The Barbados Hypothesis

This hypothesis come from Johnathan J. Clayborn, MS.

A handful of researchers that I have come across have inferred, as I have, that Edward is the father of John Clyborn, however, most of those researchers cite Edward as having died in 1658 in Jamestown, VA. No tree that I have seen has cited a source for this fact. I have not been able to find any death or burial records for Edward Cleiborne/Clyborn who died in Jamestown. When directly asked about it, many of the researchers say that they got it from another researcher, but no one can seem to remember where this detail originated. In doing my own comprehensive search, I have not been able to find any death record for Edward in Virginia.

As with most things in life, that leaves us with a finite number of possibilities. In this case, there are two obvious outcomes:

1. Edward's death was not recorded.
2. Edward did not die in Virginia.

For the first part, we cannot rule this out as a possibility. While more records of colonial times survived than certain records of other countries, it would be foolish to assume that our records are entirely complete and that no gaps existed. A gap in the record would explain neatly the lack of a record. And, in most cases I am a fan of Occam's Razor when attempting to solve riddles such as this. However, there exists another possibility that cannot be ignored. In searching death records, there is a death record for an Edward Cleaborne on Barbados in 1662.

The Barbados Record

The page from the Church in Barbados. On the page are visible, "Edward, son of Edw. Cleaborne" d. 20 Aug 1662. Further down is "Mary, the wife of Edw. Cleaborne" d. 8 Sep 1662. Below that is "Edward Cleaborne" d. 15 Sep 1662.

The first question I have is why did they all die so quickly? My best guess, based on the number of other burials around the same time for such a small island, is probably an outbreak of some kind of illness or disease. I’ve been trying to find some other documents that talk about Barbados history in general to determine if anything of that sort is mentioned.

This document doesn’t list the ages of the deceased, nor anything else pertinent except their date of internment. We can presume that, given the time period, the date of death was probably close this date, especially if the above supposition is correct about disease being the cause. It does not definitively prove that this is, in fact, the same Edward who came to Virginia. It is possible that this is simply a different Edward Cleaborne. However, since we know that Cleburne is a place name from a specific location in England, during the 1660s there are only going to be a handful of Edward Cleburnes alive anywhere on Earth, probably not more than six. Based on that fact, the probability of this being a different Edward Cleburne is small.

The question remains, if this is the same Edward Cleiborne who came to Virginia in 1635, can we connect him to Barbados? The answer to that question, is yes, circumstantially.

The Barbados Connection

The connection of Edward to Barbados is not a direct route. Unfortunately, there isn't a single record that says "Edward went from Virginia to Barbados". If that were the case, this would be easy. Instead, this connection is made through a grand example of cluster genealogy.

For years I had been stuck on Edward. I had been reasonably sure that Edward was the father of John (See The Case for Edward), but I knew nothing else about him. Out of frustration I decided to do a deep dive on Capt. Blackman. I had seen his name appear several times in other records and thought, maybe, just maybe, there would be another record where Edward is mentioned. It turns out that Mr. Blackman was a pretty interesting individual in his own right, a true Colonial Adventurer.

Capt. Blackman was born as Jeremiah Blackman in England in about 1620 to Nicholas Blackman, a well known sea captain. By 1633 Jeremy Blackman was placed in command of the ship 'Expedition' and undertook a voyage to virginia. . Blackman later commanded the ship 'Thomas Bonaventure' . In 1634 Blackman got into legal trouble with the Royal Courts for allegedly beating a ship's boy while in command of the 'Expedition'. . In 1635 he was given command of the 'Globe' and brought 161 passengers to Virginia, including Edward Cleiborne. In 1636 he entered into a business deal and bought a huge tract of land while continuing to command vessels . In 1641 Blackman married Elizabeth Regimorter of London. By 1643, Blackman is command of the 'William' and working for the Courteen Association - essentially the East India Company of the Caribbean. He and his business partner, Maurice Thompson plot to start a new colony in Assada . In 1649, one of Mr. Blackman's ships, the 'Roe Buck' was seized by Prince Rupert and impounded, all cargo lost. This ship was jointly owned by Blackman. Among the other owners are: William Ryder (a long-time companion of Blackman's), Lucas "Luke" Lucie (another long-time friend of Blackman's), John Robinson, John Harris, George Branton, and others. . He also changes oceans and begins working for the East India Company . By 1651 Capt Blackman commands the 'Eagle' and is regularly running supplies to English factories in India . He is appointed the president of the EIC and remains at the post until 1654, when he departs in his ship, the 'Dove' . In 1656 he died in London and was buried there.

Blackman led an action-packed life. But how does that tie in to Edward Cleiborne? The thread that I needed came from a will that was proved in 1682 in Barbados. The Will was that of one Jacob Lucie and it lists Jeremy Blackman as his son-in-law . This threw me for a loop. Why would Mr. Lucie list Blackman as his son in law? I re-checked the records. Blackman married Elyzabeth Regimorter on 25 Oct 1655 at St. Mary's Church in Walthamstow, Essex, England. . What I didn't see at first that Elizabeth Regimorter was a widow. Her husband, Dr. Ahasuerus Regimorter - a physician, had died. Dr. Regimorter married Elizabeth Lucie, daughter of Jacob who wrote the will. So that explains how Jeremy Blackman was the son-in-law. But that name was familiar, where had I seen it before? Back in 1641, one of the other co-captains was Luke Lucie, Elizabeth's sister - and Jeremey's brother-in-law. Luke Lucie and Jeremy Blackman ran all over the Caribbean and Atlantic together. They were great friends, so much so that one of Jeremy's sons was named Lucie Blackman.

So how does this connect Edward? Bear with me a little more, I'm getting there. According to the same book that mentioned the Will of Jacob Lucie, it mentions that both of Jacob's sons, Luke Lucie and Jacob Lucie held land in Barbados. . So now we have one of the Clyborn's neighbors having two brother-in-laws with land in Barbados. Edward knew Jeremy Blackman who knew Luke and Jacob Lucie and they had land in Barbados. That's 3 steps. And there's an Edward who died in Barbados. And we also know that Edward was no stranger to sailing ships, as he came over at least 3 times. It's fairly easy to imagine a situation where his friend and neighbor across the river says "hey, have you met brother in law? They have a business deal for you...".

Conclusion

Through the above notes we can demonstrate that the Edward in Virginia lived across the James River from his former Ship Master, Jeremy Blackman, who had two brothers in law, Luke and Jacob Lucie, who both owned plantations on Barbados, so it is not unreasonable to suppose that this could be the Edward from Virginia. Obviously, circumstantial evidence is not proof. I've presented a good argument, and one that fits the facts, but that does not mean that it is the only fit. It may be safe to assume that the Edward in Barbados is the same one who went to Virginia given the lack of any other death records for Edward. However, more work needs to be done before we can prove this hypothesis as true.

A photograph or transcription of the headstones themselves could list additional information, such as DOB or date of death, which would help prove or disprove this hypothesis. Tracking that down has been challenging. Churches in Barbados don’t really have much use of emails. I attempted to just email someone at one of the churches and ask if they would mind snapping a photo or two for me, but the church doesn’t have an email. The church itself also has changed names from what is originally listed on the documents as well. Ultimately, someone would need to go to Barbados or contact someone who lives in Barbados and get physical images of the headstones to see if they hold more details.