Joseph Blake (1730 - 1767)

52 Ancestor Challenge - Challenge 2

Blake, King, Coleman, Pearce, Farmer, unknown, Lambden, Sarah (unknown), Knight, Ellis, Knight, Vincent, Butt, Durnford, Arnold, Molton, Cotterel, Bartlett, Alderman, Ann (unknown), Sherwood, unknown, Habberfield, Collings, Rawlings, Tanner, Dove, Morgan, Lywood, Canham, unknown, Peck, Pincombe, Charley, Rowcliffe, Pearse, Rew, Moggridge, Siderfin, Kent, Gray, Hilton, Cobb, Sproxton, Routledge, Tweddle, Routledge, Routledge, (unknown) Buller, unknown, Beard, Hemsley, Welch, Brockhouse, Cheatle, Woodcock, unknown Taylor, unknown, Harborne, Lewis, Roberts, Croxall, Lawley, unknown

This week's ancestor challenge is one of my great finds. I could remember my Grandfather talking about his ancestral line and knew my way backwards from his father Edward to his father John to his father Thomas and then I thought I remembered that his father was Joseph. But I wasn't sure. I bought the parish register fiche for Upper Clatford (and Andover, Abbots Ann, and Kimpton) in 2008 but prior to that I had found on the BVRII from the LDS that there was a Joseph Blake married to a Joanna King  8 Jun 1757 at Upper Clatford. This was the only Blake marriage at Upper Clatford in this time frame and my grandfather thought his families had been at Upper Clatford for a very very long time. In essence he was correct some of his lines have been in the Upper Clatford area for centuries and centuries back to the beginning of the parish registers there.

However the LDS didn't at that time carry all the Andover information for the children of the children of Joseph and Joanna. Buying the parish records for Upper Clatford was such a good idea. I found my Grandfather's baptism (including his date of birth although I already owned the birth registration anyway) readily but did not find my father's which was a surprise although in retrospect I could remember that my father had said he was baptized at Kimpton (and it was there in the records in 1904). I also found the baptism for Edward my great grandfather in 1845, then his father John's baptism in 1798. Then back to 1767 for the baptism of Thomas - John's father. Thomas was baptized posthumously as his father died five months earlier and just two weeks apart from his son Thomas who was then six years old. Now that was a surprise as Grandpa had not mentioned that I am fairly sure. He had mentioned a number of baby deaths in Thomas' children and that had stuck in my mind. So probably he did not know that there had been two babies named Thomas.

Back to Joseph and the reward for buying the parish register fiche was discovering that Joseph Blake was of Andover as noted by the priest and not of the parish of Upper Clatford (Joanna was the daughter of Thomas King and baptized at Upper Clatford but more on Joanna later). One has to be quite careful with this Joseph Blake. There was a Joseph Blake in this time frame who was educated at Oxford and I knew that this was not my Joseph although they shared a similar time frame and location and eventually I discovered they had common ancestry several generations back.

I learn a little about Joseph from Thomas King's will in 1762:

In the Name of God Amen. I Tho[ma]s King of

Upp[er] Clatford in the county of Southampton, Farmer being sick and weak in

Body but of sound and perfect mind and memory do this twenty ninth day of September

in the year of our Lord one thousand seven Hundred and sixty two make and

ordain this my Last Will and Testament in manner following. ....And as for my temporal 

Estate I give and Bequeath in manner following

Item I give and Bequath to Mary Blake – daughter of John Blake of Abbotts

Ann malster one guinea Item to Tho[ma]s Blake son of Joseph Blake of

Upp[er] Clatford Six and thirty shillings Item to Ann Blake Daughter of the

said Joseph Blake Six and Thirty Shillings to be paid by my Executor

herein after named within one month after my decease All the rest of my

estate with Reall and personal goods Chattels stock and household there of what

nature or kind soever or thereever I give to my son in Law Joseph Blake

and I do  nominate and appoint the said Joseph Blake sole Executor of this

my Last Will and Testament. And so revoke all former Wills by me heretofore

made and declare this to be my Last Will and Testament in Witness thereof

I the said Thomas King have hereunto set my hand and seal the day

and year first above Written   The mark of  X Tho[ma]s King

Signed ......                                             

[signed] William Deo

[signed] Richard Gould

[signed] Jos[eph] Niends                                           

The 15^th Day of March 1763

Joseph Blake the Sole Executor named in the above written Will ....

Thomas only mentions one of his two grandchildren in the will. Thomas is an infant at the time of writing (the first Thomas who died in 1767). A number of people connect to this first Thomas even though they have his death date in 1767. Some have written to me and I have given them the correct linkage. I wonder if it is because he wants to remember both of his grand daughters and more on that towards the end of this story.

