James Blake [b. abt 1744-1826] married Mary Walsh in St.
Patrick and St. Olave’s, Waterford,
on the 3rd of April 1769. Mary Walsh was the granddaughter of Thomas
Power of Waterford,
Mariner. James Blake was master of the sloop MARY AND JOHN of Waterford which
was partly owned by Thomas Power. The relationship between the three is
confirmed in the Will of Thomas Power, Waterford,
Mariner, made on the 20th of
May 1771.
To be buried in the Church
of Faithlegg. To sister
Ellen, Ann, wife Mary Galgey, daur Elizabeth Walsh, orwise Power, son Edmond
Power ...until he return home.
Hold half interest in
the good sloop or vessell called the MARY AND JOHN of Waterford, 70 tunns burthen, of which James
Blake, mariner is now master. Bequeath one-fourth of said sloop to my daur
Elizabeth Walsh and other fourth to my beloved gd daur Mary Blake orwise Walsh
for her own sole and seperate use. Son - safe arrival - last quarter in said
sloop to my said son.
The inscription on Thomas Power’s gravestone in Faithlegg
cemetery, County Waterford reads as follows:
Here lieth the body of
Mr Thomas Power of Waterford
who departed this life June 4th 1771 aged 65 years. Also the body of his wife
Mary Power alias Gallegy who departed this life (blank) aged (blank) years.
Also six of their children.
Tho blusterous winds
of Neptune's waves / Have tost me to & fro
/ In spite of both by God's Decree / I harbour here below. / Requiescant in
pace Amen.
The sloop MARY AND
JOHN is recorded as sailing the Irish Sea.
Deal, June 22, Wind
S.W., Arrived... the MARY AND JOHN, Blake, for Waterford. (General Evening Post, June
22, 1773. Issue 6193).
Portsmouth, 2 June
1774 arrived, MARY AND JOHN, from Waterford.
[Hampshire Chronicle, 6 June 1774].
Cowes 3 Sept 1774 arriv'd
the MARY AND JOHN, Blake. Sailed MARY
AND JOHN, Blake, for Waterford.
[Hampshire Chronicle, 12 Sept 1774].
On the 19th of this
inst., the MARY AND JOHN, Blake, for Waterford,
was well at Deal. [Hibernian Journal, 27 September 1775].
James Blake, is listed as a shipowner in the Freeman List
for Waterford City. 1 November 1796. [Waterford City Archives, Freeman List 1700-2012].
In 1804 he purchased the lands of Kilmaquage from the banker
William Newport Esq, Waterford, the brother of
Sir John Newport, Bt., Newpark, County
Kilkenny. He is described
as a merchant. In 1807 he is again described as a merchant when he voted for
Sir John Newport, Bt. [How they voted in 1807 - Waterford Mirror].
By 1821, in the Census extracts, we find him living in no.
29, King St, Waterford where he describes himself as James Blake, 70,
gentleman, with a servant, Mary Farrell, aged 27.
The Blakes had a
business on the Waterford Quays and in Blake’s Lane they had a Rope Walk:
James Blake & Son.
Rope and Sail Maker. Quay. (Pigot & Co., City of Dublin and Hibernian
Provincial Directory 1824 p. 322).).
In his will, proved at London 25th of October 1826, James Blake called himself James Blake of the
city of Waterford,
Rope Maker. He owned the freehold estate
of Kilmaquage in the Barony of Gaultier, [the land which he had bought from
William Newport], Hennessy’s Road and the
Rope Walk with all the houses and buildings, a house in King Street, houses in
Clinker Street, interest in the large new house built by his son Andrew, other
houses and buildings in the City of Waterford or its Liberties. His sons Thomas
and Andrew are named in his will, along with his granddaughters Mary and Olivia
Hurley. He left the rents and profits of Kilmaquage to his grandson James son
of his youngest son Andrew, ’for his
maintenance, cloathing and education and in forwarding him in life or binding
him to some genteel trade of business’, James, when he reached the the age of twenty
one , was ‘to take and receive to his own
use all the rents, issues and profits thereof for and during his life.’
But who was James Blake and where had he come from? The names of
his parents are uncertain but they may have been James Blake, and Brigid Haugherin. Had he returned to Ireland
from Barbados in the West Indies? Was he, as has been suggested elsewhere, the
descendant of Nicholas Blake of Galway and Barbados?
No comments:
Post a Comment