Researchers Interested in Blackwells from Ireland


http://www.bess.tcd.ie/genealog.htm  Irish Genealogy

An interesting Irish Historical website is the County Tipperary Historical Society:
http://www.iol.ie/~tipplibs/Welcome.htm


Carleton E. Blackwell 808 Fisher Rd...Fitchburg, MA 01420-1638 Phone: (508)345-0525, is a retired lawyer. I nominate him to be the Irish Blackwell Research Editor. In a phone conversion on Mar.28 1996 he indicated he would like to contact all Irish Blackwell researchers. He will be providing more of his extensive notes later.

He visits Ireland every year looking for Blackwells and other families. He has met and has addresses of Blackwells in County Clare, but they know little of their ancestory. He says the Blackwells in Ireland are both Catholic and Protestant (in the same family) and says Blackwells are present in Ireland since the 1400s. He reports on a Dublin based Blackwell Society which meets annually to commemorate an Irish revolutionary named James Barthomew? Blackwell who fought in the French Revolution and tried to bring the revolution to Ireland.

He wrote in the Blackwell Researcher of 1990 Q3p3 on his family. He is looking for ancestors and cousins. Here is his line:

Robert Blackwell and Margaret his wife arrived in Boston Mass. with their children on June 11, 1849 on the brig Rebecca from Ireland. Robert and Margaret both died in 1858 in Lowell. Their children most born in Ireland:


1996 Blackwell Rearcher Query from
Mr. Richard F. Ambur, 11877 Ioka Way N.W., Silverday, Washington 98393:

Looking for descendants of Hugh and Hannah (Hanora) BLACKWELL of Somerville MA.. They came from Ireland in the 1830 or 40s. They may have come via Canada. Their son Richard was born in Somerville in 1850 and died there in 1940. Richard's children were:

Richard Ambur is  also looking for descendants of Henry Blackwell who came to Virginia City Nevada about 1860. He was murdered in Duckwater, Nevada on Christmas Day 1873 by a drunken suitor for one of his daughters. His widow married C.A.Brown later and they were still living in Duckwater in 1880. He is listed in the 1870 Nevada census in Virginia City with his wife, B.A. and children:

Richard Amber writes that his great grandmother Elizabeth M. Blackwell was somehow related to Henry and the Blackwells of Somerville, Mass. She was supposed born in Somerville in Sept. 1842 or possible in Ireland. He cannot find her before she married Junius North in Virginia City in 1867.


1982 Blackwell Newsletter Query:
Researching James Leo of Newport, Co. Tipperary, Ireland; he arrived in Boston from Iiverpool on the Ship HOPE, on 26 November 1849. Also on board was Edward Blackwell, age 23, male. He may also have been from Newport. [There were certainly Blackwells in Newport in the l9th century. The church is said to contain Blackwell memorials. See also the Newsletter, vol. 1, nos. 1 & 2, pp. 56. (JB BN Editor).] MRS. JEAN H. ROBINSON, 3047 Monterey Street, San Mateo California, U.S.A. 94403. This is a 1982 address, but the listed phone number (www.switchboard.com) at this address is still current in 1996. (DCB).


(1982) Researching a Blackwell family from Cloughjordan, Co. Tipperary, Ireland. Cloughjordan is on the border between Tipperary & King's (now Offaly) County. Martha Jane Blackwell, b. ca. 1831, m. Alexander Murphy, 1852, & resided in Middleton Twp., Norfolk County, Ontario. Tombstone says she d. 8 June 1909, age 78. Also two other brothers and sisters: Sarah, taught Darling St. school, Brantford, Ont., m. John Bier; John, single, in wheelchair at Biers, d. ca. 1890s; Elizabeth, was a governess in Ireland, m. John Taylor, lived on farm on Henry St. Brantford, Ont.; another boy, possibly Robert or James, went to London, Ont., and resided on Stanley St. --MISS OPAL L. HOWEY, 458 St. Paul Ave., Brantford, Ontario, Canada, N3R 4P2. (1982 address).


