Early Life
Blackstone was born in Branford, Connecticut, the sixth child, and fourth son, of James Blackstone and Sarah Beach. His father, James, served in the Connecticut Senate representing the sixth district. James had also served in the Connecticut House of Representatives and the Connecticut militia. The family is descended from William Blaxton, an English settler who arrived in New England in the seventeenth century and became the first European settler in Rhode Island. William Blackstone, an English judge and jurist, is a distant cousin.
Health issues caused Blackstone to drop out of school in 1847, and he began working for Roswell B. Mason, surveying the New York and New Haven Railroad (NY&NH). He only worked on the NY&NH for a year before becoming an assistant engineer on the Stockbridge and Pittsfield Railroad. Again, he only remained with the firm a short time before leaving for the Vermont Valley Railroad. In 1851, Roswell invited Blackstone to supervise construction of the Illinois Central Railroad between Bloomington and Dixon, Illinois. Blackstone accepted the job and moved to La Salle, Illinois.
Read more about this topic: Timothy Blackstone
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:
“I believe that if we are to survive as a planet, we must teach this next generation to handle their own conflicts assertively and nonviolently. If in their early years our children learn to listen to all sides of the story, use their heads and then their mouths, and come up with a plan and share, then, when they become our leaders, and some of them will, they will have the tools to handle global problems and conflict.”
—Barbara Coloroso (20th century)
“That which resembles most living one’s life over again, seems to be to recall all the circumstances of it; and, to render this remembrance more durable, to record them in writing.”
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790)