Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Two more Wills for Blake family members in Dorset

I am working on the second last will for Dorset and it was written by William Blake of Blandford Forum. It is 21 pages in length so will not likely appear before tomorrow. He has named all of his siblings and I am still only on page 5 so a great deal more to be revealed. One of his trustees is the Reverend William Blake of Crewkerne Somerset. I am hoping to eventually put this Blake family of Somerset (and Dorset where some resided) together and will blog it and also send it off to the individual who has created the Blake website that I occasionally mention. It will be interesting to see if I am able to clearly organize the descendants of  Reverend Malachi Blake. I do have a will for the Reverend Malachi Blake probated in 1794 in Somerset.

While searching through the Somerset wills I discovered that I had not yet transcribed one of my earlier wills for the Blake family in Somerset namely the will of Robert Blake Clerk of Porlock so will add that one to my list as well and make note here and will do it immediately after the last Dorset will.

"The Christian reformer; or, Unitarian magazine and review" edited by Robert Aspland and is an ebook on Google:

 http://books.google.ca/books?id=eRsEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA269&lpg=PA269&dq=%22Rev+Malachi+Blake%22+%2B+blagdon+somerset&source=bl&ots=u0aZh4OkNo&sig=3kLRlrFH3JM8pr23t34sEDfR7qY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=UUkvUsWgL8rR2QWihYCIAg&ved=0CEQQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=%22Rev%20Malachi%20Blake%22%20%2B%20blagdon%20somerset&f=false

has the following information on Dr. Malachi Blake and listed as his Memoirs.

"Dr Malachi Blake was born at Crewkerne, in the county of Somerset, on the 20th of June, 1771. He was the eldest son of the Reverend William Blake, of that place, and was descended through him from ancestors of piety and worth, his family being a collateral branch of that of England's able and patriotic defender in the time of the Commonwealth, Admiral Blake. The great-grandfather of Dr. Blake was a Reverend Mr Blake of Blagdon, a village about four miles from Taunton, who was most probably born before the death of his renowned relative, which event occurred in 1657. This Mr. Blake was in 1685 implicated in the unfortunate Monmouth rebellion. One of his sons, Mr. W. Blake, settled at Taunton, and was highly respected for the probity of his character. His youngest son and child was the Rev. W. Blake, of Crewkerne, the father of Dr. Blake. At a very early age, Dr. Blake went to reside with his uncle, the Reverend Malachi Blake, of Taunton, ............ "

Equally interesting a memoir for The Reverend William Blake of Crewkerne can be found in "The Monthly repository of Theology and General Literature, Volume 16" and again an ebook at Google:

http://books.google.ca/books?id=r-IaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA263&lpg=PA263&dq=%22Rev+Malachi+Blake%22+%2B+blagdon+somerset&source=bl&ots=q8aJHiXNBn&sig=iYu_J9G4qB22OrufGHDNxa1DV5I&hl=en&sa=X&ei=UUkvUsWgL8rR2QWihYCIAg&ved=0CEYQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=%22Rev%20Malachi%20Blake%22%20%2B%20blagdon%20somerset&f=false

"The Reverend William Blake was descended from virtuous and pious ancestors who left him, in their own bright example, an inheritance which he highly valued and of which he was worthy. He was descended from a collateral branch of that great officer and true patriot, Admiral Blake. His great-grandfather was the Reverend Malachi Blake, a Nonconformist minister, who resided at Blagdon, a village near Taunton, who laid the foundation of the Dissenting congregation at Wellington in the County of Somerset, and who, after the defeat of the Duke of Monmouth, to whose cause he had been friendly, was obliged to fly to London in disguise. His father, the Reverend William Blake, filled 45 years, with distinguished reputation and usefulness, the pulpit to which his son succeeded. .......... William, his second son, the subject of the present memoir, was born at Crewkerne in Somersetshire, the 29th of March, 1773........

"On his father's resignation to the pulpit at Crewkerne [1799], Mr Blake was unanimously chosen sole pastor of the congregation at Crewkerne .......[until] 18 February 1821.

Just to put a few dates around these names as I work my way through these wills.

Another interesting document which I shall blog as a separate item appeared in my searching for information on this family. The information is from the "Dictionary of National Biography" edited by Leslie Stephen, Volume V. Macmillan and Co. London: Smith, Elder, and Company 1886.

http://archive.org/stream/dictionaryofnati05stepuoft/dictionaryofnati05stepuoft_djvu.txt

A number of famous Blake members are mentioned in this document and collecting it in a blog will assist me as I look at these various Blake families.

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