My 3rd Great Grand Uncle


{Source: Joseph Vick of Lower Parish, Isle of Wright County, Virginia and his Descendants - Vol 1 - by John D. Beatty and Di Ann Vick - published by Genus Publishing, Los Angeles, California Printed in China - Copyright 2004} :

Col. Arthur described Hartwell as "a man of fine mind, full of enterprise, but ahead of his time." Other accounts indicate he was a man of "fine personal appearance".
Since he was Newit Vick's oldest son, he spent his early years in North Carolina and was probably in his early teens when the family moved to Mississippi. Nevertheless, aged nineteen, he returned to Virginia to Marry his cousin Sylvia Clark Cook on 31 Jul 1811 in Greensville County, Virginia. According to James Perrin, Hartwell served as a lieutenant in the Mississippi Militia during the War of 1812 and was an early settler in what would become the city of Vicksburg. After the battle of New Orleans, peace gradually returned to the frontier. In 1816, the United States completed its survey of the Mississippi Territory. Those lands were then open to settlement at a uniform price of two dollars an acre. On27 Jan 1816, Hartwell "appeared at the land office at Washington, Mississippi and purchased 375 acres of land in section 20 of township 16, North Range 3, east, and on the 3rd of March, 1818, he made a further purchase of about 225 acres, and thus became the first unquestionable owner of a portion of the site of Vicksburg. When Vicksburg was incorporated in 1825, Hartwell was its first postmaster, a justice of the Peace, and a member of the first Board of Selectmen. He was the only son of Newit Vick to actively participate in Vicksburg government. He was an ardent early Democrat. President James Monroe appointed him postmaster to reward his efforts in Mississippi politics. He lost the position in 1827 when the Whigs recaptured the presidency and President John Quincy Adams appointed William H. Benton as his successor. By the time he was twenty-eight, Hartwell was an experienced politician, merchant and planter. The first merchantile store in Vicksburg was established by Hartwell and a partner, Nicholas Gray, a "man of excellent education". Hartwell's principal source of income was his sawmill - the only one in the area. Anyone wanting trees converted to lumber or wanting to buy finished lumber or millwork came to Hartwell Vick.
Hartwell died at his plantation near Vicksburg on 01 Apr 1833 and was buried in the family cemetery in Open Woods. His death was reported in the Natchez Corier on 19 April 1833. He died intestate and his estate was probated in Warren County. The Old Courthouse Museum in Vicksburg has a room of Vick memorabilia on the second floor and Hartwell's portrait hangs there.



The oldest of Newet and Elizabeth Vick's 13 children: Hartwell, Sarah Clark, Ann, Mary Tirzah, Martha, Eliza White, Lucy Watkins, John Wesley, General William, Matilda Louisa, Amanda Maria, Emily Franklin, Newit Holmes Vick.

Married to: Sylviah Clark Cook

First postmaster of Vicksburg.