Re: Alexander & Agnes Blacksher update 1732
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In reply to:
Alexander & Agnes Blacksher update 1732
8/07/00
There seems to have always been a
"tradition" that the Blackshear familyname originated in Germany or had some interface to German origins.Thisperhaps came as a result of comments within a book written about GeneralDavid Blackshear of Georgia. The following comments taken from the book"Blacksheariana" clarifies that the
family name did originate from Englandand explains how the "German" tradition came to be........
The book "Blacksheariana" from which many sources of information havecome, dealt extensively with the origin of the Blackshear name andtraditions that it might have originated in either theNetherlands orGermany.The author of this volume documents statements from genealogistsfrom both Netherlands and Germany who state emphatically that the name wasnot derived from the histories
of those countries. With respect to theorigin of the James Blackshear who was born in 1732, this history isgiven.
The "German" family tradition, probably is based on association andlocation.No foreign research on de Graffenried, John Martin Franck,(Frank), or Philip Mueller (Miller) was undertaken.
References in American historical and genealogical books are accepted.The following information is from those sources:
Baron Christopher de Graffenried, a Swiss nobleman and adventurer,was granted land at the confluence of the Trent and
Neuse rivers in NorthCarolina.He was also granted expense money, the condition being that hetake his colonists from the Palatines who had fled to England from theirGerman homes.He hired three
ships, two for transporting the Palatinesand one for his own personal aides who came from Berne, Switzerland.
John Martin Franck, a German BUT NOT FROM THE PALATINATE, came toAmerica in 1709, on the same ship with Philip Mueller and his family, whowere from the Palatinate section of Germany.Franck,
then a maturescholar of 27 years of age, fell in love with Jacob Mueller's youngdaughter, Civilla, (sometimes listed as Sevil), she was but 17 years ofage and too young for marriage, so we have a
case of the old love story,"he waited for her".Among their issue was a daughter, Catherine, whomarried first, Hardy Bush and had issue; after the death of Bush,Catherine married James Blackshear.
The location of the Franck settlementwas quite near to the location of the Alexander Blackshear settlement, afew miles from New Berne, (now Newbern, N.C.) the Blackshear-Franck community was then known as "New Germany."
No documentation, either foreign or American could be found whichconnected James Blackshear with the de Graffenried party or with theimmigrant Palatines.
*It is documented that James Blackshear was the son of Agnes and Alexander Blackshear who came to Craven County, N.C., from Delaware between the years 1740-1747.Careful research failed to disclose any
other James Blackshear, contemporaneously, or in that locality.
It seems to be logical to conclude that the "German" tradition wasstarted from the tales heard about the German family
connections, locatedat New Germany on the Trent River in Craven County, N.C., rather than fromthe Blackshears who moved into that county some 30 or more years after thearrival of the de Graffenried
party.Catherine and her parentsundoubtedly spoke the German language in their homes, their children andgrandchildren would therefore have been familiar with it, and spoke it onoccasion, and their stories to their descendants could very well beremembered incorrectly, giving rise to traditions which were misapplied."
Research made AFTER the S.F. Miller book, "Memoirs of General David
Blackshear" were printed, have definitely proved that documentation ispreferable to family tradition.
* - A book titled "One Dozen Pre-Revolutionary War Families" was found by Leon Blackshear in the Jonesboro,Arkansas library.Page 38 of this book has an entry
"Another German cluster of immigrants landed at New Bern in 1732, among whom were John Martin Franks, James Blackshear and Philip Miller."There is some probability that the "James" referred to here is that same James referred to in Blacksheariana as being born in 1735 and was simply included here in the "1732" referencebecause of the association with and marriage to the daughter of John Martin Frank who was born in 1682 andcame to America about 1710 and lived in and died in Craven County in 1745.
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I personally subscribe to the view that the belief in the German origin came from the family traditions only and is not documented.(RCB)
More Replies:
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Re: Alexander & Agnes Blacksher update 1732
John Blackshire Jr 9/03/00
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James I. Blackshear, b.1839 AL d.19?? TX
9/14/00
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Re: James I. Blackshear, b.1839 AL d.19?? TX
John Blackshire Jr 12/21/00
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Re: James I. Blackshear, b.1839 AL d.19?? TX
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James I. Blackshear, b.1839 AL d.19?? TX