Coldengham, New York
Store of Cadwallader Colden, Jr.
John and Mary Blake
John Blake purchased one pound of nails at the Colden Store on this date, 250 years-ago. Perhaps he made improvements his home that still stands on Route 208 just south of 17K in the Town of Montgomery.
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| John Blake home on Route 208 in Montgomery, New York in 2010. The home has been altered into a professional office, but still can be recognized. |
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This article is one in a series of a daily accountings of Colden Store transactions. Be sure you read the first installment for an introduction to the store. You should also read this article which appeared in the Journal of the Orange County Historical Society.
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John Blake appeared eighteen times in the DayBook. On one occasion his 'son Jno' appeared at the store in his stead. (see below)
Ruttenber's History of Orange County [p. 374] states that John Blake was one of the early settlers of the area south and west of Goodwill Church sometimes known as Neelytown, perhaps as early as the 1730s.
Ruttenber goes on to say that [p. 379] "John Blake purchased (May 1, 1761) 477 acres of the Patrick McKnight Patent. He was of English descent, the genealogy of the family being traced back to Robert de Blakeland of Wiltshire, 1286. [His wife] Mary Morris of Coldenham, however, was from Ireland. [Their son, John Jr.] ...received only such elementary instruction as the common schools of the country offered..." yet he went on to be a revered politician both at the state and federal levels. John Jr. married Elsie Eager (dau. of William Eager) of Neelytown.
In the 1779 tax assessment for Hanover Precinct (conducted eleven years from today's date), John Blake was living at the location where his home stands today on Route 208 south of the Goodwill Church. He was just up the road from Dr. Charles Clinton and Colonel Malcom (believed to be living in the house later owned by Colonel John Nicholson which still stands). He had 222 acres of land and £156 of personal property, making him one of the more successful farmers in the area.
In 1798, his home appeared on Galatian's map of Montgomery in the same location.
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| Galatian 1798 map showing the home of John Blake in red circle, just south of Goodwill Church. |
John's example of serving the community was a model for his son, John Jr. The senior Blake was a vestryman at the St. Andrews Church in 1775 [p. 392] and was appointed Sheriff in Orange County 1802 [p. 206]. [All references are to Ruttenber]
John Blake Jr. was a member of the New York Assembly from Orange County in 1798-1800, 1811, 1819 [p. 204], Sheriff of Orange County in 1803 [p.206], Representative to Congress from 1805-1809 [p. 205], Judge of Common Pleas in 1815 [p. 203], a Presidential Elector for the Town of Montgomery in 1816 [ p. 202], and served as Supervisor of the Town of Montgomery for an unprecedented fifteen consecutive years from 1810-1825 [p. 383].
John Jr. was born in late 1762 per the information on his headstone, which would have made him only five years of age on October 4, 1768 when he picked up 4 # of sugar and an Iron Bound Hogshead (barrel) at the Colden Store.
Despite John Sr.'s earlier affiliation with St. Andrews Episcopal Church, he (1818) and Mary (1815) were buried at Goodwill Presbyterian Church.
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