Charles Samuel Blackstone, the son of Samuel Blackstone Jr. and Mary Jane Williams Blackstone, was born at Harmony, Somerset, Maine on 20 October 1833.
Charles was a descendant, through the ancestrial line of his mother, of John Howland, Elizabeth Tilley, John Tilley and Joan Hurst Tilley, who were passengers aboard the "Mayflower" in 1620. Charles' father, Samuel, was descended from a long line of New Englanders dating back to the arrival of the first Blackstones from Durham, England, in the year of 1623.
In the spring of 1846, at the age of 12, Charles moved with his family to Dodge County Wisconsin. His grandfather, Samuel Blackstone Sr., who also began the long journey westward, died enroute in Lockwood, New York. The family arrived in Dodge County Wisconsin in May of 1846 and Charles is found on the 1850 Census in the home of his parents in Hustisford Township where his father had received land from the United States Government on 4 October 1848 for his services in the War of 1812. Also, named on this census are siblings; Alfred, Nathan, Joshua, Edward, Hannah and Amelia. Remaining in Maine was his oldest sister, Sophia Thompson Blackstone, who had married John Gould Merrill on 1 January 1846. Another older sister, Harriet, married Ozro Brackett, in Watertown, Wisconsin on 20 May 1849. Ozro owned the Portland Quarry located ten miles west of Watertown on Plank Road.
On 19 January 1856, Charles married Charlotte Ganetly at St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Watertown, Wisconsin. To this union, twin sons, Alexander and Athen, were born 16 March 1858, in Dodge County, Wisconsin. Before the small boys were two years of age, Charlotte passed away.
Charles and Charlotte owned land in Hustisford Township together with his brothers and their wives including Joshua, Diantha, Alfred and Julia. This land was sold to Hiram Knowles and Christopher Knowles on 16 November 1858.
In the spring of 1859, the family of Samuel Blackstone relocated by oxen and wagon to the "Blackbird" situated in Nebraska Territory, where fertile land purchased from the Indians by the United States Government had been opened up for settlement. The families arrived on 24 June 1859 according to the family records of Nathan Blackstone, who was also a brother of Charles. The Story of An Old Town by A. P. DeMilt relates that while the family lived on the Blackbird, Indians raided the home of Joshua Blackstone and took half of all of their provisions.
Burt County Nebraska Court Records for 1859 indicate that one of the first law suits filed in the county concerned Charles Blackstone and Henry Marsh. The suit involved the purchase and delivery of a yoke of oxen. Henry Marsh was a neighbor of Samuel Blackstone.
During the years of 1859-1861, Charles was a scout for the United States Army stationed at Fort Laramie, Wyoming, which had become an important resupply fort on the Oregon Trail. It was the duty of Charles and others who worked in the same capacity to patrol and maintain the security of the "Great Platte River Road," a lengthy and dangerous stretch of the Oregon Trail between Fort Kearney, Nebraska and Fort Laramie, Wyoming.
Charles Blackstone married Caroline A. Borroughs Thomas in Cuming City, Washington, Nebraska on 19 March 1862. Born in New York, Caroline was the daughter of James Borroughs and Caroline Baugh. Varying dates are given for the birth date of Caroline. The 1860 Washington County Census lists her age as 36, thus making her birth date 1824. The marriage license issued to Charles Blackstone and Caroline A. Thomas in 1862 gives her age as 27, thus making her birth year 1835. On 2 April 1876, her age was 48 years, thus a birth year of 1828.
The former husband of Caroline was O. W. Thomas, one of the first settlers of Washington County and the owner of the hotel at Cuming City. Caroline was the mother of two children namely, Charles Thomas and Mary L. Thomas.
Caroline Thomas divorced Charles Blackstone in Washington County, Nebraska on 13 June 1865. An ammendent disvolving both parties from the marriage was filed in Washington County Court on 10 September 1866.
In 1868, Caroline A. Thomas married Thomas S. Stewart, also in Washington County, Nebraska. The "Blair Republican" made the following report on 11 March 1897, "Mrs. C. Thomas, who has been living at the Clifton Hotel for some time past, died last Wednesday night of cancer. A son was with her at the last moment and the funeral will be at Tekamah where the family resides. Deceased was a patient of Dr. Beecher."
