I have been chatting with another Blake researcher via email concerning a will that was written by John Blake malster at Abbotts Ann. He died in 1796 and looking at his gravestone he was 82 so born in 1714. Initially I thought he was the son of Robert Blake and Elizabeth Russell but his sister would have been too elderly to be the mother of all the children in the will and still living was the thought of the other researcher. She was born in 1695 although there is a burial for Elizabeth Blake in 1713 (she would have been 18 years old then and the priest might not have made note she was the daughter of Robert. Robert and Elizabeth were still baptizing children up to 1714. I shall watch for another Elizabeth. That then got me thinking about the marriage of John Blake and Mary. I had not checked the marriages at Upper Clatford yet for a John Blake and Mary and there is was John Blake married Mary King by License and John Blake was of Abbotts Ann 15 Dec 1753 and their daughter Mary was born in 1757 (looking at her gravestone).
Thinking through all of this and re-reading Thomas King's will I think that Mary King (wife of John Blake at Abbotts Ann) and Joanna King (my 3x great grandmother) are sisters. He speaks the same way about Mary John Blake malster's daughter as he does about his daughter Joanna's children. He doesn't mention his daughters' names. I haven't found a baptism for Mary King at Upper Clatford but Thomas King married Mary Carter at Upper Clatford 10 Jan 1728 so a birth of Mary in 1730 is perfectly reasonable.
The other clue in all of this is Joseph Blake marrying Joanna King and being at Upper Clatford when he is born/baptized at Andover. His mother may have been Ann Carter and there is a marriage of a Thomas Blake and an Ann Carter at Penton Mewsey in 1728 (September 8 and by Banns). How is this Ann Carter related to Thomas King's wife Mary Carter or are they? Are Joseph Blake and Joanna King first cousins? I have been contemplating that for quite a while. Thomas Blake though is identified as being of the parish of Penton Mewsey but his father died when he was only five and he was an only child as far as I can tell. Did his mother move to Penton Mewsey; Thomas was baptized at Andover; his parents were married at Andover - Thomas Blake and Mary Spring were married 6 Nov 1708 at Andover? Joseph though their son (and Thomas who died and was likely buried at Penton Mewsey) were both baptized at Andover.
Does that help with the Charles Blake line? Well not really. But bringing out all the Blake families in the late 1600s into the mid 1700s should be helpful. That was my aim plus I consider my link from Thomas Blake (b 1685 son of John and Elizabeth Blake (no marriage yet for them)) to John the son of William Blake Clerk (baptized 10 May 1649 Penton Mewsey) a somewhat weak link. I would like more proof for making that statement. Hence my continuing quest for Blake information. Mind you finding this link and the knowledge that John Blake (baptized 1649 and the likely father of Thomas Blake baptized 1685 and married 1709 at Andover) was baptized at Penton Mewsey and the son of William Blake does help to bring this line of Blakes together.
I am also considering starting a one name study for Blake (I have two other researchers I work with - one in Australia and one in the USA) and we are slowly but steadily acquiring information on the Blake family. I am content with my name being on the study knowing that the requests that I receive may be enormous but we would like to build the DNA study as well as the genealogical study and this would be a good advertisement for our project. We are also going to start a newsletter. I believe newsletters are a good idea for keeping interest in a family ongoing.
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