“I’m looking for information in a vertical file that might be here,” I explained to the librarian. We were recently in Baltimore on our way to D.C. and I was trying to find documents that would fill in some gaps for my 4th great grandfather James Blackston—also spelled Blackson, Blackstone, Blacksen, and Blackiston. Earlier last year I stumbled upon a post on Genforum.com by a distant cousin mentioning a vertical file in a Baltimore library containing something that seemed to substantiate James’ parents–although it didn’t indicate what the actual information was. I have lost touch with that cousin, and I hadn’t printed out the query. So I went back to the site before our trip only to find it had been archived by another company; searching was greatly inhibited and the particular query I needed could not be found to identify the library. A quick online search of Baltimore libraries with vertical files had 2 possible candidates, so we stopped at the first one I found, where I tried to explain, without sounding like a complete novice, my quest. Unfortunately, the vertical files there didn’t contain any Blackistons, but the librarian, from a quick card catalogue search, indicated some Blackiston material was at the Maryland Historical Society Library (MHSL), which we decided to visit on our way back home.
I have a general sense of Joseph Blackston, my 3rd great grandfather, who lived in Pleasant Unity Westmoreland County, PA; when I was younger, my mother would point out his house on the occasions we passed through that town. Joseph died on November 25, 1888 and is buried in Pleasant Unity. His obituary in The Greensburg Press mentions he was “born in Maryland, February 19th 1811, and when a boy of about fourteen years, with his parents came to [Westmoreland County]”—other records indicate that his birth place was Delaware. His obituary also states that he had 13 children to his first wife and one child to his second wife, although only 8 children survived him. Joseph had married a third time in 1887 at 76 years of age. Fortunately for family researchers like me, this was after Pennsylvania required a marriage license, so the application for this marriage listed Joseph’s parents: James and Melia Blackstone.
Except for their names, I know very little about Joseph’s parents. James most likely was born in Kent County, either in DE or MD. A bill of sale found in Westmoreland County PA indicates he was in that area by 1819; James is enumerated in Unity Township of that county in the 1820 and 1830 census. Melia died before 1823, perhaps even before the family moved to PA as James married a second time to Elizabeth West sometime before 1824. Elisabeth Blackston is listed as the head of the household in Unity Township in 1840 census, suggesting James had died. A distant cousin related a family story that James went back to his birthplace to take care of some family business around 1840 and disappeared, presumed dead, as he never returned home. This would explain why Elizabeth and not James is listed in the 1840 census. From the census it appears that James had 16 children, although I have only been able to identify two of them.
Some have suggested that James is part of the Blackiston family who lived around the Kent County Delaware and Maryland regions since the 1600s and whose line has been traced back to England to the 1300s. However, different researchers have assigned James to different parents in the Maryland Blackiston family. But none of the resources that I have uncovered for the Blackistons reference my James at all. From family DNA tests, there is a match to another who descend from this Maryland family, but the question remains as to which family James actually belongs. My mission to find this vertical file was to find the evidence to place James in his proper family. And if I couldn’t locate any conclusive evidence for his parentage, I wanted to at least find some facts on James’ children, such as birth or baptismal records for those he had before moving to PA, or perhaps a marriage license to find the full name of his first wife—my 4th great grandmother.
Since the first library didn’t have any resources to aid me, a few days later on our return trip home we headed once again through the streets of Baltimore to the second library. When we arrived at the MHSL I was apprehensive, yet hopeful we might find something here. I again told the librarian my tale of looking for some elusive bit of information referenced by another relative and supposedly tucked away in a vertical file, perhaps in their library. She pointed us to in the direction where the files were housed and we easily located the one we wanted. It had a stack of papers and letters on the Blackiston family. I carefully thumbed through each one, scanning over the pages for some gem to jump out. But, disappointingly I found no mention of my James.
In the resources at this library, James wasn’t listed in any marriage book, or as a parent for births/baptisms. I did find a compilation of the Blackiston family written in 2001 that included my James as a son of Joseph, but without any conclusive support. It did offer a couple of clues though. One was that several people had used Joseph, the possible father of James, as their ancestor for SAR applications. Another was a letter written by Zelle Henry Allison in 1935 located at the Maryland Historical Library, where we were! We asked about finding the letter, but unfortunately there was not an easy way to locate exactly where it might have been—it certainly was not in the Blackiston file. The Blackiston book indicated that the letter mentions Joseph Blackiston had a son Joseph who lived in Denton MD and another son James “who came to Pennsylvania after the War of 1812. A widower with lots of kids he married Elizabeth West in Westmoreland County, PA.”
It was a bit anticlimactic to find only these few small items. But with searching a family line, one must take whatever clue he can. I’ve looked at the several SAR applications; Zelle Blackiston with the same letter is again mentioned. Knowing that this family story was handed down to her, gives a bit of significance that perhaps Joseph was indeed the father of James. But what happened to James’ large family of children? Then I began to wonder, if James moved to PA after the War of 1812, could he have been a veteran of that war? If so, there might be a pension file that lists some of these children. My goal now is to locate descendants of James other children who might be able to offer some insight about the family. And if these leads don’t pan out, well, I guess I can always return another time to Baltimore and visit the Maryland State Archives. After all, they do say three is a charm.
Relatively Speaking Blog 