Vick
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Vick Surname Genealogy
There are English origins and German origins for the surname Vick.
Vick is a localized English surname, coming initially from Gloucestershire. Its English origins are obscure. It could be a nickname, from the Norman French l'eveske, meaning "the bishop," from which came the names Levesque and Levick; or it could come from a place-name Vic in southern France; or it could come from the Old English wic, meaning "settlement," which became a surname Wyk and then somehow Vick. None of these explanations is very satisfactory.
England. The Vick name may have started with one or a few families in Gloucestershire. Ricard Vicke left a will dated 1565 in Kings Stanley. Thomas Veke lived in Randwick near Stroud and he died and was buried there in 1574. His son was James Vyke, mason to Sir Raplh Dutton, and Elizabeth Vick was recorded as James's widow in 1642. Their descendants remained in Randwick through the 17th and 18th centuries.
There were other Vicks in Gloucestershire by the 18th century. At Elmore church near Stroud there are family monuments to Silvanus Vick who died there in 1776 and his son Daniel who died in 1810. On his death in 1754 William Vick, a Bristol wine merchant, left money to fund the construction of a bridge across the Avon Gorge. This eventually became the Clifton suspension bridge.
By the time of the 1841 census, more than half of the Vicks in England were to be found in Gloucestershire:
America. The English immigrant Joseph Vick was the progenitor of many of the Vicks in America. He was a planter in Virginia who had arrived there around 1670. The book Joseph Vick of Lower Parish, Isle of Wight County, Virginia edited by John Beatty and Di Ann Vick describes the first five generations of this family.
One line of descent passed through Shadrach Vick who fought in the Revolutionary War and then left Virginia for Livingston county, Kentucky in the early 1800's (his son John Leonidas Vick wrote a history of this line in 1895). Other Vicks were to be found in North Carolina. Dr. Joshua Vick of Greensboro, North Carolina gave his name to Vick's VapoRub, the medicine which made its name during the flu epidemic of 1918. Edmund Vick left North Carolina for Alabama and Texas in the 1860's and 70's.
Newit Vick, a planter and Methodist minister from Virginia, had obtained title to the lands of the Walnut Hills in Mississippi about 1811 with the intention of founding a town there. But he died in 1819 before he had time to implement his plan. The town did materialize in 1825 and was named Vicksburg. The house of Newit's daughter Martha, built in 1830, still stands in the town. Henry Vick, his grandson, died in a duel in 1859, just before his wedding day.
There were another English Vick who came to America. James Vick had arrived with his parents from Portsmouth in 1833. He founded the Vick Seed Company in Rochester, New York. He was to be one of the most successful horticultural seedsmen, writers, and merchandisers of his day.
But the largest number of Vicks came from Germany. They included:
Select Vick Miscellany
Select Vick Names
Dr. Joshua Vick from North Carolina gave his name to Vick's VapoRub, the medicine which made its name during the flu epidemic of 1918.
Michael Vick is a star American football quarterback who has controversially spent time in prison for his involvement in an illegal dog fighting ring.
Select Vicks Today
There are English origins and German origins for the surname Vick.
Vick is a localized English surname, coming initially from Gloucestershire. Its English origins are obscure. It could be a nickname, from the Norman French l'eveske, meaning "the bishop," from which came the names Levesque and Levick; or it could come from a place-name Vic in southern France; or it could come from the Old English wic, meaning "settlement," which became a surname Wyk and then somehow Vick. None of these explanations is very satisfactory.
- Vick One Name Study. Vick genealogy.
- Joseph Vick Family of America. Joseph Vick, Virginia planter.
- Vick DNA Project. Vick DNA.
England. The Vick name may have started with one or a few families in Gloucestershire. Ricard Vicke left a will dated 1565 in Kings Stanley. Thomas Veke lived in Randwick near Stroud and he died and was buried there in 1574. His son was James Vyke, mason to Sir Raplh Dutton, and Elizabeth Vick was recorded as James's widow in 1642. Their descendants remained in Randwick through the 17th and 18th centuries.
There were other Vicks in Gloucestershire by the 18th century. At Elmore church near Stroud there are family monuments to Silvanus Vick who died there in 1776 and his son Daniel who died in 1810. On his death in 1754 William Vick, a Bristol wine merchant, left money to fund the construction of a bridge across the Avon Gorge. This eventually became the Clifton suspension bridge.
By the time of the 1841 census, more than half of the Vicks in England were to be found in Gloucestershire:
- Gloucestershire, 53%
- Hampshire, 18%
- Sussex, 14%
- and elsewhere, 15%
America. The English immigrant Joseph Vick was the progenitor of many of the Vicks in America. He was a planter in Virginia who had arrived there around 1670. The book Joseph Vick of Lower Parish, Isle of Wight County, Virginia edited by John Beatty and Di Ann Vick describes the first five generations of this family.
One line of descent passed through Shadrach Vick who fought in the Revolutionary War and then left Virginia for Livingston county, Kentucky in the early 1800's (his son John Leonidas Vick wrote a history of this line in 1895). Other Vicks were to be found in North Carolina. Dr. Joshua Vick of Greensboro, North Carolina gave his name to Vick's VapoRub, the medicine which made its name during the flu epidemic of 1918. Edmund Vick left North Carolina for Alabama and Texas in the 1860's and 70's.
Newit Vick, a planter and Methodist minister from Virginia, had obtained title to the lands of the Walnut Hills in Mississippi about 1811 with the intention of founding a town there. But he died in 1819 before he had time to implement his plan. The town did materialize in 1825 and was named Vicksburg. The house of Newit's daughter Martha, built in 1830, still stands in the town. Henry Vick, his grandson, died in a duel in 1859, just before his wedding day.
There were another English Vick who came to America. James Vick had arrived with his parents from Portsmouth in 1833. He founded the Vick Seed Company in Rochester, New York. He was to be one of the most successful horticultural seedsmen, writers, and merchandisers of his day.
But the largest number of Vicks came from Germany. They included:
- Peter Christian Vick from Godenstorf near Hamburg who came to Dickinson, Iowa in the 1870's
- Heinrich Vick from Mecklenberg who came to Michigan also in the 1870's
- and Hans
Peter Vick from Holstein in Denmark who came to
Richland, North Dakota in the 1880's.
Select Vick Miscellany
If you would like to read more, click on the miscellany page for
further stories and accounts:
Select Vick Names
Dr. Joshua Vick from North Carolina gave his name to Vick's VapoRub, the medicine which made its name during the flu epidemic of 1918.
Michael Vick is a star American football quarterback who has controversially spent time in prison for his involvement in an illegal dog fighting ring.
Select Vicks Today
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