31 December 2006

Blades: A Plausible Origin

Over the years I've heard various stories or theories of where the Blades family and name originated. After the American War of Independence heard that some Blades moved from the Eastern Seaboard to the still British colony of Nova Scotia and others moved south to the Spanish colony of Florida (why I jokingly want to call Rubin and Roberto from Cuba my "cousins").

In Nova Scotia the are two root families of Blades: (1) the Shelburne Blades on the South Shore; (2) the Musquodoboit Valley Blades in Eastern Nova Scotia after a decomissioned British Army officer land grant in that area.

Dad's from the Musquodoboit bunch. He's one of 15 siblings. A son of Roy Stanley Blades and Alice Loreen Blades (nee McCurdy). Claymore broadsword hung on the livingroom wall in the Chaswood house. Have heard half-stories of Northern England Lowlanders . . .

I'd suspected an Anglo-Saxon angle way back, but not Denmark specifically, because of words I'd chanced upon in A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Fourth edition (Cambridge University Press, 1970): bladesian, bladesnung, bladesnug.

Another book claims that Blaydes and Blades were Bladesmakers or Bladesmiths. Could be true. What else would one expect of a people known as Burseblades (Bewere's Blades). Sounds like a not-so-merry band . . . working for or descended from a Danish nobleman. I wonder how much diluteted viking is in the blood of the line?

Below is what one retail geneology site states:
The lineage of the name Blaydes begins with the Anglo-Saxon tribes in Britain. It is a result of when they lived in Yorkshire, where they settled in a place called Blades, which is now lost. The family claim descent from Drago de Bewere, a Danish nobleman who settled at a place called Blades in north England around 1016. He obtained extensive land grants which were recorded in the Domesday Book Survey of 1086. The variant Burseblades emerged through a compounding of the names of the founder and the estate.

Spelling variations of this family name include: Blades, Blade, Blate, Blait, Blayde, Blaide, Blaydes, Blaites, Blaits, Blaides and many more.

Some of the first settlers of this family name or of its variants were: Timothy Blade who settled in Virginia in 1654; John and William Blades settled in Virginia in 1652; Antony Blades settled in the Barbados in 1634; along with Nicholas.

"The ancient arms of Blaydes":



T: Scream in High Park (2000)
loc: Fredfaxebock
temp: -8 C
sound: Mr Something Something Mr Something Something + snoring upstairs

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hello Cousin. My father was your uncle Bernard and I found your post while doing a search under grandpa's name. I am working on a family history and would be very interested in any additional info you may hove. lgblades@shaw.ca

Lance Blades
Calgary