Ancestors of Richard R. Wilson and Catherine G. Stevens:Information about Adam Blackman
Rev. Adam Blackman (b. Abt. June 7, 1596, d. September 7, 1665)
Notes for Adam Blackman:
From Julie Helen Otto Web Posting, Blackman Family Genealogy Forum, http://www.genforum.com/blackman/messages/296.html (posted 12/16/98):
Rev. Adam Blackman or Blakeman (he spelled it however it was on the check, as all people did until relatively recently) was baptized at Gnosall (pronounced rather like AH-sawl), Staffordshire, 10 June 1596, son of John Blakeman (7 July 1626: "Mr. John Blakeman, scholemaster, buried") and his wife Thomasine ---- (28 July 1643:"Thomasin Blakeman, wid[ow], buried").I would not be surprised if John was son of a John Blakeman, bur. Gnosall 17 Nov. 1588. A JB had m. Church Eaton, Staffordshire (the next parish) 15 Jan. 1564/5 ---- Starkye of Eyton, which is actually part of Gnosall; a John and Johane Blakeman were baptizing (and burying) children at Gnosall from at least 1572 (when the Gnosall register starts), and a Johane Blakemon, wid[ow], was buried at Gnosall 22 April 1615.I refer to Percy W.L. Adams, ed., DEANERY OF ECCLESHALL: GNOSALL PARISH REGISTER (Staffordshire Parish Registers Society, 1922), pp. 39 (baptism of "Addame" Blakeman), 86 (burial of John Blakeman), 112 (burial of widow Thomasine), 26 (burial of the elder John), 70 (burial of widow Johane).The personal name "Thomasine" was very, very popular in late Elizabethan Gnosall; even "Adam" appears in several other families.
Adam Blackman/Blakeman was a commoner from Staffordshire, matriculated 23 May 1617 at Christ Church, Oxford, giving his age as 19, and took his B.A. 12 Feb. 1617/8. He was the curate at Great Bowden, Leicestershire, from 1624-1628; this parish had ties with Christ Church, Oxford.He appears at Stratford in 1639.No doubt it would repay our efforts to check ecclesiastical court records, etc., to track his church career, but these are generally things which have not been microfilmed and still must be examined in England.Also, not all the registers for relevant parishes have been microfilmed.
Now: for Rev. Adam Blackman's wife Jane; they must have been married sometime in the 1620s.
A guiding principle in traditional society has been the belief that in marriage, "the two shall become one flesh." Our ancestors took this Biblical text literally; since men were considered heads of household, their wives' identity was subsumed in theirs.Kin of one spouse were assumed to become kin of the other in the same degree. Published genealogies are full of misidentifications from later times, when the "nuclear family" has been the norm. The 1662 will of John2 Blackman, son of Adam & Jane, calls Moses Wheeler (c. 1598-1698) of Stratford "uncle," but it doesn't necessarily follow from this that John's mother Jane must be a Wheeler.Moses could be related by blood or marriage to John's wife Dorothy Smith, or to any of John's or Dorothy's parents. See my post of 15 Aug. 1998 to this Blackman forum, and another post of similar date to the Blakeman forum, which was a reply to a post on "Jane Wheller."[NOTE:Text of this web posting is given below.](Other sources happily call Rev. Adam's wife Jane Hawley, because in his will Rev. Blackman named "Brother [Joseph] Hawley", "Brother [Richard] Booth" and "Brother [Philip] Groves" as overseers of the estate.Probably it was because they were all members of the church and were thus brothers in Christ.)
So until real time and real money are spent on real sources in England, she's Jane ----!
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From Julie Helen Otto Web Posting, Blackman Family Genealogy Forum, http://www.genforum.com/blackman/messages/127.html (posted 8/15/98):
Rev. Adam Blackman (1596-1665). For the baptism in Gnosall, Staffordshire on 10 June 1596, of "Addame", son of John Blakeman (the village "scholemaster", bur. 7 July 1626) and Thomasine ---- (bur. 28 July 1643), see Percy W.L. Adams, ed., Staffordshire Parish Register Society, Parish Register Series, 1922, p. 45 (for parents' deaths, see same, pp. 86, 112).
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From History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield [CT], compiled and edited by Donald Lines Jacobus (1930) (repr. with 1943 supp., Genealogical Pub. Co., Inc., Baltimore, MD 1991), Vol. 1, p. 81:
Blackman, (Rev.) Adam.
The surname was more generally Blakeman in the early generations.
From co. Stafford, matriculated at Christ's Church [Christ Church], Oxford, 28 May 1617 in 19 yr.; preached in cos. Leicester and Derby; came over abt. 1638, and was a short time at Guilford [CT].First minister at Stratford, 1640, where he d. 7 Sept. 1665.
Will 16 Mar. 1664/5. . .
Inv. [Inventory] 2 Sept. 1665.
Will of Jane Blackman 20 Sept. 1671 . . . Inv. 23 Jan. 1673 [1673/4].