From Blackwell Newsletter 1980 v.2p5 An Irish Note:

Benjamin Blackwell/Blackall of Garden Hill in whose minority Jockey Hall was sold, married Anne, daughter of Ed.Thorn(e) of Thorn Hill, County Tipperary, and died 24 May 1828.
-- from (1980 address): Mrs. Margareta Blackwell, The Chalet, Ballinaclough, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, Ireland (1980 address).


Buddy L Burge Bud Burge bburge@centuryinter.net (correspondence dates 1995,96, March 1997)
2716 Joseph St.
Avon, Ohio 44011-1912 Telephone - (216)937-6941

Charlotte J. Burge cjburge@centuryinter.net
3032 West Erie Ave. Telephone - (216)244-3741, FAX - (216)245-6873
Lorain, Ohio 44053 (Fax located at Burge Building Company, Inc.)

Bud  and Charlotte are researching their ancestor:

William Blackwell 1800-1849. He married Ann Ashman b.1805 or 1802, d.1877, buried Mountaindale NY. The family apparently was from Mayo and Sligo. They were living 3 miles north of Dublin where he raised horses. In 1849 he committed suicide in Innescrone, County Sligo, because he was ruined by the potato famine. The rest of the family came to America. George and John were in the War of the Rebellion. Nothing is known of William Blackwell, Jr.:

Bud had speculated the family came from Tipperary County because the names Blackwell, and Garden were prominent there in the 1800s according to the IGI.

He is also looking for Bruce S. Elliott a Canadian Researcher who has studied Blackwell Migrations. Bruce Elliott wrote the book "Irish Migrants in the Canadas" 1988 (SC304871 304192 E158i). (see BN v3p25 for an out of date address and comment) (also see BN v3p38 about Blackwell Lodge)


PRELIMINARY INFORMATION - UPDATE OCTOBER, 1996

Blackwell - Van Osdale - a brief sketch -

William Blackwell, born ca. 1800, in Ireland. He was married in Co. Sligo on the 20th of November 1820 by the Rev. Kearns of Sligo, Ireland. He married Ann Ashman. William Blackwell died the 2nd of April in 1848 at Iniscrone, County Sligo.

During the potato famine, William shot himself (1848). Subsequently a son-in-law, James Carden Sr., born 1810, brought wife, Ann, born ca. 1828, her brother, Robert Blackwell, born 1836, and sister Alice Blackwell, born 1830/1833, to the U. S. on the Dewitt Clinton sailing ship. They departed Liverpool, England and landed in Boston, September 18, 1850.

The mother, Ann Blackwell, nee Ashman, (born 1802) arrived in Boston, October 24, 1851 on the James Nesmith with the children John, George, James and Mary. Probably son William came on the Tempest arriving in Boston on October 18, 185l. The mother, Ann, allegedly sailed nine times back to Ireland to die, however, the biography of son James states that Ann Blackwell died in Sullivan County, N. Y. Her daughter, Mary Frances, was a governess for a wealthy family in New York City until she moved to Mountaindale, N. Y. where she lived with her niece, Margaret, in her last 7 years. She died after a series of strokes and is buried next to her mother, Ann, in Hillside (Lynch) Cemetery on Church Rd. in Mountaindale, N. Y. Mary Frances Blackwell was born October 14, 1835 according to her 1929 obituary. A more likely birth date is 1843 or 1844.

Ann Blackwell, nee Ashman, is found in the July 20, 1870 U. S. Census in Lackawaxen Twp., Pike Co., Pa. Her age is given as 69. She was living with her daughter, Ann Carden age 40, (making the latter born 1830 instead of 1828 as stated above) and son-in-law James Carden age 50. He is listed as a railroad laborer while wife, Ann, is listed as keeping house. Only she could read and write. The mother, age 69, could only read. The estate value was $100.00. The following children were living in the household: Margaret 19, Mary 18, James 13, Julia 11, George 7, John 3, and Alice 6 mos. All were born in Pennsylvania. (Margaret is the niece mentioned above. Margaret married Lee Allen, a sea captain.)