On 23 October 1862, Charles Blackstone enlisted in the Second Nebraska Cavalry, Company B., at Decatur, Nebraska. He and his youngest brother, Edward, entered active service in November of that same year with assignment to Fort Kearney, Nebraska, guarding the frontier. Their unit was later ordered to Sioux City, Iowa, where there were various skirmishes against the Sioux Indians in the Dakota Territory.
During the time at Fort Kearney, Charles sustained a back injury suffered in a fall taken while jumping across a ditch on a horse. This injury would plague him for the remainder of his life. Charles received payment from the government for his own services and, also, for the use of his horses.
On 21 December 1868, Charles purchased land in the Arizona Township of Burt County Nebraska from George P. Thomas, one of the first settlers of Burt County, who had married Helen Beck, the sister of Senator William Burnie Beck. Will Beck was the husband of Hannah Blackstone Beck with whom Charles entrusted much of the upbringing of his young son, Alexander.
Charles Blackstone married Hannah(Annie) Sprague, the daughter of Joseph R. Sprague and Phoebe Celleck/Selleck Sprague, on 19 July 1868, at Tekamah, Burt, Nebraska, with Judge J. F. Mason performing the ceremony.
Hannah was one of a set of triplets born in April of 1850 in Monroe Township of Knox County Ohio. The other children, born at the same time, were Harriet, who married John Jourdan, a native of France, and Harrison Sprague. Other siblings included John Sprague who married Marietta Phillips; Henry Sprague; Maryette Sprague who married Horatio Merritt; Willard Sprague; Carline Sprague; and Emma Lee Sprague who married Henry Steen. The Spragues lived as neighbors to Nathan and Amelia (Arlington) Blackstone at Riverside, a settlement northeast of Tekamah, Nebraska. Amelia was the daughter of Aaron and Harriet Arlington who were the first settlers of Oakland, Nebraska.
Joseph R. Sprague, born in New York in 1814 (ca. from 1850 Census) , married Phebe M. Cellick/Selleck on 6 December 1838, in Knox County, Ohio. Phebe Celleck, born in Connecticut in 1821, was the daughter of Noah Selleck/Celleck and Esther Denton Cellick/Selleck.
The father of Joseph R. Sprague was Perez Sprague, who during the War of 1812, served with Captain Joseph Walker's Company from Knox County. Perez(Peris) also served as a Knox County Ohio County Commissioner in 1828, a member of the House of Representatives from Knox County in 1834-1835 and also as an Ohio State Senator.
The Sprague Line was descended from Francis Sprague who was born in London, England in 1600 and who was a passenger on the "Good Ship Anne" which arrived from England at Plymouth, Massachesetts in July of 1623.
To the marriage of Charles Blackstone and Anna Sprague were born four children including, Charles II born in November of 1869 and who died on 3 July 1870 with burial in the Arizona Cemetery east of Tekamah, Nebraska; Lillian Blackstone who also died as an infant on 19 July 1873 and was buried in the Arizona Cemetery; Maude Mary Maye Blackstone born 29 April 1874 at Tekamah, Burt, Nebraska; and Franklin Blackstone who was born 31 May 1880 at Kiowa, Barber, Kansas.
Charles and Annie moved to Barber County, Kansas following the continual flooding of their Nebraska farm home during the spring months. "The Burtonian Newspaper" reported that the house had been moved back away from the Missouri River on four different occasions. Charles, however, retained ownership of this property until 1890 when he sold it to his brother-in-law, William Burnie Beck.
The 1880 Barber County Census taken in June of 1880 lists Charles Blackstone as head of household, his wife, Annie, and their children, Maude and Frank. Also listed in the home was Viola Perry, servant.
The Blackstone Ranch, located on prime property near the railroad at Kiowa, Kansas, had once been "squatted" on by a man named Eli Smith who was a buffalo hunter and who was estimated to have killed 10,000 head of the "crooked back cattle" in the area near the Kansas-Oklahoma State Line during the years prior to the Civil War.
Cattle in Kansas in 1860 numbered 93,500 head but by 1880, the number had increased to over 1, 500,000. With this growth came additional problems, including the need for more grazing land, protection from predators, prairie fires, thieves, etc. and as the breeds improved, there seemed to be less adaptability to climatic extremes. Consequently, the ranchers found that they needed large crews and, of course, large sums of money. It was not long before many of these ranchers realized that these problems could be more profitably overcome through co-operative effort. The result of this was the formation of the cattle pools. Charles Blackstone was one of the charter members of the Medicine River-Sandy Creek Winter Cattle Pool organized in 1881. It established the following boundaries: West Boundary--Medicine River; South Boundary--Salt Fork; East Boundary--Sand Hills between Miller's and Manning's Camps and up to the German Settlements; and west to the Medicine River below Kiowa.
