Whitehead Hicks

Whitehead Hicks (August 24, 1728 – October 4, 1780) was the 42nd Mayor of New York City from 1766 to 1776.[1]

Whitehead Hicks
42nd Mayor of New York City
In office
1766–1776
Preceded byJohn Cruger Jr.
Succeeded byDavid Mathews
Personal details
Born(1728-08-24)August 24, 1728
Flushing, Queens, New York
DiedOctober 4, 1780(1780-10-04) (aged 52)
Flushing, Queens, New York

Hicks came from a Quaker family which settled and lent its name to Hicksville, New York. Hicks studied law under William Smith and was admitted to practice in 1750.[2] The son of Judge Thomas Hicks, he was a lawyer and served on the New York Supreme Court of Judicature.[3] He married Charlotte Brevoort, the daughter of John and Louisa (Kockerman) Brevoort.

Hicks was a Loyalist and was the first to appear in front of a committee of nine colonials formed by the New York Provincial Congress in 1776 to investigate "domestic enemies" "disaffected to the American cause". He met with this committee on June 15, 1776, indicating his loyalty to the king and was subsequently put on parole.[4]

After resigning from the mayoralty, he served as a judge before eventually retiring to his farm on Long Island where he died at 52 years old in 1780.[2]

He was the first mayor to be born in what is now modern-day Queens.

References
  1. Greenbook-Mayors of the City of New York, retrieved on September 8, 2008
  2. Wilson, James Grant (1892). The Memorial History of the City of New-York: From Its First Settlement to the Year 1892. New York History Company. p. 401. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  3. Whitehead Hicks-Historical Society of the New York Courts, retrieved on January 24, 2017.
  4. Studies in History, Economics and Public Law. New York: Columbia University Press, 1902, pages 78-79


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