Ancestory

I haven't posted in a year.  The time has been flying by. I really like blogging, so I'm not sure why I stopped, except, I guess, I felt like no one was reading.

I'm painting today. I've got some projects done at home that I desperately needed. I've been working so much that I haven't had time to enjoy life. I feel like all I do is work.

During the past month I got a free trial from Ancestory.com and was able to find some old photographs and history about my family, the Blake's. I couldn't find anything much on my maternal side of the family, however.

This is my grandfather, Henry Barnett Blake (1910-1987) and my grandmother, Ann Lillian Poe (1916-1978). For some reason, there is no history on her side of the family. Her mother was Bessie Mae McCall (Pou).  She was married to Frank Keating, Morris Miller, and  Henry Pou. 

 This is Percival Chaffin Blake (1870-1927) and Sarah Roberts Blake (1879-1975), of Lumberton, Robeson, North Carolina. They had 4 children, Henry Barnett Blake, my grandfather, Earline, who lived only 1 year, Earl and Dorothy.  I would say my sister, Mary, has Sarah Roberts' mouth and my brother Tony, has the Percival's facial bone structure.

This is Sarah as an older woman.  The only thing I know of her is that she was not a very nice woman.

This is Sarah Hunter, my great-aunt, and her husband, Stephan Hunter.  She is the daughter of my great-great-grandfather, William B Blake and great-great-grandmother, Susan Olive Regan King.  They had Ruben King, William O, James C, Clifton, Augusta, Sarah, Mary Louise,

Lucy, Caroline, Henry, Anna Laura and Percival

This is another picture of my great-great aunt, Sarah Francis.  My great-great-great-grandfather, William's father, was Isham Blake Jr. of Fayetteville, Cumberland, North Carolina. 1804-1874 He was married to Margaret Ann Crosby of Massachusetts.

Isham's father was Isham Blake Sr. 1766-1836, of South Hampton, VA.  He was married to Mary Macy Clifton 1760-1844.

The only story I know about Isham Blake is that he went off as a fifer in the Revolutionary War and was at Yorktown in Lafayette's bodyguard when Cornwallis surrendered. There is a plaque in his honor:

and he is mentioned in books.

Isham Sr. and Mary Macey Clifton had 11 children. Isham's parents were Samuel Blake 1735-1807 and Amy Reddick of South Hampton, VA.

Samuel's parents, my 6 times grandfather and grandmother were Thomas 1710-1789 and Margaret Blake of Isle Wright, VA

My 7 times grandparents were William Blake of Isle, VA, 1680-1746 and Mary Sessums of Lawns Creek, VA 1685-1740

My 8 times grandparents were Thomas Blake and Alice Champion of Isle, VA

My 9 times grandparents were William Blake, of Somerset, England.  He was born 1620 in Somerset England, and died in 1703 in Norfolk, Massachusetts. He was the first of the Blake's to immigrate to America.

 I was always told I had Black Foot Indian in my blood, but through researching, I found that I actually have Cherokee Indian.  My maternal side ends when married a Cherokee woman, whose name is unrecorded.