I think the one thing I have learned since I first started into surname research back in 2007 was that there is always a purpose to producing a chart and in this case to link the Somerset Blake family to the Blake family of Calne. Both of these charts I have mentioned do that and personally I think that the Somerset Blake lines are the same family. But one notes in this chart above that they do connect William Blake married to Avice Ripley to William Blake of Enham son of Nicholas Blake of Enham. Nicholas' mother was Jone (?) Blake who left her will stating the names of her sons (Robert and Nicholas) and daughter (Elizabeth (Blake) Mylne). She only names her husband as Mr. Blake. A Richard Blake leaves his will in 1522 where he names his children as Robert and Nichi and mentions a daughter but does not name her. This Richard is named in his father Robert Blake's will of 1521. So a bit of a conundrum one might say which I have puzzled through these past years.
Today, when time permits, I will look at this chart based on the known material that has emerged as the Archives put more and more online and various other sets of information are coming forward out of the Church records that are also being placed into the county archives. It is an exciting time actually and the date at the top of this chart has an unknown Blake who had lived at Whiteparish Wiltshire coming to Hampshire in 1471. It is an interesting addition to the story. Whiteparish does exist and is a parish in the hundred of Frustfield 7.5 miles SE of Salisbury, 3 miles south of West Dean Railway.
I will recreate this portion of the Chart just so that it can be read online without squinting. One notes that this Chart is also attached to the Blake family at Calne (see Part 1).
Part 2 of the Blake Family Chart at the Blake Museum begins with the line quoted above which lends to the thought that this Chart was refining something from earlier. At least that was my impression. An unknown Blake of Whiteparish Wiltshire (just south of Salisbury which does have a rather interesting aside where there was a Richard Blake listed on the 1330-1550 Emigrants' Database and mentioned earlier in a blog). That Richard Blake has two dates of arrival 1440 and 1441 at Salisbury. The unnamed Blake in the chart dies by 1471 leaving two sons - William and Robert (by his first wife, unknown). The interesting part of this is a Robert Blake of Enham who leaves his will in 1521 although he does name a William Blake he does not say he is his brother and he names his sons as Richard lives at ?, Robert lives at Enham and Thomas (at Rawkyns in the will but not on this chart). Now this Richard on the Emigrants' database is listed as Irish but there was quite a bit of movement between England and Ireland in this time frame and I am not seeing the original record. The Calendar of Patent Rolls does show these movements back and forth but there are no entries that include Blake and Salisbury in this time frame.
Also noting that the Blake-Bellet family has been selected which was likely taken from the Visitation of Surrey 1662-8 (Blague alias Blake) (Page 12, [D. 15, fo. 77]. Francis E Blake of Boston, Massachusetts, USA compiled a book published in Boston 1898 titled: "Increase Blake of Boston, his ancestors and descendants, with a full account of William Blake of Dorchester and his five children. In his chapter "The Family in England" he mentions" his correspondence with Edward J Blake, Esq., of Crewkerne, Somerset, England (a descendant of John Blake, a brother of our William of Pitminster)" (Page 9-10). I am curious if the author of the Blake Family Chart at the Blake Museum is Edward J Blake. Both of these men agreed that all of Horatio Gates Somerby's work had to be carefully checked for errors. So once again one is left to assume that Horatio created a scenario that was then dissected by genealogists ever since it was taken out of the private collection of a Blake family that had it created and into the public forum in 1881. Interesting really but the timing is so excellent and I shall check when Edward J Blake died (an Edward J Blake died Dec quarter 1936 at the age of 93 years in Chard Registration District (includes Crewkerne) (Volume 5c, page 362; FreeBMD accessed 12 Mar 2024)). At the time of the correspondence he must have been in his mid 40s, interesting really.
The time frame for the Blake-Bellet marriage would be interesting to attempt to calculate. I will leave that for my research day on Wednesday and continue looking at this chart. The time frame for Robert Blake and Avis (Wallop) (Malwyn) Blake is known at Quemberford where he had a fulling mill.
Teatime finished. Latin lesson completed and on to the cleaning of the basement. My routine keeps me grounded for sure as I barrel forward with the books and must keep the Blake Newsletter for 1st April on the back-burner of my brain so that I stop early enough towards the end of the month to complete it in a timely fashion.
On to breakfast; the best meal of the day for sure. Perhaps that is why I repeat the same day after day or am I just lazy. Not sure.
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