WILLIAM BLACKBURN, a well-to-do citizen of this county, was born in Tennessee May 30, 1831. His parents, Robert and Lucy (Ferguson) BLACKBURN, were born in the Old Dominion February 5, 1796, and June 25, 1799, and died December 28, 1874, and September 6, 1865, respectively. They were married in 1818, and to their union were born five daughters and two sons. Three of the children are yet living.
Our subject has spent the greater part of his life on a farm and has followed farming from early boyhood. In 1859 his marriage to May M. SUTTON was celebrated. She was born in Tennessee December 1, 1840, and is the daughter of John and Jane (Marr) SUTTON. Mr. and Mrs. BLACKBURN have four children born to their union, as follows: Lucy J., born March 4, 1860; Elizabeth, born December 20, 1861; John born June 13, 1864, died May 5, 1883; and Martha, born November 28, 1866.
Our subject’s farm consists of 270 acres of good land. He deals quite extensively in tobacco, and although he began life a poor boy, he has accumulated considerable property. He has been a member of the Baptist Church for twenty years and his wife for over thirty years. In politics Mr. BLACKBURN is neutral.
Transcribed by Kathryn Hopkins
Source: Goodspeed Publishing Co. History of Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present: Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford & Marshall Counties, Besides a Valuable Fund of Notes, Reminescences [Sic], Observations, Etc., Etc. Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1988.