The Blood family of Montgomery county, New York, descend from the Blood family of Ireland who were prominent in that land nearly two centuries ago. The American ancestor of the family herein considered was Jeremiah Blood, born in Ireland in 1739, emigrated to the American colonies about 1776, was for a time of New York City, but made his first permanent settlement in Florida, Montgomery county, on a large tract of land overlooking the Mohawk Valley, now known as the "Hubbs" farm. It was there that he died, June 18, 1813, and buried in a family burial plot on his farm. Unfriendly hands have since desecrated this spot, and the land is now cultivated, while the slab that marked his resting place lies in the barn cellar. His wife, Sarah, born in 1745, died January 13, 1813, was buried by his side, but there is now no stone left to mark her grave. They had a son Robert Blood, and perhaps other children, whose names are lost. Robert Blood is said by one authority to have been born in Ireland and to have run away to America, where his parents followed in pursuit, but this is not conclusively proved.
(II) Robert, son of Jeremiah and Sarah Blood, was born 1774, died January 31, 1854. He was a thrifty farmer, owning considerable property in Duanesburg, Schenectady county, and a farm of three hundred acres in Glen, Montgomery county, on which he resided for many years, now owned and occupied by a granddaughter, Mrs. Mary D. McKinstry. He married Mary Simons, born in 1776, died March 12, 1859, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Alexander Little, in Duanesburg. Her mother, Elizabeth Simons, died aged eighty years. Her father was proprietor of the "Frog Pond Tavern," a hostelry located on one of the roads entering Schenectady, and it is here that it is most likely she was married to Robert Blood. They had nineteen children, of whom we can name only eight, although thirteen or fourteen of them grew to maturity, married and reared families:
- Daniel;
- Jeremiah;
- John, survived by a son Benjamin Paul Blood, well known locally as a poet and writer;
- Reuben, born 1800, died 1871; married Mary, daughter of Abraham and Betsey Devenpeck, and has living sons John, James and David;
- James;
- Robert;
- Daniel, see forward;
- William Allen, married Elizabeth Staley and had Jeremiah, Robert, John, Allen, Addison, Henrietta, Catherine and Alice.
The order of birth may not be exact. The early members of the family were usually members of the Presbyterian church.
(III) Daniel, son of Robert and Mary (Simons) Blood, was born November 18, 1810, died January 23, 1890, on the farm in Glen, formerly owned by his father. He spent all his active years on the homestead farm, which he owned at the time of his death. He was a prosperous farmer, well known as an honorable man and a Christian gentleman. In political faith he was a Republican. He married, March 3, 1836, Jane Ann Lansing, born March 10, 1817, died in Glen, December 28, 1897, a member of the Lansing family of Albany county, New York. Children:
- Mary D., see forward.
- Jane A., born February 1, 1840, died May 23, 1872; married Henry A. Dievendorf; child: William, born December 1, 1868, married (first) Emma E. Biddleman, and has Florence S., born October 30, 1894, and Mary, born April 2, 1891, died in childhood. He married (second) Anna Vedder, and has Vedder, Henry, Arthur and Jane A. Dievendorf.
- Antoinette, born January 1, 1842, died 1906; married George Gale, December 25, 1879, who resides in Glen with their children:
- Jennie, born February 7, 1881;
- Frank E., September 4, 1884, and
- Edna L. C., 1887.
- Louisa, March 20, 1844, died November 23, 1863.
- Jay Lansing, born May 25, 1846; married Mary C. Schuyler, September 17, 1873; no issue.
- Helen F., born March 20, 1849; married, June 4, 1863, Constant E. Hutchinson, residents of Phoenix, New York; children:
- Edmond, born October 28, 1869, married Edith Morton; child, Mary F., born April 5, 1899;
- Marshall, February 2, 1872, married, in 1891, Mary L. Prendergast, now deceased, leaving children Constant G. and Adrian N. Hutchinson.
- Gardner, born February 20, 1851; married Caroline Everson; child, Elsie J. A. Blood, born May 11, 1882.
- Charles B., born September, 1854, died August 2, 1889; married Lizzie Haverly; child, Jennie B. Blood, born August 1, 1888.
(IV) Mary D., eldest child of Daniel and Jane (Lansing) Blood, was born March 12, 1837. She married, July 9, 1855, Fred B. S. McKinstry, born May 31, 1832, died in Amsterdam, June, 1874; no issue.