Arrived in Newport, Virginia, on 20 June 1830, as attested in 1839 US Naturalisation. No ship found in online records so far.
Banbury
The son of a Baker, William Blencowe and Ann Wilson, Robert was one of 5 children who grew up in Banbury in the Bakery.
Banbury was a small town when Robert was born, but in the subsequent years grew quite rapidly from 4,500 in 1808 to 6,000 in 1830. The town’s trades had good times. But after the Napoleonic wars ended, Banbury suffered like most towns in Britain. The return of huge numbers of men without work, at the same time, crops failed, and new industrial machines reduced work for people like weavers, who made up a lot of the occupations in Banbury. Robert had not followed his father into Baking, but had chosen the trade of Cordwainer, the skill of making shoes. In the 1820-30s there were, according to Rushers Directory, over 100 Cordwainers operating in Banbury, it being the largest group of any one trade.
Apprenticeship 1822-1829
Robert’s apprenticeship agreement would have occurred at age 14, and his term was for 7 years. Robert would have gone to live with a Cordwainer who was legally bound to provide him with food, lodging, clothing, and secrets of the “mystery and craft” of shoemaking. In return, Robert provided free labour, and his family usually paid the master an upfront fee (a premium). He was legally forbidden to marry, gamble, or frequent taverns during this time.
When Robert’s apprenticeship ended, he faced a narrow set of choices. He could continue working under an established cordwainer, or—far less likely for a newly trained man with limited capital—set up his own workshop. Even with skill and training, steady work was not guaranteed. By the late 1820s, many small cordwainers were failing under debt, falling demand, and intense competition from Northampton, which was rapidly becoming the dominant shoemaking centre in England.
At the same time, stories of successful emigration were circulating through the working classes. For a young tradesman facing shrinking prospects, the idea of leaving may have felt less like a choice and more like the only viable path. There were no assisted passages to America, so if Robert went, it was likely because his father helped him purchase a ticket—an investment in a place where skilled shoemakers could find plentiful work and opportunity.
The Voyage 1830
We don’t know the details of Robert’s voyage, but we do know he enlisted in the US Marines in 1831, and his attestation before a judge in 1839 sets the arrival date at 20 June 1830 and states that he landed in Norfolk, Virginia. Note: This is so far the earliest we have recorded a Blencowe emigrating in the 19th Century. Robert was 22 years old when he arrived in Norfolk, Virginia, and we can assume that he found some employment right away, but it may not have been his trade and was likely not well paid. So he spent the Summer and the balance of 1830 looking for better employment. It was likely that this was when he came across the United States Marines recruitment program.
The US Marines at this time were a small armed force and didn’t have any rules that its Marines needed US citizenship, it was a good option for Robert to secure a steady income.
United States Marines
16 June 1831, Robert enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He was assigned to the second USS Lexington. This vessel was a 691-ton, 24-gun wooden sloop-of-war built in 1825.
Having decommissioned briefly in late 1830, the Lexington was recommissioned on May 31, 1831, under the command of Master Commandant Silas M. Duncan. Robert’s enlistment coincided exactly with this new commission. The ship was immediately dispatched to join the Brazil Squadron, a U.S. naval force tasked with protecting American merchant shipping, whaling, and sealing fleets along the Atlantic coast of South America.
Robert’s tour of duty aboard the Lexington between 1831 and May 1834 was defined by a major international diplomatic crisis, a legendary amphibious raid, and years of routine patrol and anti-piracy operations.
Here is the chronological breakdown of the ship’s movements and activities during his time aboard:
- The Voyage South and the Spark of Crisis (June – December 1831)
After recommissioning in New York and assembling her crew of roughly 190 officers and men, the Lexington sailed south toward her station in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
While en route or shortly after arrival, Commandant Duncan received urgent, alarming intelligence from the South Atlantic. A merchant and diplomat named Luis Vernet, who the government had appointed in Buenos Aires as the Military and Civil Commander of the Falkland Islands, had issued strict decrees banning foreign vessels from hunting seals or fishing in the archipelago. To enforce this, Vernet’s forces had seized three American merchant sealing ships—the Harriet, the Breakwater, and the Superior—and arrested their captains under charges of illegal poaching.
