Clutton, Somersetshire, where family records take us to our first known home of our ancestors, is on the outskirts of a great industrial area to its north. The little town was reported in 1833, to have had a population of 1,287, certainly a small town by the average town-size in England. Within the town, other than the Church of England chapel, was, at that time, also a Methodist chapel and an Independent chapel such as, perhaps, a community chapel.

Clutton is about eight to ten miles south and slightly to the east of Bristol, which is inland a few miles on the River Avon, which empties into the Bristol Channel and therefore, allows the tide to back up the river making it for several miles a navigable river. Bristol is one of the great ports of south England, in fact, all of England.

Even before one reaches Clutton from Bristol, the countryside opens up into probably the most pastoral areas of modern-day England. In fact, it remains one of a few areas of England where farming is still possible due to the dense concentration of population. The population exists through all of England, excepting again to the extreme north of England where there remains considerable open, but hilly areas. These are more suitable for cattle than the actual farm land such as exists particularly, in Somersetshire, Devonshire and Cornwall of southwest England. The raising of sheep, barley and apples is prominent in Somersetshire. There has been considerable coal mining in Somersetshire as, also, a limited amount of manufacturing of woolen and silken goods.

There appears to have been at least two separate families of Blackers in the little village of Clutton, even from the first records of the parish. The parish records commenced in 1693, however, the first Blacker entries do not show up until a christening in 1695 - on the 24th of January. The next and only other Blacker entry in that year is a burial on August 20th of a George Blacker. It is most regrettable that the first available marriage entry in the parish is not until 1757. Almost without question it would seem that 64 years of marriage records have been lost and, sadly, of critical years so far as our family records are concerned. Neither of the two above entries appear to be of our family lineage, at least, if they are, further research on our part will have to be done.

A question has been dealt with in all of our Blacker research as to whether the Blackers of Clutton could have a connection to the Blackers of Yorkshire, or to the Blackers of Ireland or, perhaps, do they have a connection with the Blackers of Wiltshire, referred to at the end of the previous chapter? All three of those families have older backgrounds than what we have found in Clutton. The reader can expect comments concerning this to crop out on occasion as we proceed with our story. During the years, contacts have been made with Blacker families with no known relationship, as well as with others of distant relationship. The story becomes quite involved and every attempt will be made to keep clear the several involvements.

First, let me relate an early personal involvement: In February of 1930, following my release from my mission in Birmingham, England, I obtained permission from the mission president to visit relatives in Wales, of which more will be told at a subsequent point in this history. Following that visit of four or five days, I returned by way of Bristol from where I took a thirty minute train ride to Clutton, which was but a small village. Here I inquired for anyone by the name of Blacker, for I was aware there should be distant relatives there. With this writing being over fifty years following my visit, many details have now been lost to memory, however, I had been informed by Uncle William, back in Wales that very morning of his cousin, a Mary Blacker Tiley who was living there. Surprisingly, it was her door on which I first knocked, and with whom I visited.

My schedule was to return to Bristol by a certain hour in order to catch a train for Birmingham where I still had my residence. It was probably two o'clock at the time I arrived in Clutton. This Mary's mother was also named Mary, a sister of my great-grandfather, John Blacker. The mother had married a man from Dublin, Ireland, and the daughter with whom I visited, was raised by others of the family, of whom more will subsequently be written.

While visiting with Mary, she told me of a Frederick Blacker, who lived down the street a block or two and who operated The F. Blacker & Son Monumental Sculptors business ( cutting headstones for cemeteries and other such work). She said that he was a distant relative, but who could be of more assistance to me so far as family records were concerned.

Calling at Frederick Blacker's home, to my great disappointment, he was out of town for the day. His son, Charles, probably a year or two older than I, and still living at home, invited me to go with him to the nearby Clutton churchyard where we found some of the family gravestones. I copied the information from the stones, which related to us. After spending perhaps an hour in the church yard, and, without being able to get into the church itself, due to its being locked, we returned and I made connections with a scheduled train - the last of the afternoon - for Bristol and from there I returned to Birmingham.

I have always been grateful, even for such a brief visit to Clutton and Wales. More will be written of these visits. From this visit to Clutton I subsequently became acquainted with this Frederick, a distant relative, with whom I corresponded for several years following my visit.

