Person:Hon Blackstone (1)

    The portraits of James Blackstone and Sir William Blackstone, the great authority upon the common law of England, who were cousins in the fifth degree, bear a marked family resemblance to each other. 
    Mr. James Blackstone was a man of great influence in the community where he spent his long life of ninety-three years. Like his ancestors he was a prosperous farmer. When only twenty years old he was elected captain in the Connecticut Militia and as such commanded his company for several months while serving as coast guard on Long Island Sound during the War of 1812-15. Before the separation of North Branford in 1831 the township of Branford, as one of the original towns, was entitled to two representatives in the General Assembly, and for years Captain James Blackstone of Branford and Captain Jonathan Ross of North Branford were the representatives of the town at Hartford and New Haven. At various times Mr. James Blackstone held important local offices of the town as assessor and first selectman. 
    In 1842 he represented the sixth district in the state Senate. In politics he was a Federalist, a Whig, and a Republican. He was public spirited and his advice and counsel were sought by people of his own town and of neighboring places, when occasions arose concerning the settlement of estates or other matters where the advice and opinion of a thoughtful man of marked good judgment were needed. The Hon. Lynde Harrison said this of him in a public address: 
    "The first time I ever saw Captain James Blackstone, he was pointed out to me by a resident of the town as he was driving past the old public square with the remark, 'This is Captain James Blackstone. When he rises in a town meeting and says, "Mr. Moderator, in my humble opinion, it is better for this town that a certain course be taken," the expression of his opinion always prevails with the majority of the voters in the meeting, so great is the confidence the people of the town have in his judgment.'  If his tastes had led him to a larger place for the exercise of his ability, no field would have been so large that he would not have been a leader among men." 
    Yet here he dwelt pursuing the even tenor of his way and performing well his part throughout the whole of his long life of ninety-three years, honored and beloved. Over twenty years ago James Blackstone passed to his reward yet his influence for good still continues in this community where his personality was so long a felt power.

                  "For three-score years and ten his life has run 
                  Through varied scenes of happiness and woe; 
                  But constant through the wide vicissitude, 
                  He has confessed the Giver of his joys, 
                  And kissed the hand that took them; and whene'er 
                  Bereavement has oppressed his soul with grief, 
                  Or sharp misfortune stung his heart with pain, 
                  He has bowed down in childlike faith and said: 
                  Thy will, O God--thy will be done, not mine.'"

                                                                            --Holland.