The Blackburns that I am related to go back to George Blackburn of Honey Creek, Wisconsin. He was born in 1850 in England and died in 1924 in Honey Creek. George was a blacksmith and farmer.

Earlier ancestors related to George that are named Blackburn would be traced through his mother, Sarah Blackburn Hockney. George was originally named George Blackburn Hockney, but in America he called himself George Blackburn, adopting his mother's maiden surname.

Sarah Blackburn married John Hockney in 1832 in Ashby, Lincolnshire, England, where she had been born in 1809. They lived together for a few years, had three children together, and then went their separate ways, he to Wisconsin and she remaining in Ashby all her life. They both had additional children, all of whom ended up in the United States, whose paths crossed frequently in this country.

According to his English civil birth certificate, George Blackburn's father was James Drayton, who was born in 1809 in Ashby and died there in 1880. James Drayton was a son of Edward and Elizabeth Simon Drayton of Ashby. He died in 1880.

Three of Sarah's children left for America during her lifetime, and two more did so after she died in 1886. Her other children died in infancy or early adulthood.

Sarah Blackburn Hockney's other children were

• Ann Hockney who married George Smith and immigrated to Wisconsin in 1850
• Richard Hockney who died unmarried at age 27
• Thomas Hockney, born and died 1836
• James Hockney, married Hannah Hall and immigrated to Wisconsin in 1889
• Tom Hockney, born and died in 1842
• Hannah Hockney, married Joseph Smithson and immigrated to Wisconsin in 1869
• Tom Hockney, died unmarried at age 22
• Adam and Eve Hockney, twins born and died 1847
• Henry Hockney, married Mary Ann Smith and immigrated in 1888 first to Indiana and then Ohio

George Blackburn had two sons and a daughter, Harry, Roy, and Flora. He had four grandchildren who lived to maturity and twelve great-grandchildren.

George Blackburn's wife was Mary Dixon, whose parents, grandparents, and several other family members had immigrated from Glossop, Derbyshire, England, in the early 1840s and settled in Brighton, Wisconsin.

I would like to exchange family information with descendants of any of the above persons. My e-mail is susiebb@worldnet.att.net. My address is 5 Springdale Lane, Warren, New Jersey.

Back, left to right: Harry Blackburn, Willis Blackburn, Nellie Moyle Blackburn

Front, left to right, Helen Blackburn, George Blackburn Walter Blackburn

Summer of 1916

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