George was the son of unknown parents. The date and place of his birth have not been found.
He died in 1837 in Lincoln County, North Carolina.
His wife was Sarah Thompson, who he married on 10 SEP 1787 in Sumner County, Florida. Their only known child was Harriet (1789-1858).
| Event | Date | Details | Source | Multimedia | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Death | 1837 |
|
Note 1
Note on spelling- Blakemore is also seen as Blackmore, Blackamore, Blackemore, finally ending with Blakemore
FOLD 3 PENSION RECORDS
There are Fold 3 Revolutionary Pension records of George Blackmore and Peter Luna. (68 pages on George Blackmore alone.) Briefly, George Blackmore was born in 1763 in Fauquier Co, Virginia. He entered service in the revolutionary War as a drummer in 1778 (as best he recalls) at Fort Blackmore, a Frontier station in Russell County, VA, built and maintained by his father, Captain John Blackmore. He would have been age 15-16. In addition to various people he served under, etc, he stated he “came out to Cumberland with the first families that came.” He married Sally Thompson in Sumner County 10 Sept 1787. He applied for a pension in 1832 in Lincoln County and it was approved in 1833. He died in Lincoln County on 24 Aug 1837. His widow, Sarah Blakemore, applied for a widow’s pension in 1842, supported in part by an oath from George Hall and an oath from John Thompson who stated he was currently age 64 in Bedford County and was a family member present at the marriage of Sarah and George Blakemore.
Initially, Sarah’s widow’s pension was approved, but then was rejected on the basis that a drummer is a musician and not a recognized military position.
Sarah’s U.S. Congressman, George Jones from Lincoln County, got involved and had her case reviewed by the Pension Commission. He introduced a Bill in the U.S. Congress to have her pension reinstated; it was voted upon and approved in May 1844. She applied for an additional land bounty award in 1855, supported in part by another oath by George Hall.
CONNECTION BETWEEN GEORGE AND SARAH BLAKEMORE AND OUR FAMILY
Compelling evidence exists to support the argument that the George & Sarah Blakemore described in these Fold 3 records are the parents of Harriett Blakemore, the wife of our George Hall.
SOURCE DOCUMENTS AND SUPPORTING EVIDENCE (in chronical order)
1787 Sumner Co. marriage of George Blackmore and Sally Thompson 10 Sept 1787; in addition to the existence of a copy of the marriage bond, the marriage bond record was certified by the Sumner County clerk in 1841 as part of proof used by Sarah Blakemore in her widow pension application.
1806 Davidson Co. marriage between Harriett Blakemore and George Hall- 25 March 1806 – copy of original marriage bond obtained from Nashville Downtown Library Achieves. The Bondsmen were George Blackmore and George Dawson Black
Various Davidson and Lincoln county census records; George Blakemore was in Lincoln county by 1820. George Hall went from Davidson county to Lincoln county sometime after the 1830 census.
Lincoln county court Minutes 1836-1844 page 74 on 2 Oct 1837, George Hall was appointed administrator of the estate of George Blakemore who died without a Will.
1839 Land record V-366 Lincoln County
In September 1839, two years after George Blakemore died, George Hall bought out equal shares of land from Andrew Jackson Blakemore; George W Blakemore; Tarpley Flynt & Eliza M Flynt, his wife; & Thomas L Blakemore. The land is 75 acres, part of a parcel of 150 acres granted to George Blakemore. Sarah Blakemore signed the document. It was not recorded until 1856. These sellers appear to be legal heirs of George Blakemore, with Eliza being a daughter; however, we know that Tarpley Flynt married Eliza Claiborne (instead of Blakemore) on 22 Mar 1838. There are Chancery Court records from June 1838 that states Phil J Claiborne died in the summer of 1833 leaving a widow Eliza M Claiborne and infant and that Tarpley Flynt married Eliza Claiborne in March 1838.
1850 census has 80 or 81 year-old Sarah Blakemore, born in NC, living in the household of George Hall age 70, born in Virginia and Hammet Hall age 61, born in TN.
