Barbara A. Martindale- For What It's Worth April 17, 2013
A pioneer who lived and did business in York, Caledonia and Indiana, is mentioned more often than most in the history of the area. Robert Wickett, a native of Devonshire, England born in 1812, came to York in the mid 1840s.
Married to Ann Hurd, also originally of Devonshire, they had three children: Nathaniel, Mary and Robert, before coming to Canada. At age seven, Robert died in 1849. Four more children, Elizabeth Ann, Sarah Agnes, Catherine Jane and Robert Samuel, were born to the couple from 1849 to 1856.
Robert Wickett settled at York. He was listed as a Yeoman, butcher and included a bakery. However, he advertised a "large, commodious dwelling house for sale or to let, well calculated for a Store or Tavern" in 1854.
And then his advertisement in the Cayuga Sachem May 5, 1855 indicated he had bought and moved into the "well known house" the North American Hotel in York (there were three hotels in York at the time). He said in the ad that "his table is always supplied with all the substantials and delicacies of the season and his wines and liquors are of the choicest kinds.” There were stables at the hotel with an "attentive hostler" always on hand. "The Stages running between Caledonia and Cayuga call at this hotel daily."
The next year, he was advertising his butchery business of beef and mutton, "the finest show of beef and mutton ever before offered in the County of Haldimand.” His butchery business in Caledonia was at the Town Hall where stalls were fitted for a butcher's market; it was later let go by public auction.
But all this seemed to come to an end for Robert when in January 23, 1858 by public notice, he advertised in the Grand River Sachem that he was informing the public. He gave all his interest in the butchering and bakery business in the Villages of York, Indiana and Caledonia to N.H. Wickett. On that same day, N.H. Wickett advertised that he was informing the public that he will hereafter carry on the butchery and baking business in all its various branches at York, Indiana and Caledonia.
The Haldimand Atlas said this about Robert Wickett. He "kept a hotel and built up a large and successful business as a butcher. He was a very pushing and public spirited man and took an active interest in the organization for the Seneca Agricultural Society."
He was elected president of the Branch Agricultural Society for townships of Seneca, Oneida and North Cayuga in 1859 and that same year was listed as a magistrate on the Commission of the Peace for Haldimand County, later becoming the Justice of the Peace.
In 1861, census information shows Robert Wicket as occupying a 100-acre farm on the Nelles Tract and he was living in a one and a half storey log house, about one and half miles east of York.
Robert Wickett died at age 77 years on January 11, 1889. His wife, Ann, died at age 78 on May 28, 1890.
Nathaniel Hurd Wickett continued in the butchery and bakery business. Married to Lydia Harris, Nathaniel, born in 1835, died May 28, 1922. Lydia, born in 1836, died January 15, 1916.
