Search for the Origins of the Immigrants Thomas and Joseph BLANCHARD

Search for the Origins of the Immigrants
Thomas and Joseph BLANCHARD

Thomas BLANCHARD(c1585-1654)came from England to MA (1639) on the ship Jonathan with his four sons, George, Thomas, Samuel, and Nathaniel. His second wife Agnes (Bent) (Barnes) BLANCHARD, their infant daughter, Agnes, and Thomas' mother-in-law Agnes Bent, all perished during the voyage. The earliest known documentation for this family, is the recorded baptism of Thomas (12 Oct 1623), second son of Thomas and his first wife, Elizabeth, as found in the Goodworth Clatford, Hampshire, England Parish Register.

Little is known about Joseph BLANCHARD (      -1637), who came to Boston, MA in 1637 and died soon after. He married Ann (     ) and it is primarily through the recorded descendants of Ann that we know about this family. Joseph is believed to have come from England and is thought to have been a brother of Thomas, but we now know that this is not true.

Before it was established by DNA analysis that Thomas and Joseph were not brothers, among the proposals for the origins of a family that might have included Thomas and Joseph, is that of a Pierre Jean BLANCHARD, said to have come from Cap de la Hague, Normandy, France and rumored to have been a Huguenot. Two other sons, Pierre (Peter) and Jean (John), have been ascribed to this family and are thought to have remained in England.

With this brief background, this section of the BLANCHARD Web Page will serve as a 'clearing house' for any and all information that might help to establish the families of Thomas and Joseph, now that we know they are unrelated. A form that will be most useful for presenting this material will probably evolve as information is collected.

Please send any contributions that you would like to appear on this page, to the List Manager, Fletch Blanchard [[email protected]] .

Extracts from the Registers of the Walloon Church of Southampton
From: The Publications of the Huguenot Society of London Vol. IV 1890 and contributed by Fred W. Hartley.

The Walloon Settlement and the French Church at Southampton
Published in the Proceedings of the Huguenot Society of London Vol. III 1888-91 and contributed by Fred W. Hartley.

Pierre Jean Sightings
A collection of any and all suggestions that Pierre Jean BLANCHARD was the father of Thomas and Joseph (and possibly, their brothers Pierre and Jean).

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