Joseph Hicks UE
Incorporated Militia
Upper Canada

Joseph Hicks was born in 1796, the son of Mary and Benjamin Hicks UE.  Benjamin and Mary had seven children in total, Joseph being their second born.  While it is unknown exactly where Joseph was born, there is a strong likelihood that it was in Prince Edward County because, in the Loyalist Register, Benjamin’s residence is listed as Marysburgh.

Joseph’s siblings were:

• Benjamin Hicks Jr,  b1794 – also a veteran of the War of 1812-14
• Sarah Hicks, b1799
• Daniel Hicks,  b1800
• Mary Hicks
• Ally Hicks, b1821
• George Hicks

Joseph had a rich history of family members who fought to preserve the Unity of the Empire during the American Revolutionary War:

• Edward Hicks Sr,  soldier in Butler’s Rangers
• Edward Hicks Jr, soldier in Butler’s Rangers
• Daniel Hicks
• David Hicks
• Joseph Hicks, British soldier
• Joshua Hicks
• Benjamin Hicks, soldier in Butler’s Rangers

Edward Hicks Sr was captured and, along with his son, Edward Jr, imprisoned by the Patriots.  Edward Sr was taken outside the jail and hung from the limb of an apple tree, an execution that Edward Jr was forced to witness.  Edward Jr eventually escaped but “did not forget the death of his father and fought the rebels in nine battles afterward, and still owes them a grudge.”

The story of his grandfather’s hanging was undoubtedly passed down to Joseph from his father, Benjamin.  When the Americans decided to invade and conquer Canada in 1812, Joseph answered the call to protect his native land, quite likely harbouring a smouldering desire to exact revenge.  In Mar 1813 he became a private in Captain Henry Davey’s Incorporated Militia Company.  His name appears on many monthly Muster Rolls but a summary from 25 Jun 1813 to 11 Feb 1814 is especially enlightening in that it lists an engagement on October 1813 in which one corporal  and six privates were taken prisoner of war, this equaling almost 25% of the Company.  Also, several previously healthy men, including Joseph Hicks, were “sick in quarters”.

Private Joseph Hicks’ name is on the list of soldiers “of the Incorporated Militia of Upper Canada entitled to a Gratuity of Land for their Service during the late war.”

Not long after the war ended, Joseph married Mary Pringle.  They had nine children:

• Charlotte, b1826
• David, b1829
• Timothy, b1830
• Samuel, b1834
• William, b1836
• Joseph, b1838
• Reuben, b1840
• Lewis, b1843
• George, b1847

Joseph, a resident of Sophiasburgh Township in the County of Prince Edward, applied for his land gratuity and was given 100 acres on Lot 7, 1st Conc of Madoc Township, Hastings County.  However, in a letter dated Jul of 1839 Joseph petitioned the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada to “permit the said location to be cancelled and allow the petitioner again to locate one hundred acres of land.”  Joseph claimed that the “said lot is totally unfit for cultivation, being a bed of rocks,”   In an order dated 10 Mar 1840 Joseph was told “the location may therefore be cancelled and the Petitioner allowed to locate elsewhere.”  Joseph accepted scrip instead.

Joseph, as the son of a United Empire Loyalist, was also entitled to 200 acres.  He applied for this grant on 2 Apr 1834 and on 27 Nov of that same year received his land in Verulam Township, Victoria County.   This was a long way from his home in Prince Edward County and so he once again accepted scrip.

In 1840, even before he knew the outcome of the land grant relocation request, Joseph of Sophiasburgh petitioned the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada to be allowed to purchase “Lot number seventy-one in the second Concession Produced, west of Green Point in the said Township.”  This lot was a Clergy Reserve.  It was renamed Hallowell Township effective 1 Jan 1850.  He was granted this and raised nine children there.  It was on that homestead that he died in 1851.   Although his actual gravesite cannot be located, there is a very strong possibility he was buried on, or very near, to it.

The name of Joseph and Mary’s fourth son, William, appears on the 1859 Muster Roll of the Third Battalion Prince Edward Militia and that of their second son, Timothy, is found on the Muster Roll of the Third Company 16th Battalion Infantry 1866.

Joseph Hicks was himself a warrior and he descended from a long line of warriors.  They were men determined to fight to protect their native land and to preserve the values and institutions they cherished.  Many of his descendants did likewise, serving in WWI and WWII.  Most recently Allan Badour, a third great grandson of Joseph Hicks, rose to the rank of Inspector, Ontario Provincial Police, Emergency Response Team.

Indeed, this is a legacy to be so deeply proud of!