Joseph C. S. Blackburn - Frankfort, KY - Grave of a Famous Person on Waymarking.com

Joseph C. S. Blackburn was born, grew up and studied law in Kentucky. After law school, he moved around a bit: practicing law in Chicago, serving in the Confederate Army during the Civil War (where he attained the rank of lieutenant colonel) and farming in Arkansas. Eventually, after he was pardoned for his service as a Confederate officer, Blackburn returned to Kentucky where he established a law office in the Lexington area.

As a trial lawyer, Joseph Blackburn was known as a spirited orator, adept at swaying juries. Apparently, he was just as good at swaying voters, winning elections to the U.S. Congress seven times: 5 terms as Representative and two terms as Senator, all from Kentucky.

After his second stint as Senator, Blackburn was appointed civil governor of the Panama Canal Zone by President Theodore Roosevelt. He was preceded in this position by fellow Kentuckian Richard Reid Rogers, and after he resigned in 1909, was succeeded by Maurice Thatcher, who was also from Kentucky (and buried in the same cemetery). Wow - I didn’t know so many people from Kentucky were involved with the Panama Canal. Blackburn was the only one of the three to be honored on a Canal Zone postage stamp.

A recent biography of Joseph Blackburn entitled “Kentucky’s Joseph C.S. Blackburn: Soldier, Statesman and a Friend of All” was written by his great-great-grand daughter Elizabeth Rouse Fielder. The title alludes to his grave marker which bears the inscription ‘HE PASSED THROUGH LIFE A FRIEND TO ALL.’

Besides appearing on a postage stamp, Blackburn had a Liberty ship named after him as well as a town in Oklahoma, a bridge in Kentucky and a mountain in the Wrangell Range in Alaska.
(Sources: wikipedia.com et al.)

Description: See Long Description above. Date of birth: 10/01/1938 Date of death: 09/12/1918 Area of notoriety: Politics Marker Type: Headstone Setting: Outdoor Visiting Hours/Restrictions: 7:00 am - 4:00 pm Fee required?: No Web site: [Web Link]

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