Born in Huron in 1844, John Wickham, Jr. was severely wounded in the leg during the Civil War. When he returned home he joined his father, John Wickham, Sr., in business. In 1866 John Jr. married Lucy Sprague Wickham, who was the granddaughter of Jabez Wright, one of the surveyors of the Firelands and a supporter of the Underground Railroad. (Video: John Wickham, Jr., Afternoon at the Huron Cemetery, 2017)
John Jr. and Lucy Wickham built this house on the corner of Center Street and Cleveland Road. Capt. Charles Montague bought the house from the Wickhams when they moved to Buffalo. Bob and Shirley Reynolds converted the house, which by that time had been significantly altered, into the Huron landmark Captain Montague’s Bed and Breakfast.Pictured are men of the Wickham Fish Co. crew in the 1880s. John Wickham, Sr. was born in Philadelphia and came to the Firelands in 1833. He first settled in Norwalk, but moved to Huron In 1834. He was one of the first in the village to engage in commercial fishing. He and Captain Augustus Walker went into partnership together and built several ships.The most notable was the Great Western.Wickham and Company sold fresh, salted and frozen fish, lumber, flour, seeds, salt plaster, shingles and white lime, and served as the agent for the Massillon Beaver Run Coal Company. In the 1880s Wickham and Company was considered one of the largest fish houses in the country. The fish house was destroyed by fire in 1887 and then rebuilt, but the company never fully recovered.It was sold to Valentine Fries in 1898 and renamed Valentine Fries Estates. By 1927 the company had become one of the largest retail lumber yards in Ohio. Valentine Fries son, Valentine A. Fries took over the company and after his death in 1937 his wife, Irma owned the company until the mid 1970s.During his 91 years of life John Wickham, Sr. was married to sisters Sarah Maria (pictured) and Elizabeth Van Rensselaer and their cousin, Sarah. John Wickham, Jr. was the son of Sarah and John Sr.
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