Looking for info on Martha (Hudson) Blankenship

+8 votes
662 views
This is one of many orphaned profiles by Travis Wagner.  It only had 1st hand knowledge as a source when received.  The information I am locating is mostly speculative.  Due to RootsWeb now being administered by Ancestry.com the speculation has become fuzzier.  Any help is appreciated.
WikiTree profile: Martha Stanley
in Genealogy Help by David Wilson G2G6 Pilot (124k points)

This is the unsourced info for those that may want to check this out: 



See Generation 2 Ralph and Martha.




Generation No. 1


1. RALPH1 BLENKINSOPP was born Abt. 1630 in Northumberland, England, and died Abt. 1670 in Henrico Co, VA. He married ELIZABETH. 


Children of RALPH BLUNKINSOPP and ELIZABETH are:

2. i. RALPH2 BLANKENSOP, b. Abt. 1662, Henrico Co, VA; d. Abt. 1714, Roxdale, Henrico Co, VA.

ii. RICHARD BLANKINKSOPP, b. Abt. 1665.



Generation No. 2


2. RALPH2 BLANKENSOP (RALPH1 BLUNKINSOPP) was born Abt. 1662 in Henrico Co, VA, and died Abt. 1714 in Roxdale, Henrico Co, VA. He married MARTHA CLAY HUDSON Abt. 1690 in VA, daughter of ROBERT HUDSON and MARY POWLAND. 


Children of RALPH BLANKENSOP and MARTHA HUDSON are:

3. i. RICHARD3 BLANKENSHIP, b. Bef. 1691, Henrico Co, VA; d. Aft. 1768, Goochland Co, VA.

ii. WILLIAM BLANKENSHIP, b. Abt. 1693, Winterpook Creek, VA; d. Abt. 1745, Chesterfield Co, VA; m. MARY.

4. iii. JOHN B. BLANKENSHIP, b. Abt. 1695, Henrico Co, VA; d. Aft. April 09, 1751, Chesterfield Co, VA.

5. iv. JAMES BLANKENSHIP, b. Abt. 1698, Henrico Co, VA; d. Abt. 1749, Chesterfield Co, VA.

6. v. RALPH BLANKENSHIP, b. Abt. 1700, Chesterfield Co, VA; d. Abt. 1754, Chesterfield Co, VA.

vi. ANN BLANKENSHIP, b. Abt. 1702, Chesterfield Co, VA; d. Abt. 1763, Plymouth, MA.

I've read some pages alleging she was Martha Hudson.  My mom was a Blankenship and Ralph Blankenship was her ancestor.  My dad is a Hudson and Richard I, Richard II, and Robert Hudson were his ancestors.  They were all neighbors living near each other and the Clays, Ligons, Stanleys, and others.  

My guess is that since a court record shows a Martha Hudson, someone guessed the Martha that Ralph Blankenship married was Martha Hudson, but she is mentioned as Martha without real direct evidence of her last name.  I've seen genealogies attribute other maiden names to her.  She may have married a Stanley after Blankenship died and possibly a Clay at some point.  People sure died on their spouses a lot back then.  

I came across a court record of a Martha Hudson in 1711, in a list of orphan children being assigned to people after a Ligon died.  If this is the only evidence of a Martha Hudson, this was a few years before Ralph Blankenship died.  If this were Ralph's wife, she'd have been called Martha Blankenship, I suppose instead of Hudson.  Is there any other evidence of another Martha Hudson?  I can't find her in any of the Hudson lineages, either one named Hudson at the appropriate time to be married to Ralph Blankenship or later.  Is there any evidence at all that William Hudson and Elizabeth Jennings had a Martha Hudson, either?  

I do not know whose child Martha Hudson was, since she isn't in the genealogies of the Hudsons I am kin to.  I read there was another Hudson family elsewhere in Virgina.  It could be some of their relatives came over from England who were not born in the New World and did not show up in genealogies for that reason.  (That is speculation.  Please do not repeat that as fact in a genealogy page as seems to be the custom.)

