Top of Page

Family History

Ancestral Lineage

Origins of

the Surname

Variations of

the Surname

Armorial Bearings, Symbols and Mottoes

Researching

by Location

Migrations of the

American Family

Source Documents

Family Images Gallery

Gen-Resources

About This Webpage

Family history

Our Blew family lineage has been traced back to our 8^th great-grandfather John Blew. John was born around 1680 but it is unknown as to where. John may have been a descendent Frederick JANSS* who came to New Amsterdam (now New York City) in 1652. Some researchers have him being born at the Town of Huntington on Long Island. This may be true in that his daughter Elizabeth married Abdon Abbott a native of Huntington. As such John may have migrated from Long Island to Salem County around 1745 as did the aforementioned Abbott family. John probably lived the remainder of his days in Salem County although it is not known when and where he passed away.

Elizabeth Blew, our 7^th great-grandmother, and daughter of John Blew was born around 1724. In 1745 she married Abdon Abbott at the Pittsgrove Presbyterian Church. To this union at least seven known children were born between 1747 and 1759. We are descended through Elizabeth’s daughter and youngest child Anna Abbott. Elizabeth (Blew) Abbott lived the rest of her life at her home in Pittsgrove and died some time prior to 1790.

* In the early days of New Netherlands many of the settlers did not have surnames, but used the patronymic naming system. Thus, Frederick JANSS was "Frederick, son of Jan". After the British took over the colony, they required that everyone adopt a surname.

Direct ancestors

Additional information about the persons in our database as well as a complete

listing of individuals with this surname may be reviewed by clicking on this LINK.

Descendant Register

Generation 1

John Blew-1 was born on Abt. 1680. He died on Aft. 1724 in Salem County, New Jersey?. Child of John Blew is Elizabeth Blew, B: Abt. 1724 in Pittsgrove Twp., Salem Co., New Jersey, D: Bef. 1790 in Pittsgrove Twp., Salem Co., New Jersey, M: 16 Oct 1745 in Pittsgrove Presbyterian Church, Salem Co., NJ.

Generation 2

Elizabeth Blew-2(John Blew-1) was born on Abt. 1724 in Pittsgrove Twp., Salem Co., New Jersey. She died on Bef. 1790 in Pittsgrove Twp., Salem Co., New Jersey. She married Abdon Abbott Sr. on 16 Oct 1745 in Pittsgrove Presbyterian Church, Salem Co., NJ, son of Joseph Abbott and Elizabeth Abbott (nee ?). He was born on 1719 in Huntington, Suffolk Co., New York. He died Abt. Jun 1790 in Pittsgrove Twp., Salem County, New Jersey.

Children of Elizabeth Blew and Abdon Abbott Sr. are:

i. John Abbott, B: 1747 in Pittsgrove Twp., Salem Co., New Jersey, D: 1834 in Woolwich Twp., Gloucester Co, New Jersey, M: Abt. 1772 in Salem County, New Jersey.

ii. Abdon Abbott Jr., B: 1749 in Pittsgrove Twp., Salem Co., New Jersey, D: Aft. 1836 in Makefield Twp., Bucks Co., Pennsylvania?, M: Sep 1779 in Penns Neck, Salem Co., New Jersey.

iii. Mary Abbott, B: 1751 in Pittsgrove Twp., Salem Co., New Jersey, M: 08 Apr 1784 in Pittsgrove Twp., Salem Co., New Jersey.

iv. Elizabeth Abbott, B: 1753 in Pittsgrove Twp., Salem Co., New Jersey.

v. Sarah Abbott, B: 1755 in Pittsgrove Twp., Salem Co., New Jersey, M: 31 Oct 1786 in Salem County, New Jersey.

vi. Martha Abbott, B: 1757 in Pittsgrove Twp., Salem Co., New Jersey, M: Aft. 1790 in New Jersey.

vii. Anna Abbott, B: Abt. 1759 in Pittsgrove Twp., Salem Co., New Jersey, D: Abt. 1827 in Kentucky or Indiana, M: Bef. 1784 in Salem County, New Jersey ?.

