Early Blake records in Cornwall from the OPC Cornwall website

Working on the St Just in Roseland parish records and the earliest baptism there is in 1546, twenty years earlier than Bodmin. The baptismal parish registers begin in 1558 at Bodmin and in 1538 at St Just in Roseland.

A rather interesting find that the Blake family is at St Just in Roseland and it is a large Blake family there. The Emigrants database showed that:

John Blake, a Breton, lived at Bodmin before 16 February 1525

Baptisms in Cornwall (OPC Cornwall website) up to 1599 total 33

Bodmin 7
St Mabyn 6
Whitstone 4
St Teath 4
 Illogan 3
St Minver 2
St Just in Roseland 1
Menheniot 1
St Breward 1
Botus Fleming 1
Kilhampton 1
St Germans 1
Padstow 1

You can see clustering in the area of Bodmin and above to the coast and then two clusters on the Devon border and two unclustered in western Cornwall. Can one surmise that the John Blake from Britanny (Breton) and coming to Bodmin prior to 16 Feb 1525 was the ancestor of the Blake family at Bodmin and area? Did he enter Cornwall at St Just in Roseland? That would help to account for the record at St Just in Roseland. The two clusters at the Devon border are perhaps the known Blake family in Devon.


Marriages up to 1599 (OPC Cornwall website) total  34 Males and 24 Females

Parishes for Blake male marriages
St Breock 10
Bodmin 4
Sheviock 2
Marhamchurch 2
Camborne 2
St Minver 2
St Columb Minor 2
Lanteglos by Camelford 2
St Breward 2
St Mabyn 2
Botus Fleming 1
Landulph 1
Gwinear 1
St Kew 1


Parishes for Blake female marriages
St Breock 9
St Minver 6
Bodmin 4
Enoder 2
Botus Fleming 1
Launceston, St Mary Magdalene 1
St Kew 1

Burials up to 1599 (OPC Cornwall website) total 86

St Breock 38
Bodmin 8
St Breward 5
Camborne 5
St Germans 4
St Minver 4
Sheviock 3
St Teath 3
Whitstone 3
St Columb Major 3
Illogan 2
St Just in Roseland 2
St Mabyn 2
Marhamchurch 2
St Austel 1
St Ewe 1

The same clustering is seen with the burials and I wonder why so many were buried at St Breock?

Fascinating what the old records bring to the light of day. Without the Emigrant's Database 1330 to 1550 I would not have been aware of the arrival of so many Blake emigrants to England. Can one find Blake in Cornwall prior to 1500?