Mary Quick - 1752-98
In the 1700s there were many Quicks in this area, and as every ‘James’ and ‘John’ also had a son called ‘James’ or ‘John’ it is necessary to give some of them nicknames. They were yeoman farmers. As they did not want to marry below their status and it was difficult to marry above, they often married their cousins - with inevitable consequences.
Mary Quick's parents were first cousins and she was born in 1752, the youngest of three daughters. She was only ten years old when her mother died. Her father, John Quick, (sometimes referred to as ‘John Quick the Worthy’) renewed his lease on Wicca, adding Mary's name as one of the three lives.
Christmas 1775, when Mary was 23, was a very happy occasion because the next day she married her mother's nephew, John Quick. A year later her daughter was born but just after Christmas her husband died. Aged only 28, he was buried on January 5th: Mary carried her baby to church to be baptised the same day. Mary was now 24 and a widow; her little daughter didn't live long, so there was another funeral.
Two years later Mary married her father's nephew, James Quick, another first cousin, and he came to live with them at Wicca. She had a son and called him John after her father, but again the baby did not live long. She had a second son, also called John but he died. The third baby was called John and he lived - so we may call him ‘John the Lucky’.
Mary's father, ‘John Quick the Worthy’, was a churchwarden and a leading man in the parish. When he made his will he left the tenancy of Wicca to his daughter (Mary), his nephew (her husband James) and their baby son - ‘John the Lucky’. In 1784 ‘John Quick the Worthy’ was buried in Zennor church by the chancel step and his tombstone inscribed:
Here rests the mortal part
of John Quick of Wicca, yeoman.
He was hospitable, sociable, peaceable,
Humble, honest and devout,
In manners he excelled his equals, he died in 1784
And here interred in the same tomb
Wilmot his wife
Of spotless fame and virtuous character,
Who died aged 41
John Quick’s tombstone is now in the tower of Zennor Church. It was originally at the chancel step, but it must have been moved when the church was renovated in the 1890s. Photo Marios Hadjanastias.
Mary herself died when she was only 46 and her son, ‘John the Lucky’, was just sixteen years old. His father James Quick married again, almost immediately, and had seven children, including Matthew in 1808. When father James died ‘John the Lucky’ inherited the farm - so Matthew and his brothers all became miners.
The story continues with Matthew's wife Alice.
John Quick the Worthy lived at Wicca with his daughter Mary and her son John the Lucky. John the Lucky's half brother Matthew Quick was born here. © drawing by Veronica Kevern
Alice Nankervis 1816-1911
Alice's parents were John and Mary Nankervis and she was born in 1816, the tenth of twelve children. In 1838 when Alice was 22 she married Matthew Quick of Wicca, aged 30, who was one of the children of James Quick’s second marriage. At first Matthew and Alice lived at Wheal Sandwich, a mine up on the downs above Wicca where Matthew worked. A year later twins were born and named James and John after their grandfathers. Two years later another son was born and named Matthew after his father - but this would prove to be an unlucky name. A fourth son arrived and the family moved to the nearby deserted count house of Sperris Mine.
By 1846 Alice had six sons and the family was sharing the Old Poor House in Zennor with the family of Matthew's brother Thomas, who also had six children. The poor-house was not very big then and later Eagle's Nest was built next to it.
Then the family moved to the house on Wicca Round which was referred to as Wicca Round House in the censuses. It was two tiny cottages and William Allen, a thatcher, lived next door.
Their living room was three metres by five metres but the plan below shows a lean-to at the east end and various out-buildings. There was probably an upper storey, but if not, a sleeping platform would have been made at one end. Matthew was an agricultural labourer for a short time, and was recorded as such in the census of 1851. But with eighteen acres of ‘turbary’ - land from which he was licensed to extract turf or peat - he turned to turf-cutting for an income.
By 1847 Alice had eight sons. Misfortune befell one of them when six year-old Matthew went missing. A search revealed he had fallen down a disused mine shaft, and he was found dead. Next year Alice had her first daughter, but when the following baby was a boy he was called Matthew after the one they had lost: we will call him ‘new Matthew’. Again it was to prove an unlucky name.
At the time of the 1861 census, the family was still living on Wicca Round. Alice was 45 and Matthew was once more a tin miner. One of the twins, John, had married and moved in with his wife's family, which had several children. How did they manage in their tiny cottage at Chykembro, with just one room up and one down?
Living on Wicca Round were the other twin James, aged 22; William Henry aged 18, and Dionysus aged 16. All were miners, and with their father they were bringing in four incomes. Richard aged 14 and ‘new Matthew’ aged 10 were tin dressers, bringing in more money for the family. The three younger children were at school and the two who were youngest of all were at home. Of Alice's twelve children eleven were still alive. It is not surprising that when William Allen the thatcher left, the family took over the cottage next door.
The plan shows the two tiny cottages on Wicca Round with yards opposite them. There are the remains of at least three other buildings as well as two attached to the cottages. © Cornwall Archaeological Unit, Cornwall Council ‘Archaeology and Landscape at the Land's End, Cornwall,’ 2016, page 227 Reproduced by kind permission.
In 1865, as well as the twelve family members in the house, an ‘old man’ had moved in as a lodger. But later that year Alice’s husband was dead, leaving her a widow, and she was living down at Tregarthen with her four youngest children.
Alice's four middle sons, however, were still living in the house on Wicca Round and all were working in Sperris Mine. Charles, the youngest there, was still only 12, ‘new Matthew’ was aged 14, Dionysus was 20 and William Henry 23. But ‘new Matthew’, with his ill-fated name, came home from Penzance one day with the smallpox. He died and was buried in Zennor churchyard on April 17th. By now his three brothers had caught the smallpox from him and the Zennor register records their burials three weeks later, all on the same day. No one has lived in Wicca Round House since.
The 1881 census lists Alice as a widow aged 66. Living with her were her youngest son Francis, who was a miner aged 22, her daughter Alice, 23, who was a general servant and Mary Ann, aged 26, who helped her mother. Of Alice's twelve children only seven were still alive.
About 1900 Alice was living in a cottage at the bottom of The Stennack in St. Ives. Twin John was now known as Jack and was the father of six children, the youngest being Alfie. Alfie's wife Jane used to have 'a good old yarn' with Alice and her memories were recorded in 1964 by Dr Roger Slack. It is both moving and wonderful to hear her rich Cornish voice telling the tragic story of little Matthew falling down the mine shaft and being found dead, and how four of Alice's sons also died of the smallpox. Later she said: 'Two of them went to H'Africa and came back t'Cambun and died up there'.
Zennor church today
Alice died in 1911 aged 95. One son went to America, possibly twin James. Mrs. Jane Quick always called Alice Mrs. Nekervis which suggests she was more important than her husband. She said 'Alice's husband Matthew' was 'not very workish'. The family that stayed in St Ives became successful builders and their blue vans can be seen with S.J. Quick and Sons on the side.
Jean Nankervis January 2022
For more on life in Zennor see Jean’s latest books: ‘A History of Zennor’ volume 1, and ‘Wicca, the Story of My Farm’. Both are available from local bookshops, or please send us an enquiry via the ‘contact us’ button
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