Call us for a free consultation
801-531-0920
Home
Resources
Immigrant Servants Database
Services
Contact Us
Testimonials
About Us
Case Studies
Blog
menu
Home
Resources
Immigrant Servants Database
Services
Testimonials
About Us
Case Studies
Blog
Contact Us
Immigrant Servants Database
Search
Advanced Search
Learning Center
About
Research Services
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
Individual Record
Name
Surname:
Blundell
Given Name:
John
Soundex Code:
B453
Birth, Christening and Other Information
Gender:
Male
Date of Birth or Christening:
about 1684
Orphan:
Unknown
Position in Parent's Family:
Unknown
Landowner:
Unknown
Literate:
Unknown
Convict:
Unknown
Port of Departure
Town:
Liverpool
County:
Lancashire
Nation:
England
Place of Arrival
Colony:
Virginia
Length of Indenture
Year of Indenture:
1704
Master
Surname:
Blundell
Given name:
Richard
Residence
Parish:
Little Crosby
County:
Lancashire
Nation:
England
Research Notes
Proof of Immigrant Servant Status:
"The life of one Liverpool emigrant is well documented. In 1704 the landowner Nicholas Blundell of Little Crosby sent a young man called John Blundell, the twenty-year-old son of a tailor int he township, to serve his brother Richard in Virginia for seven years. He sailed in the charge of William Parr on the Laurel, captained by Edward Tarleton. Nicholas personally put the young man on board and paid the captain L5 for his passage. Captain Tarleton had taken the Yorkshire Laurel to Newfoundland in 1700, and had already been responsible for twenty-seven servants going to the New World. Tarleton was in Virginia in 1705, when he was among a group of sixty-five masters of merchant ships who signed a vote of thanks to Governor Nicholson for his help in ensuring safe convoy home. Among his fellow captains inthe James River were eight from Liverpool (Bryan Blundell, Henry Browne, Cavaleiro Christian, William Everedd, John Lancaster, Thomas Leckonby, William Williamson, and Augustine Woodward), all connected with the trade in indentured servants. Meanwhile JOhn Blundell's master Richard Blundell married a widow, Mrs. Dorothy Tawny, and left Virginia to live at her home in Battle Town, Maryland. He died there on 30 November 1704. When Nicholas heard of this nearly a year later he wrote to his widowed sister-in-law; part of the letter refers to John Blundell: 'I should be glad to hear how you like John Blundell, I hope you will be kind to him, my Bargain was that he should not be sold so hope you will keep him, and in your Next let me hear how he carryeth himself, he is Son to one of my Tennants & he went over purely out of Love to my Brother and me.'" (1)
Comments:
Note that John apparently was of no relation to his master's family, though they shared a common surname. John Bartholomew's Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887) states the following: "Crosby.-- or Great Crosby, coast town and township with ry. sta. (Croaby), Sefton par., SW. Lancashire, 6½ miles NW. of Liverpool and 208 miles NW. of London -- township, 2168 ac. and 1700 foreshore, pop. 9373; town, pop. 5033; P.O., T.O., called Great C. C., situated near C. Point, at the mouth of the Mersey, is a bathing-place. In vicinity is C. Hall, seat of the Blundell family, who have held the manor for upwards of seven centuries. C. Channel, between Jordan Bank and Great Burba Bank, is 7 miles long, and forms the chief entrance to the Mersey. N. of C. Point is a lighthouse, with fixed light (Crosby) 95 ft. above high-water and seen 12 m., and in C. Channel is a light-vessel, with fixed light (Crosby) seen 8 miles." (2)
Source Citations:
(1) Doreen M. Hockedy, "Bound for a New World: Emigration of Indentured Servants Via Liverpool to America and the West Indies, 1697-1707," Historic Society of Lancashire & Cheshire, Vol. 144 (1994), 127, quoting Liverpool Town Books, V, 74, Liverpool Record Office; J.J. Bagley and F. Tyrer, eds., The Great Diurnall of Nicholas Blundell, 1702-1711 (Royal Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, 1968), I, 66; F. Tyrer, "Richard Blundell in Virginia and Maryland," Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. LVIII, No. 4 (Oct 1960), 445; (2) John Bartholomew, Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887), www.visionofbritain.org.uk.