Free Surname
Search Engines

The world’s largest free genealogy search engine, Mocavo.com, provides genealogists access to the best free genealogy content on the web

including billions of names, dates and places worldwide. Mocavo.com seeks to index and make searchable all of the world’s free genealogy information.

Use this free genealogy site to help you get the best genealogy searches from Google™ by using your family tree, for your research. It will create a series of different searches using tips or "tricks"

that will likely improve your results. The different searches will give you many different ways of using Google and the Internet to find ancestry information about this or any other Surname.

Origins of the surname

An Introduction

to the Surname

Source/Meaning

of the Surname

History of

the Surname

More About

Surnames

An Introduction to the Surname

The practice of inherited family surnames began in England and France during the late part of the 11^th century. With the passing of generations and the movement of families from place to place many of the original identifying names were altered into some of the versions that we are familiar with today. Over the centuries, most of our European ancestors accepted their surname as an unchangeable part of their lives. Thus people rarely changed their surname. Variations of most surnames were usually the result of an involuntary act such as when a government official wrote a name phonetically or made an error in transcription. Research into the record of this Blew family line indicates that the variations, meanings and history of this surname is most likely linked to that area of Europe where English, Scottish, and Irish linguistic traditions are commonly found.

Source(s) & Meaning(s) of the Surname

Most of the modern family names throughout Europe have originated from with of the following circumstances: patronym or matronym, names based on the name of one's father, mother or ancestor, (Johnson, Wilson). Each is a means of conveying lineage; occupation (i.e., Carpenter, Cooper, Brewer, Mason); habitational (Middleton, Sidney, or Ireland) or topographical (i.e. Hill, Brook, Forrest, Dale); nicknames (i.e., Moody Freeholder, Wise, Armstrong); status (i.e. Freeman, Bond, Knight); and acquired ornamental names that were simply made up.

The Scottish surname of Blue/Blew may have originated as a patronymic name from the Gaelic "Mac ghille ghuirm" meaning the son of the blue lad. The English and French names probably began as a nickname for a habitual wearer of blue clothes, or for someone with blue eyes. The French form is derived from the French word "bleu" meaning blue. The suffix "s" denotes "son of". In America the surname Blew can be a fairly recent Americanized form of German Blau or the French cognate Bleu.

History of the Surname

Surnames as we know them today were first assumed in Europe from the 11th to the 15th century. They were not in use in England or Scotland, before the Norman Conquest of 1066, and were first found in the Domesday Book of 1086. The employment in the use of a second name was a custom that was first introduced from the Normans who had adopted the custom just prior to this time. Soon thereafter it became a mark of a generally higher socio-economic status and thus seen as disgraceful for a well-bred man to have only one name. It was not until the middle of the 14^th century that surnames became general practice among all people in the British Isles.

The Blew/Blue surname is a fairly rare and unusual surname that has two possible origins. Firstly, it may be of Scottish origin. First found in Argyllshire on the isle of Arran, where they held a family seat from ancient times, and the name can frequently be found on tombstones in and around Knapdale, on the isle of Arran. Secondly, it may be of French origin and first found in Languedoc where this noble family was seated from very early times.

The surname in Britain dates back to at least the early 13th Century, and was probably introduced from France at the time of the Norman Conquest, and later in the 17th century by Huguenot refugees. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Walter le Bleu. This was dated circa 1200, in the "Close Rolls of the Tower of London". Early records of the name mention Robert le Bleu, 1273 County Somerset. Thomas Blue of County Yorkshire was listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax of 1379. Henry Blewe married Margaret Peacock, in London in the year of 1581. Early surviving church records list the christening of Mary, daughter of John and Elizabeth Blewis on July 5th 1764 at the Lying-in Hospital, Endell Street, London, and the marriage of Thomas Blue to Elizabeth Bean at St. George's, Hanover Square, London in 1808. Also found is the marriage of James Blues to Jessie Robertson on November 28th 1847 in Edinburgh, and the christening of their daughter Jessie on January 5th 1856 in Edinburgh.




