Blair County PA Archives Biographies.....Blackburn, Joseph H. April 16, 1828 - ????
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Source: Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Blair Co, PA: Philadelphia, 1892.
Author: Samuel T. Wiley

JOSEPH H. BLACKBURN, 
resident of Williamsburg, and now retired from active life, sank the first
shaft for bituminous coal on the eastern side of the Alleghenies, and was for
over a quarter of a century a representative business man of Blair county.  He
is a son of Samuel and Rebecca (Wisegarver) Blackburn, and was born in St.
Clair township, Bedford county, Pennsylvania, April 16, 1828.  The Blackburn
family traces its ancestry back to a time in the early history of England,
and the American branch of the family in central Pennsylvania was founded by
Samuel Blackburn, the paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, and
who died in St. Clair township, Bedford county, Pennsylvania, April 16,
1828.  The Blackburn family traces its ancestry back to a time in the early
history of England, and the American branch of the family in central
Pennsylvania was founded by Samuel Blackburn, the paternal grandfather of the
subject of his sketch, and who died in St. Clair township, Bedford county,
Pennsylvania.  He was of the Quaker faith, and married and reared a family of
six children, one of whom, Samuel Blackburn (father), was born in 1799, in St.
Clair township, where he died in 1856.  He was a lifelong resident of Bedford
county, where he followed farming, and was also engaged for several years in
the hotel business in the town of Bedford.  He was an active and
thoroughgoing business man, and married Rebecca Wisegarver, who died in 1851,
when in the forty-ninth year of her age.  They reared a family of eight
children, four sons and four daughters, of whom three are now living:  Samuel
F., a farmer of Stuart, Iowa; Rebecca, wife of Dr. John Becker, a prominent
physician of Aurora, Illinois; and Joseph H.  Mrs. Blackburn was a daughter
of John Wisegarver (maternal grandfather), who came in early life from
Germany to St. Clair township, where he married and reared a family of nine
children, and followed farming until his death in 1850, at seventy-eight
years of age.
   Joseph H. Blackburn received his education in the common schools and Bedford
High school, and then (1846) became a clerk in the store of Alexander Knox,
of Newry, this county.  He served in that capacity until 1849, when he went
to Cumberland, Maryland, where he was in the employ of the mercantile house
of Lowndes & Cramer for two years.  At the end of that time he came to
Hollidaysburg, this county, and was with the firm of Lloyd & Graff for two
years.  He then, in 1856, became a member of the general mercantile firm of
Leamer, Lemon & Co., which continued in existence until 1857, when the firm
name was changed to that of Leamer & Blackburn.  Two years later Mr.
Blackburn withdrew from the firm to become manager of Watson, Denniston &
Co.'s store at Gaysport, which position he held until 1861, when he went out
as sutler of the 7th Maine regiment in the Army of the Potomac.  At the end
of six months he returned to Hollidaysburg, where he was successively engaged
in the mercantile and coal business, and as a member of the coal firm of
Cooper, Blackburn & Porter, he sank (1864) and operated the fist bituminous
coal shaft on the eastern side of the Alleghenies.  The shaft did not pay
well, and Mr. Blackburn disposed of it in a short time to open the first coal
mine on Ben's creek, in Cambria county, which he operated successfully until
1874, when he came to Williamsburg and assumed charge of the Williamsburg
Manufacturing Company's store at that place.  Three years later he founded a
mercantile establishment under the firm name of H. A. Blackburn & Co., which
he conducted most successfully until 1891, when he retired from active
business life.
   On June 10, 1851, Mr. Blackburn married Sarah J., daughter of Daniel and
Angel McConnell, of Newry, and who died January 10, 1871, at forty years of
age.  They had six children, three sons and three daughters, of whom the sons
are still living.  William, who has an interest in the iron and steel firm of
Carnegie, Phipps & Co., of Pittsburg; Julius, a clerk with the above named
firm; and Harry, a clerk for the same firm at Braddock, this State.  On
November 5, 1874, Mr. Blackburn was united in marriage with Mrs. Martha
Royer, of Williamsburg.
   In politics Joseph H. Blackburn is a democrat of the Jacksonian and Cleveland
school, who has ever labored earnestly for the triumph of the cardinal
principles of the Democratic party, and when complimented by the democrats of
Blair county, in 1876 with the nomination for prothonotary, he ran in advance
of his ticket.  While a resident of Hollidaysburg he served three successive
terms as school director, and was a member of the council for six years,
serving at the time mountain water was brought to the town.  He is a member
of the Presbyterian church, and a member of the board of deacons since 1858,
and is deservedly respected and esteemed by all who know him.

Additional Comments:
Originally submitted 2001. Transcribed by Eileen.

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