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Below is a family biography included in The History of Darke County, Ohio published by W. H. Beers & Co. in 1880.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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BENJAMIN BLACKBURN, deceased. The subject of this memoir is a martyr of his country. He was a son of Moses and Lydia Blackburn, and a brother of Moses and John Blackburn, whose sketches appear in this work. At his country’s call, when the first wild notes of war were echoing and re-echoing over the land, young Benjamin was among the first to respond to his country’s call, and volunteered in Company B, 110th O. V. L; he went bravely and resolutely forth to do his duty. Our informant, Mr. D. W. Niswonger, who was a member of the same regiment, speaks in glowing terms of the bravery and stability of the deceased. To the best of his recollection, he says he was in every engagement the regiment participated in, which was not a few, for the 110th bore the scars of many a well-fought and nobly contested battle, and we can fearlessly say none bore the brunt of battle or the fatigue of march better than this gallant band. In the battle of Cumberland Gap he was taken prisoner, but his fearlessness and presence of mind enabled him to make his escape. At Monocacy, on the 9th of July, 1864, he was again taken, and imprisoned at Danville, Va., and afterward in the pens of torture and suffering at Andersonville. He was a very robust young man, naturally cheerful, and bore up nobly under the brutish treatment he received, but hunger broke his iron will; the filth and dirt in the prison made his quarters worse than a living tomb. He had not clothing to cover his body, nor blankets to keep him warm during the night, and not a crumb to satisfy his hunger; for six months he withstood this terrible treatment, and during January, 1865, death came to his relief; his sufferings were ended, and the angels of mercy carried the soul of a martyr without the prison walls, but the mortal part was left and received interment where he had suffered so intensely.

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This family biography is one of 659 biographies included in The History of Darke County, Ohio published in 1880 by W. H. Beers & Co.  For the complete description, click here: Darke County, Ohio History and Genealogy

View additional Darke County, Ohio family biographies here: Darke County, Ohio Biographies

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