The United States government did not recognise Argentina’s sovereignty over the islands or Vernet’s authority. Branding Vernet’s operation a “nest of pirates,” Commandant Duncan ordered the Lexington to sail directly to the Falkland Islands to protect American citizens and property.
- The Raid on Port Louis, Falkland Islands (December 1831 – January 1832)
On December 31, 1831, the Lexington dropped anchor in the bay off Port Louis (Puerto Luis), the primary Argentine settlement on East Falkland. What followed was a highly consequential military operation in which Robert Blencowe and his fellow Marines played a direct role:
The Land Raid: Armed bluejackets and Marines from the Lexington went ashore. They confronted the settlement, arrested Vernet’s second-in-command, Matthew Brisbane, and six other officials, charging them with piracy.
Neutralizing the Fortifications: To ensure the location could no longer threaten American shipping, the Lexington’s crew spiked the settlement’s defensive guns and blew up its primary gunpowder magazine.
The Evacuation: Finding that many of the European and South American colonists felt misled by Vernet and were living in miserable conditions, Duncan offered them safe passage to the mainland. The Lexington took roughly 40 settlers aboard, effectively dismantling and evacuating the infant Argentine colony. The Lexington weighed anchor and sailed away from the Falklands on January 22, 1832, leaving the islands temporarily vacant. This aggressive action severely strained diplomatic relations between the United States and Buenos Aires, and directly created the geopolitical vacuum that allowed the British Royal Navy (via HMS Clio) to reassert British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands in early 1833.
- Diplomatic Standoff and Brazil Squadron Patrols (1832 – 1833)
After leaving the Falklands, the Lexington returned to the mainland, arriving in Montevideo (Uruguay) and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) to offload the prisoners and settlers.
Throughout the remainder of 1832 and all of 1833, the Lexington operated continuously along the eastern seaboard of South America as part of the Brazil Squadron. During this period:
Command Change: In August 1832, Commandant Silas Duncan took a leave of absence to return to the U.S. due to failing health, and a new commander took the helm of the sloop.
Showing the Flag: The ship spent months cruising the vast coastline between the mouth of the River Plate (Montevideo and Buenos Aires) and the primary naval base at Rio de Janeiro.
Protecting Commerce: The activities were defined by "showing the flag"—maintaining a visible American military presence to deter local privateers, protecting valuable trade routes, and ensuring that American merchant captains navigating the volatile, post-colonial South American waters were not subject to illegal seizures or harassment by local warlords.- Deep South Patrol and Return to the United States (Early 1834 – May 1834)
By early 1834, Robert Blencowe’s three-year enlistment term was drawing to a close. The Lexington performed its final rounds with the Brazil Squadron, protecting whaling vessels coming up from the Antarctic waters.
In the spring of 1834, having spent nearly three solid years at sea, the battle-tested sloop-of-war was ordered back north to the United States for a complete overhaul and crew rotation. The ship sailed up the Atlantic, passing the Caribbean, and docked at a major northeastern naval yard in Boston in May 1834.
Upon arrival, the crew was paid off, and Robert Blencowe was honourably discharged from the U.S. Marine Corps. He walked down the gangplank as a seasoned veteran of a high-seas international conflict, ready to take his specialised leather-working skills inland to the boot-cutting shops of Massachusetts.
Randolph, Massachusetts, after 1834
Robert, when he was discharged from the Marines, wasn’t very far from the Boot making capital of Randolph, Massachusetts, and it appears he went there to seek work in his trade. This he did, and what’s not clear is whether he was self-employed, as were many Cordwainers, or whether he joined another boot-making company. The probable scenario is that he joined some other freelance Cordwainers working for a store in Randolph. Randolp was the heavy boot-making centre of the industry. It was labour-intensive handcrafted work, typically made to order. The sales and orders of Boots in Randolph involved centralised shops taking the measurements, taking orders and selling the product. They then sent out” work for boots to be made by the Boot makers. The bootmakers typically work in small groups in what were called “Ten Footers”. These buildings were dedicated workspaces, usually on a Bootmakers plot, where typically 3 Cordwainers worked together to make the boots.
In 1837, Robert met and married Mehitable Styles in Quincy, MA. They had William Wilson in 1839, and in the 1840 census, they were living in Randolph, and he was a Boot Maker.
