HENRY HICKS

Inhabitants in Ward 4, in the Parish of Iberville, Louisiana, enumerated on the 9 day of July, 1870
Post Office Bayou Goula.

Henry Hicks was first noted in the 1870 census in Iberville Parish, Louisiana. It is the first census conducted after the Civil war and the first to enumerate former slaves with the rest of the population. It is assumed that Henry was a slave since no records of him were found prior to 1870. 

James Henry Hicks, also known as Henry Hicks, was born around 1850 to Beverly and Jane Hicks. Born in Virginia, it is not known why and when Henry arrived in Louisiana. In 1870, Henry was residing in Bayou Goula in a household with two farm laborers, Thomson Sambo from Mississippi and Bill Blackburn from Virginia. He was said to be single, 24 years old and a laborer. The community was comprised of farm workers and women who were "keeping house."

Henry was not a single man for long. On June 22, 1872, James Henry Hicks and Rachel Butler  (daughter of James Scott and Mary Butler) were married at St. Joseph in Baton Rouge. The Hicks children, all born in Louisiana, are: John, born abt 1871; Beverly, born abt 1872; Henry, born about 1874; Nace (my grandfather) born abt 1875; Agnes, born 1 March 1876 at West Oak Plantation; Emma, born abt 1877; Mary, born 20 May 1855; Williams, born 8 January 1887.

Although Henry was identified as a farmer in 1880, it was not until 1889 that he became a landowner. On January 25, 1889, Henry purchased a parcel of land from Louisiana and Henry Slack on the east bank of Bayou Maringouin. It contained approximately 24 acres. On January 8, 1898, Henry purchased another parcel of land from Andrew H. Gay on the west bank of Bayou Maringouin. This parcel contained a superficial area of 69 plus acres and designated on a map of West Oaks Plantation as Lot 20. Henry now owned part of the plantation where daughter Agnes was born and baptized.

Henry and Rachel maintained their home farm until their deaths. Henry died of heart failure on October 5, 1917. When the census taker visited Rachel in 1920, she was 69 years old and still living on the farm. She was head of household and accompanied by four grandchildren and her niece. Rachel was not enumerated in the 1930 U.S.Census, although she died in 1936 on November 27, six years after the census was taken. The cause of death is not known but age is thought to be a contributing factor.

Henry and Rachel Hicks are my maternal great-grandparents.