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The Blossom Family
The following information about the Blossom family beginning in England; their stay in the Netherlands; and their journey to America was provided mainly by others who also have an interest in this family and provided this information on Family Tree Maker, Ancestry.Com, Family Search and Cyndislist internet sites. The dates of births, deaths and marriages for the first nine generations are questionable but accepted through research of old church records, tombstones, and census records; however, these dates have not been verified.
Thomas Blossom (3rd generation) and his family left England by way of Holland to avoid religious persecution and had every intention of sailing on the Mayflower in 1620. They boarded the Speedwell, which proved to be unseaworthy and had to return to the harbor of Leyded, where the passengers transferred to the Mayflower. This was a much smaller vessel and some of the passengers had to stay behind. Thomas was on friendly terms with William Bradford, because it is documented in the Bradford Letters Book, that he and several others wrote complaining of problems they were having getting to the colonies. It took until 1629 for Thomas, his family, and the others left behind in 1620 to arrive in Plymouth on another Mayflower with William Pierce as captain. From his letters to William Bradford, we know Thomas was a well educated man and pious, and he was made the first deacon of the Church of Plymouth. He died a few years later after arriving in America of a "malignant" fever.
The family began life in the colonies at Plymouth then moved to Barnstable, Massachusetts. This settlement was on Cape Cod and now extends from Nantucket Sound to include Hyannis, West Barnstable and Centerville. It was incorporated as a city in 1639 and named for Barnstaple, England. The West Parish Congregational Church built in 1634 has a one half ton bell that was cast by Paul Revere.
Peter Blossom, son of Thomas, was the first generation to be born in America. His daughter's name may have been Mary instead of Mercy since it has appeared both ways. Jabez Blossom was a shoemaker as was his son, Silvanus. All of Jabez's other children that are listed are an educated guess from census rolls and related namesakes of this particular family. Ebenezer Blossom is believed to be Joseph Blossom's father because he was the only other Blossom living in that area at the time. Ebenezer is listed as a private on a military roll dated September 1778 at Middleborough, Massachusetts, in Ebenezer Sprout's regiment, serving in the Revolutionary War.
Some of the decendants of Joseph Blossom have thought his name to be Josephus; however it is listed as Joseph in census record, marriage records, etc. He was 17 when he married Sylvia Perry in 1800 in Vermont, and by 1807, he appears in the special state census of Ohio. It was probably in 1803 when they traveled to a new territory to establish a farm, and in 1804, they started their family with the birth of Perry. Perry grew up in western Ohio and was married to Keziah Kellum. Our family records begin to verify relationships and can be reasonably accurate from here.