Where did I come from? As with most people, my roots run deep and through a rather remarkable number of strange and diverse places. The most general categorizing, however, would be to say that my roots are firmly entrenched in England, Wales and South Africa.

The Hickman name is something of a mystery right now -- I continue to study its origins as time permits. However, it is known that most of the Hickman's came from Kentucky (there is a county there after the same name).

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Immigrations from South Africa

One of my favorite stories is about my great-grandpa Samuel Slaughter. He lived in South Africa and was from a family who apparently had quite a number of holdings there. He was in love with Annie Huey, however, who was not only far below him in station but who had also listened to the 'Mormon' missionaries there with her mother and had converted. As her father was apparently lost at sea (he was in the merchant marine), her mother was determined to join the 'saints' and follow Brigham Young ... pioneer leader of the church at that time ... to Utah in what was then the western wilderness of North America.

Samuel Slaughter had also joined the 'Mormon' church over the great objections of his family. Indeed, they had disowned him because of it. Worse yet, for him, his beloved Annie was setting sail for the Americas with her mother and younger siblings. On the day of the sailing, Samuel went with the Hueys down to the docks to see them off.

When they arrived, however, there was an officer of the court there to greet them. It seems that a merchant across town had claimed that Annie's mother had left an unpaid debt. Facing detention and possibly debtor's prison as well, Annie's mother told her to take most of the children and get on the boat while her mother went with the officer (taking the youngest child with her) and made sure the debt was settled. Annie dutifully boarded the boat with her younger brothers and sisters as her mother left carrying the baby, the officer leading the way. Annie was sixteen at the time.

Hours wore on and the boat was preparing to sail with the tide whether Annie's mother returned or not. Samuel Slaughter, eyeing the rather rough crew of the ship, decided he could not let Annie go without someone to look after her ... namely, himself. So he slipped aboard ship and became a stowaway.

Annie's mother had managed to straighten everything out, but arrived back at the dock only to watch the ship -- already far out past the harbor -- sailing away. She took the next day's ship and chased her children all the way across the Atlantic.

Samuel had revealed himself after the ship was at sea and had so impressed the captain, that he was taken on as a cabinboy. They arrived in New York after the long sea voyage and then somehow managed to connect up with Annie's mother. Samuel had come a long way for his sweatheart -- and had further still to go. They were married in Far West, Nebraska as they were crossing the Great Plains of America to join other church members in the wilderness of Utah.

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Wild Bill Hickman

Of all my ancestors, however, perhaps none was more colorful -- or controvertial -- than William Adams Hickman. An early member of the 'Mormon' Church, William Adams Hickman was at one time or another a body guard for both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, the first two prophets of the church. He was a wild, rough-and-ready frontiersman and a companion to Orin Porter Rockwell. He was a crack shot. Some called him a horse thief. Family legend has it that he was excommunicated from the church several times (including once after he was dead) but the count seems to be that he was reinstated just as many times as he was excommunicated and therefore appears to still be on even terms with both the Church and God.

William Adams Hickman (known affectionately as 'Wild Bill') was a polygamist when he lived back in the 1850's. While no member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has been a polygamist for over half a century (a common misconception), there were some members in those days that took and cared for more than one wife at the direction of the church leadership. 'Wild Bill' apparently was a willing participant: accounts of the time put the number of wives at somewhere between seven and thirteen.

'Wild Bill' Hickman was my great-great-grandfather. If you happen to run into a Hickman in the western United Stated, chances are that they are related somehow to 'Wild Bill.'