The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
State of Service: MA
Qualifying Service: Patriotic Service / Civil Service
Birth: 20 Jul 1731 Barnstable / Barnstable / MA Death: 19 May 1815 West Barnstable / Barnstable / MA
Qualifying Service Description:
Member of Committee to give the Town's Representatives Instructions to Proceed to the Settlement of the Constitution, Member of Committee to Supply Continental Soldiers' Families with Necessities Agreeable to the Resolve of the General Court, Member of Committee to Take the New Constitution into Consideration. Provided funds to the war effort
School Agent (1776), Grand Juror (1778), Fence Viewer (1779)
Spouse: Sarah Crocker Children: Mercy; Olive; Chloe; Elizabeth; Joseph; Eunice; Sarah; Timothy;
Members Who Share This Ancestor
None*
*This means that the NSSAR has no applications for this Patriot on file.
Instead the information provided is best effort, and from volunteers who have either researched grave sites, service records, or something similar. There is no documentation available at NSSAR HQ to order.
Photo is displayed courtesy of David Schafer, MASSAR.
Directions to Cemetery / Gravesite:
The gravesite of Joseph Blish is in the northeast corner of the cemetery. From the Route 149 entrance proceed on the cemetery road about seven yards. Turn northeast and walk parallel to Route 149 for 100 yards to the gravesite of Joseph Blish.
Photo: 1 of 2
Photo: 2 of 2
Author: David Crandall Schafer
Joseph Blish was born July 20, 1731, at Barnstable, Massachusetts, the eldest child of Deacon Joseph Blish and Mercy Crocker. His siblings of Joseph were Hannah, William, Samuel, Seth, Mercy, Benjamin, Ebenezer and Timothy.1
Blish married Sarah Crocker, a daughter of Thomas Crocker and Mehitable Dimmick, May 19, 1757, at Barnstable. They were the parents of eight children: Mercy, Olive, Chloe, Elizabeth, Joseph, Eunice, Sarah and Timothy.2
In 1761, Joseph Blish served in various examples of Civil Service in town positions such as Hog Reeve, Constable, Juryman, Warden, Agent for the Church, School Agent, Tithingman, Wood Dorder and Surveyor of Highways. At the Town Meeting of October 8, 1776, Blish was chosen one of five school agents “…to procure and settle [a] Grammar schoolmaster.” He was chosen, March 24, 1778, to serve on a Grand Jury. He was chosen, March 31, 1779, as a School Agent for the westward part of the town. He was chosen in October 1779 as a member of the committee “…to regulate the prices of Labour Innholders, Teaming, etc.,” and also as Fence Viewer.3
Blish also provided Patriotic Service. He was chosen, April 15, 1777, to a committee “…to wait upon the Committee of the General Court.” He was voted to a committee, May 20, 1777, “…to give the town's representatives instructions to proceed to the settlement of the constitution, agreeable to the resolve of the General Court of May 5, 1777.” Blish was voted to a committee, March 24, 1778, “…that were to supply continental soldier’s families with necessaries agreeable to the resolve of the General Court.” He was chosen to supply Nathan Fuller’s family. Blish was chosen to a committee, May 20, 1780, of 15 members “…to take the new constitution into consideration.”4
After the War, Blish served Barnstable as Town Meeting Moderator, School Agent and a member of the committee “…to examine the state of the Herring River at Marstons Mills.”5 Blish was chosen as a representative for the Town of Barnstable to the General Court from 1808 through 1810.6
Joseph Blish wrote his Last Will and Testament, March 1, 1813. He named his wife, and children: Joseph, Olive, Elizabeth, Mercy and Eunice.
Joseph Blish died May 18, 1815, at Barnstable, aged 83 years. He was buried at the cemetery of West Barnstable beside his wife, who predeceased him November 25, 1802.
References:
1. Genealogy of the Blish Family in America, 1637-1905, Pg. 40.
6. Genealogy of the Blish Family in America, 1637-1905, Pg. 76, 77.
Send a biographical sketch of your patriot!
Patriot biographies must be the original work of the author, and work submitted must not belong to another person or group, in observance with copyright law. Patriot biographies are to be written in complete sentences, follow the established rules of grammar, syntax and punctuation, be free of typographical errors, and follow a narrative format. The narrative should unfold in a logical manner (e.g. the narrative does not jump from time period to time period) or have repeated digressions, or tell the history of the patriot's line from the patriot ancestor to the author. The thinking here is that this is a patriot biography, not a lineage report or a kinship determination project or other report published in a genealogy journal. The biography should discuss the qualifying service (military, patriotic, civil) of the patriot ancestor, where the service was rendered, whether this was a specific state or Continental service, as well as significant events (as determined by the author) of the patriot's life. This is the entire purpose of a patriot's biography.
Additional guidelines around the Biography writeup can be found here:
Send your submission1, in a Microsoft Word compatible format, to patriotbios@sar.org for inclusion in this space 1Upon submission of a patriot biography, the patriot biography becomes the property of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and may be edited to conform to the patriot biography submission standards.
