Blake Newsletter
Table of Contents
1. Family of Theophilus Blake (Susan Osborne)
2. Blake family in Cornwall
3. England’s Immigrant Database 1330-1550
4. Blake Family of Galway
5. Blake yDNA
1. Family of Theophilus Blake submitted by Susan Osborne
Theophilus Blake (Bleak) is likely at least 20 years old when we find him and his wife, Margaret (thought to be Margaret Kennet) on indenture records in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Efforts to go beyond this point in his life to an earlier time and place have so far eluded all who have been researching this line.
Before we proceed with his story we first need to clear up a problem that exists with the research on his family line connections that began with our research and the research of several others in the early 1980’s when researchers incorrectly linked the line of Theophilus Blake of the Virginia’s to the parents of a family in Hampton, New Hampshire.
It begins with page 210 of a book that was written by Carleton E. Blake titled "Descendants of Jasper Blake, Emigrant from England, to Hampton, New Hampshire, ca. 1643, 1649-1979". The research on this family is printed in its entirety in this book in a section titled "The Descendants of Jasper Blake of Hampton, N.H." by Perley Derby, A Handwritten Manuscript dated 1879 on file at the Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts.
On page 210 of this book is documented the family of Samuel and Ann (Ceilly) Blake and their children who were living in Hampton, New Hampshire. In 1722, this couple gave birth to a son they named Theophilus Blake after Theophilus Cotton, the first minister of the First Congregational Church (Unitarian) of Hampton Falls (NH) that was organized in 1711. Theophilus' parents, Samuel and Ann (Cealy) Blake, were among the first petitioners and signers of the church covenant.
Samuel and Ann (Seally) Blake gave birth to 8 children. Only 2 of those children are known to have survived childhood, Samuel Blake, Jr and Thomas Blake and it is thought that their son named Theophilus did not live beyond childhood because nothing more is known of him.
On paper this APPEARS to be a perfect match for the family of our Theophilus Blake, but as recent yDNA tests have shown, the Theophilus Blake of Hampton, New Hampshire is from an entirely different family that shares the same surname of Blake and is not evenly closely related to the Theophilus Blake (Bleak) found on records in Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.
At the time of this writing, seven people representing the lines of descent of 4 of the children of Theophilus Blake (Bleak) of Bath County, Virginia have submitted yDNA tests at Family Tree DNA. The results of these tests are printed on a chart showing the results of others sharing the surname of Blake, including those who are descended from the family of the Blake’s of Hampton, New Hampshire.
These results are found at the following web link: https://www.familytreedna.com/public/blake/default.aspx?section=yresults . The results for the group of descendants of Theophilus Blake of Bath County, Virginia are listed in category C1, English Ancestry (2). The results are documented as having English ancestry although it is not currently known for sure if Theophilus immigrated from Northern Ireland, Scotland or England. The results of descent of those of the family lines of Hampton, New Hampshire are documented on this chart under F1 ENGLISH EAST ANGLIA (Norfolk) - INCLUDES BLAKES POSSIBLY DESCENDED FROM PETER BLAKE ..
2. Blake Family in Cornwall
Late July of 2014 I decided to work on the family trees of the Blake families in Cornwall. Unfortunately an accident to my back somewhat cancelled this work until I began again early in 2015. I extracted material for the Blake family around Landrake but was not seeing a set of trees that I could work with readily. I decided to move to Bodmin Cornwall and work around that area and I am still involved with that extraction. I hope to start displaying the information that I have found on the Cornwall Blake families. The mode of the display is still in my thought process. I do have subscriptions to Ancestry, Find My Past and My Heritage plus there is the ability to put trees up on Family Search. I will likely put them up on all sites.
3. England’s Immigrant Database 1330-1550 (http://www.englandsimmigrants.com/)
I see this particular set of documents from which the above database was constructed as perhaps the most meaningful for Blake research since I came across the Calendar of Patent Rolls a while ago. This new set of documents (blogged: http://kippeeb.blogspot.ca/2015/02/englands-immigrants-database-1330-1550.html) revealed a set of immigrants to England with the surname Blake in the time period mentioned. There appears to be 31 unique individuals but I still need to work on that material. They have come from Continental Europe and Ireland. They are found in various places in England (see blog). It was a John Blake who settled at Bodmin Cornwall before 16 Feb 1525. The parish registers begin early in Bodmin (marriages 1559, baptisms 1558, and burials 1558). An interesting time ahead with this database.
4. Blake Family of Galway
Finding in the Immigrants Database (above) a Richard Blake coming from Ireland to Salisbury, Wiltshire by 10 Jul 1440 was stunning to say the least. I felt compelled to finally begin a task I have thought about for a number of years. The extraction of the information that Marin J Blake published in his books on the Galway Blake family. At this time of writing I have now entered into Legacy Software the entire set of genealogical charts from Blake Family Records 1300 to 1600 A Chronological Catalogue with Copious Notes and Genealogies of many branches of the Blake Family which was published in London in 1902 by Elliot Stock, 62, Paternoster Row, E.C. I now must begin the long task of seeing if I can enhance this information (and find any possible errors) and eventually put this information up on websites. I do not know if this Richard is related to the Galway Blake family but I do need to understand Galway Blake family in Ireland. Plus I always planned to work on the Blake families of Ireland who are known to descend from other Blake families as well as the Galway Blake.
5. Blake yDNA Study
Susan has mentioned the Blake yDNA study in her article on Theophilus Blake and I will mention a few more items.
Project Statistics
Combined Gedcoms uploaded 13
Distinct mtDNA haplogroups 25
Distinct yDNA haplogroups 11
Family Finder 21
Paternal Ancestor Information 61
Total Members 92
Unreturned Kits 5
This is an extraction of some of the Project Statistics. With only 13 Gedcoms it is not really possible to look at everyone’s lines in the study. The mtDNA results are not overly helpful in yDNA surname studies but do give one an opportunity to look at the deep ancestry of your mother’s mother’s …. line which could be helpful. There are 11 distinct yDNA haplogroups which is expected given the stated assumption on my part that Blake is a surname that has a number of founders. The Family Finder is, to my way of thinking, the way forward for any female Blake looking at her Blake line and is also helpful for males looking at cousin relationships on the Blake line. Lacking paternal ancestor (Blake) information for 31 members is problematic for a yDNA study.
Thank you to Susan Osborne for her article on Theophilus Blake. Any other submissions greatly welcomed. Please submit to kippeeb@rogers.com.
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