DOB, Death location for Elijah Blakeman; NY birth record for Eddie Yard Blakeman

Date: [unknown]
Location: Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States
Surnames/tags: Blakeman-462 Blakeman-461

When and Where did Elijah Phineas Blakeman, Jr. begin and end?

Elijah Phineas BLakeman Jr.'s birth does not appear on the published (online) databases of Connecticut births or in geneoalogical reocrds I've researched.

I calculated Elijah Blakeman's probable birth date from a photograph of Blakeman monument in Union Cemetery, Stratford, Fairfield, Connection with death date of 19 May 1856, and an inscription that reads, died age 36 years 9 months and 12 days, thus 7 August 1819.

The angle of the image in the FAG photo makes the last digit in the death year "1856" difficult to read with certainty. It has been published as 1856 since 1 September 2016^[1] but I think it is possible that it reads "1855." The record in the Hale Collection is a transcription of cemetary inscriptions and newspaper notices - so it could be an error that took on a life of its own.^[2]

Elijah's parents emigated to Illinois, departing Connecticut May 18, 1819, arriving 19 July 1819, traveling with their five children. If Elijah's birthdate was August 17 1819, he would have been born after their arrival in Illinois, and they would have been traveling with four children.

By my analysis, his correct birthyear is 1818 based on these sources that bracket the departure and arrival date of his parents' westward emigration:

1. Bridgeport, 26 May (ByLine) - Article in The Connectiut Journal, Tuesday 8 Jun 1819, New Haven, CT. Vol:LI, Issue 2693, Pg 1:

• - On Tuesday of last week, 7 loaded waggons left this place with families for the Ohio and Illinois countries - among the number were several of our most respecteable and enterprising citizens - seeking wealth, competence and ease by a remove to that fairy land which is always in prospect but never yet possessed. - In New-York they were joined by several more emigrants, on which the Mercantile Advertiser of Saturday observes - "A caravan of eleven heavy waggons left this city yesterday for the Illinois Territory, and carried off about 100 of our citizens, who intend to form a new settlement in that state. This enterprise was projected and headed by capts. Allen and Blakeman, well known hitherto, as respectable ship masters."

  ^[3]

1. In 1818^[4] Capt. Curtis Blakeman and Capt. george C. Allen arrived in Ferguson Settlement with seventy-two persons in one train on the 19th of July in that year, all of who settled here... Elijah Blakeman, a brother of the captain, came with him in a two horse wagon, bringing a wife and five children. He improved a farm in section 32.

   ^[5]

Elijah Sr. and Abiah (mother) returned to Stratford, Connectictut: The following appeared Tue, Feb 25, 1823 in The Charleston Mercury, and Morning Advertiser (Charleston, South Carolina) :·

• "Mr. Elijah Blakeman and family, consisting of a wife and seven children, arrived at Stratford on Friday last, from Illinois. Mr. B. emigrated from Stratford to the Western Wilds in the year 1819, with his brother, Captain Curtis Blakeman, in hopes of bettering his condition. But in this he was sadly disappointed; and, after remaining there for better than three years, ungoing all the privations and sufferings incident to a new settlement, he has returned to his native town naked and destitute. Mr. B. was nearly one hundred days in returning, having been detained some time by his wife giving birth to a child. The people of Stratford have acted with apparent feelings of generosity and kindness in furnishing this distressed family, not only with the necessaries and comforts of life, but in providing them, in part, with means to facilite their return. - Bridgeport Farmer.

  ^[6]

Elijah Sr. then traveled back to Marine Town, Illinois where he lived until his death, and where he is buried. The monument in Union cemetery states that Elijah died in Marine.

Elijah Jr. arrived in Galveston in 1838, married Maria White, and had six children. He emigrated to Texas with two of his brothers, Captain George Curtis Blakeman, [who became Galveston Harbormaster, married and reared his five children in Galveston] and Captain George Edward Blakeman [wife and three children only in New York census.]

Captain George Blakeman died of yellow fever 22 June 1856 aboard the brig Eliza Jane in transit between Havana and New York, and was buried at sea at sunset.^[7][8]

Elijah Jr.'s death date of 19 May 1856 makes me wonder if he also was on the same voyage? If not, where was Elijah when he died? No Texas records of his death. Only the monument records his death in Stratford.

Adding to the mystery, Eddie Yard, the youngest of Elijah Jr. and Maria White's six children, was born "about December 1854" in New York. I originally thought that the family returned for the settling of a Blakeman estate, but then I stumbled on this tantalizing news story: See .pdf attached

• Maria Blakeman, habeus corpus

Eddie Yard consistently reported his birthdate on all public records.

Did the family stay in New York/ Connecticut for two years, and Elijah died during that tenure? Maria shows up near her family in the 1860 census, but Susan Rebecca is missing and does not appear in any later records. Did she die at the same time Elijah died? Did she die in yellow fever epidemics during the 1850s?

I would love to know, and to that end, welcome any input, suggestions, helps.