2 Answers

+3 votes
David:       There are many Public Memory Stories on Ancestry .Com.Some are

speculation ,but some are supported by Wills,Land Records,Tax Records.Read

thru them all,Sure you will find some info you can use.
by Wayne Morgan G2G Astronaut (1.1m points)

Thanks for the idea; but, I only go to that site as a last resort.  Today I was hoping for info on a skeleton profile without success any place else.  Here is what I found...

"Altonia Burton

Found 10 Records, 4 Photos and 2,504,259 Family Trees

Born in Kentucky, Pulaski on 1866 to Benjamin Burton and Ellen C Baker. Altonia married Albert A Pitman. She passed away on 1867."

+3 votes
I just ran across her trying to find my great grandfather, Fred Hudson, killed with his wife in a horse drawn fire truck accident.  I am trying to find any DNA connections with the name of Hudson in ancestry.  Martha Hudson ? Blankenship may not be a Hudson.  Her mother was a Hudson, but her father was a Clay.  They lived in Virginia. 1660-1734. She married Ralph Blankenship, who must have died...they had children...She married again, to a Stanley.
by Marilyn Hudson-Tremayne G2G Crew (560 points)
I believe I may have seen that public tree; but, I couldn't find any sources to substantiate it.

Marilyn,

What, if any, evidence do you have that Martha HUDSON Blankenship's father was a CLAY...  Blankenship is my mother's maternal line and my biological surname is CLAY.  Both Dr. Charles Clay & Hannah Wilson AND Ralph Blankenship & Martha Hudson are my 8th g-grandparents... AND they were neighbors in Chesterfield Co, VA.

Dr. Charles Clay and Hannah Wilson never had any daughters named Martha and also her dates are all wrong to be one of their daughters...
Here is my story about how the CLAY name came to be associated with Martha...

"The Saga of Martha HUDSON Blankenship

Lynda Davis-Logan·Friday, May 5, 2017

I am creating this document so that I don’t have to write it over and over and over…

RALPH BLANKENSHIP, our IMMIGRANT = (Ralph was the 1st Blankenship in Am., arriving in Va. ca 1686 (Henrico Co., Va Record Book 2, page 326). Born about 1662 to before April 15 1714.

(and all of these dates are derived from the following records found in the early Henrico Co, VA Court Records:

· Apr 1695 Henrico Co., Va. Will & Deed Book (1688-97) p 577 states:

'He was about 33 yrs of age.'

· 15 Apr 1714 inventory of Ralph Blankinship's possessions.

· May 1714 Henrico Co., Va. Will & Deed Book (1710- 14) p 258, Martha Blankinship, widow of Ralph presented estate's inventory.

· 1715 Henrico Co., Orphans Court, Martha, widow of Ralph reports on children: Ralph, John & James.)

Ralph Blankenship married Martha HUDSON who was the daughter of William Hudson and Elizabeth Jennings…

Ralph and Martha Hudson Blankenship were neighbors of Dr. Charles Clay and his wife, Hannah Wilson.

Charles and Hannah had 7 children:

John, Thomas, Henry I, Mary Hannah, Elizabeth, Judith and Charles Clay II.

Charles and Hannah Wilson were my 8th g-grandparents on my paternal side as CLAY is my biological name.

Ralph and Martha had 5 sons and possibly 1 daughter…

William, Richard, Ralph Jr, John B or Buck, James and Ann?

SO why does everyone think that MARTHA was a CLAY???

Because the 2 couples were neighbors and following the death of Dr. Charles Clay June 1686 Hannah became a widow (and we know the thinking of the day – “Women could not possibly take care of themselves and their children ALL BY THEMSELVES!!!”

Living about 6 miles west of the CLAYS and BLANKENSHIPS lived a very eligible bachelor “enter” one EDWARD STANLEY!!!

Edward and Hannah Wilson Clay were married about

Oct 1 1687. Part of Hannah’s dowry that she brought from her marriage to Dr.. Charles Clay was her land and her minor children.

Hannah created a new Will on Oct 1 1687 to make sure that the children of her first marriage would be protected and receive their inheritance from her…

“(See Orphan Court Paper, Henrico Co., VA.)

