So far we have not found the name, Blackard, recorded in Virginia between John Blackard in 1650 and Charles Blackard's appearance in NC in 1755. We only know that Charles possible son William Blackard was born in Virginia implicitly placing our Charles Blackard in Virginia before 1755.
Virtually, all of the records for Prince George, Virginia from this time period were destroyed which may explain this lapse. However, there are a few names recorded which could well be Blackards recorded under different spellings. In evaluating these candidates, I search before and after a certain record to see if anyone else is recorded with that spelling or if any family lays claim to that person. I also compare their neighbors with known Blackard neighbors at earlier and later times.
I have found only one person in the right area of Virginia during this near-century that I feel with 99% confidence is a Blackard. His name was recorded twice in a surviving Prince George deed book as CHARLES BLANCHERD.
The man recorded as Charles Blancherd was prossibly a grandson of immigrant John Blackard. I estimate that he must have been born before 1690 and so he is too old to be the Charles Blackard who appeared in Edgecombe, NC in 1755. He is possibly the grandfather of the latter Charles Blackard. In fact, if his father was involved in Bacon's Rebellion there could be a reason for the spelling of the family name being obscured.
If the J.Blacker/John Blackbond recorded in Edgecombe NC in 1747 and 1754 was actually the father of our Charles Blackard I, then our family tree may look the following, however, please consider this as purely conjecture:
| 32 Nov 2 1714 Deed from Thomas
Harrison of Pr.
g. Co and Ellison his wife to Thomas
House of the same for 1300 lbs of tobacco, 50 acres on the Blackwater
next to Charles Blancherd, part of a
dividend of land granted to
Joshua Markam, dec'd by patent April 20, 1682 and conveyed by Markam
to Thomas and Ellinor Harrison July 30, 1666 [?] Wit: Gilberh Hay, John Wilkes Rec. Nov. 9, 1714 |
There were actually two different rivers in the area with similar names: Blackwater River and Blackwater Swamp River. However, recordkeepers were careless and often referred to them both as Blackwater as in this 1714 deed. However, a later deed in 1721 tells us that this is actually the Blackwater Swamp River which forms the boundry between Prince George County and Surry County.
This fact gives us an approximate location of Charles Blancherd and that is slightly east of the town of Merchant's Hope where immigrant John Blackard must have lived.
Some of the names on this deed have significance in our analysis. Thomas Harrison was member of an influential family and likely to be an ancestor of the Colo. Thomas Harrison who was the patriarch of the Harrison family of Caswell County, North Carolina. An Aaron C. Blackard married a Mary Harrison from that family later in 1836. She may have been a granddaughter of Colo. Thomas Harrison in which case, the families had a century to get to know each other.
Thomas House appears to be the ancestor of another Thomas House who appears later in Bute County, NC within a stone's throw of Charles Blackard. The names Peter Smart, Joseph Green, Thomas Daniel, Francis Aycock, Francis Capps and the Baptist Meeting House tell us that this was the same place where Charles Blackard was recorded in the 1766 Baptist District Tax list of Bute County.
|
DB-2, page 352. 3 November 1769. PETER SMART to THOMAS HOUSE, both of Bute Co. 120 Pds. Va. money for 295 A. in Bute Co. adj. JOSEPH GREEN on ye Reedy Branch, down Rocky Branch by line of THOMAS DANIEL & FRANCIS ACOK, along a small branch & up ye Reedy Branch, exclusive of 2 A. about the Baptist Meeting House & Spring which is lade(sic) off & a line Round it, beginning at ye mouth of ye afsd. Spring guts & up ye same including ye sd. Spring House & Bridge across ye Reedy Branch. Wit: FRANCIS CAPPS, RICHARD BENET. Proved by FRANCIS CAPPS, Bute November Court 1769, BEN McCULLOCH, C.C. Reg: 13 February 1770, by WILLIAM JOHNSON, P.R. DB-3, page 56. 9 May 1770. THOMAS HOUSE to DANIEL SLEDGE, both of Bute Co.200 Pds. Va. money for 295 A. in Bute Co. adj. JOSEPH GREEN on the Reedy Branch, to line of THOMAS DANIEL & down the Rockey Branch to line of FRANCIS ACOCK & up Reedy Branch. Wit: ISAAC ACREE, WILLIAM REDDOCK. Ack: by THOMAS HOUSE,Bute May Court 1770, BEN McCULLOCH, C.C. Reg: 21 October 1770, by WILLIAM JOHNSON, P.R. Marginal notation: Deld. to DANIEL SLEDGE Feby. 1771 |
This 1768 Bute, NC deed was perhaps the last known record of Charles Blackard I, who does not appear in the 1770 tax list. After this point it appears that the Charles Blackard found in the records of this area a person who I call for convenience of naming, Charles Blackard II. The southside of Reedy (Pond) Creek is also the north side of Fishing Creek and the names Green, Aycock and Daniel helps verify that the younger Thomas House was a close neighbor of Charles Blackard I.
