Jane Blakeney Welsh was the daughter of Captain John Blakeney. She was born about 1766, and is probably the oldest known daughter of Capt. John and his wife.
She married Revolutionary War solder John Welsh in the early 1780’s, and the couple settled in nearby Lancaster County, where they raised a large family.
In the early decades of the nineteenth century, John, Jane and their family left South Carolina and moved nearly five-hundred miles to Perry County, Alabama, near the town of Marion.
John Welsh died there in 1835, and Jane survived him by a decade. On June 4, 1845, Jane made her last will and testament. Some have stated she died on this date as well, but I don’t have sufficient information to confirm that. We can confirm that she died sometime between June and September of 1845, when her will was recorded.
I had found a mention of her will online, and did a little digging in the probate records of Perry County, Alabama on familysearch.org. It didn’t take long to find. Although it doesn’t give us any information regarding her family – children, grandchildren, etc. – it does give the name of her late husband, making it pretty certain on its own (without examining other documentation of the period) that we do have the correct Jane Welsh.
Here is the transcript of the last will and testament of Jane Blakeney (with a few spelling errors corrected):
Will of Jane Welsh, decd
The State of Alabama
Perry County
I Jane Welsh of the county and state aforesaid bring forth(?) advanced in old age and knowing by the course of nature my earthly career is almost at an end but of sound mind and memory do make & constitute this my last will and testament.
1st commit my soul to God and my body to be decently buried in the grave yard in the town of Marion by the side of my deceased husband John Welsh –
2nd I wish all my just debts paid
3rd my will and dis— is that my executor sell all my property, consisting of my negro woman Fand(?) and her child. Household furniture stocks &(?) either as public sale or private sale as he may choose and make an equal distribution of the remainder of the proceeds of such sale equally among my lawful heirs.
4th I do hereby constitute and appoint Jesse B. Navo(?) my executor to this my last will & testament. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal this 4th day of June 1845.
Jane (her mark) Welsh
Signed sealed and acknowledged in presence of each other by request of Jane Welsh on the day and date therein named
John C. Gillis
Samuel Horton
Recorded 5th September 1845
Jno. Cunningham, Register
By W. Cunningham
Will records, 1821-1932
Authors: Alabama. Probate Court (Perry County) (Main Author)
Alabama. County Court (Perry County) (Repository)
Format: Manuscript/Manuscript on Film
Publication: Salt Lake City, Utah : Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1980-1988
References: (Digital Collection) Alabama, probate records, 1809-1985
The Blakeney Gazette 
Hello, Always so glad to read your posts! For some time, I have been intending to write and share a few items that will perhaps will be new and hopefully be interesting to you.
1) Please Google Find A Grave Stephen Jackson Welsh. You will be taken to Suncrest Cemetery, Monroe,NC (same cemetery where John Blakeney III is buried). The Welsh family has a family plot here. I believe these are all descendants of Jane Blakeney Welsh. Stephen’s father John Rushing Welsh shows up in DAR database as son of Jane Blakeney. Also note sister of Stephen who married a Julius Blakeney. Is he also a descendant of Captain John?
2) Please also check Find a Grave Archibald Laney Union County. You will see a photo of the monument marking the graves of Archibald and wife, Susannah Blakeney. The marker specifically names her as the Daughter of John Blakeney, Jr. The cemetery is the Laney Family Cemetery and is located in the southernmost part of the county. The South Carolina state line is just a few short miles and the original Blakeney cemetery is no more than 15 minutes south. You referenced Archibald Laney in your article about Zoar Methodist Church (again a 10 minute drive from the Laney Cemetery. “Archie” and Susannah were my great-great-great-great grandparents. I am descended from their son Calvin. Calvin married his cousin Nancy Funderburk ( great granddaughter of Captain John via his son, William Blakeney). They are both also buried here and their homeplace still stands next to the cemetery. Calvin and Nancy had many children and I descend from their oldest daughter, Melissa. Many years ago, a Laney descendant, Dr. Guy Funderburk wrote “Laney Lineage and Legacy” . He referenced a quote he had found about Susannah, ” I should have stated before that Uncle Archie married into a highly respectable family by the name of Blakeney. His wife, Susan, “Aunt Suck” was of a most impetuous nature. Hysterical, disagreeable disposition, and led my Uncle Arch, who was a good man, a most disagreeable life. She was so ill natured and cross grained that she numbered very few friends either in her neighborhood or in her family” (Samson D. Laney) Yikes– well I’m choosing to believe that Great Grandma Susannah had some good qualities even if they were not readily apparent to others.
3) There is an excellent Mills 1823 map of Chesterfield County SC at Roots and Recall. You can see how close in proximity the Blakeney, Laney and Funderburk families lived to one another.
Hope you have found this to be a little bit interesting. 🙂
The Blakeney Gazette wrote: > a:hover { color: red; } a { text-decoration: none; color: #0088cc; } a.primaryactionlink:link, a.primaryactionlink:visited { background-color: #2585B2; color: #fff; } a.primaryactionlink:hover, a.primaryactionlink:active { background-color: #11729E !important; color: #fff !important; } /* @media only screen and (max-device-width: 480px) { .post { min-width: 700px !important; } } */ WordPress.com jfhester posted: “Jane Blakeney Welsh was the daughter of Captain John Blakeney. She was born about 1766, and is probably the oldest known daughter of Capt. John and his wife. She married Revolutionary War solder John Welsh in the early 1780’s, and the couple settled in “
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Hi Jerilyn – thank you for this information! I’m going from memory here, but yes, John Rushing Welsh was descended from Capt. John, but I think he may have been a grandson of Jane Blakeney (don’t quote me on that – I’ll have to look it up).
I will definitely look up the graves you mentioned in the Laney Family Cemetery – and that’s quite a quote about Susannah Blakeney! 🙂
I have seen that map, and I think I have a digital copy somewhere, which I had forgotten about until you mentioned it. I’ll have to dig it out again.
Thank you again for the comments, and feel free to share any other information you have.
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This is so interesting I am descended from Jane and John welsh they r my 6th great grand parents. I went out to Blakeney grave or so I thought I could never find the graves did however find the granite monument at the beginning of the dirt road that led to the cementry. I walked along way back because the road had deep rain filled puddles and my hubby wouldn’t take his car in them. So this is very helpful
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I just want to thank John Hester for all his research on the Blakeney line and for sharing his information with us. John, you have been an invaluable source of information that has helped so much!
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Sorry, I just saw your comment. Thank you, and I really appreciate that. I would say that I’m just trying to add onto research that others have done over the generations, and the best part of this is that so many people seem to be working together!
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I have had my DNA results for a while but not sure how to tell if they match to any of the Blakeney line. How do I know? Thanks Margaret Surowka
Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPad
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Margaret – if your DNA testing company shows who you match with, other people who have taken the same test, you would need to look through those matches and see if they have any family trees posted online. DNA itself wouldn’t tell you if you matched with any Blakeney lines, but if you have a DNA match, and their online family tree shows that they also descend from the Blakeneys, that’s a pretty good sign. It could also be that you match with some other family line that person has, but if you don’t share any other family lines with that person, it’s likely you match their Blakeney lines.
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