In a letter from Frederick, written as late as during the war years, which letter was considerably cut up by the censor, a paragraph was undisturbed in which he reported a R. (Rowland) Blacker, 43 Pine Crescent, Toronto, Canada, "Who represents Pitman's Short Hand work there, who was at his late father's funeral at Stratton-on-the-Foss two years ago." (Eight to ten miles south of Clutton. L.B.) The date of this letter from Frederick was not given on the letter, whether unintentional on his part, or whether it was with the parts of the letter cut out by the censors, is not known. The 24th of November was included, which seemingly, would be in the year 1940 for it was during the night air raids of the London Blitz. More will be reported of these hardships later in this story.

Receiving the above letter with the name of the Canadian Blacker, I wrote a letter to him as to what he knew of the Blacker family in Clutton. We were living in Evanston, Wyoming, at the time. Along with his letter was the following account. This was an account written by Rowland's uncle, John Evans Blacker of Clutton, while in bed with the gout on the 10th of January 1881:

"Our family runs in this way. In the first place, we are supposed to be Irish, but as far as we can go back, there were three brothers who left Stokelane (Stoke Lane or Stoke as the Gazetteer gives it, is a small parish of fewer than a thousand people about ten miles south of Clutton. L.B.) but went to Midsomer Norton (four to five miles south of Clutton or halfway between Stoke Lane and Clutton. L.B.). One resided at Farrington Gurney (about three miles west of Midsomer Norton, but about the same distance from Clutton as is Norton. L.B.) and the other came to Clutton about the year 1680. His name was Nicholas Blacker. He is buried at Clutton. (Between 1693 - the first entry in the Clutton parish - and 1850 there is but a single burial entry for a Nicholas Blacker and that is dated 10 Sep. 1707 and without doubt is this first Nicholas.) A baby, Nicholas Blacker, was christened 1 Jun 1720 and was listed as the son of Thomas and Ann Blacker. (This very well could be a grandson of the first Nicholas. L.B.)

"He (the first Nicholas of 1680) had one son by the name of Tobias Blacker. I do not know how many more he had in family. Tobias had two children, a son and a daughter - George and Mary. Mary married Mr. Sherborne and she is buried at Clutton. The son, George, was a butcher. He married Mary Parfitt of Clutton. He built his house and lived here. He kept Bathe market and died there suddenly. He and his wife are buried in the family vault. They left two children, a son and a daughter, both born in this house. The daughter, Almira, married a Mr. Tucker. She is buried at Blackwood in Wales. The son's name was George Blacker. He married Mary Shelstone, a lady's maid who was also bridesmaid to Lady Hipsley at Stone Easton. Her father was steward on the Hipsley estate. They were natives of Cludley in Devonshire. They died at North End farm and were buried in the family vault in Clutton. They had one son born in this house. His name was George Blacker and he married Lucy Evans from near Robert Hills at Paulton (between two and three miles southeast of Clutton. L.B.). She was an orphan. Her father and mother died at Priston near Bath. (Actually Priston is but five miles east and slightly north of Clutton whereas Bath is nine to ten miles further northeast, therefore about half way between Clutton and Bath which in and of itself is a city of about 80,000 people - actually it is classified as a town rather than a city for it does not have a cathedral which is a requirement in England as a status for a city. L.B.). George and Lucy Blacker had seven children born and reared in this house, Sarah, George, William, Hephzibah, John Evans, Thermulthus and Henry. George and Lucy lived in this house now called the Railway Inn, until I, John Evans, was married. They both died at the Bathe Farm and were buried in the family vault. I, John, born 1st October 1841 and married on 14th May 1870 at the St. Thomas Church to Hannah Evans, third daughter of John and Anne Evans of Black House farm, Tregare, Monmouthshire.