More About Surname Meanings & Origins
English Surnames Although the Domesday Book compiled by William the Conqueror required surnames, the use of them in the British Isles did not become fixed until the time period between 1250 and 1450. The broad range of ethnic and linguistic roots for British surnames reflects the history of Britain as an oft-invaded land. These roots include, but are not limited to, Old English, Middle English, Old French, Old Norse, Irish, Gaelic, Celtic, Pictish, Welsh, Gaulish, Germanic, Latin, Greek and Hebrew. Throughout the British Isles, there are basically five types of native surnames. Some surnames were derived from a man's occupation (Carpenter, Taylor, Brewer, Mason), a practice that was commonplace by the end of the 14th century. Place names reflected a location of residence and were also commonly used (Hill, Brook, Forrest, Dale) as a basis for the surname, for reasons that can be easily understood. Nicknames that stuck also became surnames. About one-third of all surnames in the United Kingdom are patronymic in origin, and identified the first bearer of the name by his father (or grandfather in the case of some Irish names). When the coast of England was invaded by William The Conqueror in the year 1066, the Normans brought with them a store of French personal names, which soon, more or less, entirely replaced the traditional more varied Old English personal names, at least among the upper and middle classes. A century of so later, given names of the principal saints of the Christian church began to be used. It is from these two types of given name that the majority of the English patronymic surnames are derived and used to this day. Acquired ornamental names were simply made up, and had no specific reflection on the first who bore the name. They simply sounded nice, or were made up as a means of identification, generally much later than most surnames were adopted. *Source:* *http://www.obcgs.com/LASTNAMES.htm*
Use this LINK to find the ethnic origin and meaning of last names. Surname dictionary and		genealogy helps include names of Irish, German, English, French, Italian, and Jewish descent.

Variations of the surname

Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to unfold and expand often leading to an overwhelming number of variants. As such one can encounter great variation in the spelling of surnames because in early times, spelling in general and thus the spelling of names was not yet standardized. Later on spellings would change with the branching and movement of families. Spelling variations of this family name include English surnames such as: Blue, Blues, Bleu, Bleue, Blew, Blewis and Blewes. As well as the following French names: Blou, Blouard, Bloue, Bellouin, Blous, Blout, Bloues, Blue, De Blou, De Blu, De Bloue, De Blous, De Bloues.

Searching for more Information about this and other surnames?

Click LINK button to view our Surname Locator and Resources page.

Amorial bearings, symcbols and mottoes

In the Middle Ages heraldry came into use as a practical matter. It originated in the devices used to distinguish the armored warriors in tournament and war, and was also placed on seals as marks of identity. As far as records show, true heraldry began in the middle of the 12th century, and appeared almost simultaneously in several countries of Western Europe. In the British Isles the College of Arms, (founded in 1483), is the Royal corporation of heralds who record proved pedigrees and grant armorial bearings.

Gallery of Images

Descriptions of the

Armorial Bearings

Motto(es) of

this Surname

More About Hearldic Bearings

Image gallery

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

ARMORIAL BEARINGS

The associated armorial bearings for this surname and close variant spellings are recorded in Burke’s General Armorie and Reitstap’s Armorial General. The additional information, presented below, is offered with regard to the armorial bearings depicted above:

Figure 1: arms granted to a Blue of Scotland features a gold shield with three blue rooster's heads, and a crest of a black eagle's head with a gold beak;

Figure 2: armorial bearings attributed to a Blew of unknown origin

FIGURE 3: arms granted to a Blue or Bleu of France shows a shield divided per pale: 1st, red with three gold bends; 2nd, blue with three gold roses in pale.

MOTTO(ES)

A motto is a word or sentence usually written upon a scroll and generally placed below the shield, but sometimes, especially in Scotland, above the crest. Many ancient mottoes were war-cries such as the Douglas motto of “Forward.” Many mottoes refer to the name of the bearer, for example “cole regem” for Coleridge. In general most mottoes convey a sentiment, hope, or determination, such as the Cotter motto “Dum spiro spero” where the meaning is “While I have breath I hope“. Mottoes are often used by several successive generations, but may be changed at any time by the grantee. The languages most in use are Latin, French, and English. Exceptions are seen in Scotland where they are often in the old Lowland dialect, and in Wales, often in the language of the principality.

There are no known mottoes attributed to Blew/Blue or any of its close variant spellings.

Looking for more information about family mottoes?
Click on these links to visit some of the websites we really like!!

