Table Of Content

'.':• Fa y /L^A^^fc^ /fyv-uu , & /J^cJ^. ^J^/crynj^i TO MY ESTEEMED FRIEND, Col. JOHN H. BLISS, OP ERIE, PENN., THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, AS A SLIGHT ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF HIS GENEROUS AND UNTIRING INTEREST IN ITS PROLONGED AND DIFFICULT COMPILATION. . TABLE OF CONTENTS. -*----_.___ Page. Introduction, 9 Coat of Arms, 14 Traditional History, \q Historical Summary, 21 Genealogy: --------- First Generation, -------- 27 Second Generation, 28 ---. Third Generation, -____._. 29 Fourth Generation, ----_-_.. 33 Fifth Generation, ---.___. 39 Sixth Generation, 45 Seventh Generation, -------- 63 Eighth Generation, 107 ---------351 Ninth Generation, 196 Tenth Generation, -------- Eleventh Generation, - ..- ... 509 Twelfth Generation, 593 ___.'.-_ Thirteenth Generation, ^ . 608 Disconnected Branches, _ 610 Various Additional andFr-agm-entaryRecords, - 625, 646, 650 Professional Records, 658 Blush and Blish Families, 659 Appendix: ----- Note A, - - 665 Note B, 682 Note C, 691 Index : Blisses, . . 703, 731 Intermarriages, - 743, 757 Surnames, 774 Towns, 780 -.- Appendix, - - - - - - - - 801 Addenda, - 809 INTRODUCTION. As the sacredwritings have preserved the genealogy of ourrace during a period of nearly two thousand years from creation, and of the Jewish nationfor an additional two thousand,itfollows that a desireto knowone's origin orlineage is alaudable curiosity; forthatwhich was worthy of Di- vine recordrespecting the distant past, is worthy of considerationrespect- ing the present. In the following compilatio—n there has been little attempted beyond—a collection of names and dates an occasional reminiscence beimr added and the compiler makes no apology for any errors, eitherof omissionor commission, that may appear. In regard to the formerhe would simply saythat he could not make records forthosewhose apathyorindifference preventedthe furnishingof theirfamily statistics. Manyletters havebeen written solicitinginformation of people in regard to theirfamilies andline- age, which to-day remain unanswered; and those guilty of this neglect have only themselves to thank for the omission of theirrecords fromthis work,whichwas designedto be the compendium of all the familyinforma- tionitmightbepossible to collect. In regard t—o typographical errors, he would only ask the title of any infallible work any book free from me- chanical error. In many instances different dates have been furnishedby differentbranches of the same family, in connection with the same events, which alone will accountformostof the supposed errors. Another source of apparent discrepancy is foundin the change from Old to New Style. Before 1752 the yearbeganMarch 25th (calledLadyDay;) although in Catholic countries, after 1582, it commenced Jan. 1. Hence, betweenJanuaryandMarchitwascommontodoubledate. Thedifference between the Julian andGregoria—nyearintheeighteenthcenturywaseleven days after 1800 it was twelve, which is to be added to anydate inthe ; Old Style to reduceitto the New. Another fruitful source of confusion in t—his compilation has been the transposition of the names Bliss and Blish, many families of the latter name evidently pi-eferring the former as perhaps easier of pronunciation, while a few have considered the name Blish as acorruption of iliss, and 2 10 BLISS FAMILY GENEALOGY. have accordingly adopted what they suppose to be the original name of theirline and family. We have traced the name Blish back to Abraham Blish, of Barnstable, Mass., 1640, who removed to that place from Dux- bury,where he was known asAbrahamBlush. Possiblyhe mayhavebeen a distantrelative of theBlissemigrantsof1635-6,butnothingofthekind is known. certainly We do notguarantee the entire accuracy of the records inthe following pages, but simply give them to the public as theywere receivedfrom the various branches of the familyandfromnumberlesspublicrecordsinmany differentlocalities. They embody the information obtained through many years of research andpatienttoil andperseverance, and the compilation is as nearly complete as practicable. Itis hopedthat all who notice omis- sions or errors will immediately inform the compiler, so that any subse- quenteditionmay have the benefitof such correction. Ourinvestigations amongEnglishrecords are too limited to enable us to trace any lengthened pedigree of the familyprevious to the arrival inthis country of the emigrant ancestors and it would be useless to speculate ; upon the origin of the name. It is supposed the family was of Norman descent, and that the name was originally Blois, (gradually modified to Bloys, Blyse, Blysse, Blisse and in America to Bliss,) and thatits intro- ductioninto England occurred atthe timeof theNormanConquest, (1066,) previous to which time hereditary surnames wefe—notassumed inEngland, andthenonlygradually and by families of rank, so that the pedigree ot anyfamily can hardly be traced beyond the thirteenthcentury. Another difficulty arises from the loose orthography which obtained up to the time of Elizabeth, and even later. At the commencementof the fifteenthcen- turythere was much confusion in family names, and surnames were not permanently settled before the era of the Reformation, 1534, during the reignof HenryVIH. Thename of Bliss is not of frequent occurrence inEnglishhistoiy. In Wood's "Athenae Oxonienses," edited byRev. Philip Bliss, Registrar ot OxfordUniversity, England,) vol. 1, pp. 57, occurs the earliest notice the compilerhas been able tofindofthe name. Itis as follows: "JohnBlysse, alearned physicianof his time, was borninthe diocese of Bath and Wells, elected prob. fellow of Merton Coll. 1509, being then esteemed an excellent disputantin phylosophy. Afterwards he proceeded inthe Arts, enteredon the physic line, wentto London, and practiced that faculty, and accumulatedthe degrees inphys. an. 1525, andafterwards be- came one ofthe Coll. ofPhysicians. He hathwritten somethingof hisfac- ulty, andhath made certain astronomical tables, as itappearsfrom some oi the records ofMert. Coll., buttheyhave long sincebeenlostamongmany ofthe lucubrations ofsome ofthe fellows ofthathouse thathadbeen much conversant in Astronomy. He died in the Blackfryers, inLondon, in the month of April, in 1530, and was buried in the church belonging to the saidfiyers there, leavingthis character behind him among the society of Mert. Coll., where itdoth yet stand upon recordthathe was Medicus and Astronomus quam doctus."