Wickersham was born in
Chester County, Pennsylvania. He was of the fifth generation in direct descent from Thomas Wickersham, who in 1701 settled on a 1,000-acre tract of land in Chester County that had been deeded by
William Penn in 1682 to his father-in-law, Anthony Killingbeck. The Wickersham family came from the parish of
Bolney, county of
Sussex, England. Wickersham received a good education in the public schools and at
Unionville Academy, near his birthplace. When he was sixteen years old he was a teacher in a public school, and in 1845 he became principal of the
Marietta (Pa.) academy. He was the first county superintendent of
Lancaster County in 1854, and in 1855 he opened the
Normal School at Millersville, Pa., which in 1859 became the first state
normal school in Pennsylvania. In 1866 he was appointed
state superintendent of public instruction, and held that post for nearly fifteen years. He assisted in the organization of the Lancaster county educational association, and became its second president in 1863. He helped to organize the
Pennsylvania State Teacher's Association, was its fourth president in 1855, assisted at the organization of the
National Educational Association, and was its seventh president in 1865. He was twice elected president of the
National Department of School Superintendents. In 1863 he raised a regiment of soldiers for three months' service, and commanded it during the
Gettysburg Campaign.
Lafayette College gave him the degree of
LL.D. in 1871. In 1882 he was appointed U.S. minister to Denmark. He wrote on educational subjects for magazines and newspapers. For ten years (1871–81) he was editor of the
Pennsylvania School Journal. His
School Economy (Philadelphia. 1864) and
Methods of Instruction (1865) have been translated into the Spanish, French, and Japanese languages. His most elaborate work is the
History of Education in Pennsylvania (1886). ==Notes==