John Blackwell (abt. 1659 - 1732)

Ancestors

Died 1732 at about age 73 in Bethnal Green, Middlesex, England

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Biography

John Blackwell was the eldest surviving son and heir of Captain John Blackwell Esq, former Treasurer at War and former Governor of the Pennsylvania Colony, and his first wife Elizabeth Smithsby. He was a merchant of Bethnal Green. ^[1] On 1 October 1687, at Canterbury, he married Ann, daughter of Thomas Day of Bristol and sister of Roger. ^[2] In this record from a Vicar General Marriage Licence, his age is given as 28 years, thus implying a birth date of 1659.

The marriage had children, none of whom appear to have church baptismal records, probably as non-conformists.

In his Will, ^[3] John Blackwell named his three sons: John (d. 1747), Thomas (d. 1747 Livorno Italy) and Lambert (d. 1740), and his married daughters Elizabeth ( William Knight), Rachel (Horsman) and Rebecca (Jacob (James) Rondeau). His "dear wife" Ann Blackwell was named executrix. He mentioned a possible forthcoming inheritance from his late father, John Blackwell Esq, of property in Great Britain or Ireland, and willed that this be divided among his three sons, providing that his wife had the use and enjoyment of a third of it during her life, along with his dwelling house and personal estate.

Elizabeth - b. about 1698; m. 16 October 1729 to William Knight widower at St Paul Covent Garden ^[4]

Rachel - m. 15 October 1724 to Robert Horsman(apparently deceased by 1730) at St Mary Magdalene Old Fish Street ^[5]

Rebecca - m. 28 March 1728 to Jacob (James) Rondeau at St Gregory By St Paul, London ^[6]

Other children had died young and been buried in the Great Vault of St Dionis Backchurch: ^[7]

Ann (1) - bur. 29 October 1688

Lambert (1) - bur. 28 June 1695

Ann (2) - bur. 2 September 1703

Mary - bur. 18 September 1729 (It appears that Mary may have attained adulthood, as unlike her deceased siblings, she was not listed in the register as "daughter of Mr John Blackwell, Merchant", but "late of Stepney."

Lambert (2) - bur. 26 May 1740 as "Lambert Blackwell Esq, of Bednall Green, in the parish of Stepney"

John Blackwell was buried, as he requested in his Will, ^[3] on 7 August 1732 near his daughter Mary in the Great Vault of St Dionis Backchurch, where other members of his family were interred. ^[7]

Ann Blackwell "from Bednall Green", who died 25 November 1637, was buried there on 2 December. She was notably not listed in the register as "Widow".

Research Notes

It is notable that, besides two daughters named Ann, John Blackwell baptised two sons as Lambert Blackwell, one dying young in 1695, the other as an adult in 1740, when he made his Will. These Lambert Blackwells - not a common name - must be distinguished from their uncle Sir Lambert Blackwell, son of this John Blackwell's father Captain John Blackwell Esq.

Some sources have assumed that Sir Lambert Blackwell was named for the family of his mother [Lambert-13252|Frances Lambert]], daughter of Parliamentary General John Lambert. It is not clear what great importance the name had to John Blackwell's son.

Sources

1. ↑ "Governor John Blackwell: His Life in England and Ireland", W. L. F. Nuttall, W. F. L. Nuttall. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 88, No. 2 (Apr., 1964), pp. 121-141. JSTOR
2. ↑ Ancestry Index Ancestry UK
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} "Will of John Blackwell, Merchant of Bethnal Green, Middlesex", dated 1 October 1730, proved 15 August 1732 PROB 11/653/195
4. ↑ Ancestry UK
5. ↑ Ancestry UK
6. ↑ Ancestry UK
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} The reiester booke of Saynte De'nis, Backchurch parishe (city of London) for maryages, christenyges, and buryalles, begynnynge in the yeare of Our Lord God 1538. Joseph Lemuel Chester ed. London: Mitchell and Hughes 1878. Dionis