Ship Oliver Moses sailing from Liverpool, England,
arriving in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
on 5 June 1858.

Surnames: Wickham

The following is the passenger list manifest for Patrick Wickham and his children Patrick Jr, Owen and Ann. The Wickham family, comprised of Patrick W. and Cecilia (Pryor) Wickham and children Edward, Mary (wife of Martin D. Hughes), James, Patrick, Owen P. and Ann (wife of Patrik Lacy), emigrated to the United States from Ireland in the 1850's and settled in Council Bluffs, Iowa, where most of them spent the rest of their lives. Sources have indicated that Cecilia and two of the children emigrated first in about 1854, temporarily settling in New York City where they were joined a year later by son James. Cecilia and her children then moved west to Council Bluffs, where Cecilia purchased property in July 1857. They were joined there by Patrick and the rest of the children, who arrived at the port of New Orleans. Passenger list entries for Cecilia and the rest of the children have not yet been found.

The following is an account of the voyage of Patrick and his children from the article "Kanesville Revisited - The Wickham Dynasty", in the Frontier Chronicle, Vol. 6, No. 3: Jul-Sep 2000 (a quarterly publication of The Pottawattamie County [Iowa] Genealogical Society).

Patrick Wickham was well past middle age when he decided to leave Ireland and come to the United States; in addition, he had a sizable family. Instead of taking one of the few ocean lines of that day, the father shipped on a picturesque but slow-sailing vessel, and so began a voyage that was indelibly burned into the consciousness of all aboard.

The vessel's quarters were more suited to animals than men, women and children, and its table fare was the hardest and scantiest imaginable; but to pile near-tragedy upon misfortune, as it were, she was often becalmed without a capful of wind, so that her passengers and crew, like the Swiss Family Robinson, despaired of ever reaching the country which was to be the El Dorado of their hopes and dreams. Finally, however, a lookout shouted "Land!" and in due course they made port, having spent en route some six months, or more time than is now necessary to steam twice around the world. Patrick and his family arrived at the port of New Orleans, and in 1857 traveled up the Mississippi and Missouri by boat to the Old Mormon Landing, now Council Bluffs, Iowa.

The passenger list of the Oliver Moses does corroberate this story. The U.S. ship Oliver Moses was built at Bath, Maine, in 1856. She weighed 1101 tons and measured 179.1 x 36.2 x 23.7 feet (length x beam x depth of hold). (For more information go here.) There were only 26 passengers on this voyage. There is no date of departure or arrival on the manifest, unfortunately, although according to Ancestry, the source of the images, the arrival date is 5 June 1858. Several records cite 1858 as the year of immigration for Patrick Jr. and Owen.

LIST OF PASSENGERS. Printed and Sold by B. True, No. 19, Water Street. REPORT and List of the Passengers taken on board the Ship Oliver Moses of Bath Maine whereof Wm M. Otis is Master, burthen 999 tons and 32/95 ths of a ton, bound from the Port of Liverpool for New Orleans

NAMES.	AGE.	SEX.	Occupation, Trade or Profession.	Country to which they severally belong.	Country of which they intend to become inhabitants.	Remarks relative to any that may have died or otherwise left the vessel during the voyage.
Pat Wicken	48	Male	Carpenter	English	United States
Patt    Do	20	"	Joiner	do	"
Owen  Do	9	"	Boy	do	"
Ann   Do	8	Female	do	do	"

To view the entire manifest page, click on the image below.

Transcribed by Erica DeCoursey © 2007