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William Blackstone
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m. 1690
Facts and Events
"The first of two sons born to JOHN and KATHERINE BLACKSTONE was WILLIAM. He was born in 1691 in a log house in North Yarmouth, Maine, a year after his parents were married in Providence, R.I. It could be said that his youthful days were somewhat frustrating in that his parents could never seem to settle down in any one place for any length of time. Consequently, WILLIAM spent considerable time in his younger years with his Uncle DAVID GORHAM, his Aunt, and his little cousins, in North Yarmouth. WILLIAM was named for his grandfather, the REVEREND WILLIAM BLACKSTONE (1595-1675) as his father, JOHN (1660) was the only child born to the REVEREND WILLIAM and SARAH (FISHER) STEVENSON BLACKSTONE in Rebehoth, R.I. The first 2 1/2 years of his life were with the GORHAMS in Maine, the next 2 1/2 in Providence with his parents, then he went to Portsmouth for a spell, and back to North Yarmouth with his mother. In 1698, his parents again returned to Providence, leaving little WILLIAM with the GORHAMS once again, and in the following year, his little brother, JOHN, was born in Providence. From then on, WILLIAM saw his parents only on occasional visits by them when they were able to make the trip up there. In the meantime, WILLIAM learned all about the lumbering business from his Uncle DAVID; made the acquaintances of ELISHA CLARK, the Dover-Portsmouth ferryman, a SGT. JOHN HALL of Dover; and HUMPHREY VARNEY, a Dover Planter, along with many others, all due to his likeable ways and his ability to make friends, and from whom he gained much knowledge and assistance in his struggle to make something of himself." --Nathaniel Brewster Blackstone "Along about the latter part of 1713, WILLIAM learned that his parents were planning to move again, this time to Connecticut. The following year they did move, finally settling once and for all in Branford, Connecticut. At the same time, WILLIAM found the woman he could not live without and so married ABIGAIL VARNEY, the daughter of his friend, HUMPHREY VARNEY, the Dover Planter. Apparently ABIGAIL had previously been married to an AMBROSE CLARIDGE of Portsmouth, according to page 4 of the Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, and also that she was a witness in Berwick, Maine in 1714, neither of which was further explained. The fact that she was 45 when she married WILLIAM, who was only 23 years old, is evidence that she was married before, as in those times, especially, very few young ladies remained unmarried after their teens, and those that did rarely ever married at all. It would seem evident that her first husband was not virile and a woman's ambition in life is to bear children and here was WILLIAM, who had known little of a mother's love and affection, which ABIGAIL, no doubt, gave him in abundance, as the next four years, she gave him three daughters and a son; 1715-PATIENCE; 1716-LYDIA; 1717-SUSANA; and 1718-WILLIAM, JR." --Nathaniel Brewster Blackstone |