Removal of Parents and Brother from PGM profile

Question

Earlier we removed the parents of Agnes Bent Blanchard and having done a lot of research on her husband Thomas,I would like to see if we can change his place of birth and remove his parents and supposed brother Joseph. There seems to be an old story floating around the internet that Thomas' father was this Pierre Jean from Normandy but no one seems to be able to come up with any proof. I think it would be better to remove the parents until something more than just a myth turns up.

Some research into the Hugenots seems to indicate that they came to England and settled in the cities, keeping close together and forming their own churches. It does not seem likely that "Pierre" went to Yorkshire and that Thomas ended up in Hampshire.

And, since there was a Robert Blanchard living in Goodworth Clatford and having children there in 1549, it seems more likely that he is the ancestor of Thomas Blanchard rather than a Pierre who was born in France in 1555.

Answer 1

This family may have been dealt with by H. Percy Blanchard in Genealogical record and biographical sketches of the McCurdys of Nova Scotia, London, Covenant Publishing, 1930, at Page 209.

In NEHGR 90(April:1939):162, "Joseph Blanchard of Boston, Mass. and Some of His Descendants," J. Crawford Hartman speaks of Joseph Blanchard who died in 1637, stating: "Recent investigations lead to the belief that her was born in Normandy, France, of Huguenot parentage, in the last decade of the sixteenth century, went to England as a child with several brothers, on of whom was Thomas Blanchard, the immigrant of 1639."  He cites no "recent investigations" except H. Percy Blanchard.

Comments

I have never seen any proof that Thomas was the son of a French Huguenot and just because someone said it was so and put it in a book doesn't make it so. There is also no proof  that Joseph was the brother of Thomas. What I am looking for is actual proof. I would think that the presence of Blanchards in the tiny village of Goodworth Clatford in 1549 would be much more believable that a supposed french ancestry. I think this ancestry deserves a better vetting that saying someone said it was so in 1939 and leaving it at that. Just my opinion.

this is from the Blanchard Message board:

The story about Pierre Jean Blanchard fleeing from Normandy to
Yorkshire is just a fable. One of the key elements of that story is
the supposed continuation of the odyssey in the form of the emigration
of two sons to Massachusetts in the 1600's. That aspect has been
debunked by the Blanchard DNA project, which established that the two
early Mass. Blanchard lines are not paternally related to each other
within the past several thousand years. Another key element is that
Pierre Jean was a Huguenot, and so was his family. However, Thomas
Blanchard, who married John Bent's sister Agnes and emigrated from
Hampshire to Massachusetts, was a member of the Church of England and
had his children baptized in the village church at Goodworth Clatford,
where, in fact, there had been Blanchards as far back as the records
go. Also, according to his marriage licence, he was a (native
English) yeoman -- that's a class designation that excluded
immigrants, even naturalized ones.

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I understand that. I was just posting info about the two resources I had found so that maybe someone could find the book book by Blanchard and see if it is worth anything.  I don't have access to it.  It can be reviewed online at a Family History Center and at a few libraries.  Perhaps a bit more information to begin with would have kept me from barking up the wrong tree.

Answer 2

I am hoping to reopen this question as it has never been resolved. There are multiple issues with the profile for Thomas Blanchard.

1. His parents are disputed and are likely a myth.

2. Thomas was married three times to 1) Elizabeth Unknown, d. 1638, 2) Agnes Bent d. 1639 and 3) Mary possibly Shrimpton, or Maverick.

3. Thomas Blanchard did not have a son named Jospeph

4. Thomas has no known siblings.

Hoping we can improve his profile.