Blakely/Bleakley in Newtownards

[andyblakely]

have a blakely family tree going back to 1768 if its helpful to anyone

Hi Mary, my Great-Grandfather was James Hamilton Blakely (born 16 May 1855 in Bangor, Co Down), he joined the Navy and ended up in Portsmouth. I think he had at least 2 brothers: Robert & William, who were probably both older than him. His father Robert may have been a 'cab man'.
I have the family tree of all his (James') many descendants but no information at all about his family in NI...

~ If the family tree you mention may be connected at all that would be very helpful to me 

[sarah]

Posted on behalf of Mary who had sent the image to RootsChat help

Sarah

[BallyaltikilliganG]

Andy , It might not look like it but I am trying to check when he left Co Down

1861 English Census I stumbled on this
Old Monkland  Lanarkshire Scotland
Thomas Blakely b 1817 Ireland m Esther b 1823 Ireland with children
Samuel 1845 b Ireland
Agnes b1848 b Ireland
Jane  b 1850 b Ireland
James b 1856 b Ireland { I dont think this is the right James or family}
John b 1859 Old Monkland

1863  Griffiths valuation see http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation
Here comes the puzzle is this JHB’s old home. Please look them up. one is possible just land and andrew lives on another place or it is two different Andrew ?
An Andrew Blakely is living at Mallyree townland, Bangor civil parish map ref 9 you can look a map and see blgd outline and fields if a farm
An Andrew Blakely is living at Balloo townland, Bangor civil parish map ref 7 you can look a map and see blgd outline and fields if a farm
Anyway having got an Andrew coming on the scene potentially some sort of relative I would check back to  both these websites
http://www.newtownards.info/family-blackly.htm
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~rosdavies/
He could have been a brother of James father or  etc One or other of these websites have a Hamilton Blakely slightly older and I acould not connect him in.

1871 English Census
Boy 2nd Class James Blakely b 1855 age 16 HMS Implacable training ship, Plymouth Devon

1881 English Census
Signalman James Blakeley b 1855 Age 26  Birth Place Bangor Ireland  The ship name might have been HMS Hector

[andyblakely]

Thank you Mary for making that information available, (and thank you Sarah for posting it), I don't see any connections at the moment but it may be invaluable later. 

[andyblakely]

Hi BallyaltikilliganG , Thank you for all that information.

I agree with you that the 1861 England Census appears to be a different family.

Thanks also for the 'heads up' on the 1863 Griffiths valuation (& the links to those websites) - no way of knowing if there is any connection though. JHB's son's appear to be named after his 'Best Man' at his marriage and then his Father/brothers  that I have names for, but no "Andrew" with his other 2 sons, so it seems unlikely.(see below)

You have found the correct person on the 1871 & 1881 Census (which was on HMS Hector), but I have been unable to find him on the 1891 Census which was 4 days before his wedding.
He was serving aboard HMS Duke of Wellington at that time (from 1st April 1891 until 2nd June 1891) although he had just been transferred from HMS Hibernia (from 25th November 1888 until 31st March 1891) so he may have been on leave and somehow avoided the Census ('inebriated'?)
On the 1901 Census he was a 'Naval Pensioner' in Portsmouth and had all his 5 sons by then, he died in 1906.

I have his Naval Records and they show he signed up as a "Boy 2nd Class" to HMS(?) Endymion  on 20th January 1871 and signed up (on HMS Audacious) for his 10 year ticket as "Ordinary Seaman 2nd Class" on 1st January 1873 - still assigned to the Endymion.

I believe he narrowly avoided going on the 1875/76 British Arctic Expedition when they decided not to take dedicated Signalmen (I believe he was on the preliminary crew list). The expedition was noted as suffering badly from Scurvy with 4 deaths, although it was rated a success overall. (HMS Discovery & HMS Alert)

I've included this extra information because the significance of some of it may have escaped my attention so if anything strikes you please let me know. Thanks again for your help. 

James Hamilton Blakely 1855-1906   Children: George Alfred James Blakely 1892-1917
m. 1891 Southsea                                          William John Blakely 1893-1976
Esther Stagg 1858-1944                                  Leonard Robert Blakely 1895-1965
                                                                     Harry Albert Blakely 1898-1972
                                                                     Frederick Valentine Blakely 1900-1975

[hdw]

I don't think anyone has yet mentioned that great source for Co. Down genealogy, "Ulster Pedigrees, the Descendants, in Many Lines, of James Orr and Janet McClement, Who Emigrated from Scotland to Northern Ireland ca.1607". The title says it all! The original handwritten family-trees are in the Linen Hall library but there's also a book version by the American researcher Ray A. Jones. There are 27 entries for Blakely in the index, mostly in Carrickmadyroe.

Harry

[Drumgooland]

The Leitrim visit sounds interesting. The long list contains a birth in Benraw - adjacent townland to Leitrim. There was significant movement from the area to Killyleagh after the famine; perhaps the Blakelys were part of that and moved on to Newtownards? Just speculation. See last gravestone inscription here: http://www.historyfromheadstones.com/index.php?id=522&page=306&prevStartQuery=1525&theme=Infant&Send=Send

[akanex2]

Quite a lot of interest to me here since I last posted. I see that the gravestone in reply#42 has the Charles Blakely who married Sarah Simpson (tree in reply#37) as the father of Thomas who erected the stone. Thomas’s baptism was recorded in Leitrim Presbyterian on 14 July 1843 showing his parents are Charles and Sarah. William, son of Charles, and Isabella Brown married in Leitrim on 7 December 1843, meaning if William and Thomas were brothers there was a large age gap (or possibly Thomas was baptised at a mature age?). My “connection” to Benraw/Leitrim is the attached photo of my grandfather William Blakely Kane (man in centre of doorway) labelled “Leitrim 1934” which I speculate may have been a visit to his Blakely relatives. I know nothing more about a link to that part of Co Down. My grandfather was the grandson of William Blakely (1848-1909), a draper in Newtownards. His father was William Blakely (1823-1873 a weaver in Newtownards) and grandfather was John Blakely an innkeeper, also in Newtownards, who died in 1859. John also had sons named Robert and Charles, baptised in N’ards in 1833 and 1836 respectively, who disappear from view and I had presumed died young. I’m now wondering if this Robert could be the Bangor Cabman (father of James Hamilton Blakely in 1855) and the name Charles a link to the Leitrim/Benraw family? John the innkeeper and his brother William both lived in Newtownards, as did their father Duncan Blakely who signed the Freeholders Register on 25th January 1790. I have always presumed that Duncan was descended from William “Blackley” of Newtownards, a butcher by trade who took leases in the town in 1740 and 1742.
Does anyone recognise the house/people in the photo?

[Drumgooland]

Stone in Leitrim Presbyterian; difficult to read:

In Loving Memory of JAMES BLAKLEY BENRAW
Who died 1st Sep 1886 Aged 54 years
(also his wife)?
ELIZABETH
Who died 10th Oct 1887 Aged 82 years
?
also their daughters
MARGARET who died 20th Sep 1906
and
SUSANNA who died 4th July 1909
AGNES who died 15 November 1912