Adam Blakeman

Rev. Adam Blakeman (pronounced Blackman) was born in Gnosall, Staffordshire, England, June 10, 1596. (Note: His birthplace is frequently misspelled in websites, particularly those based in the US, since the town name is non-phonetic in the US and is often transcribed from old handwritten records.)

Blakeman matriculated (entered college) at Christ Church, Oxford, May 28, 1617. He was a preacher for some years in Leicestershire and Derbyshire, and in 1638 came to Connecticut. In 1639 he led the original settlers of Stratford, Connecticut, and served as the first minister of the church until his death, Sept. 7, 1665.

During the 1600s (and, indeed, until well into the 1800s consistent spelling of names was not the requirement we maintain today, due to lower literacy levels and the absence of the stnadrdization required by sophisticated government bureaucracies. Blakeman's descendents often used the Blackman phonetic spelling of the name, sometimes alternating spellings three times in successive generations. Today a majority of his descendents use the Blackman spelling, but both versions are common.

The founding Stratford Puritan families intermarried extensively for two hundred years after the founding of the town, and Blakeman descendents in particular often married descendents of the Curtiss (Curtis) and Judson familes.