Excerpt from "Fifty Puritan Ancestors 1628-1660
""THE BLAKEMAN FAMILY
REV. ADAM BLAKEMAN was the son of a private citizen of Staffordshire, Eng.; born in 1598, he entered Christ College, Oxford, May 23, 1617. When nineteen years old he wrote his own name Blakeman, although some of his descendants write it Blackman.
Mather says of him, "He was a useful preacher of the gospel first in Leicestershire, then in Derbyshire, England. "He was one of the original company of settlers in Stratford in 1639-40 and minister of the church until his death, Sept. 7, 1665. [Hist. of Fairfield County, p. 762, also Magnalia, Book III].
In June, 1640, the General Court appointed him with Mr. Ludlow of Uncoway and William Hopkins of Cupheag to run the line between these two plantations."On May 17, 1649, the Court directed: Concerning Mr. Blakeman's maintenance Mr. Ludlow is directed, both for what is believed as also for the future to take care that it be levied, according to the several seasons as is provided by the order of the country.This indicates his salary was so long in arrears as to make it important for the Court to take action in regard to it."In 1651, "by the town in public meeting it was agreed that Mr. Blakeman shall have 63 pounds and pay part of his own rate."In 1660 he is named as executor of William Beardsley's will, and on April 20, 1665, he is named in a vote inviting Mr. Chauncey to help him in the ministry for one year.His home lot was No. 20 on the plan of the village of Stratford.Mr. Blakeman is described by Mr. Mather as having been attended on his departure for New England with a considerable and "desirable company of the faithful," who would not be separated from him. He describes him as a very "holy man and greatly beloved by his people." He also appears to have been from Mr. Mather's account a "man of learning, prudence and fervent piety."
Another authority says : "At the head of that little band of seventeen families who came here two hundred and fifty years ago and founded this town was Rev. Adam Blakeman, he was the pastor of these people. A graduate of Oxford University and the first man who brought here a collection of books. Today we celebrate the establishment by one of his descendants of the first public Library building in Stratford." [Address at Dedication of Stratford Library, 1896. by Judge Howard J. Curtis].In his will Adam Blakeman says : "I intended my Latin books for my son Benjamin, but he having abandoned his purpose, of following my footsteps in the ministry, I give them to Josiah; son of my stepson, and urge his father to guide him into the ministry." Benjamin finally graduated at Harvard in 1663 and settled as a minister in Massachusetts.The estimation Mr. Blakeman was held in by other ministers is shown by the famous Rev. Thomas Hooker saying of him, "For the sake of the sacred and solemn simplicity of the discourse of this worthy man, if I might have my choice, I would choose to live and die under Mr. Blakeman's ministry."Nothing remains of Mr. Blakeman's writings except his will in the Fairfield probate records and his autograph in the Connecticut Historical Collections at the bottom of a document in Mr. Chauncey's handwriting and dated in the spring of 1665.It is the answer of the Church of Stratford to questions by the General Court of the preceding year, relating to the matters transacted in the Synod at Boston in 1662, chiefly respecting the membership and rights of baptized persons.A paragraph from Mr. Blakeman's will indicates he was a member of the Synod from 1646-1648, which drew up the Cambridge platform.
Rev. Adam Blakeman died Monday, Sept. 7th, 1665 he left a widow, Mrs. Jane Wheeler Blakeman, an only daughter, Mary (who married (1) Joshua Atwater of New Haven, (2) Rev. Thomas Higginson of Salem, Mass.), and five sons, who, with possibly the exception of Benjamin, were born in England."