Blake family from Co. Clare, Ireland

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Mary Westray
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Joined: Tue Jan 16, 2018 2:11 am

Blake family from Co. Clare, Ireland

Post by Mary Westray » Sun Apr 01, 2018 9:21 pm

I have a great grandfather who came from Loop Head Peninsula in Co. Clare. His name was Michael Blake born in 1799. Someone on ancestry.com has listed his father as John Blake b in 1780 in Ballyglunin, Galway, Ireland and his mother as Olivia French b in 1882 in Galway, Ireland. They hav listed sons Timothy b 1797 and Michael b 1799. My great grandfather married a Johanna Jordan in Loop Head, Co Clare. Her mothers maiden name was Curtin or Curtain. They had 5 children born in Co. Clare named Timothy Henry 1840, Ellen 1842/43, Catherine 1845, John 1847, Mary Theresa 1854, Michael Jr. 1853. They came to the US 5-19-1854 on the ship Lucy Thompson. Michael Jr. is my grand father. How can I verify that Jon Blake was my great great grandfather as there are so many Michael Blakes listed. Mary Blake Westray

Sduddy
Posts: 1826
Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 10:07 am

Re: Blake family from Co. Clare, Ireland

Post by Sduddy » Mon Apr 02, 2018 9:44 am

Hi Mary

The Blakes and the Frenches belonged to the landed class (gentry) in Co. Calway, so I looked at the Landed Estates website: http://www.landedestates.ie and clicked on Families, and scrolled down to the Blakes of Ballyglunin: http://landedestates.nuigalway.ie:8080/ ... jsp?id=942
This mentions the marriage of John Blake and Olivia French, but gives the date as 1803. This date would exclude the sons you found on the family tree on ancestry, plus your own great grandfather.
I wonder if the person who did the research for that family tree found these birth-years in the death certificates for those two sons, plus the death certificate for your great grandfather. Sometimes the age (and therefore the birth-year) given on a death certificate is based on a guess by the person reporting the death and is not always very accurate.

Sheila

Sduddy
Posts: 1826
Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 10:07 am

Re: Blake family from Co. Clare, Ireland

Post by Sduddy » Mon Apr 02, 2018 7:05 pm

Hi Mary, again

I entered “Descendant of Ballyglunin Blakes” in search machine and got p. 143 of a genealogical history of the landed gentry of Great Britain and Ireland by Bernard Burke (1906) and was able (after magnifying) to make out the lineage of the Ballyglunin Blakes. Halfway down the column is Martin Blake who married Bridget Joyce in 1754 and had five sons. One of these was John who married Olivia French in 1803. They had only two children (according to this account): John Joseph and Julia.

Sheila

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