point by my relations and particular acquaintance, and none but my relations and wife's to attend my interment at New York, except the pall bearers. Colonel John Schuyler and Colonel Peter Schuyler to be two of my pallbearers here.

To my wife, 30 acres of land, which I bought of Peter Vanpelt.

Executors to be my wife Elizabeth, my kinsman William Walton of New York City, merchant, Rev. Chandler, Rector of St Johns Church in Elizabeth Town, my kinsman William Walton of Staten Island, and James Emott, attorney-at-law for my estate, except in Jamaica, for which I make my kinsman Jacob Johnson sole executor.

Codicil 28/06/1760. Silver mugs to my godsons William Van Cortlandt, Charles Hicks, William Williamson, Cyrus DeHart, William Chandler and William Man. William Man to also have £20.

Codicil 03/09/1760. William Chetwood Esquire to also be one of my executors.

Proved 03/02/1761.

Associated Estates (1)

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