Married July 6, 1769
in Litchfield, Litchfield County, Connecticut.

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American Revolution
4th Co., 1st Conn. Reg.
under Gen. Wooster.

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Article written about Richard Blake Sr.'s family, 228 years after his birth and 167 years after his death. Primary focus on sons Jesse and Ruel Blake.

The Livonia Gazette
Livonia, Livingston County, New York.
Thursday, August 19, 1976

Jesse Blake

1773 - 1859

Members of the Blake family first became associated with the affairs of Livonia township in 1800 when Richard Blake, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, joined other Connecticut natives who had moved to the Genesee Country from Litchfield, Conn.

The Blake family, which included Richard's sons Jesse and Ruel, settled in that part of the township which became known as Hemlock. The Blake Homestead was located in the area where Federal Rd. crosses Cadyville Rd.

At one time members of the Blake family were the largest land owners in Hemlock and gave their name to Blake St. and Blake Street School. The one room schoolhouse was built at the corner of Federal and Clary Rds. and was in use until it became part of the Livonia Central School District. It has since been converted into a private residence and is presently owned by the Dillman family.

About 1796, Jesse married Sallie Luddington whose father had been a member of General George Washington's body guard. Jesse and Sallie were the parents of 14 children.

Jesse and his brother Ruel became men of substance and were active supporters of religious, civic, educational, agricultural and other affairs of the community. They deeded the land on which the first Methodist Church was built on Ruel Blake's farm and also gave the land on which the Blake Street School was built.

The Methodist Church was built in the architectural style of New England churches. It was a square, white building with a gallery around three sides of the interior. The high box pews had small doors and the little church was heated by two stoves. The church was in use until about 1860 when a new church was built in Livonia Station. Men sat on one side, women and children on the other.

Jesse's brother Ruel was the first president of the Hemlock Fair Society and owned considerable acreage in the now abandoned hamlet of Jacksonville. It is believed that many farm laborers and skilled workmen got their first jobs working for Jesse and Ruel Blake.

A descendant of Jesse Blake married James Nickerson and the surname of Blake became the first name of several Nickerson men.

Edwin Nickerson of Livonia Center, a sixth generation descendant of Jesse has presented "Home Life in Colonial Times" by Alice Morse Earle, in memory of his ancestors. This is a reprint of an earlier edition which has been a long time favorite.

Obviously, the author did not live in colonial times, but did have access to contents of old trunks, forgotten journals, old timers who remembered stories from their childhood and other authentic source material. Mrs. Earle had an easy style of writing, thus this is a comfortable, lovely retelling of our early heritage.

Edwin Nickerson and his aunt, Mrs. Lois Nickerson Wilkins have furnished information for this article. Information was also obtained from the Henry Smith "History of Livingston County."

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