John Wilford Blackstone, Sr.

John Wilford Blackstone Sr. (October 18, 1796 – October 15, 1868) was an American lawyer and Wisconsin pioneer. He was Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Wisconsin Territory, and served as County Judge of Iowa County, when it was still organized under the Michigan Territory.

Biography Blackstone's parents were born in Connecticut Colony, but relocated to Madison, Madison County, New York, where John Wilford Blakstone was born in 1796. He was educated at public schools in Madison until age 17, when he attended Hamilton College in Oneida County, New York. He graduated in 1819.

Three months prior to his graduation, he adventured with a friend by boat up the Allegheny River, onto the Ohio, and then down the Mississippi to Memphis, Tennessee. They took a stash of merchandise with them and visited several towns and camps along the banks of the rivers, trading their goods until they were all exhausted. He returned from Memphis to New York and, on his arrival, began to study law. In 1822 he was admitted to the New York State Bar. Over the next few years, he would study medicine and spend two years in Canada.

In 1828, he permanently removed to the west, setting out on another boat up the Allegheny. He arrived first at Shawneetown, Illinois, then resided for a time at Galena, Illinois, then moving, that winter, to Mineral Point, Wisconsin, then in the Michigan Territory, where he would remain for two years, working in the lead mining industry and practicing law. In 1830, after the organization of Iowa County, he was made a county judge.

Personal life and family Blackstone is a direct descendant of William Blaxton (Blackstone), one of the first colonists of the Plymouth Colony, and the first English resident at Boston (1623) and Rhode Island (1635). The name "Blackstone" appears on many landmarks of New England due to his noteworthy ancestor.