"THEOPHILUS BLAKE SR"

BLAKE, ADAMS, THOMPSON

Posted By: Mary E. Lanigan::VOLUNTEER (email)
Date: 7/22/2002 at 11:23:54

Biographical Wapello County Iowa 1887 page 341-342

Theophilus BLAKE Sr. deceased, one of the first settlers in the Hawkeye State, came to this county in the spring of 1845, and entered a claim upon which the town of BLAKESBURG now stands, of which town he was the founder and which was named after him.When first coming here, he judged that the location would be favorable for a village,and that very soon afterward began marking off town lots from his purchase and received balance for a farm. He built the first storehouse in this section, and was the leader in every measure adopted for its welfare and advancement.As the settlers came in and the little colony began to assume the proportion of a village, the township organization was effected and Mr. BLAKE was elected Justice of the Peace, which office he held for several years.

Mr. Blake was born in Vermont in 1799, where he was reared and received his early education. After arriving in manhood he went to Canada, and was there married to Miss Mary ADAMS, a native of the Dominion and one year her husbands junior. After marriage, they moved to Auburn, NY, and in 1836 turned their faces still further westward, going to Licking County, Ohio, whence nine years later, they came to Iowa, the year before it was admitted into the Union as a State.This trip was made overland with teams. A great amount of rain fell during this season and they were six weeks in making the journey. Of their subsequent settlement we have spoken in the previous paragraph.

They became the parents of eleven children, and were acompanied by eight olive branches on their journey to Iowa; Frank is now a resident of Shelby County, Iowa; Charlott and Mary are deceased; Samuel lives in Missouri; Theophilus Jr., in this county of Wapello, William H,during the late war, enlisted in the 3rd Iowa Calvary, Company K; serving four years, and after the close of the war died from the hardships and exposure which he had encountered while in the service; Marcia lives in Shelby County, Iowa; James enlisted in the 2nd Iowa Calvary, Company K, and was killed at Ft. Donelson.

Mr. and Mrs. Blake were both members of the Baptist Church, highly esteemed in this community,and passed their declining years in the enjoyment of the esteem and confidence of those friends whom they had gathered around them in the years when hardship, toil and privation had formed between them a common bond of sympathy.

Theophilus BLAKE SR; departed this life September, 1864; the mother Mary ADAMS BLAKE survived her husband by sixteen years and died February 01, 1880.

Theophilus BLAKE JR.; son of the foregoing and resident of this county, was born in Licking County, Ohio, on the 29th day of October 1826. He was but a lad of nine years old when his parents came overland to Iowa, and his early education, began in Ohio, was completed in the pioneer log school house in Iowa.He remained under the parental roof until his marriage to Miss Margaret THOMPSEON, which took place May 15, 1859. Miss Margaret BLAKE was born in Indianna on January 02, 1838. By her marriage to our subject she became the mother of 8 children, three os whom are now deceased. Those living are Olive, Bertha, Sada, Lewis and Moses.

Mr. Blake, with his father was also a pioneer settler of Wapello County, Iowa, and distinctly remembers many of the incidents during their long and tedious journey from Ohio, the wild and desolate appearance of the uncultivated prairie, and the entire lack of the present day uniformly demand. He recalls the time when the embryo town of BLAKESBURG was plotted and the journey to mill at Bonapart, Van Buren County, Iowa, sixty-five miles away.At one time, this journey was performed by one of his brothers who, on account of the weather and other incidents; was detained for three weeks; thirteen days of which the family had no bread or water, and bacon, the latter being considered indespensible to the health of the pioneer family. In 1851, which was a very wet season, the mill was washed away. A man in the vacinity named HOLLIDAY, was the processor of the hand-mill, and the people of this section were oblidged for some time to depend upon this meager substitute, which ground very slowly, and some times ten or fifteen men would be standing and waiting their turn at the mill.

Mr. Blake with his brothers and sisters were carefully trained to habits of industry and principles of honor, and in their worthy lives are doing full credit to the teachings of their excellant parents.

*Blake burials at Blakesburg Cemetery in Blakesburg Iowa:
Clara b: 1877 died 5-09-1907
James b: 1845 died 2-15-1861 in battle at Ft. Donelson
Mary died 2-02-1880 at age 79
Theophelus Jr. Blake died 1-15-1864
William H. no dates given
Source::WPA RECORDS