In forming this pool, several ranchers including W. E. Campbell, J. C. Pryor; Charles Blackstone, W. W. Wood, Ben S. Miller, F. W. Davis, M. K. Krider, H. A. Latham, Jessie L. B. Ellis, W. K. Clifford, L. C. Bidwell, I. F. Pryor and the Westmoreland Brothers agreed to graze their herds communally.
They hired cowboys, a foreman, and an accountant and shared the expenses accordingly. The only property actually owned by the pool was horses, wagons, and equipment. Each rancher was responsible for his own purchases and sales. Local residents realized that certain areas were exclusive range of specific pools and avoided these areas as though it were private property. The pools including the ones of which Charles was a member as well as the "Commanche Pool" held well over 100,000 head of cattle within their confines. The Medicine Lodge Cresset, on November 24, 1881, reported that one of the biggest undertakings of the pools was the fencing of their ranges. "This thing of building a fence of over 200 miles in length which will require over 60,000 posts and 240,000 pounds of wire is something to astonish any man." Part of this wire can still be located in Barber County Kansas and is easily identified by its coarse thickness and many sided prongs.
The "pool cowboys" enjoyed doing their celebrating in Kiowa, Kansas. The townspeople looked upon them as generally good boys. On one particular occasion, they came into town and bought all of the paper flowers which the stores had in stock and gave some to every lady on the street.
In 1884, a series of setbacks plagued the pools. Market prices declined and profits fell sharply. Also, in 1884-1885, a bad winter followed by the terrible blizzards of 1886 brought snow which covered the grass and finally froze the cattle. In some areas, the loss was as high as 50%. The final blow to the cattle pools was the rapid increase in settlement of the range area.
Coming to Kansas in 1881 to join his father in ranching operations was Alexander Blackstone who on 25 December 1884 in Harper County, Kansas married Mary Luzettie Angle, the daughter of James Angle and Sarah Bishop Angle. Four children were born to his marriage including: Charles Nathan Blackstone, James Owen Blackstone, Minnie Luena Blackstone and Bernie Mellee Blackstone. The autobiography of Luzettie Blackstone states that during the winter of 1886, Alex lost 50 head of cattle which would have been a crushing blow for the newly established couple.
On 19 February 1887, Alexander and Luzettie filed papers of incorporation to establish a town to be called Blackstone City in Sumner County, Kansas. Charles Blackstone provided the financial backing for this endeavor. Robert Collins in his book Touring Sumner County writes that soon after its founding, Czech settlers came to the area and made the town a Czech one. At one time, there was a post office, homes and other businesses. Earlier in this century, the town had a top notch amateur baseball team. The town faltered when the railroad decided to pull up the rails. All that remains now of the dream of Charles Blackstone is a grain elevator and a Czech Lodge as well as a privately owned wildlife refuge.
Several sad events took place in the life of Charles between the years of 1880 and 1890. Anna Sprague Blackstone, a very beautiful woman of fragile constitution, became seriously ill following the birth of her youngest child, Frank. During the first four years of the small child's life, housekeepers were hired to care for Frank and his older sister, Maude.
On 6 September 1884, Anna was committed to the Kansas State Hospital where she remained until 17 August 1895. Her triplet sister, Harriet Sprague Jourdan attempted and failed to have Annie removed from the institution. However, on 17 August 1895, Annie was transferred to the Osawatomie State Hospital in eastern Kansas. Here she remained for the duration of her life, passing away on 27 January 1914.
Charles knew great success during the time of the cattle pools but at the end of the era, Mr. Blood of Topeka, Kansas bought the Blackstone Ranch and used it to raise sheep. The Medicine Lodge Cresset reported that Mr. Blood lost 100 of his sheep due to the storms and alkali. The newspaper also said that Mr. Blood was an honest sheep raiser for he heaped his carcasses in a pile instead of throwing them in the river or an unused well. The sale of the Blackstone Ranch and the subsequent failure of the town of Blackstone to survive were other crushing blows to Charles.
