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Mary Wicks

1819 – 1898

Editor of The Truth Seeker

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About Mary Wicks

Lived 1819 – 1898 (aged 79). Mary Wicks was an American artist and editor.

Mary Wicks Bennett ( – ) was an American Shaker apostate and magazine editor.

Mary Wicks was born on in Reading, New York, one of ten children of Job Wicks and Polly Prentiss. In 1824, the Wicks family joined the Shaker community at Watervliet, probably due to poverty. In January 1825, Mary and her brother Thomas were moved away from their family to the Shaker community in New Lebanon.

During the Era of Manifestations, Wicks participated in a number of activities that were thought to manifestations of the spirit world, such as spirit visions from an angel named Sha Ka Na La Vinda.

In September 1846, she and her future husband DeRobigne Mortimer Bennett and another Shaker couple secretly fled New Lebanon permanently. They married and engaged in a number of failed business ventures over the years.

In 1873, they founded a freethought publication called The Truth Seeker. The reputation of the magazine grew but it also ran afoul of the Comstock Laws and D. M. Bennett was jailed for 11 months, forcing Mary Bennett to take over as editor and publisher. He died in 1884 and she sold the magazine to Eugene Macdonald the next year.

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Important facts

Birth century
Occupation
Nationality
Positions held
Editor of The Truth Seeker
Also known as
Mary Bennett, Mary Wicks Bennett

People in Mary Wicks's life

Named in this biography and alive at the same time

Contemporaries

People whose lives overlapped Mary Wicks's

Frequently asked questions

Who was Mary Wicks?

Editor of The Truth Seeker

When was Mary Wicks born?

Mary Wicks was born on 28 April 1819 in Steuben, Reading.

When did Mary Wicks die?

Mary Wicks died on 31 July 1898 in Manhattan.

What was Mary Wicks's occupation?

Mary Wicks was an artist and editor.

What nationality was Mary Wicks?

Mary Wicks was American.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: Mary Wicks

· Wikidata: Q111011906

· DBpedia: Mary Wicks Bennett

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Mary Wicks. https://biography.guide/mary-wicks/

MLA: "Mary Wicks." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/mary-wicks/.

Chicago: "Mary Wicks." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/mary-wicks/.

Data last updated: 2026-09-23 · Spot an error? Report a correction.

Portrait: Wikimedia Commons · author & licence

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