James Blackwell, who came with the mother Ann, is found in the 1860 U. S. Census living with the Lancelot Drake family in Damascus Twp., Wayne Co., Pa. Subsequently he married a Mary Moore and had eleven children: Sarah Jane, Wattie S., James W., Lillian, Grace, Ann Gertrude, David W., George T., Marvin, Alice and Willie. James Blackwell was a lumberman and raft steersman on the Delaware River as well as a prosperous farmer. He developed a farm of 138 acres called Fairview.* It is located in Damascus Twp.+ He died in 1920 and is buried in Hillside Cemetery in Damascus Twp. There is much information available on this family. *Also Farview. +On Blackwell Rd. The other three sons of Ann Blackwell, nee Ashman, were George born 1840, John born 1830, and William born 1832. George and John were in the War of the Rebellion. Nothing is known of William Blackwell, Jr.

George Blackwell enlisted in the Civil War at Minnesota and was assigned to the Seventh Regiment, Company B, Volunteer Infantry. He was wounded at the battle of Tupelo Mississippi and lost a leg. He was taken by the rebels to a hospital in Mobile, Alabama where he died August 6, 1864. He is buried there in a military cemetery.

How Alice Blackwell (born 1830/33) came to Honesdale, Pa. and married George W. VanOsdale is not known. However, it was common for the Irish to be auctioned off at the dock as servants for the price of their passage. Another scenario is that George, according to family history, was a remittance man. As such he may have sent money to Ireland for Alice to come to the U. S. George was born December 8, 1829 in Meshoppen (Sterlingville) Pa.

George Van Osdale entered the Civil War in 1862 and served until 1865. Sometime during this period the family moved to Akron, Ohio. In 1870 George Van Osdale is listed in the city directory as a laborer living on E. Cedar St. in Akron. One year after the death of Alice in Akron, December 20, 1875, George returned to the Honesdale area and married Mary Maloney in Bethany, Pa. He died of oral cancer December 30, 1915 and is buried in the Civil War Section of the Glen Dyberry Cemetery, Honesdale along with other members of his company. George and Alice VanOsdale, while living in Honesdale, Pa. had the following children:

  1. Jeanette Van Osdale, born 1852 Honesdale, Pa.,
  2. James Van Osdale, born 1855 Honesdale, Pa.,
  3. Mary Van Osdale, born November 14, 1858 Honesdale, Pa.,
  4. Rebecca Van Osdale, born 1859 or 1860 Honesdale, Pa..
  5. Grace Van Osdale, born November 5, 1869 Akron Ohio.
  6. Lillian Van Osdale, born on August 26th 1873 Akron Ohio.

In 1871 or 1872 son James Van Osdale was listed as a yardman for the hotel Empire House. In the 1875-78 Akron City Directory we find (of our known family) James, Mary (working for the Barber Match Co.) and Becky, listed as a domestic N. N. Leohner. Jeanette may not show up as she may have been married. After 1879 only Mary Van Osdale appears. She died Nov. 13, 1927 in Akron, unmarried, leaving an estate of $344,927.66 to her dear friend George Hopkins. Notification was made to sister Lillie (George and Alice's last child) of Lorain, Ohio and Grace of Arizona. Since there was no mention of Rebecca or Jeanette, they were possibly deceased at this time.

Allegedly Lillian was placed in an orphanage after her mother, Alice, died December 20, 1875. (She is buried in Glendale Cemetery, Akron near son James.) James, a very handsome man, was killed crossing the railroad tracks in Cincinnati, June 6, 1884. In the census of 1880, Lillian, at the age of 7, was listed as living with the Zenas H. Kelsy family of Brighton Twp., Lorain County, Ohio using the name Lillian Kelsey. In 1894 Lillie Kelsey (Van Osdale) married Vern W. Burge of Brighton. Lillian and Vern had four children: Lynn Born 1895, Maurice born 1902, Grace Alice born 1905 and Leslie born 1909. Grace Alice died at age 2, after eating a contaminated hot dog. Grace Alice was named after her Aunt Grace and Grandmother Alice.

