This is the citation for this particular set of documents. England’s Immigrants 1330 – 1550 (www.englandsimmigrants.com, version 1.0, 15 February 2015).
In my search last Thursday I found:
Surname Forename Nationality Day Month Year Residence
Blake John Breton bef 16 Feb 1525 Cornwall, Bodmin
Blake William Breton 4 Apr 1524 Devon, Morchard Bishop
Fortunately the arrival of these two individuals from Breton is just 13 and 12 years before the commencement of Parish Registers in England. The records for Bodmin, Cornwall commenced in 1558 and are available at the Church of the Latter Day Saints (as well as the Cornwall Record Office) in their original form as fiche (the Online Parish Clerk (OPC) system is very active in Cornwall (https://cornwall-opc-database.org/home/) and these records are available online). The records for Morchard Bishop, Devon commenced in 1660 so are not quite as handy for looking at this ancient line in Morchard Bishop, Devon.
Initially (once I completed the transcription of the PCC wills for the BLAKE families in Cornwall) I had looked at the BLAKE families in western Cornwall hoping to find a centre that led me back in time. Shortly thereafter and finding that centering on a particular area was not working, I became aware of the England Immigrants Database. After adding up all of the entries for baptism, marriage and burial in the various parishes, I then moved to the Bodmin area and located the earliest records and then constructed trees for the families through the generations as far down as was possible using the Parish Registers and the Census from 1841 on. I tend to not work much beyond the time period when my grandparents were born (1872 to 1886) and in this case I brought records down to 1881 where I was able to do so in the different family lines that emerged from the records (thus maintaining a goodly period of privacy for living descendants of the BLAKE family in Cornwall).
My Legacy BLAKE families file for Cornwall now stands at 4,848 individuals and 1540 marriages between the earliest records and the 1881 census. Because John BLAKE, a Breton, came to Bodmin as noted in the England's Immigrant Database, I selected Bodmin as my starting point. I also included St Just in Roseland because that was the earliest record in the OPC records.
Interestingly enough St Just in Roseland is on the south coast of Cornwall opposite the French coastline. The large isthmus on which the town is located juts into beautiful Falmouth Bay to the north-east of the city of Falmouth. The tidal inlet which faces the small village of St Just in Roseland is called Carrick Roads.
I produced this map on a standard search looking for the distance between Breton, France and Falmouth, Cornwall but there does not appear to be an ability to cite the creator.
Knowing that fishermen made it all the way to the North American continent before 1500 it is not hard to visualize an inhabitant of Breton traveling north to Cornwall in the early 1500s.
The history of Breton is also rather revealing. During the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain, Brittonic speakers in Devon and Cornwall fled to north western France (3rd to the 9th century) ("Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, John Koch, 2005, p. 275). The rise of the Huguenots in Breton and the subsequent severe persecution (first French martyr, Jean Valliere burned at the stake in Paris in August 1523) may have influenced the trek northward in the 1520s. Indeed John BLAKE may well have been returning to Cornwall after many centuries absence! As more is discovered about the Bretons, it may yet be possible to determine if this individual was from an earlier Cornish line. However, he did come with a rather interesting surname "BLAKE."
The surname BLAKE is not prominent in France in that spelling. I mentioned Richard Le BLAK, a merchant at Rouen, Normandy, who received a market licence in 1274 and it would appear from early records that he did indeed come to England, resided in Berkshire for a period of time but that is another story and not related, as far as I am able to ascertain, to the story of John BLAKE who was in Bodmin, Cornwall before the 16 Feb 1525.
The earliest record for BLAKE found in the OPC registers for Cornwall was the baptism of Joachim BLAKE 13 Jul 1546 at St Just in Roseland son of a James BLAKE. The next records for St Just in Roseland commence in 1629 and continue to 1856 for the BLAKE family there. 1546 is 21 years after the Immigrants Database notes that a John BLAKE arrived in Bodmin, Cornwall before 16 Feb 1525. Searching the OPC registers for Cornwall I located 144 records for BLAKE commencing in 1565 until 1897. I began my study looking at the BLAKE family in Bodmin. The first baptism was for a William BLAKE baptized 29 Jul 1565 son of John BLAKE. I did not find any further children baptized at Bodmin by a John BLAKE in this time frame.
