→ Joseph Blinko (5 Oct 1800, Wooburn, Buckingham) → New York, New York. 23 July 1836 on the ship Robert Morris
Note: Arrived on the Ship Robert Morris Joseph 36 Ann 38 Susan 14 Jane 12 John 10 Ann 8 Joseph 5 Elizabeth 3 plus two others in the same party
Cattleman, Joseph Blinko and family to NewJersey
Joseph Blinko was Cattleman and Butcher on the Little Kingsmead in Wooburn, Buckinghamshire he came from a long line of retailers and farmers and close relatives would continue the Blinko Butchery in the towns of Beaconsfield and High Wycombe long after he had departed for the Americas
Life in Buckinghamshire 1800-1836
Joseph was one of the sons of Farmer John Blinko and his wife Mary Edding of Wooburn, Buckinghamshire they had land and John a farmer of Wooburn, in the Buck Posse Comitatis of 1798 owned 14 horses, 4 wagons & 5 carts. It would appear he farmed several pieces of land around Wooburn as a tenant farmer. His Will his was a defining document to explain farming interests and assets he accumulated . Unfortunately for Jospeh he was not the oldest son so while he benefited from his fathers estate it was not the extent of his oldest brother John Blinko 1795-1866.
John Blinko, a farmer from Wooburn, Buckinghamshire, executed his Will on September 15, 1826. The document, along with a codicil dated January 13, 1827, outlines a strategy to liquidate his extensive farming assets and real estate to provide for his children.
Principal Beneficiary: John Blinko (Son)
John’s eldest son, also named John, received the most direct and immediate inheritance of real property:
- Real Estate: He was bequeathed a freehold piece of meadow ground located in Little Kings Mead, Chepping Wycombe.
- Cash Legacy: He received an immediate sum of £50 to be paid shortly after his father’s death.
- Executor Status: He was appointed as a joint executor and trustee, granting him control over the administration of the rest of the estate.
Residual Beneficiaries: The Six Named Children
After the specific bequest to his son John and the payment of debts and funeral expenses, the remainder of the estate was placed into a trust. The trustees were instructed to sell all real estate, livestock, farming implements, and household furniture to create a fund.+1
This fund was to be divided “share and share alike” (equally) among the following children:
- Mary Williamson: Wife of Christopher Williamson, a horse farrier from Beaconsfield.
- William Blinko.
- Hester Mills: Wife of Thomas Mills, a farmer from Beaconsfield.
- Jane Hanwell: Wife of William Hanwell, a publican from Iver Heath.
- Joseph Blinko
- Moses Blinko.
Note on Issue: The will specified that if any of these children died before John, their respective share would be divided equally among their surviving children.
Extent of the Estate to be Sold
The extent of the inheritance for the six residual beneficiaries depended on the sale of the following assets:
- Leasehold Properties: Several parcels of arable land, meadow ground, and garden ground held under the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity of Chichester.
- Farming Stock: All live and dead farming stock, implements, and utensils of husbandry.
- Personal Property: Household goods, furniture, plate, linen, and china, as well as government securities, stocks, funds, or mortgages.
Administrative Oversight
John Blinko, a farmer from Wooburn, Buckinghamshire, executed his will on September 15, 1826. The document, along with a codicil dated January 13, 1827, outlines a strategy to liquidate his extensive farming assets and real estate to provide for his children.
Principal Beneficiary: John Blinko (Son)
John’s eldest son, also named John, received the most direct and immediate inheritance of real property:
Real Estate: He was bequeathed a freehold piece of meadow ground located in Little Kings Mead, Chepping Wycombe.
Cash Legacy: He received an immediate sum of £50 to be paid shortly after his father’s death.
Executor Status: He was appointed as a joint executor and trustee, granting him control over the administration of the rest of the estate.
The Voyage
The Robert Morris was a fully masted sailing ship and would typically take 5-6 weeks to make the journey from in ths case London to New York. The Blinko’s had two servants with them, but it’s unlikely they travelled other that steerage to keep costs down. The older servant Mary White probably had the task of cooking the meals for the family but they would have had to share the communal living space that was below decks. In 1836 when they arrived at the Battery Wharf in Central New York they just walked off the ship into Manhattan without a lot of immigration checks etc. Why Joseph change his mind about travelling on to Ohio we will never know it could be he never intended that as the desitination or in the first few days decided on what he heard or found out that the nearer New Jersey could be a good place to set up his cattle and buchery business.
