George Blake

1611-1698

Born 1611

Died 1698

Children include Prudence

George Blake was born in 1611, by Perley's History of Boxford (1880), which gives his age at death as eighty-seven. He was living at Gloucester, Massachusetts, by the 1640s with his wife Dorothy.

He was a selectman of Gloucester in 1649. The selectmen were the small board that ran a New England town between town meetings. In 1651 he was made a freeman, which gave him a vote in the colony's elections.

The Gloucester town book records his children by Dorothy. The entries read "Rebecka, d. George and Dorathie, Feb. [day blank], 1641" and "Prudence, d. Georg and Dorathie, Apr. 15, 1647". Deborah was born between them. Elizabeth followed in 1650 and Mary on 14 February 1652. A son, Thomas, was born on 9 June 1658 and died on 25 June. Ruth, the youngest, was born on 3 September 1659.

He sold his houses at Gloucester in 1665 and 1669. He moved to Boxford about 1675, by Perley, and the Tyler genealogy of 1912 says the family "early moved to Boxford". Perley says he "was at first well-off; but became so poor that the town voted, in 1691, not to tax him."

Rebecca married Robert Eames of Boxford about 1660. Prudence married Moses Tyler of Andover on 6 July 1666, and died in 1689. Elizabeth married Matthew Perry, and Mary married Zaccheus Curtis.

In 1692 his eldest daughter, Rebecca, was arrested as a witch and condemned to death. She was reprieved in March 1693.

He died at Boxford on 17 February 1698, aged eighty-seven. Babson's History of Gloucester (1860) adds: "Dorothy Blake, probably his wife, died at the same place, Dec. 12, 1702."

Children

Prudence Blake (1647-1689)

Sources

Vital Records of Gloucester, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849, vol. 1 (1917), p. 94, archive.org vitalrecordsofgl01glouc.

Sidney Perley, The History of Boxford, Essex County, Massachusetts (1880), p. 74, archive.org historyofboxford00perl.

Sidney Perley, The History of Boxford, Essex County, Massachusetts (1880), p. 30, archive.org historyofboxford00perl.

Willard I. Tyler Brigham, The Tyler Genealogy (1912), no. 2, archive.org cu31924092510894; Vital Records of Gloucester, Massachusetts (1917), vol. 1, p. 94, archive.org vitalrecordsofgl01glouc; John J. Babson, History of the Town of Gloucester (1860), p. 62; Sidney Perley, The History of Boxford (1880), pp. 30 and 74, archive.org historyofboxford00perl; Salem Witchcraft Papers, no. 44, University of Virginia transcription of the Essex County court files

Sidney Perley, The History of Boxford, Essex County, Massachusetts (1880), p. 51; archive.org historyofboxford00perl.

Sidney Perley, The History of Boxford, Essex County, Massachusetts (1880), p. 73; archive.org historyofboxford00perl.

Willard I. Tyler Brigham, The Tyler Genealogy (1912), no. 2, archive.org cu31924092510894; Vital Records of Gloucester, Massachusetts (1917), vol. 1, p. 94, archive.org vitalrecordsofgl01glouc; John J. Babson, History of the Town of Gloucester (1860), p. 62; Sidney Perley, The History of Boxford (1880), pp. 30, 51, 73 and 74, archive.org historyofboxford00perl; Salem Witchcraft Papers, no. 44, University of Virginia transcription of the Essex County court files

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Cite: Heirology, "George Blake (1611-1698)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/george-blake-1611-1698-2fc7d3.