1858 Newspaper article reports Sarah Blakemore died in Lincoln County in 2 Aug 1858
Fayetteville Observer 12 Aug 1858
In this county, Monday, 2dinst, of old age, Mrs. Sarah Blakemore, aged about 90 years. She was the widow of a Revolutionary soldier, and lived to see her descendants of the fourth generation or her great-great-grandchildren. Up until seven years ago when she fell and unfortunately broke a limb, she could ride on horseback 45 or 50 miles per day. When a young woman she resided in a block house, in what was then the wilderness, but is now Nashville. In her death, another of the links that bind us to the far past is severed.”
Imagine riding 50 miles a day on horseback! This very interesting newspaper obit fits what we know about Sarah Blakemore, her age fits, she was in fact married to a Revolutionary solder; she lived with and/or next door to her great grandchildren. The part about living in a block house I had to look up. It is a house to protect from Indian attacks. One of the sobering facts about this area & time is just how awful and absolutely horrific the Indian attacks were in this area where Nashville was founded. Many men, women, & children, died a sudden and violent death. George Blakemore’s brother John Blakemore was killed by Indians in 1781.
The Obit provides Sarah’s date of death as 2 Aug 1858. The probate records of George Hall contain an invoice for a “fine coffin and case for Mrs. Blakemore” dated 3 August 1858, the day after she died.
Newspaper articles about accident and death of Mrs. George Hall in Goodlettsville
Republic Banner Oct 17, 1858
Accident and Amputation-the Lincoln Journal has the following: We are pained to learn that Mrs. George Hall of this county was so seriously injured in jumping from her carriage about four weeks ago at Goodlettsville in Davidson County, that amputation of the right leg below the knee has been necessary. The operation was performed on the last Friday by Dr. P.F Eve of Nashville[i]. Mrs. Hall was visiting her friends in that county, the horses became frightened and attempted to run away and in her escape from the carriage, must have been stricken by the hub or run over by the wheel as both legs were badly bruised. She is at the residence of her brother G.W Blakemore, and her condition at the latest intelligence extremely critical.
Fayette Observer on October 21, 1858
Accident Causing Death- Mrs. Hall, wife of Mr. George Hall of Petersburg, died, we are sorry to lean, last Monday of lock jaw, caused by injuries received in Goodlettsville, near Nashville, a few weeks since, by the running away of her carriage horses. She was one of the oldest, as she was one of the most respected, of Lincoln citizens.
Nashville Union and American on October 23, 1858
The wife of Mr. George Hall, of Lincoln county, died on the 18th inst, of lock jaw caused by injuries received a few weeks since in Goodlettsville by the horses running away with the carriage in which she was riding.
These news articles about the accident and death of Mrs. George Hall, while tragic, provide more details. Of importance, it says she was at the house of her brother in Goodlettsville, GW Blakemore. G W Blakemore was in fact living in District 20 in Davidson County in 1850 and 1860 census which is where Goodlettsville is located.
There is a DAR approved application from 1914 for a Jesse Rives Blakemore whose great grandfather was the patriot George Blakemore. Jesse’s grandfather was his son, George Washington Blakemore. (George Washington Blakemore married Mary Green Rives, a half-sister of Benjamin Watkins Leigh Rives who married our Harriet Ellen Flynt.)
“Ansearching News” News Vol XII Number 1
Published by the Memphis Genealogical Society Jan-Mar 1965 page 29
Revolutionary Solders Buried in Lincoln County, Tennessee
George Blakemore: buried in family graveyard on Gingerbread fork of Cane Creek.
Google Map
The location where Cane Creek and Gingerbread Creek meet is about midway between Petersburg, TN and Fayetteville, just west of US Hwy 431. About 5000 feet to the north on the east side of Hwy 431 is Hall Cemetery. This places the farms of George Blakemore and George Hall within a mile (or closer) of each other.
