As I was growing up, I learned how to spell my full name. And through time, people began to spell BLAKLEY their way. I choose to correct them. ( I still do.)
It was during the 1970’s when I was told that the family surname was actually BLAKEY. And through farther searching, I discovered that surname before that was WHITE. All these surname changes.
And as I began searching for information on my Grandfather, John, he was the one who changed the surname to BLAKLEY. I wonder why? And why other relatives spelled their surname BLAKEY? And why others carried the WHITE surname?
I acknowledge that my Grandfather John’s surnames was BLAKEY / BLAKLEY. He and his twin Andrew BLAKEY were born on Hew Davis Plantation in Woodville, Mississippi on Wednesday, June 21, 1871. Their parents were Isaac BLAKEY Sr. (1845 – 1917) and Martha Scott BLAKEY ( 1847-1871).
Isaac BLAKEY was also known as. Isaac WHITE. Isaac BLAKEY was enslaved in Missouri. He later received his freedom as a teenager. He severed during the Civil War in Mississippi in the Union Army as Private Isaac BLAKER. (1863 – 1866) I acknowledge Isaac with the surnames of WHITE / BLAKEY.
The family BLAKEY / BLAKLEY surnames: How Do You Spell That?
I thought about the surname change. Why did my Grandfather John change his surname From BLAKEY to BLAKLEY? He added the second L. From KEY to KELY. They sound different.
I was told that there were too many John BLAKEYs. This would be lead to some confusion. John’s father, Isaac married Rachel (LEPHRIDGE / JACKSON) on July 3, 1873 in Mississippi. They had 18 children There must have been a lot of John BLAKEYs in the family. Imagine if they lived in the same city?
I was searching and exploring the many ways how people recorded the spelling of my Grandfather John’s surname through public records. I started out with censuses, city directories, newspapers, marriage record, birth index, death records and so forth.
The oldest record on John’s surname was recorded on the 1880 Missouri census. It was WHITE. The family was living in Chariton County in Missouri. On John’s father’ Isaacs Civil War pension records, John’s surname was spelled BLAKER and BLAKEY.
I don’t know when John moved from Chariton County in Missouri to Carroll County in, Missouri. Perhaps around 1900. He was listed on the 1900 Census in Carrollton, Missouri with the BLAKELY surname.
John married my Grandmother Jennie BARTLETT in Excelsior Springs, Clay, Missouri on July 28, 1902. His surname was recorded as BLAKYE. John moved to St. Joseph, Missouri where Jennie was living. Jennie was from Carrollton, Missouri.
I traced John’s surnames through all records that I have found on him via public records from his children’s birth and death records. His surnames were BLAKELEY, BLAKELY, BLACKE, BLAKEY , BLAKLEY from 1902 to 1918.
Three months before Grandpa John passed on July 10, 1918 in Yankton, South Dakota, his last child had the BLAKLEY surname. The child passed at 11 months old. John was the father of 12 children. Seven children were living at the time of his death. On John’s death record his surname is BLAKEY. He was also known as John BLAKLEY Sr.
I’ve come across many other spelling of the BLAKLEY surname and I googled to see other spelling.
BLAKLI, BLAKY, BLACKLEY, BLACKY, BERKLEY
BLAKLEE, BLAKLEA , BLAKELEE, BLAKLELIE,
BLAKESLEY, BLAKELEIGH,
I ordered a birthday cake and this was how my last name was spelled. (There was a time it was BLAKEY.) How Do You Pronounce This?
How Do You Spell That?
We all have our style in handwriting. And we pronounce words differently.. And what we hear and how we received effects how we write. This makes the difference in how we interrupt things we read.
In some cases, it could have been that ” the writer” had trouble spelling. And more so troubling making out what people were saying, when they were writing. And it’s hard to figure out people’s handwriting.
Some Thoughts: I discovered that BLAKELY is a girls name too.
I’m amazed by what family information I have gathered over the years. And from tine to tine, I go back over what I have . When I do this, I’m rediscovering things that I may have over looked. I am finding more pieces to the puzzle as I’m on my family connection saga.
Thanks for reading.
How Do You Spell That?
God bless
S.A. Blakley
Week 15 ~ Amy Johnson Crow ~ Generations Cafe ~ #52Ancestors 52 Weeks
One of the things I tell people who are starting out in their family history journey is to not get hung up on a spelling. It’s amazing how many ways a name can be spelled. (Just visit your local Starbucks, and you’ll know what I mean!) Who is an ancestor who might have had trouble with people mangling their name?
