Gideon Blackburn
Encyclopedia
Gideon Blackburn was an American Presbyterian clergyman, educator and missionary to Cherokee
and Creek
nations, and college president. He raised funds for new colleges and founded numerous congregations and churches in areas of new western settlement in Tennessee
and Kentucky
.
, of Scots-Irish descent. After being orphaned at the age of eleven, he moved to eastern Tennessee in 1787 to live with relatives. He worked at a sawmill
and as a surveyor
to obtain an education. As a youth he studied at Martin Academy in Washington County, Tennessee
. In 1792 he received his preacher's license and two years later was ordained by the Abingdon Presbytery of Virginia.
. He had established a farm and distillery near Fort Craig
. For the next two decades he mostly worked with congregations in Maryville, including Eusebia Presbyterian Church. He was known as a powerful and evangelizing public speaker.
In the early 19th century, he raised funds to establish schools for Cherokee children. He became a cultural missionary (1803–1809) to the Cherokee
. Receiving permission from them, he founded two schools for Cherokee
boys in southeast Tennessee
-- one in 1804 on the Hiwassee River
near Charleston
, Bradley County, which future Cherokee Chief John Ross
attended; and in 1806 one at the mouth of Sale Creek, Hamilton County
. Blackburn had all classes in English, with material on culture and practices of Anglo-American society. Together the schools had an enrollment of about 100 students, mostly bicultural Cherokee-American boys, often sons of traders, who found the English lessons more useful.
Blackburn closed both schools in 1809 or 1810 after his reputation was severely damaged due to a scandal related to alcohol. Some Creek
s accused Blackburn, his brother Samuel, and the Cherokee chiefs John McIntosh and Major Ridge
of scheming to ship whiskey illegally through Creek territory. The Native American nations wanted to control the movement of whiskey and other liquor.
Moving to Middle Tennessee, a flourishing and fertile area being rapidly settled by migrants, Blackburn served as an itinerant preacher in Franklin, Tennessee
, where he headed Harpeth Academy in 1811-13. He founded five congregations in the area, including First Presbyterian Church of Nashville, Tennessee
and in 1818 the first Presbyterian church in the Alabama Territory
, at Huntsville
.
He then moved his family to Louisville, Kentucky
, where he was pastor of the First Church of Louisville (1823–27). He served as president and fundraiser for the young Centre College
(1827–30). He then served again as a minister, at Versailles, Kentucky
(1830–33). During these years he also was active with the Kentucky Temperance Society.
Because of his success as a fundraiser, in 1833 Blackburn was invited to Carlinville
, Illinois
, where he helped raise funds for the new Illinois College. He also started work on developing a non-denominational seminary in Macoupin County
. In addition he founded two more congregations.
Four days short of his 66th birthday, he died there. The Panic of 1837 had delayed fundraising for the new school he was trying to establish in Carlinville. What was named Blackburn Seminary in his honor was opened in 1859.
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
and Creek
Creek people
The Muscogee , also known as the Creek or Creeks, are a Native American people traditionally from the southeastern United States. Mvskoke is their name in traditional spelling. The modern Muscogee live primarily in Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida...
nations, and college president. He raised funds for new colleges and founded numerous congregations and churches in areas of new western settlement in Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
and Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
.
Early life and education
Blackburn was born in Augusta County, VirginiaVirginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, of Scots-Irish descent. After being orphaned at the age of eleven, he moved to eastern Tennessee in 1787 to live with relatives. He worked at a sawmill
Sawmill
A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....
and as a surveyor
Surveying
See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...
to obtain an education. As a youth he studied at Martin Academy in Washington County, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
. In 1792 he received his preacher's license and two years later was ordained by the Abingdon Presbytery of Virginia.
Career
In the 1790s Blackburn began his ministerial career as pastor at the New Providence Church, which he founded in Maryville, TennesseeMaryville, Tennessee
Maryville is the county seat of Blount County, Tennessee, in the Southeastern United States. The city is located south of Knoxville. Maryville's population was 27,258 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Knoxville Metropolitan Area. Maryville has received a number of accolades for its...
. He had established a farm and distillery near Fort Craig
Fort Craig
Fort Craig was a U.S. Army fort located along El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, near Elephant Butte Lake State Park and the Rio Grande in Socorro County, New Mexico....
. For the next two decades he mostly worked with congregations in Maryville, including Eusebia Presbyterian Church. He was known as a powerful and evangelizing public speaker.
In the early 19th century, he raised funds to establish schools for Cherokee children. He became a cultural missionary (1803–1809) to the Cherokee
Cherokee Nation
The Cherokee Nation is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It was established in the 20th century, and includes people descended from members of the old Cherokee Nation who relocated voluntarily from the Southeast to Indian Territory and Cherokees who...
. Receiving permission from them, he founded two schools for Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
boys in southeast Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
-- one in 1804 on the Hiwassee River
Hiwassee River
The Hiwassee River has its headwaters on the north slope of Rocky Mountain in Towns County in northern Georgia and flows northward into North Carolina before turning westward into Tennessee, flowing into the Tennessee River a few miles west of State Route 58 in Meigs County, Tennessee...
near Charleston
Charleston, Tennessee
Charleston is a city in Bradley County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 651 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Cleveland, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
, Bradley County, which future Cherokee Chief John Ross
John Ross (Cherokee chief)
John Ross , also known as Guwisguwi , was Principal Chief of the Cherokee Native American Nation from 1828–1866...
attended; and in 1806 one at the mouth of Sale Creek, Hamilton County
Hamilton County, Tennessee
Hamilton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It was named for Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury. The 2005 Census Estimate placed the population at 310,935 . Its county seat is Chattanooga....
