Blackwood family history

This is an initial public pass over the Blackwood genealogy archive. It starts with the more-certain working material: the clean 2004 `BLACKWOOD.GED` baseline, the larger `BlackwoodNH2.ged` comparison tree where it agrees, and a descendant report centered on the Orange County, North Carolina Blackwood line.

Current genealogy status

Baseline tree

BLACKWOOD.GED, exported in 2004 and imported into Gramps without GEDCOM errors. It contains 1,614 people and 593 families.

Supplemental tree

BlackwoodNH2.ged, larger and richer in source/citation records, but not suitable for automatic merging. It is being used as a comparison and citation-enrichment source.

Comparison result

The current comparison found 151 conservative exact person matches, 35 shared family matches, and 70 exact people where BlackwoodNH2 appears to carry more source detail.

Publication policy

Living people, private notes, addresses, and raw working files are not published here. Recent generations are summarized only after privacy review.

Profile areas

Genealogy profiles

Evidence-focused ancestor profiles for deceased and reviewed historical people.

Public profiles

Opt-in public-facing profiles for living family members and contributors.

Initial working lineage

The following line is a first public guide, not a finished proof argument. It follows a recurring Blackwood-Craig-New Hope/Orange County thread in the working archive and stops before recent private generations.

1. William Blackwood I, born about 1706 in Tyrone County, Ireland or Scotland; married Elizabeth "Betsy" Craig.
2. William Blackwood II, born 1724 and died 1829; married Margaret King, who died August 26, 1829 in Orange County, North Carolina.
3. John Blackwood, born August 12, 1779 in Orange County, North Carolina and died November 16, 1843; married Eleanor Craig, born March 27, 1781 and died April 30, 1828.
4. David King Blackwood, born October 19, 1804 in Orange County, North Carolina and died July 4, 1859; married Tabitha D. Minor, born January 30, 1802 and died March 8, 1886.
5. Samuel David Blackwood, born July 6, 1836 in Orange County, North Carolina and died April 26, 1894; married Martha Jane Craig, born September 23, 1838 and died August 11, 1912.
6. Robert Phillips Blackwood, born January 29, 1866 in Orange County, North Carolina and died July 22, 1944; married Alice Moore Craig on September 12, 1888 in Orange County, North Carolina.
7. Samuel Craig "Sam" Blackwood, born July 15, 1895 in Orange County, North Carolina and died February 7, 1968; married Laura Anna Joyner on August 9, 1928 in LaGrange, North Carolina.

Places and themes

The most visible early pattern in this branch is movement from an Ireland or Scotland origin tradition into Orange County, North Carolina, with repeated ties to New Hope, the Craig family, and neighboring North Carolina families. Later materials in the archive connect the family history to Joyner, Kirkland, Strayhorn, Walters, Morton, and other related lines.

What is more certain now

• The 2004 BLACKWOOD.GED import is the current baseline because it imports cleanly and is large enough to represent the main working tree.
• Several core nineteenth-century people and families in the line also appear in the BlackwoodNH2 comparison data, including John Blackwood, David King Blackwood, Samuel David Blackwood, Martha Jane Craig, Alice Moore Craig, and the Robert Phillips Blackwood-Alice Moore Craig marriage.
• The Robert Phillips Blackwood date differs by one year between comparison trees, so the baseline date is shown here and flagged for later source review.
• Earlier origin claims before the Orange County line are treated cautiously until supporting documents are transcribed and cited.

Next publication steps

The next pass should convert this outline into sourced mini-profiles, beginning with deceased ancestors in the direct line and then adding collateral family pages after privacy review. Priority evidence files include cemetery records, obituary files, the Blackwood-Craig descendant reports, and scanned PDFs that still need OCR.