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From Hinman, Royal R., Connecticut Puritan Settlers, Press of Case, Tiffany and Company. Hartford, 1852, p. 244 (repr. online by genealogylibrary.com -- http://www.familytreemaker.com/_glc_/3448/):
BLACKMAN, BLAKEMAN, REV. ADAM, was b. in Staffordshire, England--educated at Oxford University.His name is spelled Blakeman, at the time he graduated at College, and is occasionally so spelt on the Conn't records.He was Episcopally ordained in England, and preached at Leicester, and in Derbyshire in England; he came early to N. England, and preached for a time at Scituate, in Mass., and removed from thence to Stratford, Conn., where he was installed the first minister in Stratford, in 1640.He was a man of eminent piety, and held an exalted rank with the ministers of his day in Conn't.He was appointed a committee with Mr. Ludlow, and Gov. Hopkins, to settle the line at Uncoway, in Fairfield County, by the General Court, and was otherwise favorably noticed by the General Court.His wife was Jane; he was married before he came to N. England; his children were Samuel, James, John, Deliverance, Benj'n, and Tho's, d. young, and one or more daughters. Sam'l and James m. daughters of Moses Wheeler of Stratford.Tradition says his son Deliverance was the first child he had born in this country, and that his name was given him, for the happy deliverance of the family from British persecution.Dr. Trumbull says "he was followed by a number of the faithful into this country, to whom he was so dear, that they said to him in the language of Ruth," "Entreat us not to leave thee, for whither thou goest, we will go; thy people shall be our people, and thy God our God."He d. at Stratford in 1665, and his wife Jane survived him.
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Rev. Adam Blackman was first minister of Stratford, Conn.(Register of the Conn. Society of the Colonial Dames of America, p. 200 -- lists ministers of parishes:"Rev. Adam Blackman, Stratford, 1640-1665.")
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From Compendium of American Genealogy:The Genealogical Encyclopedia of the First Families of America,(pub. Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, MD (7 vol.); CD ver.:Broderbund Software, c. 1997), "Electronic," Vol. III, p. 649 (also Vol. VI, p. 757):
"BLAKEMAN, Rev. Adam, D.D.(1598 [sic] - 1665), ed. Christ Coll., Eng.; established 1st ch. at Stratford, and was one of the first settlers there, 1640."
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From John Farmer, A Genealogical Register of the First Settlers of New-England (orig. pub'd 1829 Lancaster, MA; repr. w/addn's & corrections by Samuel G. Drake, NEH&GS Reg., Vol. 1, No. 2, April 1847); this repr. Genealogical Pub. Co. (Baltimore) 1983), p. 34:"ADAM BLACKMAN, minister of Stratford, Conn. [N.B.: erron. pub'd as Strafford, CT, in 1829 ed.; corrected 1847], preached a short time at Scituate, came early to N. E. and died in 1665."
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From Julie Helen Otto (NEHGS Staff Member), Web Posting, Blackman Family Genealogy Forum, http://www.genforum.com/blackman/messages/127.html (posted 8/15/98, full text):
Actually not all Blackmans in the US derive from Rev. Adam Blackman/Blakeman (1596-1665). In New England alone (I have not dealt with those in the mid-Atlantic or South, NE is as much as I can handle) there are at least three pre-1700 progenitors who have NO KNOWN connection to each other. These are:
1. Rev. Adam Blackman (1596-1665). For the baptism in Gnosall, Staffordshire on 10 June 1596, of "Addame", son of John Blakeman (the village "scholemaster", bur. 7 July 1626) and Thomasine ---- (bur. 28 July 1643), see Percy W.L. Adams, ed., Staffordshire Parish Register Society, Parish Register Series, 1922, p. 45 (for parents' deaths, see same, pp. 86, 112). His wife was Jane ----, d. by 21 Jan. 1673/4 (NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING FROM HER OWN TIME PROVES THAT SHE WAS A WHEELER, A HAWLEY, OR ANYTHING ELSE! SORRY, BUT WITH COMPUTERS AND DATABASES, ERRORS AND ASSUMPTIONS FROM THE 19TH CENTURY ARE HAPPILY COPIED AND COPIED FOR ALL THE WORLD TO COPY OVER AGAIN!!!!) (whew!) A&J were at Stratford, in Fairfield in western Conn. The best published work on Rev. Adam, so far, is still Donald Lines Jacobus, History and Genealogies of the Families of Old Fairfield, Conn. (1930-32, repr. 1976 by Gen. Pub. Co. of Baltimore), vol. 1, pp. 84-87..Descendants tend to move north and (in all directions) west. Note: my mother's family has spelled it BLACKMAN for at least 200 yrs so if your ancestors spelled it BLAKEMAN no slight is intended; at least once Rev. Adam spelled it BLAKMAN... :)
NOTE - You will see a statement in H.B. Plumb's 1896 work on descendants of John Blackman of Dorchester (#2) below) that a Rev. Benjamin Blackman (c1645-1689) was a separate immigrant to New England. No!Benjamin was Rev. Adam Blackman's youngest son (the only one of five boys who went for a college education, Harvard class of 1663) who (after trying mercantile interests at New Haven and applying, unsuccessfully? for a job as Stratford schoolmaster 1670) married a Boston girl, Rebecca Scottow, in 1675, thereafter hung out in Malden, Mass. awhile (as assistant minister to Rev. Michael Wigglesworth) and near Scarborough, Maine where his father-in-law Joshua Scottow had big interests; served as minister in that area ca. 1682-83 but later appar. left the ministry since Maine court recs. occasionally call him "Capt.". He's buried in Kings Chapel Cem., Boston, but Sibley missed him when compiling the otherwise fine sketch in "Sibley's Harvard Grads." vol. 2. Note that Benjamin Blackman DAUGHTERED OUT - his only heir was dau. Rebecca (Blackman) Goodwill who appar. was living in Boston 1747, wife of Thomas Goodwill (d. 1749) of the North End, a shipbuilder. SO IF YOUR NAME IS BLACKMAN, YOU CAN RULE OUT REV. BENJAMIN BLACKMAN!!