. Blackburn had all classes in English, with material on culture and practices of Anglo-American society. Together the schools had an enrollment of about 100 students, mostly bicultural Cherokee-American boys, often sons of traders, who found the English lessons more useful.
Blackburn closed both schools in 1809 or 1810 after his reputation was severely damaged due to a scandal related to alcohol. Some Creek
Creek people
The Muscogee , also known as the Creek or Creeks, are a Native American people traditionally from the southeastern United States. Mvskoke is their name in traditional spelling. The modern Muscogee live primarily in Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida...
s accused Blackburn, his brother Samuel, and the Cherokee chiefs John McIntosh and Major Ridge
Major Ridge
Major Ridge, The Ridge was a Cherokee Indian member of the tribal council, a lawmaker, and a leader. He was a veteran of the Chickamauga Wars, the Creek War, and the First Seminole War.Along with Charles R...
of scheming to ship whiskey illegally through Creek territory. The Native American nations wanted to control the movement of whiskey and other liquor.
Moving to Middle Tennessee, a flourishing and fertile area being rapidly settled by migrants, Blackburn served as an itinerant preacher in Franklin, Tennessee
Franklin, Tennessee
Franklin is a city within and the county seat of Williamson County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 62,487 as of the 2010 census Franklin is located approximately south of downtown Nashville.-History:...
, where he headed Harpeth Academy in 1811-13. He founded five congregations in the area, including First Presbyterian Church of Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
and in 1818 the first Presbyterian church in the Alabama Territory
Alabama Territory
The Territory of Alabama was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 15, 1817, until December 14, 1819, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Alabama.-History:...
, at Huntsville
Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville is a city located primarily in Madison County in the central part of the far northern region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Huntsville is the county seat of Madison County. The city extends west into neighboring Limestone County. Huntsville's population was 180,105 as of the 2010 Census....
.
He then moved his family to Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
, where he was pastor of the First Church of Louisville (1823–27). He served as president and fundraiser for the young Centre College
Centre College
Centre College is a private liberal arts college in Danville, Kentucky, USA, a community of approximately 16,000 in Boyle County south of Lexington, KY. Centre is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution. Centre was founded by Presbyterian leaders, with whom it maintains a loose...
(1827–30). He then served again as a minister, at Versailles, Kentucky
Versailles, Kentucky
As of the census of 2000, there were 7,511 people, 3,160 households, and 2,110 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 3,330 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 88.18% White, 8.67% African American, 0.15% Native American, 0.35%...
(1830–33). During these years he also was active with the Kentucky Temperance Society.
Because of his success as a fundraiser, in 1833 Blackburn was invited to Carlinville
Carlinville, Illinois
Carlinville is a city in Macoupin County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2000 Census, the population was 5,685, and 5,912 at a 2009 estimate. It is the county seat of Macoupin County, and so it is an outlying part of the Metro-East region of the Greater St...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, where he helped raise funds for the new Illinois College. He also started work on developing a non-denominational seminary in Macoupin County
Macoupin County, Illinois
Macoupin County is a county located in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 47,765, which is a decrease of 2.6% from 49,019 in 2000. The county seat is Carlinville. Macoupin County is an outlying county of the Metro-East region...
. In addition he founded two more congregations.
Four days short of his 66th birthday, he died there. The Panic of 1837 had delayed fundraising for the new school he was trying to establish in Carlinville. What was named Blackburn Seminary in his honor was opened in 1859.
Marriage and family
In 1793 Blackburn married a cousin, Grizzel Blackburn, with whom he had seven daughters and four sons.Legacy and honors
Blackburn established numerous new congregations and churches in Tennessee and Kentucky. He was part of a movement to create community among new settlements of migrants from further East.- In 1859 Blackburn Theological Seminary, now Blackburn College, in Carlinville, IllinoisCarlinville, IllinoisCarlinville is a city in Macoupin County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2000 Census, the population was 5,685, and 5,912 at a 2009 estimate. It is the county seat of Macoupin County, and so it is an outlying part of the Metro-East region of the Greater St...
was named after him.
- Blackburn was a great-uncle to Kentucky GovernorGovernor of KentuckyThe Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the head of the executive branch of government in the U.S. state of Kentucky. Fifty-six men and one woman have served as Governor of Kentucky. The governor's term is four years in length; since 1992, incumbents have been able to seek re-election once...
Luke P. BlackburnLuke P. BlackburnLuke Pryor Blackburn was a physician, philanthropist, and politician from the US state of Kentucky. He was elected the 28th governor of Kentucky, serving from 1879 to 1883. Until the election of Ernie Fletcher in 2003, Blackburn was the only physician to serve as governor of Kentucky...
.
Additional reading
- William McLoughlin, Cherokees and Missionaries (1984)
- Walter Posey, The Presbyterian Church in the Old Southwest (1952)
- V. M. Queener, "Gideon Blackburn", East Tennessee Historical Society Publications 6 (1934): 12-28.