Genealogy

The information included here is literally the result of several generations of work. I’m just the latest in a line of folks who have tried to make sense of where we came from. The accordion below will take you to the various branches – just click on the + icon. (If you want to see the gory details, the embedded pdf link takes you to them).

My mother, Anne Blackwell (nee Wren), was born in Canada of British parents, who later migrated to Chicago. Through her, I am almost pure Cornish, although my great grandmother appears to have had Scots connections to the highland clan Farquharson. The Banfield and Edwards families lived and farmed on the Scilly Islands, a group of islands off of Lands End. The Wren (also spelled Uren) branch was located in and around Falmouth.

My father, R. Quentin Blackwell, was born in Kansas of what appears to be English and Scots/Irish stock as far back as I can trace it. There are a lot of Blackwells out there, and the trick with this material has been to verify other people’s research. The branch I am interested in settled in southern Indiana in the early 19th century, and then moved on to Kansas. Their ancestors in the US settled in Virginia in the 1640s.

Of particular interest is the Doty branch. My second great grandfather Abraham is the descendant of Edward Doty, who came over on the Mayflower. Check the Family Archive page for some stories about this somewhat cranky individual.

Ancestors and current family members provided much of the information displayed here:

  • My great grandmother, Ellen Farquharson, compiled various data sources into a written family tree for Banfields and other Scillonian roots. I assume she used family bibles, etc. but I really don’t know.
  • My grandfather, John G. Wren, expanded Ellen’s data and did extensive interviews with surviving family in Cornwall well into the 1970s. He also did a lot of work to verify some of the family traditions.
  • My mother, Anne, collated and expanded this data, and provided me with lots of anecdotes and stories that I have tried to summarize as best I can.
  • My father, Quentin, collected much of the Blackwell data, and has also written a delightful book on his family and memories of growing up in Kansas in the 1920s. I have begun to incorporate parts of this resource into the Family Archives section of this site.
  • My cousin Roger Banfield has spent years tracking down Banfields in Cornwall and in the Banfield diaspora. I have incorporated as much of his work as fits into my own tree.
  • Another cousin, Roger Langley, did extensive research on the Uren/Wren families, and has filled in lots of gaps in my own material.
  • And yet another cousin, Jim Goolsby, helped me flesh out the Blackwell line, especially the early American members in Virginia and North Carolina.
  • And finally, my “eleventy seventh” cousin Lorraine Doty has helped me with the Doty line.

 

The first Blackwell in this country was Roger Blackwell, who was born in Gloucestershire in 1580, immigrated as an indentured servant in Virginia, and died in Virginia in 1645. From there, descendants went North and South. My branch went to Indiana in the late 18th century, settling near Versailles. My third great grandfather, George H. Blackwell, served in the War of 1812. My great grandfather, Richard Deacon Blackwell (RD), married Mary Frances Doty after serving in the Union Army. They settled in Douglass, Kansas, where RD became the town Marshall. The picture to the left shows RD’s son, my grandfather Virgil “Dick” Blackwell at work in an oilfield sometime in the 30s. I have included sketches of Richard Deacon and Dick in my blog. PDF – Blackwell Family Pedigree.

 

Thanks to my “seventy seventh cousin”, Lorraine Doty, I’ve been able to take this family back to “Pilgrim” Edward Doty who came over on the Mayflower. My blog has a sketch of this somewhat irascible ancestor.

The Doty descendants went everywhere, but my particular Dotys ended up in Indiana. The lady to the left is my great grandmother Mary Frances Doty, who married my great grandfather Richard Deacon Blackwell, and went with him in an actual covered wagon to settle in Kansas. Mary Frances helped raise my father Quentin, and lived until 1950. I have included a sketch of her written by my father in my blog. PDF – Doty Family Pedigree.

 

The lovely lady to the left is my grandmother, Ina Laverne Paisley. She and my grandfather Dick were married in 1917, but she died in 1919. I met Ina’s sister Georgia when I was very small. The Paisleys were Scots-Irish. I have traced them back to an Arthur Pasheley in Scotland. His son Edward was “re-located” to Ireland around 1640, and some time after 1700, a William I. Paisley immigrated to the Lancaster, PA area. William’s son John served in the Revolution, eventually becoming a Colonel.

Ina’s mother’s family (Lawson) was also here by 1800, but I can’t find much else about them. You can view the pedigree here.

The picture shows the family of John Gilbert Uren around 1906, on the occasion of his 50th wedding anniversary. J G was actually fairly well known, as the author of “Scilly and the Scillonians” which is still referred to as an authoritative text on the Scilly Islands. He also wrote about knowing Anthony Trollope before he became the Anthony Trollope. JG’s father Joseph Uren was a sailor in the Royal Navy who married well, but I don’t know much about earlier Urens. My blog has a couple of posts about the folks in the picture, and some of the things they did. Not in the picture is my grandfather, John G (Jack) Wren, who had just left England to homestead in Canada. I have pix and stories in the blog. PDF – Uren Family Pedigree.

 

The Banfield and Edwards families have lived in the Scilly Islands forever. Eldred Banfield (center with beard) owned a farm on the main island (St. Marys) called Holy Vale. My great grandfather George Gilbert Wren married Ethel Edwards. I can trace the Banfields fairly reliably back to 1700, and then through the Crudge family, I can trace back to Francis Godolphin, who came from a well known family who became governors of the island under Queen Elizabeth.  My blog has information and links regarding Scilly. To the left is the only picture I have of Ellen Harvey Farquharson (in hat, to the right), who married Eldred and was my great grandmother. My blog has some material about these people. PDF – Banfield Family Pedigree (From Godolphin).