In Search of the Blackard Origins in Ireland

Some Blackard family stories describe the family using the troublesome term "Scot-Irish." Generally speaking, the Scot-Irish were protestant settlers in northern Ireland whom the English government placed there to displace Catholic landowners from whom they feared a revolt. In the 16th and early 17th century these Scot-Irish were chiefly English and Welsh protestant farmers. In the later 17th, 18th and 19th century the Scot-Irish were almost exclusively Scots.

Job Blackard's son, Thomas William Blackard, gave his family's nationality as Irish in his marriage to Sally Farmer in Person County, NC in 1818. I suspect, though, that this referred to the Irish origins of the family of his mother Jean Hargis Blackard.

Person County Blackard historian, Nellie Blackard Cobb, passed down that she believed that two Blackard brothers left Ireland for Scotland to escape some sort of persecution and then came to America from there. We have not been able to determine where she got this information.

Some handwritten notes held by the Stuart Virginia Museum say this: "Scotch-Irish- Blackards Great Grandfather Blackard and two brothers came over from Ireland. One brother moved to Kentucky, one moved to NC and SC. "

The Blacker family of north Ireland has a well-established history there. One heraldry book makes the claim that the Blacker family was also known by the name Blackard. I contacted a member of the Irish Blacker family (a descendent of Valentine Blacker) now living in Scotland. She had an extensive history of the Blacker family prepared in 1920 by an uncle. She said that they had never had been called by or even heard of the name spelled Blackard. And furthermore, unlike the dark-haired Blackards, the Blackers are all blue-eyed blondes of Scandanavian ancestry.

The Public Records Office (PRO) of England Immigration records that in 1851 an Ann Blackard (age 22) imigrated from Belfast, Ireland to New York aboard the ship Riverdale.

Kes Truelove uncovered in his research that the 1880 U.S. Census of Colchester, New London, Connecticut included a three Blackard households with head of households born in Ireland. The 1880 contains this information:

Earlier, in the 1860 census of Connecticut William Blackard was recorded in Hartfort County, Connecticut.

If these families came to America together then then arrived before the birth of John Blackard in Connecticut in 1854. Also this immigration occurred after the birth of Bridget Blackard in Ireland in 1841. This fixes the immigration date as 1841-1854 which is very close to the immigration of Ann Blackard from Belfast.

The 1888 and 1889 City Registry of Norwalk, Connecticut also recorded a William Blackard, Clerk of Water Board.

We do not know how long these Blackards had been in Ireland, however, these data would place John Blackard's birth as 1815 in Ireland. His father was also born in Ireland and we can assume that he was born by 1795 in Ireland.

So the question was did their line arrive there before the arrival of Charles Blackard in North Carolina in 1755. Or did they arrive there in Ireland after Charles Blackard was already in America?

I contacted a genealogical research firm, The Historical Research Associates, in northern Ireland to look for traces of the Blackard family in north Ireland However, Historic Research Associates did not find a single Blackard in Northern Ireland or Dublin records for the target period that I gave them of 1600-1750 before Charles Blackard appears in North Carolina. They found lots on Blacker and Blackie in the search but nothing like Blackard.

They advised not to pursue further research in North Ireland.

They did go outside the target period and found one possible hit in 1830 Householders Index for County Armagh which listed BLACKERT in the Parish of Drumcree.

These specific references were searched by this firm at the PRO in Belfast:

1630 Census of Men and Arms on Settler's Estates
1634 Copy of Subsidy Roll
1641 Book of Survey and Distribution
1659 Penders Census of Ireland
1659 Extract for Fews Baronies
1660 Poll Tax Abstraxcts
1661 Book of Survey and Distribution
1669 Hearth Money Roll
1689 Protestants attainted by James II
1737 Tythe Payers of Drumcree
1738 List of Freeholders of co. Armagh
1740 Protestant Householders
1753 County Armagh Poll Book
1766 List of Holdings and Occupiers of Armagh City
Personal Names Index

The following were searched in Dublin:

Church of Ireland Index to Baptisms, Marriages & Burials 1600-1821
Hayes Manuscript Sources
National Library of Dublin
Genealogical Office in Dublin

Conclusions

From these findings it seems unlikely that the Blackard family is actually "Scot-Irish" in origin.The above records are very comprehensive as there was extensive and objectionable taxation imposed by England in North Ireland during this time period. It is not likely that there were any Blackards there who escaped some listing for taxation. Since there weren't any Blackards recorded in Ireland before the arrival of Charles Blackard in North Carolina in 1755 it follows that they are not of our direct line. The Blackard families found in Connecticut from Ireland must have arrived in Ireland in 1766-1795.

It does seem clear that this story of Blackard Scot-Irish origins comes from Charles Blackard I himself as his sons went in several different directions after his death and all lines carried some version of a Scot-Irish origin story. This discrepency is explainable if Charles Blackard I was not the original Blackard immigrant, yet was perhaps the grandson or great-grandson of some Blackard who arrived in the Americas in the 17th century. It is possible that the origin of the Blackard family was obscured by the time Charles Blackard was alive and he simply passed down what he could reconstruct. There is evidence of the Blackard family in Virginia and Barbados as early as 1643, therefore, it is conceivable that Charles Blackard (b.1706-1711) was a great grandson of the original Blackard immigrant.

The most probable origin of this legend would be if the Blackard family came to the Americas from a port in Ireland, not that they necessarily ever lived there.