Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Blake and Hinxman Families - 2

I continued looking at the wills for the Blake and Hinxman families yesterday and comparing with the family tree that I have constructed for the Blake and Hinxman lines at Andover. Locating John Blake who died in 1796 at Abbotts Ann is part of that puzzle. Possibly he was married in Andover 9 Jun 1747 to Mary Dowling. Having located this marriage on the IGI I will investigate the Dowling family. A cursory glance reveals a Mary Dowling baptized at Upper Clatford 24 Nov 1728 with parents George Dowling and Ane. There is a George Doling married to Anne Lashley 4 Aug 1717 at Abbotts Ann. Needless to say all of these places are very close together and in the will of John Blake he remembers the Church at Upper Clatford as well as the Church at Abbotts Ann. Perhaps one more check back on this Dowling family in the IGI. There is a George Dowling (son of William and Alise Dowling) baptized at Goodworth Clatford 24 Nov 1695. There are three William Dowling marriages so that is the end of that thought on the IGI for the moment. None of these marriages leads to a Blake connection though. Looking at John Blake with a wife baptized 1728, I searched the IGI for a John Blake baptized 1720 + or - 10 years. There are no "extracted" entries for a baptism of a John Blake in the Andover area between 1710 and 1730. There are two patron entries that are interesting - Andover and Penton Mewsey. The Penton Mewsey family I do have some data on and this is a Blake family that were maltsters. Interesting thinking and will draw out some information from the registers to look at some of these possibilities - I have the registers for Abbotts Ann, Penton Mewsey and I am in the midst transcribing the registers for Andover. Likely I will let this sit for a bit until I reach this time period with the Andover Register. What I was looking for was a link between the King family at Upper Clatford and the Blake family at Abbotts Ann because they remember each other's children in their wills.

Few people have worked on the Hinxman family thus far. My correspondent on the Blake family and one descendant of the Jane Hinxman/Samuel Noyse family appear to be the only two on ancestry. There is on World Connect, however, a rather large listing of the Noyse family although the Noyse family at Andover does not appear to be linked into the rather extensive listings of the Noyse families in England. But no information on the Hinxman family. The Hinxman family is quite small on the census (less than 50 on 1841, 1851 and 1861) and mostly at West Deane Wiltshire. I do not actually think my answers lie with this family now that I have looked at their wills since they do not mention William Blake or his descendants. Ellener mentions only her brothers Peter and Nicholas and her two sisters married to Bayley and Savage. By the time of her will in the 1650s William and John have both died (her brothers), her sisters Elizabeth Hapgood (deceased) and Dorothy Burmington (not mentioned). Richard her brother is not mentioned although still known to be alive. None of her siblings children are mentioned. This has its pros and cons - not mentioning william's children doesn't mean that the links do not exist but on the other hand, a listing of these children in someone's will would be very handy - William b 1647, John b 1649.

One interesting fact is known that there were three Blake children all born between 1709 and 1717 (likely) who appeared to be linked in some way. My ancestor Thomas was baptized in 1709 at Andover and appears to be the only son of Thomas Blake and Mary Spring. John Blake who died in 1796 at Abbotts Ann was likely born in this time interval (he likely married in 1747 so could have been born as late as 1725 or 1726 but he was already established as a maltster and that might have been a challenge at a youngish age). Charles Blake (the other key to the puzzle of John Blake Maltster at Abbotts Ann's Will in 1792) married Mary Prince in 1737 at Abbotts Ann. The Prince family were landowners. the father of Charles Blake is also unknown and he was likely born by no latter than 1717. Edward Blake at Abbotts Ann has the longest history at Abbotts Ann but is not the father of either of these two since his children are baptized in the 1750s at Abbotts Ann. I need to look at Edward Blake and see if I can link him back to one of the Blake lines at Andover.

John Blake is the only one of the three men (John Blake, Charles Blake and my Thomas Blake) still alive when he wrote his will in 1792 but he remembers the child of Charles (also Charles) and the grandchildren of these two men. He does not, however, give anything to the second family of Charles (his first wife was Jane Gilbert whom I discussed earlier and her connection back to the Blake family). The Elizabeth Blake who is the ancestor of Jane Gilbert and whose mother was Elizabeth Hinxman is another clue in the puzzle. Finding the marriage of Elizabeth Hinxman to an unknown Blake would be most helpful as she is the mother of Thomas and Elizabeth Blake. Elizabeth married a Monk and then a Kidgell and it is from the Kidgell line that the Gilbert connection emerges. Not remembering the second set of children is quite significant I think and points back to the Gilbert connection as being the more important link to John Blake. But what is the link for my Thomas Blake? His mother Joanna King's father Thomas King remembers the daughter of John Blake in his will. But looking at John Blake's wife Mary Dowling who was actually baptized at Upper Clatford (John remembers the Church at Upper Clatford in his will) I do not find any link to the King family since Thomas King married Mary Carter. There does not appear to be a linkage there. Ann Blake (sister to Thomas Blake at Upper Clatford) appears to be keeping house for John Blake at Abbotts Ann but I wouldn't think that that would be a sufficient reason to remember her two brothers.

More things to ponder as I work my way back. I haven't really touched the Blake family for a long time but the contact from another Blake researcher has inspired me once again to look deeper at all the information and see what kind of linkages that I can find and especially I would like more evidence for the connection from William (b 1615) to John (b 1649) to Thomas (b 1685) to Thomas (b 1709). All baptisms at Andover and the registers appear to logically link these families but I am only up to the early 1630s for my line by line transcription. Surprises may lie in wait for me in this line.

Today I shall continue transcribing some of my records that I am finding to be most interesting and I want to read all the material that the other researcher has sent to me. I will construct more family trees on paper as visualizing the information is easiest for me on a large floor chart.

No comments: