PACK-L Archives

From: <>
Subject: Nancy Ann Blankenship/Francis Farley JR (resolved)
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1999 10:21:46 EST

I have permission from Adriana Farley to post her research to our lists. The
other two messages came from the Blankenship list and I have included them in
this message as they are pertinent. I feel this issue is now resolved due to
the information presented here.

Carol Pack Urban
-------------
Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1999 18:38:40 -0500

From: Pat Blankenship:
>
>1 MarthaWFT Est 1653-1678 - WFT Est 1705-1766
>>> +Edward Stanley
>>> *2nd Husband of Martha:
>
>..+Ralph Blankinship1660 - 1714
>
>.....2 William Blankinship 1690 - WFT Est 1691-1780
>
>.....2 John Blankinship1695 - 1754
>..........+Elizabeth HudsonAbt 1687 - Aft 1772
>................3 Hudson Blankinship WFT Est 1715-1742 - 1812
>.....................+EdithWFT Est 1720-1744 - 1826
>................3 William Blankinship Abt 1720 - Abt 1802
>.....................+Mary
>................3 Henry BlankinshipWFT Est 1716-1744 - WFT Est 1722-1823
>................3 Norvell BlankinshipWFT Est 1716-1744 - WFT Est
1722-1823
>................3 Matthew Blankinship WFT Est 1716-1744 - WFT Est
1722-1823
>................3 Amy BlankinshipBef 1731 - WFT Est 1721-1826
>.....................+William Turner
>................3 Elizabeth Blankinship Bef 1731 - WFT Est 1721-1826
>.....................+ Morrisett
>................3 Elisha BlankinshipWFT Est 1716-1744 - WFT Est 1722-1823
>................3 Joseph BlankinshipWFT Est 1716-1744 - WFT Est
1722-1823
>................3 Isham Blankinship1740 - WFT Est 1741-1830
>
>.....2 James BlankinshipAbt 1698 - 1745-1749**
>..........+Mary Stanley
>................3 Drury Blankinship- 1806
>.....................+Martha
>................3 Nancy Ann Blankinship1730 - 1829
>.....................+Francis Jr. Farley
>................3 Joel Blankinship
>................3 David Blankinship
>................3 Daniel Blankinship
>................3 Susanna Blankinship
>................3 James Blankinship
>................3 Fore Blankinship
>
>.....2 Ralph Blankinship1700 - 1754
>..........+Elizabeth
>................3 Ephraim Blankenship- 1794
>.....................+Ann
>................3 Joseph BlankenshipBef 1730 - 1787
>..................+Mary Anderson
>................3 William Blankenship- 1785
>................3 Francis Blankenship
>................3 Frederick Blankenship
>................3 Matthew Blankenship
>................3 John Blankenship- 1813
>..................+Ann
>................3 Ralph Blankenship
>................3 Sarah Blankenship
>.....................+__ Cobb
>................3 Jeremiah Blankenship
>
>........2 Ann Blankinship1702 - Abt 1763
>................3 James BlankenshipAbt 1720 -

**These are the parents and siblings of Nancy Ann Blankenship.
-------------
>From Don Blankenship:

We don't know what Martha's maiden name was so we all are kind of guessing at
who she might have been. Col. Blankenship says in his book "Blankenship Family
History, 1st edition, page 22, that following Ralph Blankinship's
death "Martha tried to keep her little family together. With very little
worldly goods left by Ralph she found the struggle a hard one. However, Edward
Stanley, a widower in the area became interested in her and they were
married early in 1716. He accepted her children and took them into his home.
Stanley was a prosperous farmer and Martha improved her status in life
tremendously." Col. Blankenship in his published book didn't say 1725, he
said 1716 as though he knew the date for sure. But where did he get that
marriage date?

Karen King Turner believes that Lloyd Bockstruck's version of the marriage
date for Martha and Edward Stanley is more accurate and she cites him as
follows: "Lloyd Bockstruck wrote that she (Martha) married him (Edward
Stanley) in the summer of 1725 However, Karen doesn't cite Lloyd Bockstruck's
source for documenting the marriage date which supposedly occurred in 1725, if
Bockstruck is quoted correctly.

Karen also cites a trusted researcher Ann Avery Hunter who states that "on
page 53 of the Henrico Co. Orphans Court, 1677-1739, p. 53; Martha, widow of
Ralph Blankenship" as the basis for the year of her (Martha's) marriage to
Edward Stanley.

Maybe Karen sees something I don't, but the official source document simply
states that "On 5 October 1725 the Henrico County court held at Varina ordered
Edward Stanley, who intermarried with Martha the relict of Ralph
Blankenship, to be summoned to appear at the next court and bring the orphans
of Ralph Blankenship, deceased. So Martha was certainly married to Edward
Stanley before 5 October 1725.

If anyone has a source document citing the marriage of Edward Stanley to the
widow Martha Blankenship, we could solve this mystery of when they were
married. I don't know who is right. Col. Blankenship says in his book that
the marriage of Martha and Edward Stanley occurred in 1716. Who can disprove
him with hard fact. I know we all trust Lloyd Bockstruck's research, but just
because Lloyd says something doesn't necessarily make it true. We all
are capable of making mistakes. If you are a good reader and researcher you
are inevitably going to stumble onto errors made by even the experts. We can
probably nail down the source for the marriage date, but I don't have it
here. Who does have a source for documenting the marriage of Martha to Edward
Stanley in 1725?

Furthermore, it is confusing to me why this kindly old man, Edward Stanley,
now remarried to Martha was summoned to an orphan's court in 1725. All of
Martha's children supposedly were born prior to 1700. So each of these
children of Martha would have had to have been at least 25 years of age in the
year 1725. Is the date wrong for when the orphans court was convened?

Wouldn't you assume that in 1725 the age of majority would be 21, or perhaps
even 18 at that time in history? Why are men in their mid- to late-20's, all
children of Martha, being called into an orphan's court in the year 1725? At
what age do you cease to be called an orphan? That is also a mystery unless
the date is something earlier than 1725. If the date was corrupted and it was
1716, then you still might have James Blankinship (son of Ralph the
immigrant) as a minor, but he too would have been about 18. The mystery
lingers.

And finally, Sonya Sharkey says "I am obviously missing the boat here on a
line somewhere. If Charles Clay's wife was Hannah (Wilson) and they were
Martha's parents, and Hannah (later) married Ed Stanley after Charles died,
then Martha married Ed Stanley after Ralph and Hannah died.......(So) did
Martha marry her step-father?"

Yes Sonya. If all those facts are right and Martha was the daughter of Charles
Clay and Hannah Wilson, then she certainly would have married her step father
Edward Stanley. Maybe old Edward Stanley was a peach of a
guy....who knows!. Remember, this is the early 1700's. Women very frequently
married for economic reasons in deference to love. At that late phase in her
life, companionship was probably the name of the game, as it is today. In
1716 Martha would have been 56 years old if she was born around 1660, as I
assume. So this woman (Martha) then going on 60 years of age and desirous of
providing some inheritance for her sons, might very well have married Edward
Stanley, a man 10 years her senior....just for the financial cushion he could
provide her in her own old age. Ralph Blankinship, the immigrant, had little
to give Martha when he died. His personal inventory is documented
following his death and it included among other things, a couple of heifers, a
cupboard, an old bed, four sows and 13 pigs, two sifters, etc. Not much of an
inheritance, especially if poor Martha had to divvy it up among her
children!

There were more men than women in America when Ralph Blankinship died in 1714.
It probably was not until the later part of the 1700's that there was equality
in the numbers between the sexes. The first census of 1790 seems to
show fairly equal numbers for men and women, at least on the American eastern
seaboard. In my studies of the Maryland eastern shore of this same era around
1700, I was able to determine that the average maximum waiting
time for remarriage of a widow (of any age) was about two years. Often times
the widow would remarry within the year following her husband's death. Women
were scarce in those days! Why would Martha wait 10 long years to remarry, as
Lloyd Bockstruck suggests? Even if Martha was stone cold ugly that wouldn't
matter too much back then because a wife was quite essential for the basic
survival of the family. There were no fast food joints, so she
cooked all the meals. There were no Wal-Marts where you could buy clothing, so
the women made it all, etc. etc. A man probably looked at a woman very much in
terms of helping him survive during this most difficult pioneering
era of early America. It was not at all uncommon for a man of the early 1700's
era to marry a woman 10 or even 15 years older than himself. It happened
frequently. The law of supply and demand simply made it happen.
-----------------
Date:1/14/99 10:34:48 PM Eastern Standard Time

From:FarleyA1 (Adriana Farley)

Unfortunately much of the "documentation" is very loosely associated with
"real" research, as I have gathered much over the past years, some without
documentation, from various relatives and researchers. Only in the past year
have I been transferring my notes to a more (I hope) readable format, with a
listing of the document (s), periodicals, printed matter, or vital statistics
to help support the comments. In any case, here it is in case it is of any
help at all. Adriana.

First Generation
**************************************************
1. Ralph Blankenship. He married Martha Stanley, daughter of Edward Stanley.
##
They had the following children:
2i.James Blankenship

Second Generation
**************************************************
2. James Blankenship. Son of Ralph Blankenship & Martha Stanley. Born Circa
1698 in Henrico Co., VA. Died 1748 in Will Written, Henrico Co., VA.

James Blankenship seems to have been content with his holdings in
Chesterfield, and when he wrote his will, recorded in Deed and Will Book of
Henrico county 1748-1750, page 36 and noted the following in his estate:

"In the name of God, Amen, I, James Blankinship of Henrico County, being
sick and weak, but parfitt memory, do ordain this to be my last will and
testament, in the manner and form following. To Witt, I give my soul to God
who gave it, in hopes of his acceptance thereof, and my body to the yearth-
from whence it was taken, to buried by my exectour.
"Item: I give and bequeath to my son, Drury Blankinship, the plantation he
now lives on, to him and his heirs forever, only the said Drury is to pay five
pounds cash it being for the plantation I now live on. Also, I give to my
son, Drury, all the goods and chattels he is now possessed with to him and his
heirs forever.
"Item: I give to my daugher, Ann [Nancy], a young hefer of three years
old.
"Item: I give and bequeath to my son, Joel Blankinship, all my land lying
above the spring branch and so up the branch joining on Robert Man and Frances
Man's lines to him and to his heirs forever. I give to my son, Joel, my new
bed and furniture as it now stands, one iron pot of four gallons, two pewter
dishes and two plates, also my bay horse, bridle and saddle.
"Item: I give and bequeath to my youngest son, Fore Blankinship, the
plantation I now live on and to him and to his heirs forever.
"Item: I give and bequeath unto my loved wife, Mary, all the remainder if
my estate not yet mentioned as beds, cattle and household furniture during her
widowhood but in case she should marry then to be equally divided among the
rest of my children by two or three neighbors, but not my children. My will
and desire is that the estate be not appraised. I also maintain and appoint
my belowed wife, Mary, my whole ... [remainder missing]."

Source: The Blankenship History, by Col. Leslie C. Blankenship.

He married Mary.
They had the following children:

i.Daniel Blankenship; He married Sally Clay.
ii.David Blankenship;
iii.Drury Blankenship; Drury Blankenship is mentioned in the work "The
Blankenship History" by Col. Leslie C. Blankenship, as
"A Revolutionary soldier. Records may be found in the Index of
Revolutionary Records in the State Archives in Richmond, Virginia, compiled by
Dr. H.J. Eckenrode in 1912 and 1914.
"Drury returned to his home [Chesterfield County] after the Revolution
and lived there until his death in 1804. He had seven children: Stephen,
Jesse, Vincent, Polly, Patsy, Sarah (married Harrison) and Dickey (married
Chaulky). Drury was obviously old and had already divided his real estate and
most of his personal belongings up among his children. Since he makes no
mention of his wife, it can be assumed that she had pre-deceased him. He left
something to the children of Vincent and nothing to him, so, most likely, he
[Vincent] was dead too. Contents of his will:
"Page 230, Will Book No. 6, Chesterfield Co., VA., ... giving goods to
his daughter Polly a bed and furniture; to his son Stephen 5 shillings; to his
son Jesse 5 shillings; to the children of his son Vincent 5 shillings; and
other bequests to his daughter Sarah Harrison an dhis daughter Dickey Chaulky.
Will dated November 9, 1804. Drury made his mark.

3iv.Nancy "Ann" Blankenship
v.Joel Blankenship;
vi.Fore Blankenship; Fore Blankenship is mentioned in the work "The
Blankenship History" by Col. Leslie C. Blankenship as "a Revolutionary
soldier. Records may be found in the Index of Revolutionary Records in the
State Archives in Richmond, Virginia, compiled by Dr. H.J. Eckenrode in 1912
and 1914."

Third Generation
**************************************************

3. Nancy "Ann" Blankenship. Daughter of James Blankenship & Mary. Born 1730 in
Chesterfield Co., VA. Died in Shawneetown, White, IL.

NOTE: Although Jesse Kelso's work "Twelve Generations of Farley" lists
Nancy Blankenship twice, as wife to both Francis and his brother John,
research (Hopkins, 1964, pg. 43) notes Nancy to have been "the sister of
Drewry Blankenship, the Revolutionary War Scout". J.K. Farley's work (pg 60)
has the "m. Nancy Blankenship" in the area for spouse of John. Definite
connections do not exist for two Nancy Blankenship. Believe this notation
(for John) to have been a typographical error. Adriana Farley, 1996.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Nancy, or as she was noted, as "Ann" was recipient of her father James
Blankenship's will of 1748, of "a young hefer of three years old." Source:
"The Blankenship History" by Col. Leslie C. Blankenship.

She married Francis Jr. Farley, son of Francis Marion Farley & Nancy Whitlow,
1760 in Montgomery County, VA. Born 1726 in Henrico County, Virginia. Died
1829 in Shawneetown, White Co., IL. Buried in Shawneetown, White, IL. They
had the following children:

4i.Francis (III) Farley
5ii.Nancy Elizabeth Farley
6iii.Gideon Farley
iv.Adam Farley; Born About 1762 in Monroe, W.VA.
Adam Farley married Catty Boyd, per the records at the Monroe County
Court, Union West Virginia, 24983 in 1807, Jacket 718. Source: Letter to Ruth
Ramsay, 29 Jan 1971.He married Catherine Katie Boyd, 1807.
v.Polly Farley; Born About 1766 in Monroe, W.VA.
vi.Johanna Farley; Born About 1768 in Monroe, W.VA. She married John
Christian.
7vii.Drewry Farley
8viii.Edward Farley

## Edward Stanley is actually the 2nd husband of Martha (mnu) Blankenship

This thread:

• Nancy Ann Blankenship/Francis Farley JR (resolved) by <>