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Continued: Family stories relate that Richard Blacow was a professional gardener in England. Baptism records of his children indicate Richard was a husbandman and a laborer. The 1841 Census reports he was a linen overlooker (a supervisor in a linen factory).
According to family tradition, the Blacow family immigrated to America and settled near Waterloo in Monroe County, Illinois. An account from Ann (Blacow) Frick compiled by Kitty (Frick) Burnal indicates that Robert (1814-1873) immigrated first, and was later joined by his father, Richard who died within six weeks from billious fever. Richard's wife Alice and three daughters, Nancy, Mary and Ann, arrived later, only to learn that richard had died. Alice died six months after she arrived.
Bilious fever was a medical diagnosis of fever associated with excessive bile or bilirubin in the blood stream and tissues, causing jaundice (a yellow color in the skin or sclera of the eye). The most common cause was malaria, which was very common along the Mississippi River Valley.
Son Robert, very likely immigrated to the United States in the 1830s. The 1860 Census indicates that Robert's son William was 14 and born in Missouri (about 1836), and son Ellis and daughter Mary were born in Illinois about 1837 and 1839, respectively. Son Alfred was born in California in 1856.
The rest of the family must have immigrated after about 1843. They likely arrived at New Orleans and traveled up the Mississippi River. They are not found on any surviving passenger lists for ships arriving in the 1840s.
The 1841 Census enumerated the family on Grove Street in Preston, Lancashire, England: Robert Blacow (aged "52", Linen Overlooker), wife Alice (age 45-49), and children, Nancy (age 26-30), Mary (age 24-28), John (age 20-24), Will'm (age 18-22) and Ann (age 9). Daughter Nancy worked as a Linen Reeler, son John worked as a Fireman for the North Union Railway, and son William worked as a Flax Dreper Ap[prentice]. The next household, Thomas Harrison (50) and his wife Susanna (48) included an Ann Pickles (46, Linen Reeler), who could be related to Alice. (Curiously, the enumerator seems to have recorded exact ages for many persons, instead of rounding down to the lower multiple of 5, as he was supposed to do.)
There can be no doubt this was the same family, since their daughter Nancy Blacow married Thomas Monks in September 1841 in Preston. If Nancy accompanied her mother Alice and sisters to America, they must have sailed sometime after September 1843 when Nancy's son was born in Preston. Hence we can estimate Richard and Alice's deaths to sometime between 1843 and 1850.
Richard "Blacoe" and wife Alice had a number of children baptized in Kirkham Parish, Lancashire. These certainly were the ancestors.
Richard may have married previously:
A Richard Blacow/Blaco married Mary Grimbalertone, both of Clifton, on 18 December 1804 in Kirkham, Lancashire. No children seem to be recorded for them.
A Richard "Blakey" (as the index has the name) married Alice Pickles on 17 Aug 1812 in Blackburn, Lancashire, England. This couple had a number of children baptized in Blackburn between 1819 and 1832. These were not ancestors Robert Blacow and Alice Pickles.
The ancestor is not the Richard Blacow born 26 July 1789 in Poulton le Fylde, Lancashire, the son of William Blacow (1740-1818) and Alice Bryning -- baptisms were recorded 16 Aug 1789 in at both St. Paul in Marton Parish and St. Chad in Poulton-le-Fylde Parish. This Richard Blacow married Ann Jackson in 1815 in Poulton le Fylde and later resided in Hardhorn with Newton, Lancashire; he reportedly died in 1872. However, our Richard may be related to this family somehow because after his father (supposedly an elder Richard Blacow or Blako) died, his mother, supposedly Ann née Fisher, married a man named Brinning or Bryning, which is the maiden name of this other Richard's mother.
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