GENEALOGICAL NOTE ON QUINLAN’S
TOM QUICK, THE INDIAN SLAYER, 1851.
When James E. Quinlan wrote his compendium of Tom Quick legends (Tom Quick, the Indian Slayer: and the Pioneers of Minisink and Wawarsink, Monticello, NY: De Voe & Quinlan, 1851), he did not have access to extensive research for the Quick family; such research was not to be done until many years later. For instance, Quinlan, 1851, p. 9; said "...it may be inferred that the Quicks came to this country sooner than the family tradition indicates" after citing a record from The Documentary History of [the State of] New-York [Vol. I, p. 280, column 1, 4th entry. Click here for a facsimile PDF.]. A source that finally hashed out the Quick family line, and which includes the family referred to in Quinlan’s book, is A Genealogy of the Quick Family in America (1625--1942) 317 Years by Arthur Craig Quick, priv. pub. South Haven and Palisades Park, Michigan, 1942. In that work, the actual constituency of Tom Quick’s family is fully detailed, and we can see Quinlan’s poetic flourishes in the light of historical facts.
Thomas Quick was indeed a son of Thomas Quick, but he was the 9th of 10 children. He had 4 brothers and 5 sisters. All of his siblings had been grown and married prior to the murder of the father of the family, Tom Quick, Sr. in Jan 1756. Tom at that time was 21, his father in his late 60s or early 70s [see * NOTE below].
The Thomas referred to at Quinlan, p. 9, f/n is revealed to be an uncle of Tom, Sr.’s and, as Quinlan states, serves to show that the Quick family hailed from Holland much earlier than 1733. Actually, 1733 just happens to be the year Tom Quick, Sr. moved from Kingston, NY to Upper Smithfield (Milford), PA (see Quick, p. 30), and this could have been the event confused with the original passage of the earlier generations across the Atlantic. All information considered, it seems the Quick family emigrated in the 1630-35 timeframe, originally settling on Manhattan Island.
Thus, Tom could be called “first born” in the sense of being at the family’s new location in Pennsylvania. He was most probably the only child of Tom, Sr. yet remaining at the homestead at the time of the 1756 murder.
Interestingly, although the Quick family is generally viewed as originating in Holland, they in turn may have been descendent from Scottish troops stationed in Holland during the Anglo-Spanish War of Elizabeth I and Philip II (cf. Quick, p. xxiv).
Referring to generational designations and original page numbers of A. C. Quick’s work, 1942, this is a highly abbreviated family table of the Quicks that includes the famous Tom Quick, the “Indian Slayer” and “Avenger of the Delaware” at D89. An extract of A Genealogy of the Quick Family in America from which this information was obtained is available here: [ PDF, 64 MB ]
* * * * * * *
A1, p. 3 ff., Theunis Thomaszen Quick & Belijtgen (Belitje) Jacobus, founders of the Quick family in America, immigrants from Naarden, Holland, had 7 children, one of which was:
B5, pp. 18-20, Thomas Theunisse Quick; this is the Thomas referred to at Quinlan, p. 9, f/n. This is also the Thomas referred to by the New York State historic marker entitled "TOM QUICK FARM" on Route 209, north of Accord in the Town of Rochester. The full text of the present marker is:
HOME OF TOM QUICK, BOUGHT FROM HARMON HEKUN, INDIAN, 1676: QUICK WAS KILLED BY INDIANS AND HIS SON SLEW MANY RED MEN IN REVENGE.
The marker incorrectly states that this person is the same as the Thomas who was killed by Indians; in fact, that Thomas (C44) was his nephew via his brother Dirck (B7). Note that Tom Quick (C44) was not born until about 1690 [see * NOTE below], so he could not have bought the farm in 1676. Even the date may be wrong—Quick, p. 18 says that 1676 was the year that he had the land surveyed; the land wasn't bought from Harmon "Hekau" (the cited source Sylvester actually says "Hekan") until 1684. This land sale is also documented at Olde Vlster, Vol. III, No. 5, May, 1907, p. 149.
B7, pp. 20-21, Dirck Theuniszen Quick who married Hannah (Johanna, Anna) Jans and had at least 4 children, one of which was:
C44, pp. 29-33, Thomas Quick, b abt 1690 [see * NOTE below], married Margriete (Grietje) Dekker 1713, and had 10 children. For missing birth and marriage dates, no data are available:
D81 Dirk, b 1714, m Apollonia van Garden.
D82 Jacobus [James], b 1716, m1 Maria Westbrook 1742, m2 Jannetje van Auken 1750.
D83 Margarita, b 1718, m1 Johannes van Garden, m2 Johannes Westvael 1757.
D84 Elizabeth, b 1722, m William Ennes 1745.
D85 Benjamin, b 1724, m Hannah Joones 1749.
D86 Lena, m Solomon Decker 1745.
D87 Cornelis, m Marya Westvael 1752.
D88 Catharina, b 1733, m Francis McGee 1753.
--------------------- move from NY to PA ---------------------
D89 Thomas, b 19 Jul 1734, never married.
D90 Aen (Enne, Ann, Anna), b 1736, m1 James Everingame 1754, m2 Huged Sorrad (Hugh Shellet) 1759.
The source cited gives much more voluminous and specific
information and must be consulted for any serious genealogical research.
Interesting tidbits: An account of the
infamous “Walking Purchase” of land from the Indians is at p. 31; p. 31 also
has a contemporaneous written reference to Tom, Sr.’s murder at the hands of
Indians, referenced to “Old Dansbury, by R. R. Hillman”
[this is Old Dansbury
(now Stroudsburg, Penna.)
and the Moravian Mission by Ralf
Ridgway Hillman (Buffalo, NY: Kenworthy Printing Co., 1934), recently made
part of the Dansbury Diaries pub. by Picton Press, Camden, ME, 1994;
see pp. 217 and
218] [see
* NOTE below];
a general account of the murder of Tom, Sr. and Tom, Jr.’s subsequent revenge
is at pp. 32-33. P. 33 states that one William Bross furnished the funds to
build the Tom Quick monument at Milford, PA, and was probably the source for
many of the Quick stories. Bross (1813-90) was Lieut.-Gov. of
It should also be noted that Tom Quick, Jr. is mentioned as
a witness to the baptism of his younger sister Ann’s first born child, James
Everingame, Jr., 19 Jun 1757, Minisink Valley Reformed Dutch Church Records,
Minisink-Machackemeck Church Record (from Collections of the New York
Genealogical and Biographical Society, Vol. V, pub. New York, 1913),
p. 133.
-- JR of JRBooksOnline.com
