Brief Life History of William Melville
When William Melville Blake was born on 5 May 1844, in Graham Township, Jefferson, Indiana, United States, his father, Kenneth Anderson Blake, was 59 and his mother, Elizabeth Ann Hill, was 29. He died on 24 March 1863, at the age of 18, and was buried in Pisgah Methodist Church Cemetery, Deputy, Graham Township, Jefferson, Indiana, United States.
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Family Time Line
Sources (4)
- William M Blake in household of Kenneth A Blake, "United States Census, 1860"
- William M. Blake, "Find a Grave Index"
- William M Blake, "United States Records of Headstones of Deceased Union Veterans, 1879-1903"
Parents and Siblings
World Events (5)
1846
U.S. acquires vast tracts of Mexican territory in wake of Mexican War including California and New Mexico.
1851 · Constitution of 1851
Due to the state’s financial crisis during the previous decade and growing criticism toward state government. Voters approve the Constitution of 1851 which forbade the state government from going into debt.
1856 · The Town of Santa Claus
The town of Santa Fe was denied their application for a United States Postal Service as a town of Santa Fe, Indiana, was already established. Several meetings were held and the name was changed to Santa Claus, Indiana. The United States Postal Service granted their application. Due to the name, the post office in Santa Claus continues to receive thousands of letters to Santa Claus from children around the world each December.
Name Meaning
English and Scottish (England and central Scotland): variant of Black 1, meaning ‘swarthy’ or ‘dark-haired’, from a byform of the Old English adjective blæc, blac ‘black’, with change of vowel length.
English: nickname from Middle English blak(e) (Old English blāc) ‘wan, pale, white, fair’. In Middle English the two words blac and blāc, with opposite meanings, fell together as Middle English blake. In the absence of independent evidence as to whether the person referred to was dark or fair, it is now impossible to tell which sense was originally meant.
English (Norfolk): nickname from Middle English bleik, blaik>, blek(e) (Old Norse bleikr) ‘pale or sallow’ (in complexion).
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
Possible Related Names
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