Captain Edward Thache (June 14, 1659 - November 16, 1706) was a wealthy plantation owner in the capital city of St. Jago de la Vega, or

Spanish Town Spanish Town (Jamaican Patois: Spain) is the capital and the largest town in the Parishes of Jamaica, parish of St. Catherine, Jamaica, St. Catherine in the historic county of Middlesex, Jamaica, Middlesex, Jamaica. It was the Spanish and Briti ...

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

. His son Edward Thache Jr. is probably the well-known pirate

Blackbeard Edward Teach (or Thatch; – 22 November 1718), better known as Blackbeard, was an English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of Britain's North American colonies. Little is known about his early life, but he ma ...

, captain of the ''

Queen Anne's Revenge ''Queen Anne's Revenge'' was an early-18th-century ship, most famously used as a flagship by Edward Teach, better known by his nickname Blackbeard. The date and place of the ship's construction are uncertain, and there is no record of its action ...

'', and a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

veteran of

Queen Anne's War Queen Anne's War (1702–1713) or the Third Indian War was one in a series of French and Indian Wars fought in North America involving the colonial empires of Great Britain, France, and Spain; it took place during the reign of Anne, Queen of Gr ...

on HMS ''Windsor''.

Life

Edward Thache was born in

Stonehouse, Gloucestershire Stonehouse is a town in the Stroud District of Gloucestershire in southwestern England. The town centre is 2.5 miles east of the M5 motorway, junction 13. Stonehouse railway station has a regular train service to London. The town is situated ...

, the son of Anglican minister Rev. Thomas Thache and Rachel Nelme Thache of Sapperton,

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. He most likely left the port of

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, Gloucestershire, England circa 1685 with his family: wife Elizabeth, son Edward Thache Jr. and daughter Elizabeth, for

in the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

. While records of Thaches are necessarily sparse in Bristol, a probable nephew of Capt. Thache, Thomas "Thatch", had lived in Bristol by 1712 and had leased a house "a mere block from the city docks" from his cousin Martin Nelme (Coroner of Bristol since 24 March 1697). The 1686 census for Bristol does not show a Thache family, however, and it is presumed that they left for Jamaica by that time. Capt. Thache's first wife Elizabeth died and was buried on January 13, 1699 in Spanish Town at St. Catherine's Anglican Church. Thache remarried on June 11, 1699 to twice-widowed Lucretia Poquet Maverly Ethell. They had issue: Cox Thache (bapt. July 8, 1700), Rachel Thache (bapt. February 6, 1704), and Thomas Thache (bapt. November 17, 1705). Capt. Edward Thache then died and was buried at the same church in

on November 16, 1706. He did not have a will and his entire estate fell upon his eldest son, per the law of

primogeniture Primogeniture () is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn Legitimacy (family law), legitimate child to inheritance, inherit all or most of their parent's estate (law), estate in preference to shared inheritance among all or some childre ...

. The following December 10, that eldest son Edward Thache Jr., then serving on HMS ''Windsor'', deeded his inheritance to his step-mother Lucretia so that they could administer the family plantation and take care of her young children, including the young daughter of Edward Thache Jr., another Elizabeth, probably born in nearby Kingston. Lucretia never married a fourth time. She kept the Thache family name as matriarch for thirty-seven years until her death in 1743. Barbadian resident Charles Leslie, author of ''A New Account of Jamaica'', published in 1739, had visited Jamaica, presumably in the 1730s, to research his book. Having read ''

A General History of the Pyrates ''A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates'', or simply ''A General History of the Pyrates'', is a 1724 book published in Britain containing biographies of contemporary pirates,Captain Charles Johnson Captain Charles Johnson was the British author of the 1724 book ''A General History of the Pyrates, A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates'', whose identity remains a mystery. No record exists of a captain b ...

(discovered to be Nathaniel Mist), he was astounded to discover that "Black-beard... was born in Jamaica, of very creditable parents." Leslie also wrote "... lackbeard'sMother is alive in ''Spanish-Town'' to this Day ucretia died 1743 and his Brother oxis at present Captain of the Train of Artillery."

References

External links

Blackbeard's Ship Confirmed off North Carolina
National Geographic News
Piracy worries in pirate pursuit Blackbeard
''Baltimore Sun''

''New York Times''

National Park Service

Military.com *Family Documents available a

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thache, Edward 1659 births 1706 deaths 17th-century Jamaican people People from Stonehouse, Gloucestershire People from Spanish Town Jamaican planters Blackbeard English slave owners