"George, my eldest brother, married Sarah Matthews of Stowey (2 1/2 miles west of Clutton. L.B.) on the 23rd of June 1858 and sailed for Australia on the next day.They left Clutton for Liverpool then sailed for Australia on the ship Gold Conda. "

This George, a brother of the John from whom we are presently quoting, and his wife, Sarah Matthews, has a large posterity, a branch with whom I have been in correspondence and have obtained considerable family records. My contact with them came about in an interesting manner, which story I might now relate from my personal history, actually from a separate compilation which I chose to title, "MIRACLES, NEAR MIRACLES AND OTHER FAITH PROMOTING INCIDENTS IN MY LIFE", page 21 with the incident being titled, "A Name From Far Off Australia":

After I had received letters for a few years from Mrs. J.E. Blacker, who became the sole correspondent for the Australian family, I formed a pedigree chart for the family which included a little of the information I had already filed away from Rowland Blacker of Canada. Rowland's father, Henry, was a brother of George who left for Australia. George's son, John, was the husband of the lady whose name was on the slip of paper of the story above, therefore Rowland of Canada to whom I wrote on several occasions and received answers, was a cousin of Beatrice to whom I wrote and received answers to several letters from Australia.

These families' earliest known ancestor was the Nicholas who traveled to Clutton in 1680 after dropping off two brothers who stopped in different towns five to ten miles before he reached his destination. We have never found the names of these two brothers, at least, to recognize them as such. Our earliest known ancestor as of this writing is a William, but nothing of him is known, not even that he ever lived in Clutton. The earliest ancestor of our line on whom we have information is another William, the son of the last mentioned William. To keep this story of the Clutton Blackers as well organized as possible, let us put a 'hold' on him, a direct ancestor born about 1683, and share with the reader the available information gathered thru the years of the undoubtedly, allied family of Australia and then Canada.

Why I had waited as long as I did before writing to Australia, I don't know. I put the address away and pondered over the incidence, but it must have been three to four years after the young lady from Australia dropped her sheet of Australian addresses, before I wrote to Mrs. John E. Blacker making my first inquiry as to their genealogy. Her answer in longhand and on ruled paper is as follows:

Correspondence was carried on for several years until Beatrice had to turn over her writing to her son, Stanley, who was such a great help in making up a pedigree chart from his grandfather, George, the immigrant. George and his English wife, Sarah Matthews had eleven children - 3 boys and 8 girls - of course, all in Australia. Beatrice, in her subsequent letters provided me with the names of these eleven children and the years of their births as well as the names of those whom they married.

Subsequently, Stanley provided me with the names of their children and grandchildren, which were close by and gave me names and address of others who were at a distance from him. In a letter I have on file - a copy - dated 11 October 1963 (note this is nine years following my first letter to the family) I copy a comment I wrote as I now review the material from Australia. I was writing to Stan for even additional information:

I certainly appreciate the chart you worked out. It certainly took a lot of time, I am sure, but it was so helpful. To me a family chart draws a much plainer picture of the family than anything else. One can see at a glance the relationship of all members of the family to any other. Thanks ever so much. I have placed each marriage on a separate sheet with the husband and wife and their children forming a family group. Do you realize that I now have fifty family groups from your chart? Etc. etc."

Stanley provided several names of cousins mainly scattered over Australia and in several instances I have received information and very friendly responses. A great regret is that probably the last date of any of their letters was 1965. Very likely it is due to my failure to continue writing. At least there has been no correspondence for years, but we corresponded sufficient to know that there are a good many people I would be proud to claim relationship to if such can ever be done.

Of interest is a copy of an affidavit of the marriage of Stanley's grandfather and grandmother, the first immigrant couple of which we are aware of the Clutton Blackers to Australia.

"THIS IS TO CERTIFY that George Blacker of Clutton was married to Sarah Matthews of Stowey both of Somersetshire, England. They were married at Stowey on 23rd June 1858 by Mr. Haynes. They left the next day for Liverpool where they emigrated to Australia in the ship "Gold Conda". After a long passage of one-hundred and twenty days (120) they landed in Sydney spending the first two years at Parramatta where Mr. Blacker worked for the Trustees of the Parramatta Park. They then came to Bega in the year 1861 spending the first seven years on the farm known as Webb's farm, now owned by Mr. Manning. After spending several years in the district they took up their abode at Woodstock where they spent the remainder of their days. Mr. Blacker prided himself with always leading a sober and industrious life never being plaintiff or defendant in a court. "They reared 11 children, 8 girls and 3 boys: Amy, Mary, George James, Sarah Lucy, Emma Matthews, Jane Kate, Oswald Henry, Maud Georgina, Mabel Shelston, John Evans, Alice Esther, Edith Ada. "The children's mother died at the farm, Woodstock, May 17th, 1903, and was buried in the old Cemetery, Bega. Their father died at his son's (Oswald) place on 24th June 1908 and was also buried in the old cemetery, Bega." A note at the bottom of the above affidavit reads of the above mentioned two burials, "Since removed to the Bega cemetery, also George James", interpreted probably meaning also the body of George was removed. (L.B.)