The Boot & Shoe Capital: Because the local soil was poor for farming, early settlers supplemented their incomes with shoe cobbling. This practice exploded into a massive industry in the 1800s, transforming Randolph into one of the nation’s premier boot-producing centres. from the town’s history: Randolph was one of the pioneer shoe towns of Massachusetts, and the manufacture of footwear remains its chief industry. In the early part of the 19th century, workmen came from Brockton to get stock from which to make shoes and boots. In 1840, nearly three-quarters of a million pairs of shoes and boots were made in Randolph. In 1839, from 677 families in town, 1481 persons were employed in the shoe industry.
Note: In June 17, 1841, Amasa Stetson, who had been born in Randolph before going to Boston to make his fortune in the shoe industry, offered to erect and present to the town a Town Hall. The town meeting accepted this generous offer enthusiastically. In a letter written from Dor¬ chester dated December 1, 1842, Mr Stetson stated that a Town House large enough to accommodate the inhabitants of Randolph in the transaction of their public business would result in the waste of property. Since the site would accommodate a building of adequate size, he proposed that the first floor be used for business offices and an academy. The income from the offices could be used to help support the school.
We know that in 1853, the Blencowes lived on Main St., an area full of boot makers. See the AI-created map of the town
Naturalization 1846
The need to become a citizen may not have been very high, but Robert had now been in America 16 years, was married to an American and had two American sons, so it was probably a natural desire to show where his loyalties lay.
1850’s Randolph MA
In the time-honoured tradition, Robert taught his two sons the boot-making trade, and in the 1850s, they began to learn the trade. But when William Wilson was 14, and John Richmond was 11, tragedy struck the family. Their father died. Robert was just 45 years old, so not an expected death, and it may have been a disease or something else that ended his life prematurely. Fortunately, we have some details of his death from the Massachusetts Town and Vital Records (1620–1988). Robert died on Main Street, Randolph, of Fever. Given the suddenness of it, it is then likely Typhoid or Influenza, i.e., a short disease, that was a killer in 1853.
Quite how Mehitable and the boys survived is not known; they may well have, though William may have been trained enough in bootmaking skills to be able to earn a living. Mehitable lived to be 90 years old in Randolph, and so she saw out this tragedy and two more in her life. We continue this story through her because it has a significant impact on the survival of the first Blencowe family to emigrate to America in the 19th Century.
Burial 1853, Randolph, Norfolk County, Massachusetts
| Name | Robert Blencowe |
|---|---|
| Birth Date | 1808 |
| Birth Place | England |
| Death Date | 5 Dec. 1853 |
| Death Place | Randolph, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States of America |
| Cemetery | Central Cemetery |
| Burial or Cremation Place | Randolph, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States of America |
| Has Bio? | Y |
| Spouse | Mehitable Blencowe |
| Children | John Richmond Blencowe William WIlson Blencowe |
Mehitable Blencowe, Widow
The years 1853-1857 were a formidable challenge for Mehitable, with her young sons trying to earn enough to live. William at 14 would have had to grow up very quickly, and his workday would have been very long. But the boys’ exposure to the chat within the 10-footers would have likely politicised them; the talk was of the politics of slavery and its adverse effect on the working man in the North. Most of the trades workers in Randolph became of a republican mindset, and so when in 1861 things came to a civil war, they would have had no doubt whose side they were on.
When the war was declared in 1861, William was 21, and Richmond was 18, still too young to sign up for the Union Army, but the next year, they both joined the local 4th Massachusetts Infantry and entered the war. The full stories of their wars are told on these pages: William Wilson Blencoe, US Civil War, and John Richmond Blencoe, US Civil War
In June 1863, William and Richmond found themselves caught in a violent Confederate assault on the Union supply base at Brashear City on June 23. In the chaotic struggle, Richmond was mortally wounded, dying in a Rebel field hospital. On that very same day, William was taken Prisoner of War.
While William was released relatively quickly, it was probably because of his loss, but also because he signed a declaration not to take part in any more combat. However, this was ignored by him, and months later, he signed up with the Union Army Artillery. After two more years of fighting, he came home to Mehitable in the summer of 1865 and picked up his boot-making right away.
William married in 1867 to a war widow, but they had no children, and he died young, just 35 years old, from consumption—the 19th-century term for Tuberculosis (TB)—which was a tragically common fate. During the late 1800s, consumption was the leading cause of death in the Western world, particularly among young adults in industrial or urban environments.