Henrico Co, Va. Deeds 1677-1705 Weisiger 975.5453W

Page 44 p.463 I give to JOHN CLAY, Thomas Clay, Henry Clay, and Charles Clay, my sons, each, 1 cow 4 years old with calf by her side, at attaining age, also I well-fixed gun. To my daughter Judith Clay, 6 new pewter plates at her marriage or when of age. 1 Oct 1687

Hannah (X) Clay Recorded 1 Oct. 1687”

Edward Stanley and Hannah Wilson Clay Stanley had 1 daughter –

Hannah born about 1688.

Following Hannah’s death in 1705 Edward Stanley became an eligible widower… and he remained in that state until after Ralph Blankenship died sometime before April 15 1714 and then he began courting Martha Hudson Blankenship his now widowed neighbor.

Martha Blankenship and Edward Stanley were married sometime about 1716 and while the Clay children had now come of age… their names were still associated with Edward Stanley leading everyone to ASSUME that Martha had been a Clay. They were married about 10 years when Edward Stanley passed away in 1726.

AND NOW YOU KNOW THE REST OF THE STORY!!!

Lynda Clay Davis-Logan

May 5, 2017

(I commented on this from my phone a bit ago, but it doesn't seem to show.  I haven't used this feed much and find it confusing.)

There was no evidence, but there were initial questions, which I don't see in this feed. I am somehow related to this family. I am a Hudson.  One of the trees, perhaps David Wilson (above) would recall, had Martha Hudson (maiden name) as the daughter of a Clay.  I asked how that could be.  I had an answer from the person who created the tree, saying he was not sure.  I saw another tree that also had the same people, and reported what I found.  I am trying to find where and how I am related, and what I initially saw made no sense.
I am a Hudson, presumably descended from Richard Hudson I through his (possible) son Richard II who, if he wasn't the same man as his father, was likely William's brother.

My mother's Maiden name was Blankenship, presumably descended from Ralph Blankenship.  Ralph married a Martha.  I've seen a number of theoretical maiden names attributed to her.  One of those is Hudson.  Like posters on this thread, I read family trees that made her out to be the daughter of William Hudson and Elizabeth Jennings Hudson.  But I cannot find evidence that they had daughter a Martha, and I wonder where this idea comes from.  Lineages for the Hudsons I have read do not mention their having a Martha.  Martha Hudson shows up in a court report related to orphans, but it does not say who she was born to.

Is there any evidence that William (son of Richard Hudson I) and Elizabeth Jennings Hudson had  a daughter named Martha or that Martha Blankenship's maiden name was Hudson?  

Are these Clay neighbors the ancestors of the statesman Henry Clay who ran against Andrew Jackson, who Jackson said he regretted not killing
I've read some pages alleging she was Martha Hudson.  My mom was a Blankenship and Ralph Blankenship was her ancestor.  My dad is a Hudson and Richard I, Richard II, and Robert Hudson were his ancestors.  They were all neighbors living near each other and the Clays, Ligons, Stanleys, and others.  

My guess is that since a court record shows a Martha Hudson, someone guessed the Martha that Ralph Blankenship married was Martha Hudson, but she is mentioned as Martha without real direct evidence of her last name.  I've seen genealogies attribute other maiden names to her.  She may have married a Stanley after Blankenship died and possibly a Clay at some point.  People sure died on their spouses a lot back then.  

I came across a court record of a Martha Hudson in 1711, in a list of orphan children being assigned to people after a Ligon died.  If this is the only evidence of a Martha Hudson, this was a few years before Ralph Blankenship died.  If this were Ralph's wife, she'd have been called Martha Blankenship, I suppose instead of Hudson.  Is there any other evidence of another Martha Hudson?  I can't find her in any of the Hudson lineages, either one named Hudson at the appropriate time to be married to Ralph Blankenship or later.  Is there any evidence at all that William Hudson and Elizabeth Jennings had a Martha Hudson, either?  

I do not know whose child Martha Hudson was, since she isn't in the genealogies of the Hudsons I am kin to.  I read there was another Hudson family elsewhere in Virgina.  It could be some of their relatives came over from England who were not born in the New World and did not show up in genealogies for that reason.  (That is speculation.  Please do not repeat that as fact in a genealogy page as seems to be the custom.)

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