William Wickenden was an early Anglo-American Baptist

Baptist

Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...

 minister, co-founder Providence, Rhode Island

Providence, Rhode Island

Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...

, and signer of the Providence Compact. Wickenden Street

Wickenden Street

Wickenden Street in Providence, Rhode Island is a popular destination for students of the area's colleges and schools. The street is surrounded by universities on the East Side of Providence's College Hill, including Brown University, RISD, Moses Brown School, & The Wheeler School.-History:The...

 in Providence marks where he originally settled in the seventeenth century and is named in his honor.

Immigration to New England

Wickenden was possibly born in Oxfordshire, England in about 1614. There has been no definitive evidence provided that William Wickenden was born in Oxfordshire. Some claim that he was born in Oxford and this has not been proven either. The Wickenden name originates in Cowden, Kent, and by coincidence, there is an Oxford in that county. Some people wonder whether this is a more logical place to search for his birth.

Ministry

There is also no proof that Wickenden was a clergyman in Oxfordshire before he went to America. He immigrated to America prior to 1634 and lived in Salem, Massachusetts

Salem, Massachusetts

Salem is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,407 at the 2000 census. It and Lawrence are the county seats of Essex County...

 for a time. Wickenden followed Roger Williams

Roger Williams (theologian)

Roger Williams was an English Protestant theologian who was an early proponent of religious freedom and the separation of church and state. In 1636, he began the colony of Providence Plantation, which provided a refuge for religious minorities. Williams started the first Baptist church in America,...

 to Rhode Island in 1636 and signed the first compact in 1637. Wickenden served in the Rhode Island Legislature in 1648, and from 1651 to 1655 and then again in 1664. In 1656 Wickenden was arrested by Dutch colonial authorities, jailed, and fined for baptizing Christians in Flushing, Queens

Flushing, Queens

Flushing, founded in 1645, is a neighborhood in the north central part of the City of New York borough of Queens, east of Manhattan.Flushing was one of the first Dutch settlements on Long Island. Today, it is one of the largest and most diverse neighborhoods in New York City...

 near New Amsterdam

New Amsterdam

New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. It later became New York City....

 (New York). Upon being informed that Wickenden was a poor cobbler with a large family, the Dutch authorities agreed to exile Wickenden instead. The following year, Dutch colonists signed the Flushing Remonstrance

Flushing Remonstrance

The Flushing Remonstrance was a 1657 petition to Director-General of New Netherland Peter Stuyvesant, in which several citizens requested an exemption to his ban on Quaker worship. It is considered a precursor to the United States Constitution's provision on freedom of religion in the Bill of...

 to allow for more religious freedom. Wickenden served as the fourth minister at the First Baptist Church in America

First Baptist Church in America

The First Baptist Church in America is the First Baptist Church of Providence, Rhode Island, also known as First Baptist Meetinghouse. The oldest Baptist church congregation in the United States, it was founded by Roger Williams in Providence, Rhode Island in 1638...

in Providence.

Later life

Roger Williams brought a presentment against William Wickenden, Thomas Harris, and Thomas Angell on March 13, 1656, charging them as ringleaders of a division within the colony regarding the teaching of liberty. Williams never, however, came forward to prosecute the charge. William Wickenden died on February 23, 1671 in Providence. After Wickenden's death, his son-in-law, John Steere, and his daughter Hannah sold the area now comprising Wickenden Street.