Thomas also only mentions his son in law although his daughter Joanna is living and will have three more children.  His daughter Mary was married to John Blake and she was buried at Abbots Ann. The memorial stone is very difficult to read and her burial was in February but the year is not distinct. However he didn't mention his daughter Joanna who was alive so not particularly illuminating. 

Thomas King was married to Mary Carter and the parents of Joseph were Thomas Blake and Ann Carter. Research on the Carter family has led me to Richard Carter and Elizabeth Musprett who married 4 Aug 1701 at Andover and baptized two daughters at Andover Mary 27 Feb 1711 and Ann 18 Nov 1713. Although the distance between Upper Clatford and Andover is short the Blake family lived at the north end of Andover closest to Penton Mewsey and one wonders how they all met in retrospect. John Blake was in Abbots Ann before he married Mary King although they married at Upper Clatford as well 15 Dec 1753. What prompted these two Blake males to marry the daughters of Thomas and Mary Carter at Upper Clatford?  John was older than Joseph; probably born around 1714 and likely the son of Robert Carter and Elizabeth Russell of Abbots Ann (formerly of Penton Mewsey and before that Andover!). 

Joseph was baptized 21 Oct 1730 at Andover the son of Thomas Blake and Ann Carter who were themselves married 8 Dec 1728 at Penton Mewsey. I have struggled with this set of marriage lines but now feel confident for reasons outlined earlier in my blog that indeed Joseph's father Thomas is the Thomas who married Ann Carter. In 1734 the infant Thomas Blake (son of Thomas and Ann Blake) and his mother Ann are buried at Penton Mewsey the 22 Dec 1734 and the 20 Dec 1734 respectively. The baptism of Thomas Blake (father of Joseph) was 4 May 1709 at Andover the son of Thomas Blake and Mary Spring and they were married 6 Nov 1708 at Andover and Thomas is the only child baptized to them. Thomas (father of Thomas) was buried 29 Jan 1714 at Andover and Mary (Spring) Blake was buried 2 Apr 1734 also at Andover. It is curious that Ann and Thomas were buried at Penton Mewsey but perhaps There is a Blake plot there although the parish registers do not go back this far unfortunately. Thomas (buried 1714) was baptized 21 Feb 1685 at Andover. His parents were John and Elizabeth Blake (Elizabeth's birth surname is unknown even after eight years of searching for it) and their marriage is not in the parish registers for Andover (likely they married around 1683/4 as their first child was baptized 6 Feb 1684 and buried 15 Feb 1684 at Andover (old calendar). John\s baptism was recorded by his father William 10 May 1649 in the Andover Parish Registers but this Blake family lived at Penton Mewsey. John was the second son of William Blake and Ann Hellier who were married 5 Sep 1644 at Andover. The older brother William remains unknown at this time but could he be the father of Robert Blake who married Elizabeth Russell at Andover 15 Jul 1694?

I had not thought of that before so is a new avenue to explore for the Blake family at Abbots Ann. 

Joseph died young at 37 years of age just  two weeks before his son Thomas who had been baptized 29 Mar 1761 at Upper Clatford. No mention of the cause of death for either of them but there were measles epidemics at this time in Upper Clatford as mentioned in the story on John Coleman. 

My ancestry including Joseph Blake:

1. Elizabeth BLAKE
2. Ernest Edward George BLAKE (b 2 Oct 1904) - Eastleigh Hampshire England
3. Samuel George Blake (b 10 Feb 1875) - Upper Clatford Hampshire England
4. Edward Blake (b 2 Jan 1845) - Upper Clatford Hampshire England
5. John BLAKE (b 25 Feb 1799) - Upper Clatford Hampshire England
6. Thomas BLAKE (b 25 Oct 1767) - Upper Clatford Hampshire England
7. Joseph BLAKE (b 21 Oct 1730) - Andover Hampshire England
8. Thomas BLAKE (b 4 May 1709) - Andover Hampshire England
9. Thomas BLAKE (b 21 Feb 1685) - Andover Hampshire England
10. John BLAKE (b 10 May 1649) - Andover Hampshire England
11. William BLAKE (b 9 Aug 1615) - Andover Hampshire England
12. William BLAKE (b c 1580s) - Andover Hampshire England
13. Richard BLAKE (b c 1550s) - Eastontown Hampshire England
14. William BLAKE (b c 1510s - 1520s) - Knights Enham Hampshire England
15. Nicholas BLAKE (b c 1490s) - Knights Enham Hampshire England
16. Richard BLAKE (husband of Jone who left a will in 1527 naming her children and his will of 1522) - Knights Enham Hampshire England
17. Robert BLAKE (left his will in 1521, he was elderly, possibly b c 1450s)  - Enham Hampshire England