Joseph Blake (bef. 1663 - 1700)

Born before 26 Apr 1663 in Bridgwater, Somerset, England

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 7 Sep 1700 after age 37 in Colleton County, Province of Carolina

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Biography

Joseph Blake was a Carolina colonist.

Joseph, baptized 26 April 1663 at Bridgwater, Somerset, England, was the son of Benjamin Blake and his wife Elizabeth.^[1]He immigrated with his father to the Province of Carolina about 1683. Like his father, he was a religious Dissenter.

He inherited his father's plantations in Colleton County, and he also was appointed a proprietor's deputy in place of his father in 1690. In November 1694 Blake was appointed governor after the death of Thomas Smith and served in that position until John Archdale arrived in August 1695. When Archdale returned to England in 1696 he was succeeded by Blake, who was made a landgrave by the proprietors on 25 April 1697. His position was made stronger when the proprietors conveyed to him on 11 April 1698 the share of Carolina which had belonged to the deceased Lord Berkeley, making him a lord proprietor. Blake held the position of governor throughout a turbulent period in the colony, his governorship ending with his death on 7 September 1700.^[2][3][4]

Blake married twice, his first wife being Deborah, daughter of Governor Joseph Morton. They were married before 1685, when Deborah Blake is named in her father's Will. ^[5]They had no children.^[2]

In December 1698 he married Elizabeth, daughter of Daniel Axtell and Rebecca Holland and widow of Francis Turgis. They had a daughter Rebecca (b. 1699, m. George Smith) and a son Joseph (b. 1700). ^[2]

Joseph Blake, of Plainsfield plantation, Colleton County, wrote his Will on 27 December 1699. He left his "propriety" of one-eighth of the province of Carolina, as well as all his land, to his daughter Rebeccah. In case of her death as a minor, the residual heir was his "cousin" [nephew] William Dry, son of his sister Elizabeth Dry. His personal estate was to be divided between his wife Elizabeth and daughter Rebeccah. A codicil of the same date leaves a bequest to his mother [in-law] Lady Rebeccah Axtell. He also stipulates that if his wife gives birth to a son within nine months of his death, the propriety and all his land would go to the son.^[6]

Sources

1. ↑ "England, Somerset, Church Records, 1501-1999", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6D96-F69R : 25 February 2022), Joseph Blake, 1663.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} “Blake of South Carolina.” The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine 1, no. 2 (1900): 155-7. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27574908
3. ↑ Moore, Alexander. "Blake, Joseph," South Carolina Encylopedia https://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/blake-joseph/
4. ↑ McCrady, Edward. The History of South Carolina under the Proprietary Government 1670-1719.(1897) https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t5gb27558&view=1up&seq=9
5. ↑ Salley, A. S. “Governor Joseph Morton and Some of His Descendants.” The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine 5, no. 2 (1904): 108–16. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27575063
6. ↑ Will of Joseph Blake "South Carolina Probate Records, Bound Volumes, 1671-1977," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939L-NH9W-D8?cc=1919417&wc=M6N4-H68%3A210905601%2C211288501 : 21 May 2014), Charleston > Wills, 1671-1724, Vol. 001 > image 41 of 521; citing Department of Archives and History, Columbia.

• Governor Joseph Blake http://www.carolana.com/Carolina/Governors/jblake.html

• The New England Historical & Genealogical Register

Name: Joseph Blake

Event Type: Death

Death Date: 7 Sep 1700

Death Place: USA

Father's Name: Benjamin Blake

Mother's name: Elizabeth Blake Wilson Blake

Page Number: 291

Volume Number: 163

Source Information:Ancestry.com. The New England Historical & Genealogical Register, 1847-2011 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

• Stott, Clifford L., Humphrey Blake (1494?–1558) and His Descendants in New England and South Carolina: Blake, Richards, Selleck, Torrey, and Wolcott, The New England Historical & Genealogical Register (NEHGS, Boston, Mass., 2009) Vol. 163, WN 652, Page 291.

See also:

• Ancestry Family Trees Note: Data: Text: http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=7284992&pid=-1087416016

Acknowledgements

• WikiTree profile Blake-1253 created through the import of Lane Family Tree.ged on Oct 17, 2012 by Sammy Lane.