THE FIRST EMIGRANT

While Jonathan Heacock appears to be the forefather of every Heacock now residing in the United States and Canada, he was not the first of his family to emigrate to America. There is a definite record of one John Heycock of Slivo in Staffordshire arriving in 1682, twenty-eight years before Jonathan.

This record is contained in the "Book of Arrivals", an original document required by the Form of Government of Pennsylvania, and in 1887 the original, time-worn and barely legible, was still to be seen in the register's office in Doylestown.^(*) This is the exact record as it appeared:

From the Book of Arrivals: a registry of all the people in the County of Bucks within the Province of Pennsylvania that have come to settle the said county.

    ARRIVALS                                           SERVANTS: 
John Heycock, of Slivo, in Ecclesshill parish,    James Morris 
in the county of Stafford, husbandman, came 
in the Friends Adventure, arrived in Delaware 
river the 28th of 7 mo. 1682. 
   TIME OF SERVICE AND FROM WHEN:                 WAGES AND LAND: 
To serve four years                               To have 50 acres of land. 
Loose the 28th of 7 mo. 1686

Thus the first Heacock arrived with his servant a few weeks before William Penn. He was one of the original purchasers of land in Falls Township, which is near the bend in the Delaware river in Bucks County,^** and died there on November 19, 1683.^***

This John Heacock is identified in Roberts' book as the father of Jonathan:

John Heacock (John, John, William), son of William and Mary, baptised at Eccleshall, Staffordshire, on 12 mo. 6, 1652-53, came to Pennsylvania in the "Ship Friends Adventure" arrived in Delaware River 7 mo. 28, 1682. He brought with him a servant, named James Morris, but was not accompanied by his wife and children. He had purchased of William Penn before leaving England, in partnership with Thomas Barrett, 875 acres, of which the Heacock share was 250 acres, by deed of lease and release dated 11 and 12 of 2. mo. 1682. He took up his 250 acres in Falls township, Bucks County, and also 50 acres adjacent on rent, the purchase of which he never completed. Having secured his home in Pennsylvania, he returned to Staffordshire for his family and died at Slindon 9 mo. 10, 1695. His wife, Jane, died 9 mo. 15, 1695. The records of the land office of Pennsylvania show that letters of Administration were granted on his estate to Elizabeth Venables, a sister to Barrett, and that she sold the 300 acres to Gilbert Wheeler, and that the real estate was resurveyed on 1 mo. 24, 1700-01, and patented to James Paxon, a purchaser of Wheeler.

This identification of the first immigrant Heacock with the father of Jonathan, and the story of his return to England for his family overlooks the report of his death in America in 1683. Furthermore it is impossible to correlate his being the father of Jonathan with the following paragraph taken from "Lloyd Manuscripts":

John Heacock of Slindon, Staffordshire, was a brother of William Heacock, of Slindon, and cousin of John Heacock, son and heir of the said William, who removed to Pennsylvania in 1682 and died in Bucks County about 1684, without issue, as appears by a deed, dated 19 February, 1710. William Heycock of Slindon, in the County of Stafford, second son of William Heycock the elder by Margaret his wife both late of Slindon, but now deceased and next brother and heir of John Heycock, formerly of Slindon, but late of the Province of Pennsylvania, and Mary, wife of the said William Heacock, the younger, to Jonathan Heycock (Heacock) of the borough of Stafford (England), cousin German of the said William Heycock, for land in Pennsylvania of the said John Heycock (Heacock), late of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, deceased. Heacock, or as it formerly was spelled, Heycock, is a very old name in Staffordshire.

It is difficult to follow the relationships in the will as described, but it is clearly stated that William is a brother of the John who died, and a cousin German of Jonathan. It also states that John died without issue, and he could therefore not have been Jonathan's father. In drawing the family tree, it has been assumed that the word "cousin" in its first use above means uncle, as cousin was loosely used, particularly by the Quakers. Cousin German must however, mean first cousin. More research in the original records is necessary to establish the true facts.

While Jonathan came to America with a deed to the farm settled by his relative, the land had been sold by an administrator, and there is no evidence to show that Jonathan ever went to Bucks County to attempt to establish his title.