Regrettably, even to this writing (1982) positive relationship, as has been noted, has not been proven. When John E. Blacker, as he was 'lying in bed suffering from rheumatic gout' as he termed it on the 10th of January 1881 and wrote the very brief Blacker history of his family wherein he says, "...there were three brothers who left Stokelane but went to Midsomer Norton: One resided at Farrington Gurney and the other came to Clutton about the year 1860." For fear I misunderstood or misquoted, the above quotation is directly from the brief history sent to me by Rowland Blacker of the earlier generation, (I have corresponded with two Rowland Blackers, one an uncle, naturally the other a nephew). The earlier correspondence was with the earlier generation and it was he from whom the story came.

As reported earlier, Stanley Blacker of Australia mailed a copy of the same history they had to us in about 1963 - Rowland's was in 1940. The above short quotation is identical in both reports. My simple complaint with the story is that three Blackers left Stokelane and traveled four miles to Midsomer Norton and then continued west ward and a little north not over two miles to Farrington Gurney where one set up residence, and the other continued directly northward probably no more than two miles to Clutton - this being Nicholas. He, actually, only accounted for two and regrettably, apparently did not know the other brothers' names. If one of them was a William, it would probably solve our problem for two of our farthest ancestors on our direct line had the name William. Our earliest William had a son, William, about 1683, providing he was a little past his mid twenties when his first child, Tobias, who probably died as a child was born which, during those years was very likely.

This far away in history - just over 300 years from 1680 to 1982 - one can hardly make a fair appraisal of the actual living conditions of these ancestors. We are not positive of all our ancestor's occupations - a few we know - but we are sure that raising a family and surviving were not easy for any of them.

At the time of which we are referring - 1680 and following - there lived in England five main social classes and we can be assured the great majority of our ancestors had no part in the first three, and possibly not even in the fourth. The first social class - this of course under royalty - were known as the peers - these were noblemen, descendants of ancient well-to-do families, offspring of royalty or royal favorites. Group #2, the gentry; these were the knights of the shires who lived off the rents of their land. Group #3, the lawyers, the merchants and professional men and teachers, etc. Group #4, the yeomen farmers, and Group #5, the common people most of whom would be laborers which, it is estimated, comprised at least three quarters of the total population. Attention may be called to the fact that to be in this lower economic strata during these centuries, didn't mean necessarily that every individual lacked a good genetic background or that their living standards had always been on a low poverty level.

Attention has already been pointed out of the effects of the law of primogeniture. In many instances the children of land-owning classes, unless they happened to qualify as being the oldest son, were literally put out into the world to fend for themselves. Within this #5 category some would have had a limited advantage of serving apprenticeships to become artisans, who later found reasonably good employment, considering the times, with factory owners or other places of the limited industry of the day. At best, most employment for category #5 was rather menial.

Coal mining, thru the centuries, has always created employment and, certainly, most of it in these centuries was, indeed, menial and for low pay. For two or three of our later generations prior to immigrating to America were employed in the 'pits', as the deep tunnels were called. A few reached supervisory employment as shall later be shown.

Other types of possible employment could be found in agriculture for which Somersetshire was noted. Perhaps work was found by family members in the woolen manufacturing trade, which existed in Somerset. Iron and copper mining was quite extensive in the area and transportation has always been needed thru the years. The coal had to be moved from the mouth of the mine to wherever it was used. Inland, coal was transported, as also other types of goods on man-made canals. Barges loaded with freight were pulled by horses from the banks of the canals. From one to four-horse carts took freight to and from the barges, to factories where coal was used, or even to ocean-going vessels. There was alot of manual labor for all types of work such as road building, particularly over areas where heavy loads were hauled. Cobble stone streets were in vogue and much hand labor was required to haul the stones to the road and much more labor to place the stones.

Food had to be raised on the farms and in the gardens. Many masonry buildings were constructed and brick was in much demand. As will be noted later, for a couple of early generations, the well over two hundred year old masonry business now in Clutton was operated by our own ancestral line. Hard work was plentiful and it appears the Blackers did their share.