April 1, 2017

Saratoga Springs, UT – April 1, 2017:  My name is Joseph Vick and over 350 years have passed since I last knew where my parents lived in Europe. I was born around 1640 and arrived in Virginia in the mid-to-late 1660s. On 20 December 1673, I was deeded 50 acres by Hodges Council where I cultivated the rich soil at the Beaver Dam Swamp and grew my small parcel of land to build a plantation in Virginia. I died in Isle of Wight County, Virginia before 1704.

Over the years my descendants have organized to find my roots and in 1972 Sam Vick of Mississippi hosted a family gathering of 170 of my descendants. Then in 1984 Mary Jo McCrary & James M. Perrin (descendants of Reverend Newit Vick, whom the city of Vicksburg, Mississippi was named) founded the Joseph Vick Family of America. Finally in 1990 Gailen Vick and O. Richard Wright formally incorporated JVFOA. A highlight for my family was in 2004 when my posterity published the first 5 generations in a book, Joseph Vick of Lower Parish, Isle of Wight County, Virginia co-authored by John Beatty, Di Ann Vick & published by James Davis.  In 2006 my descendants started a DNA project: so far more than 100 my posterity has been tested.  They've helped find adoptees' parents and corrected errors in the family tree that had been previously published. They've reached out and tested other Vick’s around the world. Recently, my descendants found a "new" cousin through their Vick DNA project.  While this new cousin does not have the Vick surname, his ancestor was born in Gloucestershire, England, and he shares my father's paternal line.

Today my progeny includes a former governor, a past president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and ministers of most religious faiths. My descendants have served faithfully in the wars and battles for the countries of the USA, Republic of Texas and England since I came to the English Colony of Virginia. In fact I have over 20,000 descendants in North America.

Each year some of my descendants meet to review new findings at the JVFOA Annual Meeting & Reunion. In Suffolk, Virginia this coming June on 23-25th the community and my descendants will be educated on family genealogy, and newly found DNA test results.