Heraldic bearings

The art of designing, displaying, describing, and recording arms is called heraldry. The use of coats of arms by countries, states, provinces, towns and villages is called civic heraldry. A Coat of Arms is defined as a group of emblems and figures (heraldic bearings) usually arranged on and around a shield and serving as the special insignia of some person, family, or institution. Except for a few cases, there is really no such thing as a standard "coat of arms" for a surname. A coat of arms, more properly called an armorial achievement, armorial bearings or often just arms for short, is a design usually granted only to a single person not to an entire family or to a particular surname. Coats of arms are inheritable property, and they generally descend to male lineal descendents of the original arms grantee. The rules and traditions regarding Coats of Arms vary from country to country. Therefore a Coat of Arms for an English family would differ from that of a German family even when the surname is the same.

Some of the more prominent elements incorporated into a coat of arms are :

Crest - The word crest is often mistakenly applied to a coat of arms. The crest was a later development arising from the love of pageantry. Initially the crest consisted of charges painted onto a ridge on top of the helmet.

Wreath or Torse – The torse is a twist of cloth or wreath underneath and part of a crest. Always shown as six twists, the first tincture being the tincture of the field, the second the tincture of the metal, and so on.

Mantling – The mantling is a drapery tied to the helmet above the shield. It forms a backdrop for the shield.

Helm or Helmet - The helmet or helm is situated above the shield and bears the torse and crest. The style of helmet displayed varies according to rank and social status, and these styles developed over time, in step with the development of actual military helmets.

Shield or Arms - The basis of all coats of arms. At their simplest, arms consist of a shield with a plain field on which appears a geometrical shape or object. The items appearing on the shield are known as charges.

Motto - The motto was originally a war cry, but later mottoes often expressed some worthy sentiment. It may appear at the top or bottom of a family coat of arms.

Searching for more information about heraldry? Click on the button at the right to take a look at our webpage featuring links to websites having images

of a wide variety of arms, crests, and badges. They may also feature additional heraldry resources as noted in the accompanying descriptions.

Ancestral locations

Researching the locations where our ancestors lived has provided us with valuable evidence needed to fill-in the gaps in our family trees. It has also led us to many interesting facts that enhance the overall picture of each family group.

Locations of

Direct Ancestors

Locational Distribution

of this Surname

Where In the World

are my Ancestors?

Locatiof Direct Ancestors

The names of states and counties on the following list were derived from the known places where the Direct Ancestors in the “Ancestral Lineage” (see above) were born, married, and / or died.

COUNTRY

STATE

COUNTY / SUBDIVISION

UNITED STATES

OF AMERICA

New York

Suffolk County ?

New Jersey

Salem County

Use this LINK to find out more

about the locations listed above.

Locational distributionstors

Knowing the geographical areas where the surname you are researching is clustered and distributed is an indispensable tool in deciding where to focus your research. We believe that the “Public Profiler” website will open up to you a wide range of solutions which implement current research in spatial analysis. This site provides an array of local spatial information tools useful to the genealogist.

The information presented below shows where the Abbott surname is distributed within the United States. Statistics show that there are approximately 4 persons per million within the U.S.A. The U.S.A. is found to be the country in the world where this surname is the most highly clustered.

United States of America

Key

European Country of Origin

Unknown

Click on the LINK to the right to see more information about the World distribution of a surname. You can get

greater detail for any of the following maps by clicking on the area, i.e state, county that you are interested in.

Wjere are my ancestors Ancestors

Where in the World
are My Ancestors?

Resources which enhance our knowledge of the places inhabited by our ancestors are almost as important as their names. The LINK to the right will take you to Maps, Gazetteers, and other helpful resources

that will assist in discovering Ancestral Locations. These web sites comprise only a small portion of what is available for researchers interested in learning more about where their ancestors lived.

Migration routes

Tracing our own family’s paths of migration can prove crucial in identifying previous generations and eventually, figuring out where and how they arrived in the “New World” as well as where they eventually settled. Knowing the network of trails American pioneers traveled can help you guess where to start looking. The trail map(s) provided below may assist you in understanding the routes that our direct ancestors of this family may have taken to find new homes and opportunities in the vast area now encompassed by the United States.

