John Blackburn (abt. 1643 - abt. 1723)

Born about 1643 in County Armagh, Ireland

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth (Unknown) Blackburn — married 11 Aug 1669 in Ballyhagen, County Armagh, Ireland

Descendants

Died about 1723 at about age 80 in Loughgall, County Armagh, Ireland

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Biography

John Blackburn was born about 1643 in County Armagh, Ireland, and died at age 80 in 1723 at Loughgall, Ireland (recorded in Richhill register with no date given). He and wife Elizabeth (possibly Park) are buried in Monie Burial Ground (Money Hill Friends Burial Ground), Ballyhagan, County Armagh, Ireland.

Research Notes

• THE PENNSYLVANIA BLACKBURNS

About 1736 three brothers, John, Joseph and Anthony Blackburn, emigrated to America from Ballyh.agan, Armagh County, Ireland, followed by possibly a fourth brother, 'lboma.s Blackburn. They were Quakers and settled in eastern Pennsylvania, later Joseph and Anthony moved into Western Penns:rlvania. Their descendants are found in large numbers at present in Pennsylvania and Ohio. They left a brother William Blackburn in England, who according to tradition became very wealthy and about 1760 news of bis death al"'rived in America together with the rumor that he left a very large estate to W!'.J.ch the brothers were entitled if they could prove their relationship. But the brothers were getting old and the passage to the old country was long and dangerous and no attempt was made to claim the heritage. Years passed by and the rumors of the. size of the heritqge grew with the years, until. about 1902 the Blackburns of Pennsylvania and Ohio formed the HBlackburn Association11 to investigate and c]a.im the heritage, which at that date had grown according··to report to fourteen millions of dollars-the City of Blackburn .. being built upon the so-called heritage. The said Association sent Dr. J. P. Blackburn and a lawyer, Thomas E. Finley of McKeesport, Pa., to Engl~d to investigate the claim. They left America in March 1903 and spent some time examining records in Ireland, also in the City of m.ackburn, Lancaster, England, and finally in London., where the said William Blackburn was reported to have died. They made a· verycareful and exhaustive investigation. They took down data on the 'ti.ills of about eighty Blaekburns extending from 1738 to 1800. 'lhe 1vill of. William Blackburn who died i..'l'. 1157 'came most nearly meeting the traditions and is doubtless the source of the rumors so long current in the 0 Bl.ackburn family. This William, however,. left two daugl~ters who· : naturally inherited his estate, which was considerabl.e.. To one daughter- he willed fifteen thousand pounds and to the other fourteen thousand five hundred pountls, and made generous gifts to several friends. He was for fifty-five years prior to his death trustee of a.very large trust fund, and it was touching this trust fund that the several advertisements for heirs of William Blackburn appeared in the papers in 1757, 1802, and 1844, which reached the Blackburn family in America and raised their ardent expectations. '!bus their dream of millilm.s·collapsed like a punctured balloon. The two comrid.ssioners wrote a very full and instructive report of their findings, which they had printed and distributed among the me.tubers of • the "Association II who vrere to share in the estate "pI'O rata to the amou.i.'1t contributed by each member" to the expense of the investigation. The surname of John's wife Elizabeth and whether Archibald was their son are unproven. There is circumstantial evidence that John and Elizabeth Blackburn were the parents of at least four, and probably five, children:

1. John - m. Mary WINTER
2. Hannah - married out of the Quaker church
3. Joseph
4. William
5. possibly Anthony

In addition, a list of Blackburns (compiled from Quaker records) who resided in Ireland from 1690 to 1742 included: Alice, Ann, Anthony, Elizabeth, Hannah, John, Joseph, Mary, Rachel, Thomas and William. “Most significantly, all except one of these Blackburns can be accounted for in the foregoing records."^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ Roger Smith, "Roger & Marsha (Drummond) Smith," 12 Apr 2009, WorldConnect Project, (https://wc.rootsweb.com/trees/, TreeId 214129, Gedcom rmlsmith), ID I40492, John Blackburn.

• https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LYS7-RVQ
• https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/175239784/person/202287165797/facts
• The Blackburn Family Association Database, Kevin Howley, https://www.blackburn-tree.org/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I83&tree=blackburn
• Find A Grave. [1]
• Kirk, Eleanor Hickman. Memoirs of Blackburn Descendants, privately published by the Blackburn Family Association, 1914. Transcript: "John Blackburn was born about 1643. He was one of the first Quakers in Ireland. The first evidence of his being Quaker is in 1667, less than 20 years after the Quakers began. He was sued by a priest of the established Anglican Church in the Manor Court of Loughgall, County Armagh, Ireland for nonpayment of the required tithe, which he had held back because of his Quaker beliefs. Despite the 'Statute against all proceedings in Temporal Courts for tithe,' which he cited in his own defense the jury took away his horse for the tithe, though it was worth much more than the tithe. He was again successfully sued in 1668, this time at the Temporal Court at Armagh for nonpayment of the tithe."