Following the sale of the Blackstone Ranch, Charles used his inate skills as a horseman and cattleman. He purchased cattle from farmers and ranchers and drove them to markets at Kansas City and Omaha. William Burnie Beck was often involved with the business dealings of Charles and their friendship and business association continued throughout the 1880's and 1890's when numerous land transactions are located in Barber County Kansas, Sumner County Kansas and Harper County Kansas. Charles Blackstone and Alexander Blackstone were named as the appraisers for the estate of W. B. Beck which was brought to probate in 1900 in Big Horn County Wyoming.
Family records and stories relate that the children of Charles were also fine horsemen and were what is now popularly termed "horse whisperers." Maude was taught to ride "English Style" and the children accompanied their father on his cattle buying trips, learning also to be expert marksmen. Oldsters in Barber County Kansas and the Oklahoma Strip still tell tales of the uncanny way those Blackstones who lived there years ago were able to handle horses. James Blackstone of Cody, Wyoming, a great grandson of Charles Blackstone, also shares this unique quality.
A proclamation from President Grover Cleaveland on 9 August 1893 revealed that land in western Oklahoma which had been purchased from the Cherokee Indians in May of that same year would be opened for settlement. Plans for a great race for land were announced for 16 September 1893. Pre-registration was necessary and each participant was required to carry an official claim stake and papers during the race. Land would range in price from $1.00 per acre to $2.50 per acre, depending upon the location of the land. Each quarter section staked required the building of a house and the cultivation of the land for five years in order to be retained. Nine registration booths were set up in the area and were manned 24 hours per day. Kiowa, Kansas alone registered over 10,000 land runners. People were flocking to the area by any means possible, but mostly by railroad.
The government on 12 September 1893 had decided that trains would be allowed to run in the opening as long as they weren't privately leased and provided they were boarded only by certificate holders 30 minutes before the race. September 16, 1893 dawned with a blazing sun and a hot southerly wind which was recorded as being like a furnace carrying dirt and soot through the air. The army had sent troops to oversee the race and they were responsible for a 25 mile line of participants on the Kansas border. Captain Francis Hardee was in charge of Troop G. and he testified later that about 4 minutes before the starting time someone discharged a pistol into the crowd of horseman near the railroad bridge and this started the race. Captain Hardee further stated that it was impossible to stop the avalance of people in their mad rush for land.
Alexander Blackstone, running the race on a mule, staked his land near Woodward, Oklahoma while his brother-in-law, William "Billy" DeVore, running the race on a horse, staked a claim northeast of Wakita, Grant, Oklahoma.
"Billy" DeVore who had met and married Maude Maye Blackstone while farming on 80 acres in Clark County Kansas built a sod house on his Cherokee Strip Claim and it was here that Eva Maye DeVore, Floyd Lee DeVore and Lola Maude DeVore were born. Noble DeVore, the eldest son, was born at Lipscomb, Texas and Purley E. DeVore died young and was buried at the DeVore Cemetery in Harper County Kansas. The land at Wakita is now owned by the DeVore Foundation of Wichita, Kansas.
Frank Blackstone also moved to the Oklahoma Strip and purchased 160 acres of land near Charleston, Harper, Oklahoma, where he built a house and outbuildings. On 13 April 1903, Frank married Olivia Mable Chilcott at Medicine Lodge, Kansas. Their children included Rueben Randolph Blackstone, Ethel Miriam Blackstone, Maude Alberta Blackstone, Mary Esther Blackstone, Marion G. Blackstone, Stella Rae Blackstone, Francis William Blackstone and two unnamed infants.
Life was not easy on the Oklahoma Strip where water was scarce and the hot winds blew causing crops to often wither and die. Alex and Luzettie Blackstone eventually made the choice to join the Blackstone and Beck families in the Big Horn County of Wyoming. Upon their arrival in Fenton Township of Big Horn County, they lived for a year with Will and Hannah Blackstone Beck who had moved there from Tekamah, Nebraska, in 1892 to join Will's nephew, George Washington Thornton Beck, an early settler of Wyoming, the founder of Cody, Sheridan, and Buffalo and was the Territorial President of Wyoming. Also, joining the Becks were several sons of Edward Blackstone and Susan Alzina Blackstone as well as Edith Blackstone Major and Marion Scott Major, the daughter and son-in-law of Nathan Blackstone and Amelia Arlington Blackstone.