During the 17^th, 18^th and 19^th centuries hundreds of thousands of Europeans made the perilous ocean voyage to America. For many it was an escape from economic hardship and religious persecution. For most it was an opportunity to start over, own their own land, and make a better future for their descendents. Immigration records show a number of people bearing the name of Blue/Blew, or one of its variants, as arriving in North America between the 17^th and 20^th centuries. Some of these immigrants were: George and Duncan Blue who settled in Philadelphia in 1865, and John Blue who landed at Philadelphia in 1862. Edward Blew arrived in Virginia in 1642. Duncan Blew, his wife Anne, and three daughters, Ellinor, Mary and Katherine, settled in Virginia in 1740. Patrick Blue, aged 30, an Irish famine emigrant, sailed from Liverpool aboard the ship "Independence", bound for New York, on July 14th 1846.

Use the following links to find more early immigrants with this surname:

$ Search Ancestry.com Immigration Records; or Free Ship’s Passenger lists at OliveTreeGenealogy.com

The Development of an Historical Migration Route

It is understood that in many if not all cases we do not know exactly what routes our ancestors took as they migrated throughout the United States. As such certain assumptions have been utilized to re-create the migration path presented above. With regard to 18^th and 19^th century land routes we assume that they travelled along few trails and roads that were in existence at the time. Research shows that a great many of these old paths and trails are today designated as U.S. Highway Routes. For example, a major east-west route of migration known as the National Road is now U.S. Route 40, and a primary north-south migration route of the 18^th century followed the Great Indian War and Trading Path is now U.S. Route 11. In some situations the re-created migration route may travel along state routes that connect or run through the seat of a county as that populated place is probably the oldest settlement in the area. The use of water as a migration route is also likely. For example, during the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries many families travelled west on the Ohio River as they moved on the new lands in Missouri or the Old Northwest Territory. As such when applicable water routes have been included as the possible migration route.

BLEW Migrations c.1745

If indeed John Blew originated in Huntington, Suffolk County he may have employed several possible routes and means of transportation to reach there eventual destination in Salem County, New Jersey. The simplest and most expensive would have been to take a water-route from New York south along the New Jersey shore, around Cape May then north through the Delaware Bay to the

Delaware River to the port of Salem, New Jersey. The most probable route would have been for John Blew to travel across New Jersey via the King’s Highway a primary colonial highway stretching 1,300 miles from Boston, Massachusetts to Charleston, South Carolina. This portion of the road was originally an old Native-American trail that was cleared by Peter Stuyvesant, leader of the colony of New Netherland, when he decided, in 1651, to oust the Swedes at the colony of New Sweden.

It is most likely that the Blew family loaded there possessions into a wagon and headed west toward the East River where they would arrange transportation across the Upper New York Bay to the Kill Van Kull and on to the town of Elizabeth in New Jersey, about a total of 12 miles. Founded in 1665 by English settlers it was, at this time, called "Elizabethtown" and part of the Elizabethtown Tract. Here they would disembark an encounter

click on image to enlarge

the nearby King’s Highway. From here they would travel along the road to "Farnsworth Landing", now called Bordentown, New Jersey. By 1745 Joseph Borden had founded a transportation system to carry people and freight between New York City and Philadelphia. This exploited Bordentown's natural location as the point on the Delaware River that provided the shortest overland route to South Amboy, from which cargo and people could be ferried to New York City. From here the Abbotts’ would have had to decide whether to employ the water route down the Delaware River to Philadelphia or directly to Salem, or to continue on the land route south to Salem County. It is probable that they chose to continue with their wagon as the water travel would have been more expensive and their destination was only about 65 miles distant from Bordentown. Along the southern New Jersey thoroughfare also named “King’s Highway. This route had been established in 1681 and was the first road connecting to the county of Salem to the main portion of the original King’s Highway. Whether by land or by water the John Blew would eventually reach the town of Salem. Salem, the seat of Salem County, is located on the Salem River and was founded by John Fenwick in 1673. By 1745 it had been an important port engaged in shipbuilding and trade. Upon their arrival in Salem County they would settle in that portion of “Old” Pilesgrove Township that became Pittsgrove Township in 1769.

