The first English colonists settled in Barbados in 1626. Barbados became the first port of call in America for sailing travelling west from the Canary Islands following the original path of Columbus. Then after the English Civil War many of the supporters of Charles II were exhiled to Barbados around 1650 including Lord Francis Willoughby and General Richard Williams. Afterwards, Barbados became very important trade center between the new and old worlds and the English Barbadians planters became wealthy raising suger cane and selling sugar and rum. They also bought tobacco, tar and wooden barrels and roofing shingles from Carolina and Virginia and shipped to ports in England and Glasgow, Scotland.
The Willoughby family of Lincolnshire, England were large landowners and Francis Lord Willoughby was the first governor of Barbados naming the governor's estate Parham after the ancestral Willoughby castle in Lincoln. The Willoughbys settled in St Phillips and then Christ Church and St Michaels Parish. Fort Willoughby is near Bridgetown, St Michaels.
Also after the war, Richard Williams, a Welsh general brought his family to settle in Christ Church, Barbados in a settlement he named Welchman's Hall.
Perhaps it is significant that Charles Blackard first appears in the Little Fishing Creek area of Edgecombe, NC in 1755 working on a land survey for a Samuel Williams and the surveyor was John Haywood (b. 1685 Christ Church, Barbados). Several other family names that were recorded in the immediate vicinity of Little Fishing Creek were earlier recorded in Barbados including: Lett, Smithwick and Hudson.
A Bridget Blackhead [Blackard?] was married in Barbados in 1668. Notably, this was the same year that Elizabeth Blackard arrived in Maryland. Also the name Bridget Blackard had been recorded earlier in England.
The 1680 militia census of Barbados included several names spelled similar to Blackard including: William Blanchad, William Blanchard, Christopher Blanchet, John Blanchet and John Blagdon. There are several more generations with names similar to Blackard.
Francis Blackyard [Blackard] married an
Elizabeth Brooks in St. Michaels Parrish, Barbados in 1702.
Barbados Marriages, Vol I 1643-1800,
St Michael Parish
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Page 3, RL1/2, 1702 Nov 8
Francis Blackyard & Elizabeth Brooks
Francis Blacchard [Blackard] was next recorded in the 1715 census of St. Michael's Parrish, Barbados age 32 (b.1683) with two females (aged 20 and 40) and a son age 3 (b.1711/12).
It is interesting that this son of Francis Blackard is the same age as the Charles Blackard who appeared later in North Carolina.
Next Francis Blackard witnessed a will in 1718.
Francis Blackard, again with the correct
spelling, was last recorded in St. Michael's Parrish, Barbados in 1723. He was
a witness for the baptism of Ann Willoughby, daughter of John Willoughby.
Also noteworthy, is the fact that one son of Charles Blackard was named Willoughby Blackard.
The sugar trade that was the backbone of the economy of Barbados collapsed after 1720 and many Barbadians relocated to Jamaica, The Leeward Islands and Charleston, South Carolina.
Another point worth noting is that the descendents of Charles Blackard's son William Blackard have handed down a family legend that the Blackards first arrived in America at Charleston, South Carolina and then relocated. Immigrants from the British Isles were not arriving at Charleston, South Carolina at the correct time to account for the arrival of Charles Blackard in NC in 1755. However, very many settlers from Barbados were arriving in Charleston prior to 1755.