Captain William James Blake, the son of Jones Blake, was born 1830 in Chester District S.C. He moved in 1856 to what is now Nevada County (Carolina Settlement), Arkansas. He was married Jan. 22, 1857, to Emily Terrissa Peden (1833- 1892), daughter of Thomas Peden and his wife, Isabella (Peden) Peden (first cousins), natives of South Carolina.

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William James Blake was a gallant Confederate soldier, enlisting as a private in Company I, Fifteenth Regiment, Arkansas Infantry. He was with this regiment, under Col. James J. Gee, at Fort Heiman, Tennessee, when Grant's movement against the forts on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers began, and being transferred across the river to Fort Henry, took part in the defense of that post February 4-6, 1862. Marching thence to Fort Donelson, he took part in the battle of Feb. 15th with the brigade of Col. Joseph Drake. At the surrender he escaped and went to Memphis, from there returning to Arkansas.

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Having lost his regiment he began the reorganization of a new company in which he was successful and was elected captain. This became Company I of the First Trans-Mississippi regiment, Col. J.C. Monroe, commanding, with which Captain Blake took part in the battles of Cane Hill and Prairie Grove, in the latter part of 1862, and on July 4, 1863, participated in the assault upon the Federal Works at Helena. This attack failed, though characterized by desperate fighting on the part of the Confederate troops actually engaged, and Captain Blake, falling wounded near the enemy's line, was made a prisoner. He was held at the prison camps at Alton, Ill. and Johnson's Island, Lake Erie, until June 30, 1864. His regiment was, at this time, a part of Gen. L. Cabell's brigade, with which Captain Blake served during the remainder of the War, finally surrendering at Marshall, Texas. (The above War Record was originally obtained from the Confederate Publishing Co., Atlanta, Ga.)

 

Capt. Blake moved to Prescott, Arkansas in the Fall of 1877 and died there in 1905.

 

Children of William James Blake and his wife, Emily Terrissa (Peden) Blake were:

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T. Augustus Blake - 1857

Thos. Peden Blake - 1860, married Emily Hall

Isabella C. Blake - 1865, married C.C. Hamby

Elizabeth E. Blake - 1865

James Dwight Blake - 1870, married Mollie A. Spencer

Emily Terrissa Blake - 1873, married H. Vick Scott.

This sketch written by R.P. Hamby, grandson of the Subject.