Source documents

The documents contained within this “Source Documents Archives” have been located during our research of this family, and used as evidence to prove many of the facts contained within the database of this family’s record. We have source documents related to the following persons within our database with this surname.

This Link will take you to our

archive of source documents.

You are welcome to download any of the documents contained within this archive that does not cite a copyright. Should you encounter a problem obtaining a copy you may get in touch with us via the contact information found at the end of this web-page.

Most of these documents can be considered as primary or secondary evidence. Primary evidence is usually defined as the best available to prove the fact in question, usually in an original document or record. Secondary evidence is in essence all that evidence which is inferior in its origin to primary evidence. That does not mean secondary evidence is always in error, but there is a greater chance of error. Examples of this type of evidence would be a copy of an original record, or oral testimony of a record’s contents. Published genealogies and family histories are also secondary evidence.

Classifying evidence as either primary or secondary does not tell anything about its accuracy or ultimate value. This is especially true of secondary evidence. Thus it is always a good idea to ask the following questions: (1) How far removed from the original is it, (when it is a copy)?; (2) What was the reason for the creation of the source which contains this evidence?; and (3) Who was responsible for creating this secondary evidence and what interest did they have in its accuracy?

SOURCE: Greenwood, Val D., The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy, 2^nd edition, Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, MD 21202, 1990, pgs. 62-63

Images gallery

During our research we have collected images and photographs that are of general interest to a particular family. Some of them are presented on this website because we believe they tend to provide the reader with additional information which may aid in the understanding of our ancestors past lives.

This Link will take you to our

collection of family photographs.

Free Image Search
help from Google

Use the power of Google™ to find more interesting images about this topic. This button will link you to the Google Images Search page. Enter the topic you are

searching in the box and click “Search Images”. At the “Images” display page you will see the image, as well as the website of which it is associated.

Web resources

This search engine may

provide you with additional

information to assist with

your research about this topic.

· Our Surname Locator And Resources web page contains the following: (1) links that will take you to an updated listing of all surnames as posted in our three databases at the Rootsweb WorldConnect Project; (2) the Surname List Finder a tool that finds sound-alike matches for a given surname from among RootsWeb's thousands of surname lists; (3) the Soundex Converter that can be used to find the soundex code for a surname, plus other surnames/spellings sharing the same soundex code; (4) Surname Message Boards the world's largest online genealogy community with over 17 Million posts on more than 161,000 boards; (5) Surname Mailing Lists of all surnames having mailing lists at RootsWeb, as well as topics that include (6) Surname Heraldy, and (7) Mapping a Surname.

· Your genealogy research of this surname can be facilitated by use of Surname Web. This website links to the majority of the surname data on the web, as well as to individual family trees, origin and surname meaning if known, and many other related genealogy resources.

· Surname Finder provides easy access to free and commercial resources for 1,731,359 surnames. On each surname specific "finder" page, you can search a variety of online databases all pre-programmed with your surname.

· Use All Surnames Genealogy to get access to find your surname resources . There are almost 1300 links in this directory.

· SurnameDB Free database of surname meanings - This site SurnameDB.Com contains a large FREE to access database (almost 50,000 surnames) on the history and meaning of family last names.

· Public Profiler / World Names - Search for a Surname to view its Map and Statistics.

· Linkpendium Surnames - Web sites, obituaries, biographies, and other material specific to a surname.

· Cyndi's List - Surnames, Family Associations & Family Newsletters Index - Sites or resources dedicated to specific, individual family surnames.

Free Records & Databases

FREE Records
& Databases

All of the records and databases we’ve collected are FREE and can be accessed and searched online without having to pay for a subscription. We have divided our collected into 14 record types as follows: Biographical; Birth; Cemetery; Census & City Directories; Church; Court; Death; Immigration & Naturalization; Land; Marriage; Military; Newspapers; Occupational; and Tax Records. We try not to list any sites that have only a few records for the purpose of getting you to a website that will charge a fee to actually see the record beyond just a name.

This Link will take you to our

collections of FREE Records.

Our Genealogy
Reference Library

The following Link will take you to our library of genealogy reference books. Here you will find bibliographies, family histories and books about names. In addition, there are texts that pertain to ethnic and religion groups, history, geography as well as other books that will assist you with your research.