Register of the Elias Hicks Blackburn Papers,

Elias Hicks Blackburn (1827-1908) provides ample detail for his biography in his several diaries and journals. He was born of a large family, 17 September 1827; his mother was widowed when he was one year old. She moved her family from Bedford, Pennsylvania to Ohio and then to Illinois. Blackburn was baptized into the LDS Church in April 1845 and came to Utah in the Milo Andrus company in 1849.

The earliest extant record that Blackburn kept begins in 1849; for each year thereafter he maintained some sort of written record of his activities, duties, assignments, etc., until sometime in 1863 when he began what he termed his "Sketch, or Summary Record." He summarized his life to that point and then maintained a comparatively regular chronicle of his activities in that volume through 1900. From 1900 until his death in 1908 he kept annual journals. Additional anecdotal information may be found in a brief, undated biography of Blackburn by a granddaughter, Clara Blackburn Haacke.

Upon arriving in Utah, Blackburn became one of the busiest of the early pioneers. His first assignment from President Brigham Young was to guide and assist in the settling of Provo City. Blackburn was soon appointed Bishop of Provo and continued to guide the development of that community.

The year 1857 was a typically busy one for Blackburn. For example, he was called to assist President Young in an inspection of the Lemhi Mission in the Salmon River country. He was also called upon to assist in the rescue of an immigrant pack train that had lost oxen and supplies on the plains. Further, the year 1857 also saw the U. S. Government halt mail service into the territory, and Blackburn was asked to maintain a mail run from Salt Lake City to Salt Creek (later known as Nephi) for three months; his assignment was continued for an entire year during which time his young families suffered severe hardship because Blackburn was not only running the mail service at his own expense, he also had little time for farming.

The LDS Biographical Encyclopedia indicates that Blackburn had five wives. However, entries in his Sketch reveal that he apparently married two additional women; none of the extant materials indicates any issue of these unions, and there is evidence that these two otherwise unrecorded marriages were of short duration.

By September 1859, Blackburn had grown weary of camping in the hills around Provo in an effort to avoid arrest for unlawful cohabitation and he was called to fill a Mission. Blackburn remained abroad for three years, and his final year was spent as President of the British Mission.

Upon his return from England, Blackburn was appointed an Emigration Agent and in that capacity shepherded several hundred Saints from England to Salt Lake City. Next, Blackburn was assigned to Beaver County where he organized and supervised the Sunday School program and acted as home missionary in that stake.

Blackburn continued in Beaver County farming, healing, caring for his families, serving as Selectman, and supervising the Sunday School. His removal to Fremont Valley came in May 1879. Later that same summer, Blackburn was elected a Selectman for Piute County, a circumstance he mildly bemoaned, having just served a similar post in Beaver County.

In May 1880, Apostle Erastus Snow set apart Bishop Blackburn to serve the entire Fremont Valley and all the settlements therein. The decade was a full one for Blackburn. In addition to his regular church duties, preaching, collecting and accounting for tithes, performing marriages, holding Bishop's Courts, and excommunicating adulterous couples, he also served a term in the Territorial Legislature, 1882.

In May 1889, Apostle Francis M. Lyman set apart Elias Blackburn as Patriarch to travel and perform blessings. The remaining eighteen years of his life were so spent; moreover, he continued to administer to the sick.

Genealogical chart available with register.

The Elias Hicks Blackburn collection consists of thirteen bound journals or sketches and approximately three linear centimeters of loose materials. The bound journals are arranged chronologically; and the loose materials are arranged chronologically by the character of their subject matter, i.e., one folder contains materials actually written by Blackburn; another contains documents of his life; and yet another contains materials about him and the collection.

As valuable as these materials--especially the "Sketch, or Summary Record"--appear to be for the day-to-day glimpse they provide into life in Wayne County and vicinity during the last third of the nineteenth century, perhaps of equal value is the large number of individual and family names whom Blackburn names as patients. The compilation of a name index for the Blackburn Sketch and Journals could prove to be of usefulness to scholars and historians.

Elias Blackburn and his families crossed the lines of several other families in Wayne, Sevier, and Beaver Counties. The Maxfields, the Okelands, the Stoddards, the Kings, and others form a sort of latticework in the development of that area of Utah. These interrelationships (through marriage, church work, physical proximity, etc.) if explored in detail could provide still deeper insight into life in south central Utah in the nineteenth century. Correspondence and patriarchal blessings in Blackburn's hand, for example, appear in the Volney King collection Mss B 36.

Early exploration of Fremont Valley, Wayne County, and vicinity was carried on irregularly by Blackburn, some members of his family, by Albert King Thurber, and others. The records of their explorations, if they were to be compared and/or consolidated, could provide a view of the area that has not been available before.

Restrictions on Access:

Restrictions on Access

Arrangement:

Creator:

Blackburn, Elias Hicks, 1827-1908

Language:

English.

Sponsor:

Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant, 2007-2008

Quantity:

2 boxes (1 linear ft.) 2 reels of microfilm

Language of the Finding Aid:

Finding aid written in Englishin Latin script

EAD Creation Date:

1999.