Charles, whose health was faltering from his years of being in the saddle, compounded by the pain from his Civil War injury was sometimes confined to his bed. When his physical well being allowed, he continued to purchase and sell cattle in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
Charles, also, finally made the move to Wyoming where on 2 May 1905, he purchased 160 acres of land on Carter Mountain in Park County from Hiram and Annie Allen. The families of Maude Blackstone DeVore and Frank Blackstone remained in Grant County, Oklahoma and Harper County, Oklahoma, respectively.
Physicans statements from the Civil War Pension Records of Charles indicate that he was suffering from a severe heart problem by 1903 and so it was, on 29 October 1905, while hitching up his wagon for a trek down the mountain to stay with his son, Alex, through the winter, he began to feel ill and went into his cabin to lie down. Here, in the little haven on Carter Mountain, the soul of the tall man whose body had filled so many saddles and whose calloused hands had held so many saddle reins drifted quietly away.
Burial was made for Charles Blackstone in the Meeteetse Wyoming Cemetery whose obituary stated that he was a man who possessed many honorable qualities.
The life of Charles Samuel Blackstone was one of adventure and challenge. He knew great wealth and he also knew what it was like to be penniless. His marriages were all marred by great sadness and he was forced at times to leave the care of his growing children with others. What Charles did possess was an indomitable spirit and quest for adventure that gave him the power to pick up his boots, shake the dust, saddle up his horse and look towards a new day and a new horizon.
IN MEMORY
CHARLES SAMUEL BLACKSTONE
20 November 1833
29 October 1905
A MAN OF THE NEW WESTERN FRONTIER
Submitted by Carla Rigby<DRHOPS@aol.com>
Hannah Blackstone Beck
Hannah Blackstone was born in Harmony, Maine, in May of 1844, the daughter of Samuel and Mary Jane Williams Blackstone. She was descended from a long line of early Americans dating back before the days of the American Revolution.
Hannah's great grandfather was Reverend Ebenezer Williams, a Harvard graduate in the year 1760. The Williams Family provided more clergymen to New England than any other colonial family.
When Hannah was two years of age, the Samuel Blackstone Family moved to Hustiford, Dodge County, Wisconsin, where they lived for about 13 years.
In the year of 1859, the family moved to Burt County, Nebraska, where the young girl met the Scottsman, William Burnie Beck, one of the first settlers of Burt County who had already spent two terms in the Nebraska Legislature. Will was born in Dumfriesshire, Scotland,as was his brother, James Burnie Beck, who served the state of Kentucky for many years in the United States House of Representatives and Senate. James Burnie Beck married Jane Augusta Washington Thornton who was a grandniece of George Washington.
Hannah Blackstone and William Bernie Beck were united in marriage on October 14, 1861, in Burt County, Nebraska. They resided on a farm in the area known as Arizona east of Tekamah, Nebraska. Four children were born to the marriage: Nettie, William E., Helen, and George. The farm of Will and Hannah also became the home of Samuel and Mary Jane Blackstone during their latter years as well as nieces and nephews including Alexander Blackstone who was the son of her brother, Charles, whose mother had died when Alexander was very small. Teachers of the area also found lodging with the Beck family.
William Burnie Beck was appointed postmaster of Tekamah in 1885 and also served in the Nebraska State Senate in 1879, 1890 and 1891. Will was also involved in livestock and ranch holdings with Charles Blackstone, who had moved to Kansas from Burt County about 1876 and was the owner of the "Blackstone Ranch" near Kiowa, Kansas and a charter member of the "Medicine River and Sandy Creek Winter Cattle Pool" of the 1880's.
The Beck family moved to Wyoming in 1892 where they owned a stock ranch in Big Horn County. The nephew of Will Beck, George Washington Thornton Beck was one of the first settlers of the Bighorn Country and was President of the 1890 Territorial Council of Wyoming.
By 1900, several sons of Edward Blackstone who had lived in Blair, Nebraska, as well as the daughter and son-in-law of Nathan Blackstone, also a Burt County resident, were engaged in the ranching business in Park and Big Horn Counties of Wyoming.
William Bernie Beck died on August 18, 1900 and was buried in Otto, Wyoming. Hannah left Wyoming after the death of her illustrious husband and lived the remainer of her life in California.
Submitted by Carla Rigby <DRHOPS@aol.com>