The BLAND Family of Colchester, Watertown and Martha's Vineyard

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First Generation

WILLIAM DRAKE

William Drake married Joan Merrylls on 12 Oct 1578 in Halstead, co. Essex, England. [Ref]

Halstead is close to Colchester.

Joan signed her will on 16 Mar 1616/7. She mentioned her daughter Esbell Drake, the wife of John Smith. [Ref]

Children of William Drake and Joan Merrylls:

1. Robert Drake was baptised on 13 Jul 1581. [Ref]
   Robert was an immigrant; he lived in Hampton. [Ref] His sons Nathaniel and Abraham were the two people who deposed on 27 Apr 1691 in Hampton. (See John Bland's entry.)
2. Thomas Drake was baptised in 1582. [Ref]
3. Joshua Drake was baptised in 1584. [Ref]
4. Isabel Drake was born about 1579 was buried on 12 Oct 1639, age 60, in Watertown. She married John Bland.

Second Generation

JOHN BLAND (c. 1585/90 - aft. 1663)

Parents: Unknown

John Bland was probably born about 1885/90. [Ref] He died after 2 Nov 1663. He married Isabel Drake. [Ref]

John Bland was sometimes called "Smith". [Ref, 2;586] He was the John Smith, Sr. who was in Watertown in the 1630s. [Ref] He received four acres in Watertown in 1636/7. [Ref]

John was on of the earliest settlers of Martha's Vineyard, owning land there as early as 1646. [Ref]

Nathaniel and Abraham Drake deposed on 27 Apr 1691 in Hampton. They said that they knew John Bland, who was "sometime a liver" on Matthew's Vineyard [an old name for Martha's Vineyard] and was formerly of Colchester, England. They said that they had both known Isabell Bland, the wife of Thomas Leavitt, and John Bland since they were children; that Isabell was "always accounted to be the daughter of ... John Bland" and that they had heard John Bland "own ... Isabell to be his daughter"; that John was sometimes called John Smith, but his and his ancestors' name was Bland. [Ref] Immediately preceding this deposition in the Duke's county deeds and on the same date is a power of attorney whereby Thomas and Isabell Leavitt of Hampton authorize their son John Leavitt to recover assets of John Bland. Isabella explicetly calls herself the daughter of John Bland. [Ref]

John Bland of Martha's Vineyard made his will on 2 Nov 1663 naming his daughters "Anable and Isable who are all the children that are alive that I own." [Ref]

Children of John Bland and Joanna Unknown:

1. Anable Bland was born about 1613. [Ref] She married William Barsham of Watertown about 1634. [Ref] William died between 15 Apr and 29 Aug 1684.
   William signed his will on 28 Aug 1683; there was a codicil on 15 Apr 1684; it was proved on 29 Aug 1684. He gave money or movables to his sons and four of his six daughters. He left land to his daughters Rebecca Winship and Elizabeth Barsham. He left John Smith, Sr.'s farm and homestall to his daughter Elizabeth. [Ref]
2. Isabella Bland was born about 1615. She died on 9 Feb 1698/9. She married first Francis Asten. She married second Thomas Leavitt.

ISABELL DRAKE

Isabel Drake was buried on 12 Oct 1639, age 60, in Watertown. [Ref, the age is probably incorrect] She married John Bland. [Ref]

Third Generation

ISABELLA BLAND (c. 1615 - 1698/9)

Parents: John Bland [Ref, 2;586] and Joanna Unknown [Ref]

Isabella Bland was born about 1615. [Ref] She died on 9 Feb 1698/9, age 87. [Ref] She married first Francis Asten. [Ref, 2;586] She married second Thomas Leavitt, previously of Exeter. [Ref, 2;586]

Children of Thomas Leavitt and Isabella Bland:

1. John Leavitt

References

Anderson, Robert Charles, John Smith of Watertown, Massachusetts, The American Genealogist 61, 1985, 18-31.

Dow, Joseph, History of the town of Hampton, New Hampshire: From its settlement in 1638, to the autumn of 1892, unknown, L.E. Dow, 1893.

Editors, "English Localities of American Emigrants," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 21, 1867, 316.

Lindsay, A. E. T., "Some Descendants of Philip Towle of Hampton, NH," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 43, 1889, 364.

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