The origins of the Wickham family were in Rowley, an East Yorkshire village which later became depopulated. In 1638, two brothers, Richard and Thomas Wickham, were among the families to emigrate to America with Rev. Ezekiel Rogers after he was suspended as Rector of the parish church in 1638 for his non-conformist beliefs. Thomas married Sarah and their fifth son, Samuel Wickham, was born in 1664; he later settled in Rhode Island and became a Freeman of that Colony and a Deputy. Samuel Wickham married Barbara Holken in 1691 and their fifth son, Benjamin Wickham, was born 17 November 1701 at Rhode Island. Benjamin was chosen by the Rhode Island colonial Assembly in 1756 to be Lieutenant-Colonel of a Regiment raised for the second expedition against Crown Point. In 1757, a deputy for Newport he became Speaker of the House of Deputies. Benjamin married Mary, daughter of Colonel John Gardner in 1743 and Samuel Wickham, their sixth and youngest son, was born at Newport, Rhode Island in 1758. This Samuel rose to the rank of Lieutenant in the Royal Navy; while he was attached to the Portuguese Navy as an instructor he was given the rank of Captain-Lieutenant. He fought on the British side in the American War of Independence after which he left America and settled in Scotland. On 16 June 1795 he married Ellen Susan Naylor at Gibraltar. John Clements Wickham was born to them on 21 November 1798 at Leith in Scotland.