The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
State of Service: VA
Qualifying Service: Private / Patriotic Service / Civil Service
Burial location not identified in Find-A-Grave - May 2021
Directions to Cemetery / Gravesite:
Author: Jim Wilson
Robert Blackburn was the son of Benjamin and Mary Blackburn and the brother of General Samuel Blackburn. He was born in Frederick County, Virginia, in about 1742. He married Margaret Ritchie (her name also reported as Sarah) in Winchester, Frederick County, Virginia, in about 1766. (1) He received a land grant for 500 acres on Opekcon Creek in Frederick County dated August 6, 1768. (2) The Blackburn family moved down the Great Valley of Virginia first settling in the area of Steele’s Tavern in Augusta County before moving on into the area of Abingdon in Washington County, Virginia. On September 2, 1778, he received a 150 acre land grant on Horse Camp Creek in Washington County, North Carolina, in what would later become the state of Tennessee, for which he pledged a loyalty oath to the United States. (3) He also served on a Washington County jury, which met at the house of Charles Robertson, on May 25, 1778, when he would have also made a loyalty oath. (4) He served in the North Carolina militia under Col. Evan Shelby in 1779, and he was listed as serving with the American force that fought at the Battle of Kings Mountain on October 7, 1780. (5) The names of Robert Blackburn’s children, living at the time, were mentioned in a court case relating to the probate of his brother Samuel’s estate. (6) The ones identified were: Benjamin, Gideon, Thomas, John, Edward, Samuel, Jane, Mary, Elizabeth, Rachel and Leah. He also had Sarah and William. On September 4, 1789, Robert and Margaret Blackburn sold 225 acres on the south side of Little Limestone Creek, in Washington, County, North Carolina (later Tennessee) to John McAllister. (7) This record confirms his wife’s name and possibly indicates the approximate time of his migration from Washington County. Further details of his life, his death and burial, are uncertain. The date of his death has been given as February 9, 1809, but there is some doubt about this, as it is exactly one year after the date of death of his brother, John. Other deed records show that Robert Blackburn bought land in Davidson County, Territory South of the Ohio (later state of Tennessee) in 1794 and 1795. (8) It seems quite likely that he ended his days some date after this in the area of Davidson or Maury County in Tennessee.
References 1. W.A. Challacombe, The Benjamin Blackburn Family and notes on Blackburns in America (1942; reprint, Orange Park, FL: Quintin Publications, no date), 37. 2. Gertrude E Gray, compiler, Virginia Northern Neck Land Grants, 1742-1775, vol 2 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1988), 197. 3. A.B. Pruitt, Tennessee Land Entries: Washington County 1778-1796 Part 1: #1-1478 (No place: privately printed, 1997), 10. 4. Washington County Minute Book, 1778-1809, pp. 25,26. Microfilm roll # 129, Johnson City (Tennessee) Public Library. 5. Pat Alderman, One Heroic Hour at Kings Mountain (Erwin, TN: privately printed, 1968), 57. 6. Ann Blackburn v. Exr of Samuel Blackburn, Etc, Augusta County (Virginia) Chancery Court, Case # 543, University of Virginia Library, http://www.lva.virginia.gov/chancery/ 7. Loraine Rae, Washington County, Tennessee Deeds, 1775-1800 (Greenville, SC: Southern Historical Press, Inc., 1991),83. 8. DAR Supporting Documentation File, Death of Robert Blackburn, Patriot Ancestor # A010690, Daughters of the American Revolution, Washington, DC.
Send a biographical sketch of your patriot!
Patriot biographies must be the original work of the author, and work submitted must not belong to another person or group, in observance with copyright law. Patriot biographies are to be written in complete sentences, follow the established rules of grammar, syntax and punctuation, be free of typographical errors, and follow a narrative format. The narrative should unfold in a logical manner (e.g. the narrative does not jump from time period to time period) or have repeated digressions, or tell the history of the patriot's line from the patriot ancestor to the author. The thinking here is that this is a patriot biography, not a lineage report or a kinship determination project or other report published in a genealogy journal. The biography should discuss the qualifying service (military, patriotic, civil) of the patriot ancestor, where the service was rendered, whether this was a specific state or Continental service, as well as significant events (as determined by the author) of the patriot's life. This is the entire purpose of a patriot's biography.
Additional guidelines around the Biography writeup can be found here:
Send your submission1, in a Microsoft Word compatible format, to patriotbios@sar.org for inclusion in this space 1Upon submission of a patriot biography, the patriot biography becomes the property of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and may be edited to conform to the patriot biography submission standards.