BLITCHENDEN

  • William Blitchenden was granted 50a of land in Nansemond Co Va, Feb 24, 1675/6.
  • Thomas Blitchenden was granted 53a on Newbegun Creek “perquimans precinct” Nov 11, 1718. Newbegun Creek as the boundaries appear at this time, was in Pasquotank County, but this land was probably in the North Western part of the Co, and might very well be called Perquimans, as the lines were not so well defined as at present. Many tracts of Land in Gates Co, were until 1779 listed for Taxes in Perquimans Co, and the Deeds in Perq show that the boundary of said County stretched as far as, or nearly to the Virginia line.
  • Thomas Blitchenden made his will in Perq Co, p July 23, 1745, naming sons: John, William, and Abraham, dau Sarah, wife Mary (née Norcom, d of Thomas) They had issue: 1 Thomas, b Sept 15, 1715—2 Sarah, b Jany 14, 1716/17—3 John, b Oct 23, 1718—William, b Jany 23, 1720.
  • Thomas Blitchenden bequeathed to son John, a “plantation on Sound Side” and to son William, “plantation whereon I now live.” (See Deeds in Perq, for further information.)

This family from the name appears to have been an old English one, and they probably came into Perquimans simultaneously with the Norcoms. However that may be, they tarried only a short while, or died out, as the name of Blitchenden soon became extinct. They may have migrated west, as so many Perquimans people did, about 1760, but the writer has no data on the subject.


Source: History of Perquimans County by Ellen Goode Rawlings Winslow, (1931).