The Blakeneys:
An Etymological &
Ethnological Study

Unveiling the Mysterious Origins of
the Blakeney Family and Name
 

Includes a Blakeney Family Tree, Photos, Maps,
& Documents, & Additional Material on Blakeney
Place-names, Blakeney Spelling Variations,
& the Surname Blake

by
Lochlainn Seabrook
Copyright © 2000 Lochlainn Seabrook

Foreword by Ray H. Blakeney,
former President of "The Blakeney/Blakley
Family Association," Nova Scotia, Canada



Cover - click to enlarge

BOOK REVIEW
To professional genealogists and amateur researchers alike, the Blakeney line has proven to be one of the most intriguing of all family groups.  And for good reason.  Few family lines can be traced as far back, and few possess as many notable individuals and characters, ranging from governors, lords, barons, military heroes, surgeons, reverends, MPs, judges, barristers, and sheriffs, to outlaws, heretics, scoundrels, and outright scallywags!

The Blakeneys were present at such famous battles as the Battle of Hastings (the Norman Invasion of England), the Culloden Massacre, the English Civil War, and the American Revolutionary War.  And as this restless people spread out across the world, we find them settling in every corner of the globe, from Greece, India, Mauritius, Australia, and Africa, to England, Canada, Ireland, Scotland, France, and Cuba.  In their wake, they left hundreds of thousands of descendants.  Little wonder that the Blakeneys have been so earnestly and thoroughly studied over the years.

Yet, despite this intense scrutiny, two vitally important and unanswered questions remain: What does the name Blakeney mean? And where did the Blakeneys originate?  In my opinion—and in the opinion of many others, I might add—these issues have never been resolved to anyone's real satisfaction.

Conventional wisdom has it that Blakeney is related to the word 'black,' and that the Blakeney families derive from England.  However, according to Lochlainn Seabrook's new and exciting findings, in this case conventional wisdom couldn’t be more wrong!

As both a Blakeney and a family history enthusiast, I certainly recognize the importance of traditional genealogy books, with their lengthy, and often tedious, lists of who 'begat' whom.  And yet, such books are designed more for research than for reading, and the authors typically offer little (or no) information on the one topic that so many of us Blakeneys are truly interested in: the origins of both our family and our family name.

What I've long sought is a book that provides not only an in-depth examination of this topic, but one that also relates it in a readable story format; one that can be read and enjoyed over and over.

Lochlainn's The Blakeneys: An Etymological and Ethnological Study, seeks to correct this deficiency, and the result, I'm happy to say, is a riveting, edifying, and altogether surprising journey of discovery, from the mist-enshrouded period of the Vikings to the present day.

Thoroughly-researched, well-written, easy to read, and yet comprehensive in scope (with footnotes that are often as engrossing as the main text itself), Lochlainn has combined history with genealogy in a detailed and absorbing narrative of encyclopedic proportions.

In a word, The Blakeneys: An Etymological and Ethnological Study is a must-have for anyone who is studying, knows, loves, or is her/himself a Blakeney!


SURNAMES
Below is a partial list of the surnames that are in the author's Blakeney files.  Some of these, though not all, will be appear in the Blakeney family tree in the book:

Adams, Ainsworth, Alexachie, Alperin, Anderson, Archibald, Armstrong, Arnold, Ashbrooke, Ashby, Balbi, Barron, Barton, Batson, Batt, Battersby, Beaver, Becher, Benison, Beresford, Bertragh, Bibby, Bishop, Blackhurst, Blakeney (all spellings), Bolton, Bourne, Bowen, Bower, Brooks, Bullough, Burke, Burrows, Canady, Cantroll, Carle/Carll, Carr, Cater, Catterson-Smith, Cayley, Chambers, Clegge, Clementson, Colletta, Collier, Colpays, Colpitts, Connell, Connemenos, (de) Courcy, Courtenay, Cousmaker, Creed, Cripps, Crossmaker, Cullen, Curtin, Darbyshire, Darrah, Deasdey, Demaree, DeMille, Desrochers, Dickens, Dixon, Donald, Doster, Dring, Drion, Duckworth, Edward, Edwards, Elliott, Ellis, Eustace, Evans, Everett, Falkiner, Field, Fillmore, Foley, Galbreath, Gambier, Gardiner, Garvey, Geldart, Gibson, Giggs, Gill, Giroux, Gossett, Gowen, Gregg, Grimmer, Gunning, Hammond, Harpell, Hassett, Hatton, Heppner, Henn, Hensley, Herrett, Hodgins, Hollett, Hughes, Hutchinson, Ingram, Inman, Irwin, Jackson, Jacques, Jeffries, Jerome, Jonah, Jones, Keith, Kelk/e, Kierstead, King/Kinge/Kynge, Kirwan, Legge, Leishman, Lewis, Long, Lovelace, Lowes, Lynch, Lyon, MacPherson, Mague, Mahon, Mangan, Martin, May, MacCartney, McClure, McCorkle, McCready, McFarlane, McLeod, McQuade, Miller, Mills, Mitchell, Mollins, Moon, Morgan, Mosse, Murphy, Murray, Nadeau, Neace/Nease, Nesbit, Nevells, Newcome, Niccum, Norris, Norwood, Nugent, O'Connor, O'Dell, O'Dwyer, Oliver, Ormsby, Owens, Paul, Persse, Phelps, Pogue, Poole, Potter, Price, Purdon, Quill, Ridgeway, Ridley-Smith, Ritchie, Roberts, Robinson, Rogers, Royse, Russell, Ryland, Saint George, Saint Leger, Saint Maur, Scott, Shields, Sloan, Sowell, Smith/Smythe, Spanopoulos, Spicer, Stack, Stamps, Stafford, Stanton, Starkey, Starr, Staunton, Steves, Stevens, Stewart, Sutton, Swank, Tabor, Talbot, Taylor, Thompson, Thornton, Tilley, Trocke, Tucker, Tupper, Unwin, Vecchio, Wade, Wadman, Waldron, Wallace, Ward, Warren, Watson, Weale, Weare, White, Whitley, Wildash, Williams, Wilson, Wing, Wright, Wyatt, Wylly.
 

BOOK DESCRIPTION
♦ Author: Lochlainn Seabrook
♦ Publication type: nonfiction book
♦ ISBN: 0976870703
♦ Copyright: 2000
♦ Status: best-selling self-published book
♦ Pages: 237
♦ Illustrated: yes
♦ Printing: double-sided
♦ Cover: paperback (soft)
♦ Binding: tape (professionally glued with linen-cloth spine)
♦ Publisher: self-published, Sea Raven Press
♦ Size: 8.5" x 11"
♦ Categories & Keywords: nonfiction, etymology, ethnology, linguistics, onomastics, history (European & American), anthropology (cultural & social), religion, Blakeney family history & genealogy, Ireland, England, Normandy, Blake, Blakeny.

♦ Price within USA: $24.95 (plus $2.95 for shipping/handling)
♦ Price outside USA: $29.95 (plus $2.95 for shipping/handling)
♦ Stores: for wholesale price, please contact us

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