Byram, New Jersey
We know that within three years of landing daughter Sarah Frances Fannie is born in Byram so we can assume that they went there quite early on if not straight away.
Byram was a small township (then and now) but it was booming in the 1830s because the Morris Canal had been completed in 1831 . The Canal was a magnificient engineering feet rising 900 feet to cross the New Jersey hills and open up the possibility of Coal from Pennsylvannia to be deleived to the iron works in Byram Township. This was the “Iron District.” Men worked in the Stanhope Forge, the Andover Mine, and the Roseville Mines. In 1830s, the industry was undergoing a revolution—switching from burning local charcoal (which had deforested the hills) to burning Pennsylvania Anthracite Coal, which arrived daily via the canal.
Joseph would have had some capital (given his inheritance from England) to start a butchery right away, the meat that the workers in the Mines wanted was for a staple for him to source and supply.
The landscape around Byram township was forested,was hilly and rich in iron and the other key ingredient limestone. It was not cattle country, however the Byram interior over the hills, was good grazing land. Joseph’s work was to to go out into the interior and buy the cattle, then drive them to Byram over the hills and then butcher them. he must have set up a burthers yard or shop very soon after arriving.
This was successful and lucrative business and so Joseph prospered. By 1860 census while he was still living in Byram in a nice house, he also had a butchers shop in adjacent Stanhope, A nice find was this 1860 map that clearly shows where that shop was.
Double Tragedy
Joseph and Ann is the space of 5 years lost their two sons John a in 1853 and Joseph W in 1858 both at exactly the same age of 27. I haven’t been able to detemine the cause of each of these deaths, but it essentially left Joseph with no male heir to take on the business
The Frogley family connection
Joseph traveling to the interior came across a Israel Frogley a cattle farmer from Oxfordshire, they likely probably shared stories of the home land. Israel farmed at Frelinghuysen, Warren, New Jersey. Eventually Israels his son Joseph Frogley was as the families got aquainted, to court and marry Jane Blinko in about 1854.
Joseph and Jane married and moved to a new frontier, Ohio, where they got land and started farming, very soon in 1855 the first child Annie was born and soon after Susan. However history intervened in their life the American Civil War begain. Joseph was drafted but it doesn’t appear he served. The Ohio farm couldn’t have been that productive and after the war they decided to pursue opportunities in the South. Stories of cheap land abandoned farms etc lured them to Tennesee and they settled on a Farm there. But then tragedy struck.
Joseph Frogley Murdered
The death of Joseph Frogley in 1868 is a window into the most violent year of Tennessee’s Reconstruction. While the “State Guard” was tasked with keeping order, they were often disbanded or overwhelmed exactly when they were needed most. According to local records and contemporary newspaper accounts from 1868, Joseph Frogley did not die of natural causes. He was a victim of the “Warren County disturbances,” a period of intense post-war lawlessness and political volatility.
The Incident: Joseph Frogley was shot and killed during a period of civil unrest. In 1868, Tennessee was a flashpoint for conflict between Unionists (Radical Republicans) and former Confederates. Source -The specific report of Joseph Frogley’s death appeared in the Nashville Union and American on November 13, 1868.The fact that he was killed in 1868 in Tennessee—a state where the “Union” and “Confederate” identities were still violently clashing—suggests he may have been targeted for his Northern ties or perceived “Unionist” background. Joseph was likely targeted because of his Northern ties (as seen in his 1863 Ohio draft record).
The Context: McMinnville was under significant strain. The year 1868 saw the rise of extra-judicial groups and “regulators” who targeted individuals based on their political affiliations or their roles in the local economy.
Final Years in Stanhope
After his murder, his widow Jane Blinco had no choice but to take her young children and flee back to the safety of her father’s home in Byram, New Jersey. In the 1870 Census the young Frogley family are living with their grandparents, Joseph has now retired maybe having sold the business, has has no son to continue it on. While Byram Township and sat adjacent to each other it was Stanhope that was to become the prominent town of the area.