| Bute County Deeds --------------------------- 2-163 14 March 1768 William Davis to William Arnold both of Bute County 237A n Bute on SS Reedy Crk. adjourning Green and Mangum. (Davis had bght 1766 of Eustice Daniel of __) Witnessed: Wm.Cooper, Charles Blackard, David Rose. Delivered Dec 1,1772 to Thomas Rodgers. |
Then a few years later, "Thomas House of Brunswick" was named on the same 1778 Bute tax list with Charles Blackard II. Brunswick County, Va was the half-way point of many of the Prince George families that relocated south into Edgecombe/Granville/Bute NC.
In 1721 Thomas House resold the same property that he had bought from Thomas Harrison to an active industrialist named John Hardyman. We are also given the additional information that this is the portion of Prince George called Martin's Brandon Parish and physically bounded by the Blackwater Swamp River.
|
p.468 June 14, 1721 Thomas House of Surry
to John Hardyman of Pr.
Geo. Co. for L 10, 50 acres in Pr. Geo. Co. in Martins
Brandon Parish, bounded by Charles Blancherd,
Blackwater Swamp. "said 50
acres (something seems to have been omitted here by the clerk after these
three words, as the rest seems to refer to a larger tract from whidh the
50 acres originiated)" bearing date 20th April 1682 containing 292
acres, conveyed by said Mecham to the
said Thomas Harrison and Elinor his
wife as by conveyance dated 30 the July 1686 will appear" June 13, 1721 Hannah, wife of Thomas House relinq. dower rt. |
The following excerpt from "The Hopewell Story" provides us with perhaps an even more precise fix on where this John Hardyman lived, near the modern-day town of Garysville, Prince George County, Virginia. Garysville is located on the headwaters of Powell's Creek approximately 2 miles due south of the old colonial town of Merchant's Hope where immigrant John Blackard lived.
| “In spite of the stirring days, a big grist mill had been built about this time on Powell’s Creek, near the junction of the present Routes 10 and 106. Around this activity, a small settlement grew and it was the inception of the present Garysville. This mill was sold in 1721 by John Hardyman [Chapter 6] to Peter Poythress [Chapter 5]. In subsequent periods, it was known as Bland’s Mill or Cocke’s Mill. It was at this time, in 1677, that John Bland purchased Jordan’s Point. The original Bland cemetery is near the present airport entrance." - The Hopewell Story |
| Notice Interstate-85 that goes south from Petersburg. I-85 and goes directly to modern-day Warren County, NC. Warren County is the northern half of historic Bute County and I-85 follows an old colonial road that NC tobacco growers used to use to take their tobacco to market in Petersburg according to one Bute County will mentioning tobacco in a warehouse in Petersburg. The original road was called the "Fall Line Road." It appears to me that the only colonial roads coming near old Merchant's Hope went west to Petersburg. Therefore, I think it most likely that our Blackard ancestors came to North Carolina along the path now traced by I-85 staight southwest from Petersburg into the part of old Edgecombe/Granville County that eventually became Bute. That was the largest road in area and it lead directly to where the Blackards first appeared in North Carolina. |
The was a real Blanchard family living during this time in Virginia. However, the family of Benjamin Blanchard relocated from Massachusetts and lived in Nansemond County much further east on the James before they migrated down into early Chowan County, NC. They have been studied thoroughly and it is felt certain that none of their family lived in Prince George at this time.
Furthermore, myself and one other Blackard participated in the Blanchard Family DNA Project. While the two Blackard samples were identical, we were radically different from either of the major American Blanchard lines or the Benjamin Blanchard line.
So I feel fairly confident that the Charles Blancherd recorded in Prince George County was actually an older Charles Blackard. He was in the immediate vicinity of immigrant John Blackard and also there is no evidence of the Blanchard family being anywhere near there at that time. There appears to be no real family spelled Blancherd in the area either. Furthermore, the Nansemond Blanchards appear to have been literate and their name was spelled very consistently.
One other piece of circumstantial evidence comes down to us from several family legends saying that the name Blackard came from the name Blanchard. While taken at face value, I believe this statement is false, there may be a nugget of truth in this legend. It may be possible that our family name was spelled Blancherd in colonial Virginia records at some time, giving rise to this family legend.
The Lambert Tye named in following will must be the son of the same Richard Tye who transported John Blackard to America in 1649. Blackburn was a huge English/Scottish family, but I don't see a record of them in Prince George at that time. This could be the wife of a grandson of immigrant John Blackard such as the wife of Charles Blancherd. A Blackard tie to the Tye family would not be surprising.
| Charles City Wills and Deeds 1725-1731 --------------------------------------------- p203 will of Lambert Tye 10 Ap 1728 mentions daughter Elizabeth Blackburn. |