Thomas Blackburn (burgess)
Early and family life
Early and family life
---------------------

The youngest son born to the former Mary Watts (d. 1775; widow of Col. Henry Ashton of [Westmoreland County](/wiki/Westmoreland_County%2C_Virginia "Westmoreland County, Virginia")) and her master builder husband [Richard Blackburn](/wiki/Richard_Blackburn_%28burgess%29 "Richard Blackburn (burgess)") (d. 1757\) was born at Rippon Lodge, the plantation house which his English\-born father had built around 1745,Louisa D.F. Hogue, The History of the Blackburn Family" in *Prince William Reliquary* (Jan. 2003\) vol.2 no. 1 and which he inherited because his elder brothers died before their father."The Blackburns of Rippon Lodge" 4 William and Mary College Quarterly (1896\) p. His elder half brother was among the six people who died in a boating accident on the Potomac River in 1752\.Virginia Gazette April 24, 1752 p.2 His sister Alice married Col. Thomas Ellzey of nearby [Loudoun County](/wiki/Loudoun_County%2C_Virginia "Loudoun County, Virginia").

On January 21, 1759/60, Thomas Blackburn married Christian Scott (1745\-1815\), the daughter of Rev. James Scott of [Overwharton Parish](/wiki/Aquia_Church "Aquia Church"), who would survive him by nearly a decade. Both their sons began military careers. [Richard Scott Blackburn](/wiki/Richard_Scott_Blackburn "Richard Scott Blackburn") would continue his father's political career by twice winning election to serve as one of Prince William County's representatives in the [Virginia House of Delegates](/wiki/Virginia_House_of_Delegates "Virginia House of Delegates") before accepting a commission as captain in the U.S. Army by 1800, and was promoted to major before dying while on duty in Georgia in late 1803\. His younger brother Thomas Blackburn Jr. served under his brother in the local militia as a private before accepting a lieutenant's commission in the U.S. Army in 1799, but he resigned and become a planter ("Yorkshire" plantation being on both sides of Bull Run in Prince William County and Fairfax County) before dying in 1813\.Wesley E. Pipperger, Marriage and Death Notices from Alexandria, Virginia Newspapers (2005\), vol. 1, p. 54

The family also included four daughters (Mary Elizabeth, Catherine, Sarah and Julia Ann) and took in the widow of his son Richard (Ann Blause) and four granddaughters.Jessica Maria Alicea and John Nathan McDonald, Memory of Time: The History of Rippon Lodge in Woodbridge, Virginia (). p. 20 Accounts of their names have become confused, possibly because of confusion between the generations of men named Thomas Blackburn, as well as another Blackburn family who lived in southwest Virginia and descended from Archibald Blackburn (who emigrated from Ireland). All agree that this man's youngest daughter Julia Ann Blackburn married [Bushrod Washington](/wiki/Bushrod_Washington "Bushrod Washington"), the nephew of President George Washington who became an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court as well as inherited his uncle's Mount Vernon plantation. Her eldest sister Mary Elizabeth (a/k/a Polly) died at age 15 of tuberculosis in Bermuda. The other daughters referred to in this man's will were Catherine (Kitty) who married Henry Smith Turner of [Jefferson County](/wiki/Jefferson_County%2C_West_Virginia "Jefferson County, West Virginia") and Sarah who married Thomas Crawford of [Prince George's County, Maryland](/wiki/Prince_George%27s_County%2C_Maryland "Prince George's County, Maryland"). Jane Charlotte Blackburn (probably their niece, daughter of Richard Scott Blackburn) married Justice Washington's nephew, John Augustine Washington II, who inherited [Mount Vernon](/wiki/Mount_Vernon "Mount Vernon") from his childless uncle, but whose husband died while their children were still young. Thus, she effectively served as that plantation's mistress for decades (but for most of that time chose to live at another historic plantation, [Blakeley](/wiki/Blakeley_%28West_Virginia%29 "Blakeley (West Virginia)") in what later became West Virginia).


How many daughters did Thomas Blackburn have who married prominent men?