Conclusion
The key pieces of info are the Fold 3 pension records, the fact that George Hall was appointed administrator of the estate of George Blakemore, the land deed V-366 which names of children of George Blakemore (except for Harriett, but since she is married to George Hall, she got left out) the 1850 census of George Hall, the newspaper articles over the death of Sarah Blakemore and Mrs. George Hall, the latter article ties the wife of George Hall of Lincoln County to GW Blakemore of Goodlettsvile, which we know from the DAR member app for Jesse Blakemore and land deed V-366 that George Blakemore has a son George Washington Blakemore. The rest of the supporting documents enhance the info.
ADDITIONAL INFO OF HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
In George Blakemores pension application (Fold 3) he says he “came out to Cumberland with the first families.” This is very significant to the history of Nashville and to Tennessee. You are better served by reading about it online than reading anything I have to say. Suffice to say that 8th graders in Tennessee are required to learn something about Donelson’s journey which brought about 100 settlers and families to Ft Nashborough by river over 1,000 miles during a hard winter with Indians attaching from the banks of the river. They started in Virginia on the Holsten River which connected to the Tennessee River; they went south to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, continuing on the Tennessee River which turns north and up to Kentucky to the Ohio River, connecting to the Cumberland River south to Ft Nashborough.
Captain John Blackmore (father of the George Blakemore) commanded one of the flat boats. Excerpt below from Donelson’s Journal:
…….Wednesday 8th Castoff at 10 O.'clock. & proceed down to an Indian village, which was inhabited, on the south side of the river, they invited on us to "come ashore”, called us brothers, & showed other signs of Friendship, insomuch, that Mr. John Caffery & my son then on board took a canoe which I had in tow & were crossing over to them; the rest of the fleet having landed on the opposite shore. After they had gone some distance, a half-Breed who called himself Archy Coody with several other Indians jumped into a canoe, met them, and advised them to return to the boat, which they did together with Coody and several canoes which left the shore & followed directly after him. They appeared to be friendly. After distributing some presents among them, with which they seemed much pleased, we observed a number of Indians on the other side embarking in their canoes, armed and painted red & black. Coody immediately made signs to his companions, ordering them to quit the boat, which they did, himself and another Indian remaining with us & telling us to move off instantly. We had not gone far before we discovered a number of Indians armed and painted proceeding down the river, as it were, to intercept us. Coody the half breed & his companion sailed with us for some time, & telling us that we had passed all the Towns & were out of danger, left us. But we had not gone far until we had come in sight of another Town situated likewise on the south side of the river, nearly opposite a small island. Here they again invited us to come on shore, called us brothers, & observing the boats standing off for the opposite channel told us that "their side of the river was better for boats to pass." And here we must regret the unfortunate death of young Mr. Payne on board Capt. Blackemores boat, who was mortally wounded by reason of the boat running too near the northern shore opposite the town where some of the enemy lay concealed, & the more tragical misfortune of poor Stuart, his family and friends to the number of twenty eight persons. This man had embarked with us for the western country, but his family being diseased with the small-pox, it was agreed upon between him & the Company, that he should keep at some distance in the rear, for fear of the infection spreading: and he was warned each night when the encampment should take place by the sound of a horn. After we had passed the Town, the Indians, having now collected to a considerable number, observing his helpless situation, singled off from the rest of the fleet, intercepted him & killed & took prisoners the whole crew, to the great grief of the whole Company uncertain how soon they might share the same fate; their cries were distinctly heard by those boats in the rear. We still perceived them marching down the river in considerable bodies, keeping pace with us until the Cumberland mountain withdrew them from our sight, when we were in hopes we had escaped them. ____ We were now arrived at the place called the Whirl or Suck, where the river is compressed within less than half its common width above, by the Cumberland mountain, which juts in on both sides. In passing through the upper part of these narrows, at a place described by Coody, which he termed the "boiling Pot;” a trivial accident had nearly ruined the expedition……
In 1780 John Blakemore and his son John Blakemore both signed the Cumberland Compact, the forerunner to the Tennessee State Constitution.