January 9, 2026
Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry continues her series on Mayflower descendants, focusing on Civil War Medal of Honor recipient John Fairfield Bickford Jr. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.
Today I continue my series on “Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who,” featuring John Fairfield Bickford Jr. (1843-1927), who served in the Union Navy as a captain of the top (modern equivalent: petty officer) on board the sloop-of-war USS Kearsarge. Bickford was awarded the Civil War Medal of Honor for his bravery in action when the Kearsarge fought and destroyed the Confederate Navy commerce raider CSS Alabama off the coast of Cherbourg, France, on 19 June 1864.
Bickford was born in Tremont, Hancock County, Maine, to John Fairfield and Abigail (Keith) Bickford. He was a direct descendant of Mayflower passengers Stephen Hopkins and his wife Mary and daughter Constance Hopkins, as well as Thomas Rogers and his son Joseph Rogers.
The plaque reads:
Lieut. Joseph Rogers
1607-1678
Mayflower Passenger
Commissioned [to] Plymouth
Colony Militia 1647
Placed by His Descendants
1966
Here is a photo of the USS Kearsarge.
After the Civil War, Bickford took a job as foreman in a Gloucester, Massachusetts, fish factory owned by his future father-in-law. On 1 September 1869 in Gloucester, Bickford married Elsie Stockbridge (1852-1913), born on Swan’s Island, Maine, to Seth Whitmore and Eliza Jane (Kiff) Stockbridge. She was a direct descendant of Mayflower passengers John Alden, Pricilla Mullins, Myles Standish, Richard Warren and his wife Elizabeth Walker, and Henry Sampson. The couple left descendants.
I found coverage for Bickford’s funeral service published in the Boston Herald newspaper. He died on 28 April 1927 in Gloucester at the age of 84.
This article reads:
Veterans of three wars, [and] state and city officials paid tribute at funeral services this afternoon for Capt. John F. Bickford, 84, hero of the memorable Civil War naval engagement between the Kearsarge and the Alabama and who for valor in the fight was decorated with the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Blue clad veterans of ’61, members of Col Allen Post, G. A. R., stood side by side with Spanish-American War veterans and members of the American Legion as a volley was fired over the grave at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, where the military services were in [the] charge of Comdr. William E. Marston, Col. Allen Post.
…Capt. Bickford died Wednesday night, following a long illness. He was said to be the second-last surviving member of the crew of the Kearsarge.
According to a 1916 newspaper notice, Bickford received a special pension of $10 a month ($297.36 today).
The news clip notes he received the Medal of Honor for personal valor during the naval engagement with the Alabama off the coast of France. It reports that he resides at 16 Freemont Street, Gloucester, with his family. It also notes:
His fondness for the sea is as great as ever, and frequently he takes a party of friends out in a small craft he has for deep-sea sailing.
Below is a photo of the survivors of the USS Kearsarge at a reunion, circa the 1890s. Those who attended are identified by numbers in this photo. Bickford is among them (#7).
In this photo we see: 1. Austin Quinby; 2. John Young; 3. Charles A. Poole; 4. William B. Poole (Was QM at the Con, June 19, 1864, during the battle with CSS Alabama. Awarded the Medal of Honor); 5. Joel Sanborn; 6. George Remick; 7. John F. Bickford (Awarded the Medal of Honor); 8. Adoniram Littlefield; 9. William Badlam (2nd Assistant Engineer in 1864); 10. Martin Hoyt; 11. Andrew J. Rowley; 12. John T. Stackpole; 13. Patrick McKeever; 14. Lyman P. Spinney; 15. William Wainwright; 16. Lawrence T. Crowley; 17. True W. Priest; 18. J.O. Stone; and 19. John C. Woodberry. The notation says: “The unmarked are not veterans.”
Coming in Next Story!
Army Sgt. Andrew McAleer, who served as a U.S. Army historian with the 126th Military History Detachment and authored the Henry von Stray British classic mystery series, shared some history on Bickford with me which will come in part two. Visit Andrew McAleer at: www.Henryvonstraymysteries.com
Andrew’s great grandfather, John J. McAleer (USMC), served with Bickford aboard the USS Kearsarge during its battle with the CSS Alabama.
Below is a photo of Andrew (left) with his brother, U.S. Marine Corporal John J. McAleer III, at the unveiling of the USS Kearsarge’s captain’s cabin desk – which they presented to the Union League Club in Philadelphia in 2014.
The desk was in the ship cabin of Rear Admiral John Ancrum Winslow, a descendant of John Winslow, brother of Mayflower passenger and Plymouth Colony governor Edward Winslow. The portrait image on the desk in the above photo is their ancestor John J. McAleer, who served as an orderly to Captain John A. Winslow and kept the logbook of the Kearsarge for its 34-month cruise. More on that later.
Stay tuned!
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Note on the header image: two markers at the gravesite of John Fairfield Bickford Jr., Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Gloucester, Massachusetts. Credit: Mike Duchaney.