John Hicks (April 23, 1715 – March 6, 1790) was a land agent and political figure in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. He represented Granville Township in the

Legislative Assembly of Nova Scotia The Nova Scotia House of Assembly (french: Assemblée législative de la Nouvelle-Écosse; gd, Taigh Seanaidh Alba Nuadh), or Legislative Assembly, is the deliberative assembly of the General Assembly of Nova Scotia of the province of Nova Scotia ...

from 1768 to 1770. He was born in

Portsmouth, Rhode Island Portsmouth is a town in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 17,871 at the 2020 U.S. census. Portsmouth is the second-oldest municipality in Rhode Island, after Providence; it was one of the four colonies which merged ...

, the son of Thomas Hicks and Ann Clarke, who were

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

s. In 1740, he married Elizabeth Russell. Hicks settled in King's County and served as a

justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

for Charlestown. In 1759, he travelled to Nova Scotia to investigate the availability of land for settlement there following the expulsion of the

Acadian The Acadians (french: Acadiens , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Most Acadians live in the region of Acadia, as it is the region where the de ...

s. In 1760, Hicks returned with his family, travelling with a group of Rhode Island planters. He was granted land in Falmouth Township where he served as a

. Hicks moved to Granville Township in 1765. He was elected to the assembly in a 1768 by-election held after Henry Munroe resigned his seat. In 1772, he moved to Annapolis Township. Hicks operated a ferry across the

Annapolis River The Annapolis River (french: Rivière Annapolis) is a Canadian river located in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley. Geography Measuring 120 kilometres in length, the river flows southwest through the western part of the valley from its source in Carib ...

between Granville and Annapolis townships. The settlement where he lived was first known as Hicks' Ferry but was later renamed

Bridgetown Bridgetown (UN/LOCODE: BB BGI) is the capital and largest city of Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Island ...

. He died there at the age of 74. He is an ancestor of the UK TV presenter

Richard Madeley Richard Holt Madeley ( born 13 May 1956) is an English television presenter and writer. Alongside his wife Judy Finnigan, he presented '' This Morning'' and the chat show '' Richard & Judy''. Madeley's solo projects include the ITV series '' F ...

- and this family was an episode of the UK Who Do You Think You Are TV Series - Series 8, Episode 8, first aired 28 September 2011.

References

1715 births 1790 deaths Nova Scotia pre-Confederation MLAs {{NovaScotia-MLA-stub