Connecting Haktor T Wicks to Haktor H Wicks - Part 1

Recently, I was chatting with a co-worker, Jessica, about family tree books.  She was considering creating a book and I offered to show her the Waage Family Tree book that I created in 2005.  I brought the book in and as she flipped through the first couple pages she noticed the name "Wicks" in the book.  Then she began recognizing town names as the same ones her family had inhabited.

My Wicks relatives listed in the book were Haktor and Madala (Wicks) Wicks, parents to Ida Wicks who was the wife of John Waage.  And no, that isn't a typo Madala's maiden name was Wicks too.    Ironically, Jessica's Wicks connection was Hector and his father's name was Haktor Haktorsen Wicks.

Are we related?  Could this be just a coincidence?

Here are the details I knew about my Haktor:

• Haktor Torjulson Wicks
• was from Aaker, Skanevik, Norway
• married Madala Wicks on April 3, 1870
• immigrated to America with Madala in 1870
• settled in Lisbon, Illinois
• three children were born in Illinois
• moved to Iowa, northeast of Roland around 1875
• seven more children were born in the Roland area

Jessica initially shared the following details:

•  Haktor Haktorsen Vike
• married Guri
• Guri was a sister to Thomas T Scott, born in Skanevik, Norway in 1847
• obituary of Thomas T Scott
• son was Hector Wicks
• was from Skanevik, Norway
• settled in Lisbon, Illinois

While discussing I remembered a little section of the Wicks family tree created by Irene Jacobsen back in the early 1980s. Irene noted that Wicks was the interpreted version of "Vik", which in Norwegian means little harbor.  She wrote:

The word "vik" means "little harbor" in the Norwegian language.  Wicks is the English interpretation of this word.  Norway's rugged coast line is full of fiords, islands, and "little harbors."  In some instances a family name was taken from where they lived.  There are many families that immigrated from "little harbors" so there are many unrelated Wicks families in this country.

Even with the "Wicks is a common name" theory, Jessica and I decided that the names and places were all too similar be purely coincidental.  Now we just need some evidence to prove a connection.

... More to come ...  Part 2