Person:John Blackstone (3)

THE LIFE OF JOHN BLACKSTONE

The REVEREND WILLIAM BLACKSTONE, having finally married, at the age of 64, to SARAH (FISHER) STEVENSON, widow of JOHN STEVENSON, on July 4, 1659, in Boston, Mass., returned to his haven in Rehoboth, a very remote place in the southwest section of the Plymouth Colony, now Rhode Island.

The following year, his wife, SARAH, who was 35, presented him with his first and only child, JOHN BLACKSTONE, born in 1660. Apparently in WILLIAM's marriage vows to SARAH, it was agreed that she would bring one of her five sons, JOHN STEVENSON, born in 1645, then 14 years old, to assist his mother and step-father around the house, farm and orchards, as WILLIAM was no longer able to cope with farming chores as in the past.

JOHN BLACKSTONE, was only 13 when the one who meant the most in the world to him, his mother, died on June 15, 1673, at age 48. There was not too much time for a father-son relationship with father now 78, and mother having had all of the care and education of little JOHN, teaching him what she knew of her first husband's profession, that of how to skin animals, the preparing of hides, and the making of all kinds of leather goods, as primarily footwear, but also, saddles, harness, head gear, gloves, etc. It was this that he became quite adept at and was his mainstay the rest of his life.

It was only two years later that he lost his father. There where WILLIAM had spent half of his life, he yielded up his breath without a groan, on May 26, 1675, and was buried on his property, next to his wife of 14 years of marriage.

This left little JOHN, of 15 young years, alone in the world except for his 30 year old step-brother, JOHN STEVENSON. Since little JOHN was a minor, the Court appointed guardians for him, and allotted 50 acres of land and five acres of meadow to big JOHN. The balance of the estate, of course, went to little JOHN. However, WILLIAM was hardly cold in the ground when KING PHILIP's Indians laid waste to little JOHN's inheritance. The REVEREND WILLIAM's home of 40 years, his fabulous library, and all was lost to the Indian raid. Not much of anything was left for little JOHN, save the land.

It is assumed that big JOHN rebuilt a home and that little JOHN lived with him until 1690 when JOHN BLACKSTONE, now 30 years old, on one of his trips to Providence, met and in due time married, KATHERINE GORHAM. Moving up to Maine, on the insistence of his brother-in-law, DAVID GORHAM, that land could be obtained reasonable, and that work opportunities were plentiful in the logging business. However, this kind of work was not to his liking and he found he could not take those long cold winters. So, it was decided they would return to Rehoboth as soon as possible, but in the meantime, his first child was born in a log house, in North Yarmouth, Maine, where he was living with the GORHAMS. He named his son, WILLIAM, for his Reverend father, and by early Spring of 1692, headed south with his wife. They decided to leave their son with the GORHAMS, fearing the long trip would be too much for the infant child, as travel would be mostly by horseback and be slow and rough.

Rehoboth did not appeal too much to KATHERINE, so they soon moved to Providence where JOHN set up a Cobbler's Shop, and in fairly short order had a thriving little business going. JOHN had sold his Rehoboth property to a DAVID WHIPPLE to finance his new enterprise in Providence.

Thoughts of their little son way up in Maine weighed on their minds and by the year's end they decided that they had to see him and were soon aboard a boat to Boston, but upon arrival there found they would have to wait a few days for a boat to Portsmouth and were made welcome to stay with a very good friend of his father's, GEORGE VAUGHAN, a very successful and enterprising gentleman. Mr. Vaughan, strangely enough, took quite an interest in JOHN, and saw to it that he and his wife arrived safely in North Yarmouth, where they found their young son, now three years old, well and happy with the GORHAMS and their children.

A few month before the end of 1694, they were again on their way back to Providence where many of JOHN's customers were patiently waiting for his excellent shoes.

JOHN's step-brother, JOHN STEVENSON, died September 16, 1695, leaving his estate, which was valued at L57 5s 2d, to his brother 1653-JAMES STEVENSON of Springfield, Mass., as JOHN STEVENSON never married.

On JOHN BLACKSTONE's last encounter with GEORGE VAUGHAN, VAUGHAN made an offer to set him up in business in Portsmouth lock, stock and barrel, as the saying goes, along with his connections which turned out to be first class clientele. JOHN did a lot of thinking on this and finally by mid-1696 decided to see if his offer still held. Upon his arrival there, he found MR. VAUGHAN's word was as good as gold and was soon doing well enough to send for his family.

Again, KATHERINE was unhappy being in a large city among strangers, and JOHN finally made arrangements with VAUGHAN to have her and little WILLIAM transported to her brother's in North Yarmouth, and JOHN made several trips to visit them, off and on, until early in 1698 when they again decided to return to Providence. This time, little WILLIAM, now seven, remained with the Gorhams.

The following year, 1699, brought them their second son, 1699- JOHN BLACKSTONE, born in Providence, R.I. They all seemed to be well satisfied and happy to settle down here in Providence as here they stayed for the next several years, with an occasional visit to Maine to see their oldest son and, of course, the GORHAMS.

By 1713, they started moving around again, first to Attleborough, then to New Haven, and finally settled, once and for all, in Branford, Connecticut by 1714. Also, at this time, their first son, WILLIAM, found his mate in Dover, New Hampshire and married the widow ABIGAL (VARNEY) CLARIDGE, who was born on July 10, 1669 to HUMPHREY and SARAH VARNEY, and who had been married to AMBROSE CLARIDGE of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

In 1723, JOHN's wife, KATHERINE, died in Branford, Connecticut and was buried there, at age 53, and after 33 years as JOHN's wife. JOHN was now 63 years of age; WILLIAM, 31; JOHN, JR., 24; and JOHN, Sr.'s grandchildren by WILLIAM and ABIGAIL were, PATIENCE, 8 years; LYDIA, 7 years; SUSANA, 6 years; and WILLIAM, JR., 5 years.

By 1724, JOHN found it difficult making out without his wife and again sought the comforting sympathies of his friends in Portsmouth, the VAUGHANS, and although GEORGE, the father, had died, his son, WILLIAM (1701) was, in all respects, a chip off the old block, and made JOHN just as welcome as his father would have. And once more JOHN was set up in the shoe making and repair shop in Portsmouth where he was also handy to his son, WILLIAM and his family, who had now been living for about two years in Rochester, New Hampshire, having been ousted from his Dover property along with 11 other defendants in the RICHARD WALDRON suit of 1719-28.

Here in Portsmouth, he saw his son, JOHN (1699) off to sea in 1728. By 1730, he saw his granddaughter, PATIENCE, married to 1704-JOSIAH CLARK, and his next granddaughter, LYDIA, married to 1707-SAMUEL HALL in 1731.

The fact that JOHN BLACKSTONE died in Branford, Connecticut in 1743 at age 83, makes it doubtful that he saw his third granddaughter, SUSANA, married to JAMES HALL in the same year. 1708- JAMES being 1707-SAMUEL's brother.