Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]
Surnames/tags: Blood Bloud Blud

Contents 1 The First Generations of American Colonial Bloods 1.1 Crossing the Atlantic 1.2 The Bloods of the Massachusetts Bay Colony 1.2.1 The Bloods of the Massachusetts Bay Colony: Family Trees 1.2.1.1 Family of James Blood of Concord and Chelmsford 1.2.1.2 Family of Richard Blood of Lynn and Groton 1.2.1.3 Family of Robert Blood of Lynn and Middlesex County 1.3 Related Research

The First Generations of American Colonial Bloods

This page is for the first generation of Bloods in the English North American colonies and their children and grandchildren.

Author: Garry Michael Blood, 1 Feb 2023

Crossing the Atlantic

This page contains an analysis of all known/documented crossings to the English New World from the Pool of London and the nearby Thames port of Gravesend in 1635, the only year for which we have a reasonably complete record of passenger ship departures from this part of England during the Puritan Great Migration. The first English Bloods to emigrate to the Massachusetts Bay Colony appear to have left from London sometime after 15 Apr 1639, so this analysis provides our only insight into what that sailing year might have looked like. The same link is here: Sailings from London to the English Colonies in 1635.

The Bloods of the Massachusetts Bay Colony

The first five male Bloods in the Massachusetts Bay Colony were the Nottinghamshire emigrants James Blood, his minor son James Blood, Jr., Richard Blood, and the brothers John Blood and Robert Blood. Aside from John and Robert, who we know were brothers, these five were almost certainly all closely related to each other. Richard was likely John and Robert's older brother, and James, Sr. was some form of close kin to the other three. Richard, Robert, and John are known to have originated in Ruddington, Nottinghamshire and James, Sr. probably did as well, although he lived in Nottingham at the time of his 1630 marriage and son James' 1631 birth. As for their progeny, James, Jr., the only son of James, Sr., had only one son, who died as an infant. John Blood never married and produced no children at all. Therefore, any Bloods in the United States today who can trace their lineage back to this first generation of English colonial Bloods will find they are either in Richard's line or in Robert's line.

Establishing the relationship between all five of these Bloods, but especially of Richard to John and Robert and of those three to James, Sr., has been the Holy Grail of first generation English colonial Blood research for the last several decades. On this sub-page I lay out what I believe to be their relationships and the evidence for it: The Relationship Between Richard, Robert, John, and James Blood.

The Bloods of the Massachusetts Bay Colony: Family Trees

Family of James Blood of Concord and Chelmsford

James Blood and his small family (wife Ellen and young son James) were in the frontier settlement of Concord in Middlesex County by the summer of 1639 at the latest. As Concord had only been founded in 1635 and was still open to "subscription" (i.e., initial settlement), James is usually listed as belonging to the first wave of the settlement of the town. James spent the rest of his life in Concord, but as he also owned property in nearby Chelmsford he also served in various offices in that town as well.

Family of Richard Blood of Lynn and Groton

Richard and his new wife Isabell emigrated to Lynn from England in the summer of 1639, bringing with him Richard's younger brothers John and Robert. Richard would come to be a fairly substantial landowner, with properties scattered across Lynn, Lynnfield, Saugus, Rumney Marsh, and the Nahant Peninsula. Richard, Robert and John were three of the ten co-founders of the frontier town of Groton, and in around 1660 Richard sold all his interests in Lynn and the surrounding area of the coast and moved his family to Groton, where he lived for the rest of his life as the major landowner and significant figure in that town.

The Richard Blood Family Relationships Studies Page contains additional documents concerning Richard Blood.

Family of Robert Blood of Lynn and Middlesex County

Robert and his older brother John left the home of their probable eldest brother Richard in Lynn in 1649, moving to the new town of Concord where their relative James Blood and his family lived. A swift series of land purchases shortly after left Robert and John the proprietors of a set of farms totalling over 2,000 acres and collectively called "The Bloods' Farms." Lying outside the bounds of Concord, past about 1650 the two men never legally resided in Concord again and maintained their own quasi-independent fiefdom outside the reach of any town's authority for almost the entirety of the 17th century.

See here for corrections to the seven most common errors concerning Robert Blood.

Related Research

• The Relationship Between Richard, Robert, John, and James Blood of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
• The Seven Most Common Errors Concerning Robert Blood of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
• An Analysis of the Will of William Lakin of Ruddington & the Relationship Between Richard, John, and Robert Blood
• Sailings from London to the English Colonies in 1635