John Blalocks of 1700's
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In reply to:
Re: William Blalock, father of Thomas, Sr. b. 1754
Linda schlenker 9/27/09
Linda: Excuse please - I did mean Wilkes Co.,GA, but that is the one thing in my notes that I did take from another researcher. Of course, I have taken lots of information from Mr. Ernest Blalock whose kinfolk Mr. Burch Blalock deceased Register of Deeds of Caswell Co. gathered much information in the 1940's. However, I have gone to every county and read most of the original records. They apparently did no work in Johnston Co. (Wake Co. was created from Johnston, Orange and Cumberland Cos. in 1771). Since we can be sure that the elder Millington Blalock was related I researched there to see if I could get more info. and it was very revealing.John and his wife Sarah received a land grant there in 1743 bordering the "Neuce R." when it was still Craven Co. - Craven went from the coast to the northwest - just as Granville Co. had no western borders until the latter part of the 1700's. There is no record that they moved there until 1752. It is very clear that John's wife was Sarah, and there are numerous deed signings by John and one record states that he and his sons built a road from his mill where the three prongs of Barton Creek come together to the Neuse all the way to Lick Creek which was in Orange Co. by that time but currently eastern Durham Co. near the northwestern Wake border.This is just below the Granville Co. border.John's son Lewis was a Chain carrier in two records in the 1750's. Lewis was not listed as owning land.In 1747 Millington (the elder) sold his land which he had bought early in Brunswick Co., VA just above the border of N.C. and it states Millington of Johnson Co. so he had already moved where John was. It appears that when John and his wife Sarah (and it lists both of them) sold the major portion of his land in the 1760's and it was part of the grant he had received in 1752, this is when they moved to Newberry, S.C. Then anything John had owned which was sold in Johnston/Wake after the early 1770's was always signed by Millington for him. Lewis was a teenager in the 1750's so I have no doubt that John had daughters to marry in VA prior to moving to N.C. The note from S.C. that says John of North Carolina in the 1780's and the fact that many of the Johnston/Wake families moved to Newberry, S.C. also are important.There may have been more than one early John in S.C.
The John who was in Granville Co. also prior to the Rev. was definitely younger than the John who was in Wake, but not much since his children were marrying in the 1780's. I have no doubt they were close kin. Since John of Granville was definitely the one who moved to Surry Co., NC (part of Surry Co., NC became Wilkes Co.NC in 1778) and then is no longer there later and since he is equated with David and Caide as well as Jeremiah,they obviously descended from the first Richard Blalock who was an adult in the early 1705-10 time period and according to the Vestry book married Sarah Cade. On the store records it is written Kade, and Richard Jr. in 1735 and they are adults in 1735 in Hanover/Louisa. As I am sure you know, Hanover was created from New Kent Co., VA in 1721 and Louisa was created from Hanover in 1742. Albemarle as well as other counties in VA such as Rappahannock Co. are not where they were in the early part of VA history.
In N.C. Chatham Co. was taken from Orange Co. in 1771. The David in Orange Co. who also owned land on Terrell Creek in Alamance Co. in the 1760's but he and his wife sold that land just before he died in 1771 could very well have had a son named John.Unfortunately some of the pre-revolutionary war records in Orange were destroyed or buried by a Judge who was a British loyalist - as he apparently thought when Cornwallis was on the move North and Hillsborough in Orange Co. was briefly the seat of government for NC that he would claim lots of land when the British won the war.Some of the early records (mostly marriage and court records) were never found. They were able to reconstruct most of the deed records.
I feel sure that the John in S.C. was the same John who was in Johnston/Wake Co. N.C. by the 1750's, as when his apparent brother Millington died, Millington's sons moved also, including Buckner Blalock who is listed numerous times in the Johnson Co./Wake records.Sarah may not have been John's first wife, but she was definitely married to him from the 1740's through the 1760's. When he sold the largest portion of land there to a Thomas Williams (and the note says including houses, orchards, etc.) Sarah signed the deed also.
There could have been as many as 5 Johns by 1800 (except for the deceased ones).There were indeed 5 David Blalocks in 1800, but the Rev. War records on the Davids helped to sort those out.
The Bennetts were all over Granville Co. by the late 1700's-numerous records, and one of them founded the city of Oxford for a courthouse around the time of the Rev.
I believe (but can't prove of course) that the John in Granville Co. who was equated with the Hudspeth family descended from Richard via either Richard himself, or David the elder David son of Richard who witnessed the John Blalock will of 1743 or from John Jr. who was an adult in 1735. They were all on the very same creek in Granville Co. I don't believe as some have guessed that John who died in 1743 and was supposedly married to the Millington as his second wife and Mary the first, as you have noted and I have seen the record that Mary was a widow in 1729 and John Blalock was mending benches in the church during that time. I believe the John who died in 1743 was the son of the first John who was married to a Mary and that John who died in 1743 was married to the Millington and was the father of Millington, John, Richard and William. The Richard who came to N.C. and the last one to be in Hanover was I believe the Richard Jr. who was an adult in 1735. By the time he came to N.C. there was another Richard. The first Richard was definitely married to Sarah Cade (according to the Vestry book)and had sons Cade (Kade), Richard Jr. and likely a John also). Richard Jr. was married to Rachael according to one deed when he sold land. The early David likely had a son named John also.
I have seen names spelled three different ways in one record - they were written however the particular clerk wanted to spell them. As I have indicated this whole area was wilderness in the 1700's and N.C. was composed mostly of small farms - very few plantations as in VA and S.C. Bounty land for serving in the Rev. were about 640 acres for enlisted men and most took money instead as land was being granted outside N.C.
First sons were almost always named for the mother's father, followed by sons named for grandparents. It was usually the third or fourth son before one was named for the father - and this was through the mid to late 1800's. The exceptions were if there were either dead brother or uncles or ones with "no issue" and they would name first sons after them. The other exceptions were if there were several daughters before a second son was born and then the son might be named for the father.
One thing we can be sure of, most all the Blalocks in early VA who migrated to N.C., S.C., TN, GA, KY and then beyond were all kin. I worked in medicine for many years, and in the 1970's when a resident physician applicant came up to interview in N.C. from Emory U. in GA he asked me if I were kin to the "Atlanta Blalocks" or the "Baltimore" Blalocks.I had worked in thoracic surgery previously and I jokingly said "Alfred" and he was delighted to meet me. I then had to tell him that my husband was from a farmer in N.C. Years later, when I started doing research I learned that indeed Sir Alfred Blalock who was a pioneer in heart surgery and was from GA but at Johns Hopkins for years WAS kin.
Incidentally, my son, who is a radiology technologist was x-raying a Scottish lady one day and she asked him if he knew from where his name originated. He told her that his mother was a genealogist and that he understood that it was Scottish and they were Blelochs (from the Blue Lake)and during a famine when they came down to England out of the highlands, the English couldn't pronounce the name and they became Blaylocks.She said to him that was exactly right and that part of the clan still lived on the Blue Lake in Scotland.
I have some information on many of the Blalocks who moved to TN and if they originated in N.C. I will be glad to assist anyone, keeping in mind that we are sometimes wrong even when we go by original records.
Betty Adcock Blalock
More Replies:
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Re: John Blalocks of 1700's
Linda schlenker 10/07/09
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Re: John Blalocks of 1700's
Betty Blalock 10/09/09
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Re: John Blalocks of 1700's
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Re: John Blalocks of 1700's
Linda schlenker 10/07/09