Joseph saw out his life peacefully, his wife Ann preceding him by 10 years, they provided well for their daughters.
Timeline
| Event | Date and Location | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Full Name | Joseph Blinko | |
| Birth Place | Wooburn, Buckinghamshire | |
| Birth Date | 5 Oct 1800 | |
| Birth of Daughter Jane | 1821, Wooburn, Buckingham shire | |
| Birth of Daughter Susan | 1822, England | |
| Marriage | 13 Dec 1822, St. Botolphs without Aldgate London | |
| Birth of Daughter Ann | 1825, England | |
| Birth of Son John | 1826, England | |
| Inheritance | 28 Sep 1826, Woburn, Bucks | Left and equal shre of fathers estate Will extract RIN 497 Securities Stocks Funds or Mortgages / upon Real Estates or on other securities Upon / Trust that they the said trustees and Executors / and the Survivor of them his Executors and Administrators do and shall pay or cause to be / paid all such Monies which shall arise from I such sale or sales as aforesaid And aLso all and / singular the Monies which shall or may arise / from the said Government Securities Stocks Funds / or Mortgages upon ReaI Estates or on other securities equally between and amongst my children / hereinafter named (that is to say) Unto Mary / the Wife of Christopher Williamson of Beaconsfield / Horse Farrier Unto William Blinko Unto Hester / the Wife of Thomas Mills of the parish r:f Beaconsfield / Farmer Unto Jane the Wife of tvYilliam Hanwell of / Iver Heath in the Parish of Iver in the County of Bucks Publican Unto Joseph Blinko and unto Moses Blinko share and share alike and which |
| Birth of Son Joseph W | 1831, Buckinghamshire | |
| Birth of Daughter Elizabeth | abt 1833, England | |
| Occupation | 1836, Byram Township, New Jersey | Butcher and Farmer of Livestock |
| Emigrated | 23 Jul 1836, New York, New York | Arrived on the Ship Robert Morris from Liverpool Joseph 36 Ann 38 Susan 14 Jane 12 John 10 Ann 8 Joseph 5 Elizabeth 3 plus two Servant Ann Paxton 8 and Mary White 28 |
| Birth of Daughter Sarah Frances Fannie | 1839, Byram, Sussex, New Jersey | |
| Occupation | 1850, Byram, Sussex, New Jersey | Butcher & Drover |
| Census US 1850 | 21 Sep 1850, Byram, Sussex, New Jersey | Joseph Blinco 50 butcher and drover born England value of real estate owned 1.800 Joseph Blinco 50 Ann Blinco 52 Jane Blinco 25 Ann Blinco 22 Joseph Blinco 19 Elizabeth Blinco 16 S Frances 10 Joseph Stevens 14 |
| Census US 1860 | 1860, Byram Township, Sussex, New Jersey | Joseph Blinko 59 Butcher real estate $1000 person assets $ 300 Ann 61 England Elizabeth 26 England John Frogly 9 NJ |
| Census US 1870 | 1870, Byram, Sussex, NJ | Joseph 69 Farmer Retired Ann Blinco 71 Jane Frogley 46 Susie Frogley 15 Charles Frogley 10 Joseph Frogley 3 Elizabeth Blinco 36 John B Frogley 19 |
| Last Will and Testament Joseph Blinko | Will Date 11 Jun. 1870 Residence Place Sussex, New Jersey | Leaves estate to Ann his wife. The will identifies two specific daughters, |
| Beneficiary | Elizabeth Chalk: | He leaves the income and interest from a sum of Four Thousand Dollars to his beloved daughter Elizabeth Chalk for her natural life. |
| Beneficiary | Jane Elizabeth: | The will mentions giving household items (bedding and clothing) to his daughter Jane Elizabeth |
| Probate | Probate Date 11 Jun. 1870, Sussex, NJ | |
| Census US 1880 (1 Jun) | 1 Jun 1880, Stanhope, Sussex, New Jersey | Joseph Blinko 79 Elizabeth C. Blinko 45 |
| Death | 15 Sep 1883, Hanover Township, Morris, New Jersey |
Last Will and Testament
Map of Stanhope, New Jersey
<h5> Joseph Blinkos Headstone</h5>