We know the least of Jeanette Van Osdale. There is a record in Akron of a Jeanette marrying a Charles Moore 11-21-69. She had a son Howard, born in Sept. 1874, by a Charles Keener. Howard was placed in an Akron orphanage. In 1896 he was listed in the city directory as Howard T. Keener, wife Sadie, working as a printer. His wife probably died and he subsequently followed Aunt Grace to California. They lived in Sacramento, later in Los Angeles and Arizona.

Grace Van Osdale moved from Sacramento to Glendale (Los Angeles) about 1910. She had also worked on the newspaper in San Francisco. Later she moved to the Tucson, Arizona area as did Howard Keener. Grace died November 23, 1930 and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Tucson.

Rebecca Van Osdale married William H Rhodes, March 25, 1882 in Akron. Subsequently we find her in Sacramento, California where her first child, that we know of, was born in Feb. 1885 - Phillip Harley Rhodes. A second son, Edwin B. Rhodes, was born March 19, 1886. He married Marie Beidinger, born September 14, 1885, in Rothselberg, Germany.

In Akron in 1872 we have listed William Rhodes, rubbermaker, living at Water and Exchange Sts. also, William S. Rhodes, law student, who boards at the Steese house. In 1896 we find William E. Rhodes, wife Nettie M., working as a teamster. We are not sure of these latter Rhodes connections to Rebecca Rhodes, nee Van Osdale.

Rebecca Rhodes had land dealings with her sister, Grace, in Sacramento, California. Therefore we know there was a relationship between the two sisters while in California. Rebecca was now married to a man named Dow L. or R. Andrews. She was last listed as living in Sacramento in 1915 and he in 1916.

It is not known where Rebecca or her spouse are buried or when they died.

Finally, as an interesting note: the Cardens were also buried in aforementioned Hillsdale Cemetery of Mountaindale, N.Y. This cemetery was non-sectarian. In 1950 about 15 of the Cardens were disinterred and reburied in the Catholic section of the Fantine-Kill Cemetery in nearby Ellenville, N. Y. Ann Blackwell, nee Ashman, and daughter, Mary Frances Blackwell, who was Episcopalian (Anglican) remained at the Hillside or Lynch Cemetery. Mountaindale was originally called Sand Creek for the creek which runs nearby.

Bud


An Irish Note: Dublin (from 1982 Blackwell Newsletter )

This item comes from Wilson's Dublin Directory, For the Year 1788 (Dublin: William Wilson, 1788), p. 18 (Merchants and Traders): Blackwell (William) Gun-maker, 2, great Ship-street [Dublin] [note: Wilson's Directory is bound with: Samuel Watson, comp., The Gentleman's and Citizen's Almanack (Dublin: Samuel Watson, 1788 .]


To join and/or send US mail queries write to Eugene Blackwell, editor Blackwell Researcher, W.2415 Johannsen Road, Spokane Washington 99218.
Subscription to the Blackwell Researcher is $8 dollars per year.(1996)
The Blackwell Researcher and this Blackwell Online Notebook are intended only for research and exchange of information. 

John D.Blackwell who use to edit the Blackwell Newletter was interested in Irish and Canadian Blackwells, perhaps I can convince him to work on part of this online notebook.


Subject: Anyone have Griffiths-Roscommon?
From: janfortado@aol.com (Janfortado)
Date: 1996/12/16 ... via www.dejanews.com features.filter: soc.genealogy.* search Blackwell
Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com
Newsgroups: soc.genealogy.uk+ireland X-Admin: news@aol.com

I have learned that there is a possibility that my Spellmans came from County Roscommon. Since John Spellman married Liza Blackwell, supposedly in Ireland, before I try to figure out if there is anyone I can write to in Rocommon, I need to know what part the Spellmans might have come from. If someone had easy access to County Roscommon in Griffith's, I was wondering if in the index there is an indication that Blackwells and Spellmans came from the same area.

Thank you so much if anyone can help.


Tunstead Family of Derbyshire and Ireland.


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