Adam's sons John Blackman (d. 1662) and James Blackman (d. 1689, husband of (1) the daughter, dc 1665?, of Mary [---] [stiles] Clarke, and (2) Miriam Wheeler, d. 1693, later wife of Edward Groome) are the only two who left surviving male issue with descendants named Blackman. A silly error from the 1800s says that James had his "will probate 1689 and m. 1708 Bathsheba Pierson" (nice work!!). Bathsheba was actually wife of his son Adam, b. 1684.Rev. Adam & Jane had two other sons, Samuel d. 1668 of Stratfield, who DAUGHTERED OUT and Deliverance c. 1639-1702 later of Stonington, Conn., whose only known child Adam, bp. 1687, must have been the soldier whose will 1710 mentions various cousins but NO WIFE OR CHILDREN. HENCE TODAY's BLACKMANS CAN RULE OUT SAMUEL AND DELIVERANCE AS WELL.
ANOTHER NOTE: The Adam Blackman who married Bathsheba Pierson, dau. of Stephen of Derby, Conn., in 1708 is son of James; he was b. 1684. The Adam Blackman who married Ruth Beecher in 1719 is said by many copyists to be Deliverance's son. Doncha believe it. He must be the son of Joseph3 (John2, Adam1) who chose older bro. Joseph Jr. as his guardian in 1706, per Fairfield Probate. Only kids 14-21 could choose a guardian, thus he was b. ca. 1685-92. (I think that Rev. Samuel Orcutt, following notes of Rev. B.L. Swan, confused the children of these two Adams in his 1886 history of Stratford. It's not 1886 any more and it's time this stuff started to straighten out.
2. John Blackman (d. Dorchester, Mass. 28 April 1675) (per Dorchester VRs to 1825, Boston Rec. Comm. vol. 21, p. 28) & wife Sarah ----. NO KNOWN RELATION TO REV. ADAM BLACKMAN (whose bro. John is not known to have left England). JOHN OF DORCHESTER IS NOT THE SAME AS JOHN BLACKMAN (d. 1662) OF STRATFORD, SON OF REV. ADAM BLACKMAN. Descendants were (esp.) at Dorchester, Mass. and its offshoots Stoughton/Canton, Mass.; branches went early to Little Compton, R.I. and Lebanon, Conn. (which luckily is in a different part of the state from Stratford; things do get hairy however when people move to NY State since there were, and are, no radioactive barriers that forbid people of the same surname but different descents from living in the same town).
3. Peter Blackman of North Yarmouth, Maine. He is an obscure fellow who was at North Yarmouth oh say 1685. His only son Thomas Blackman deeded at Boston in 1708 and in 1713 very inconsiderately was married at Stoughton. I doubt that there was a connection between John of Dorchester and Peter of North Yarmouth since the families don't (so far as I've seen) deed together or mention each other or, in earlier generations, even use the same male first names (their female names tended toward the generic ones ALL families used). I've seen his descendants on the South Shore (esp. such places as Taunton, Bridgewater etc.) and in one case by the 1760s in Middletown, Conn. but since these folks are not in my line have not done as much as on Rev. Adam Blackman.
More About Adam Blackman:
Baptism: June 10, 1596, Gnosall, Staffordshire, England.595
Education: May 28, 1617, Matriculated, Christ Church College, Oxford, England.596
Emigration: Abt. 1638, from England to America.597
Occupation: 1640, First minister at Stratford.597
Ordination: Bef. 1638, preached in counties Leicester and Derby.598
Will: March 16, 1664/65, Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut.599
More About Adam Blackman and Jane:
Marriage: WFT Est. 1616-1646600, 601
Children of Adam Blackman and Jane are:
- +John Blackman, b., Staffordshire, England602, d. Bef. November 26, 1662, Stratford, Fairfield Co., Connecticut603.