Adam
Blakeman
was
a
Gnosall
native
and
Puritan
minister
who
emigrated
from
England
to
the
New
World
in
the
1630s
before founding and leading the city of Stratford, Connecticut.
Adam
Blakeman
was
baptised
into
the
Church
of
England
on
June
10,
1596
in
Gnosall.
The
son
of
John
Blakeman
(1570-
1626),
a
schoolmaster,
and
Thomasine
(neé
Jurdane,
1560-1643).
Adam’s
family
had
lived
in
or
near
Gnosall
for
at
least
four generations.
Adam
wanted
to
become
a
minister
at
an
early
age,
and
attended
Christ
Church,
Oxford
in
1617
before
graduating
the
year
later.
Studying
divinity,
his
professors
during
his
time
at
Oxford
would
have
included
many
of
the
authors
of
the
King
James Bible.
He
married
Jane
Wheeler
(1600-1674)
in
1619,
and
they
had
their
first
child,
John
(1624-1662),
in
1624.
After
travelling
around
the
countryside
for
a
time,
Adam
and
his
family
settled
in
Great
Bowden,
Leicestershire
and
later
in
Heage,
Derbyshire.
During
this
period
he
began
preaching
his
increasingly
strongly-held
Puritanical
views.
His
teachings
were
controversial and led Adam to face persecution and forced him to leave his posts on more than one occasion.
Adam
must
have
been
very
charismatic,
however,
as
he
successfully
led
many
in
his
ministry
to
abandon
England
and
travel
to
the
New
World.
Adam,
his
wife
Jane,
and
perhaps
three
of
their
children
travelled
to
Boston
aboard
an
unknown
ship
(possibly
the
Planter)
in
1635
or
1638.
In
1639,
Blakeman
and
his
followers
arrived
at
the
confluence
of
Housatonic
and
Naugatuck
Rivers
and
established
a
new
“plantation”
there.
The
area
had
recently
been
vacated
after
the
Pequot
War
(1636-1638)
had
forced
the
indigenous
Paugusset
tribe
from
their
lands.
Originally
known
as
Cupheag
(a
Quiripi
word
meaning
“enclosed
place”
or
“place
of
shelter”),
the
settlers
later
renamed
the
town
“Stratford”
in
honour
of
the
birthplace
of William Shakespeare.
Adam
ruled
the
town
until
his
death
in
1665,
as
the
political
and
spiritual
leader
of
the
area.
He
was
friends
with
another
Puritan
leader,
the
founder
of
the
Connecticut
Colony,
Thomas
Hooker.
Hooker
and
Adam
were
both
major
proponents
of
the
ideas
of
sola
scriptura
and
the
priesthood
of
believers,
and
Adam
participated
in
the
Synod
of
1646-48
to
draw
up
the
Cambridge
Platform,
which
described
a
Congressional
church
government
that
both
Adam
and
Hooker
had
advanced.
Hooker
said
of
Adam:
“
For
the
sake
of
the
sacred
and
solemn
simplicity
of
the
discourse
of
this
worthy
man,
if
I
might
have
my choice, I would choose to live and die under Mr. Blakeman’s ministry.
”
In
1651,
Stratford
and
its
residents
were
embroiled
in
the
witch
trial
and
hanging
of
Goodwife
Bassett,
a
local
woman
who’s
story
remains
a
mystery.
What
is
known
is
that
almost
all
of
the
residents
of
Stratford
took
part
in
the
trial
and
hanging, and as Adam was the community’s leader, it seems likely that he played some part in the crime.
Adam
was
preceded
in
death
by
his
eldest
child,
John,
in
1662.
He
had
a
tumultuous
relationship
with
some
of
his
other
five
children,
which
included
a
falling
out
with
his
son
Deliverance
(who,
according
to
Adam,
kept
“wicked
company”)
and
a
disagreement
with
his
son
Benjamin,
both
of
which
were
significant
enough
for
Adam
to
mention
them
in
his
will.
Adam
held
a
large
library
for
the
time
(49
books
at
the
time
of
his
death),
and
willed
his
Latin
books
to
his
son-in-law
when
his
son
Benjamin
signalled
his
disinterest
in
becoming
a
minister.
He
left
his
English
books
to
be
distributed
among
his
children and grandchildren.
Adam
died
on
September
7,
1665
in
Stratford.
In
his
will,
Adam
made
his
“dear
wife”
his
sole
executor
and
left
many
decisions
to
be
made
by
her
judgement.
Much
of
the
document
serves
as
an
epitaph,
reiterating
his
strong
religious
conviction:
I
give,
bequeath
my
soul
and
body
into
the
hand
of
my
most
merciful
Saviour
and
redeemer
by
whose
merits
and
satisfaction
(though
in
myself
a
vile
and
miserable
creature)
I
hope
for
mercy
and
salvation,
renouncing
all
things
in
me
and done by me as dross and dung.
Sources
•
Endress, Richard. American Mosaic: The Known Ancestors of Robert Hilton Squires II. N.p.: FriesenPress, 2022.
•
Gnosall village records as made available by Gnosall History.
•
Knapp,
Lewis
G.,
and
Stratford
Historical
Society.
In
Pursuit
of
Paradise:
History
of
the
Town
of
Stratford,
Connecticut.
1st ed. West Kennebunk, Me.: Published for the Stratford Historical Society by Phoenix Pub., 1989.
•
The Will of Rev. Adam Blakeman
Kindly submitted by Harry Blakeman from Vancouver, Washington who is the 10th great-grandson