The next BLAKE records of interest at Bodmin were a set of baptisms between 1582 and 1587 (the next set of baptisms commenced 1626). In total six children were baptized:
Katherin BLAKE daughter of Thomas BLAKE baptized 4 May 1582
Roger BLAKE son of Robart BLAKE baptized 21 Oct 1582
William BLAKE son of Thomas BLAKE baptized 7 Jun 1583
William BLAKE son of Thomas BLAKE baptized 3 Jul 1584
Margerye BLAKE daughter of Thomas BLAKE baptized 14 Dec 1585
Ptolomeus BLAKE son of William BLAKE baptized 30 Nov 1587
Marriages at Bodmin in this time period:
Robert BLAKE married Kathren Cocke 28 May 1581
John BLAKE married Margrett Maye 18 Nov 1588
Burials at Bodmin in this time period:
William BLAKE 27 Jun 1582, son of Thomas BLAKE
William BLAKE 16 Nov 1583, son of Thomas BLAKE
Agnes BLAKE 4 Dec 1590 daughter of Digorie BLAKE
Jane BLAKE 27 Dec 1591
Agnes BLAKE 30 Jul 1592 wife of Richard
Richard BLAKE 18 Mar 1592
Thomas BLAKE 6 May 1595, residence Bodenett
Jane BLAKE alias Capper 16 May 1596
This second map of Cornwall looks at the burials pre-1600 for the BLAKE family:
The name Digorie BLAKE then sent me off on a tangent looking at this interesting forename and I discovered a Digory BLAKE buried 19 Nov 1676 at Bodmin son of William BLAKE. The next record was for a Deggory BLAKE who married Joane Mata alias Tregere 18 Jul 1629 at St Just in Roseland and they were buried there 2 Aug 1662 and 14 Apr 1670 respectively. They baptized six children at St Just in Roseland:
Thomas BLAKE baptized 8 Nov 1629
Eleanour BLAKE baptized 24 Jun 1632, married Alexander Parrat 7 Apr 1658 (St Just in Roseland)
Blanch BLAKE baptized 7 May 1635
Henry BLAKE baptized 4 Feb 1637, married Peternell Jennings 2 Oct 1666 (St Just in Roseland), buried 23 Nov 1712 (Peternell buried 26 Nov 1702), both at St Just in Roseland. They baptized six children at St Just in Roseland (below)
Matthyas BLAKE baptized 28 Feb 1640
Elizabeth BLAKE baptized 1 Dec 1644, married Henry Wilton 6 Sep 1664 St Just in Roseland
Henry BLAKE and Peternell Jennings baptized the following children at St Just in Roseland:
Henry BLAKE (baptism not located), married Jane Sharrocke 11 Feb 1699 (St Just in Roseland) and they baptized five children at St Just in Roseland (below)
Robart BLAKE baptized 14 Sep 1667
Digory BLAKE baptized 14 Sep 1667, buried 28 Sep 1678 (St Just in Roseland)
Julian BLAKE baptized 16 Oct 1669, buried 15 Feb 1676 (St Just in Roseland)
Edward BLAKE baptized 29 Mar 1673
Joel BLAKE baptized 13 Jan 1675, buried 23 Jul 1696 (St Just in Roseland)
Henry BLAKE and Jane Sharrocks baptized the following children at St Just in Roseland:
Edward BLAKE baptized 11 Jan 1700, married Mary Blamy 18 May 1718 (St Just in Roseland) and they baptized nine children at St Just in Roseland, Edward was buried 15 Feb 1762, Mary was buried 18 Feb 1778 both at St Just in Roseland
John BLAKE baptized 22 Nov 1702, buried 6 Dec 1719 (St Just in Roseland)
Henry BLAKE baptized 14 Nov 1705, buried 21 Nov 1705 (St Just in Roseland)
Henry BLAKE baptized 2 Jan 1707
Jane BLAKE baptized 16 Apr 1710, buried 22 Dec 1730 (St Just in Roseland)
Interesting to find that the name Digory/Deggory helped to link the Bodmin BLAKE family to the St Just in Roseland BLAKE family.
One might ask at this point why indeed was I so interested in the Cornwall BLAKE family? Of interest, the BLAKE family in Cornwall is there from the beginning of the parish registers. I am querying are they a unique founder in the British Isles? That is really the rationale for this exercise to prove that there were a number of ancient founding lines of BLAKE in the British Isles that are unconnected. Continuing in that vein of thought, I would also like to prove that these lines are descendant of both immigrant BLAKE lines as exposed in the Britain's Immigrant Database (mentioned above) and of ancient lines in the British Isles that took on the BLAKE surname. Why they took on the BLAKE surname is an interesting query that especially catches my notice as my own line at Upper Clatford/Andover/PentonMewsey/Knights Enham is, as a result of yDNA testing, ancient to the British Isles dating back thousands of years so they have, in the late 1200s/early1300s taken on the surname BLAKE and why did they do that? Can I find that answer for my own line and also discover the descendants of the BLAKE immigrants (at least 31 distinct lines) who came to England in the 1330s to 1550s as listed in the Immigrants Database. Along with that can I stimulate more interest in the BLAKE yDNA study (FT DNA) which has become somewhat stagnated at around 200 members and really needs thousands to learn more about the BLAKE family and its origins.
Returning to Edward BLAKE and his wife Mary Blamy and their nine children baptized at St Just in Roseland:
Mary BLAKE baptized 9 Mar 1720, married Robert Jenkin 9 Oct 1742 (St Just in Roseland)
Edward BLAKE baptized 10 Oct 1723, buried 27 Aug 1761 (St Just in Roseland)
John BLAKE baptized 28 Aug 1726
Jane BLAKE baptized 11 Aug 1728
Edward BLAKE baptized 9 Jan 1731, buried 20 Apr 1759 (St Just in Roseland)
Joel BLAKE baptized 5 May 1734
Jane BLAKE baptized 4 Apr 1737, married George Condy 2 Nov 1759 (St Just in Roseland)
Priscilla BLAKE baptized 25 Feb 1738, married 13 Oct 1763 William Morton (St Just in Roseland)
Elizabeth BLAKE baptized 25 Oct 1741, married Edward Kitchen Harris 18 Feb 1762 (St Just in Roseland)
This BLAKE line appears to have daughtered out and I do not follow the daughter's lines (true of my own case). Two of my four brothers have tested our line but they do not have sons (indeed both of my parent's are the last of their yDNA line and mtDNA line as no BLAKE grandsons and none of the granddaughters carrying my mother's mtDNA have daughters). In 2011 this was what inspired me to take on the BLAKE one-name study in order that this ancient line of the British Isles would be recorded. My Pincombe study (my mother's surname) was my first study in 2007 and it was more curiosity about this unusual (to me) surname.
In my next post I will continue looking at the BLAKE lines around Bodmin as one can see from the two inserted maps that there were a substantial number of records in this area back through the 1500s.
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