Mehitable was, it seems, lucky she lived in a close community of bootmakers. She was to go to live with George Rood and his wife and look after the house for them. Mehitable appears in 1880 in this capacity. Williams widow Mary E Blencoe was also to end up as a domestic servant to one of the bootmakers.
Timeline
| Event | Date and Place | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Birth Robert Blencowe | 25 Nov 1808, Banbury, Oxfordshire | |
| Baptism Robert Blencowe | 8 Nov 1809, Banbury, Oxfordshire | |
| Birth Mehitable Styles | 3 Mar 1814, Stratford, Coos County, New Hampshire, | Wife to be |
| Robert Blencowe's Apprenticeship | 1822-1829, Banbury, Oxfordshire | |
| Occupation | 1829Banbury, Oxfordshire | Cordwainer |
| Emigrated | 20 Jun 1830 Norfolk, Virginia | Attest to arrival date Record Type Naturalization Oath of Allegiance Oath of Allegiance Date 23 May 1846 |
| Enlisted US Marines | 16 Jun 1831, Norfolk/New York | Location of USS Lexington |
| USS Lexington- The Raid on Port Louis, Falkland Islands | December 1831 – January 1832, Falkland Islands | Part of military force landed and enforced USA discipline on Island |
| USS Lexington- Brazil Coastal Patrols | 1832-33 Brazil and Uruguay | |
| Discharge US Marines | May 1834, Boston, Massachuesetts | |
| Occupation | after 1834 , Quincy, Ma | Cordwainer- Bootmaker |
| Marriage to Mehitable Styles | 11 Nov 1837, Quincy, Ma | |
| Birth of William Wilson Blencoe | 16 Feb 1839, Braintree,Ma | |
| 1840 US Census | 1840 , Randolph, Ma | Robert 32 bootmaker Mehitable 26 William 1 |
| Birth of John Richmond Blencoe | 1842, Randolph, Ma | |
| 1850, US Census | 1850, Main St. Randolph, Ma | Robert 42 Bootmaker Mehitable 37 William 11 Richmond 8 |
| Death of Robert Blencoe | 5 Dec 1853 , Randolph, Ma | Age 45 years of Fever |
| Mehitable widow | 1853-1860 Randolph, Ma | Willaim 14 Richmond 8 may have kept bootmaking going or worked for other Bootmakers as apprentices |
| 1860 US Census | 1860, Randolph, Ma | Mahitable Blanco 46 William W Blanco 21 bootmaker John R Blanco 18 bootmaker |
| US Civil War | April 12, 1861 | Initially sons did not join up satyed working as bootmakers |
| US Civil War both sons enlisted | 17 Sep 1862, Randolph, Ma | Williamd and Richmond both Privates, 4th Massachusetts Infantry |
| Death of Richmond Blencoe | 22 Jun 1863, Louisiana | Fatally wounded died in Enemy Hospital |
| William Blencoe Captured | 23 June, Louisana | Prisoner of war release soon after sign declaration not continue to fight. |
| William Blencoe rejoins Union Army | 12 July 1863, Massachusetts | Joined 1st Battalion Heavy Artillery |
| William Blencoe discharged | 29 June 1865, Massachusetts | |
| William Blencoe Marriage | 24 Nov 1867, Randolph, Ma | to Mary E Burnham war widow |
| 1870 US Census | Randolph, Ma | Mehitable Blencowe 55 Wm Wilson Blencowe 30 works in Boot Factory Mary E Blencowe 25 wife |
| Death of William Blencoe | 21 Apr 1874, Randolph, Ma | Died of TB |
| US 1880 Census | 1880, Randolph, Ma | Mehitable Blencoe housekeeper to george Rood Bootmaker and family |
| Death Of Mehitable Blencoe | 10 January 1905, Randolph, Ma |
Sources
- Daphne Austins Blencowe database
- Ancestry and Familysearch
- Massachusetts Town and Vital Records (1620–1988), Death Ledger for the Town of Randolph (1853):
- Hazard, Blanche Evans. The Organisation of the Boot and Shoe Industry in Massachusetts Before 1875. Harvard University Press.
- New England Historical Society. Historical Surveys on “Ten-Footer” Artisan Culture.
- The Falklands War 1830-1833