A Note about the NBFA:
Due to the 2020 retirement of its leaders and the lack of success in finding replacements, the NBFA no longer actively collects dues, hosts reunions or publishes a newsletter. The last NBFA reunion was held in July 2018 and the last Chalice newsletter was published in Autumn of that year.
Until interested individuals step forward to help lead the NBFA, its only active means of communication will be this website and I will continue to maintain and develop it for as long as I can. If you are interested in helping in any way, please contact me.
Best regards, Edwin 'Ted' Blew - 1.3.2.3.3.5.10.8.4
About
NBFA
The National Blue Family Association has been in existence since 1982, when sixteen correspondents convened to organize it.
Anyone with an interest in the BLUE surname and its variants is welcome to register at this website to browse family history information, learn about past activities of the NBFA and share information with other site members.
Currently, this website is the sole method for communication among interested parties and we have over 200 registered website members!
The Wandering Blaws
Check out Ted Blew's essay documenting the migrations of the early Dutch Blaw families from New Jersey into [West] Virginia, New York and Pennsylvania. Courtesy of David Cochran's excellent Tales of Blawenburg blog. February 2022
John Blaw Gravesite: Redux
Prompted by some new 'old' information, we revisit the question of which John Blaw is buried on Hollow Road, Blawenburg. March 2022
Just Added
Families
Most of the BLUE families in North America belong to either the Dutch BLUE/BLEW family or the Scottish BLUE family. There are Irish BLUEs, but most of these originated in Scotland. Other BLUEs are of German, French or African origin.
Because of the influence of numerous languages and varying degrees of literacy and legibility, the surname meant to describe the color of the sea and the sky has now come to be spelled in numerous ways, from Blauuw to Blew.
spotlight
The African American Blew Family of Stoutsburg
Read this fascinating story of the connection between an African American family in Hopewell NJ and our Blaw ancestors. First published in the Hopewell Valley Historical Society Newsletter, Vol.xxxv, No.2, Winter/Spring 2017.
Keep the NBFA Going!
We're looking for a few good women and men who want to shape the future of the NBFA, join the leadership team and help preserve our Blue connections and family histories. All that's required is an abiding interest in the NBFA!
Send expressions of interest to Ted Blew at: eoblew@gmail.com
continuity
ANCESTOR SPOTLIGHT
ANCESTOR SPOTLIGHT
Notes from the Past
"This block bears many links to the early Blaw families...The current location is...25 Broadway, at the approximate site of the Post Office which took over the gallery floor of the Cunard Lines Headquarters Building. It lies just south of Trinity Church."
H. Joel Blue, The Chalice, Vol.21, Issue 2, November 2003
"The descendants of our original Somerset County NJ settlers have gone far and wide and the stories that they have are many. However, none is more tragic than the story of the Donner Party."
"I truly did not know what to expect in Blawenburg. We went first to the Blaw/Nevius Cemetery. The gravesites are in a wooded lot surrounded by farmland. The place was a tangle of low branches, thorny vines and worst of all, Poison Ivy."
'A Visit to Blawenburg, 1988', Kenneth D. Blue, The Chalice, Issue 20 #1, May 2002
ANCESTOR SPOTLIGHT
Notes from the Past
Frederick & Grietie's
Place
"This block bears many links to the early Blaw families...The current location is...25 Broadway, at the approximate site of the Post Office which took over the gallery floor of the Cunard Lines Headquarters Building. It lies just south of Trinity Church."
The DONNER Party
"The descendants of our original Somerset County NJ settlers have gone far and wide and the stories that they have are many. However, none is more tragic than the story of the Donner Party."
The Cemetery
"I truly did not know what to expect in Blawenburg. We went first to the Blaw/Nevius Cemetery. The gravesites are in a wooded lot surrounded by farmland. The place was a tangle of low branches, thorny vines and worst of all, Poison Ivy."
'A Visit to Blawenburg, 1988', Kenneth D. Blue, The Chalice, Issue 20 #1, May 2002
