Among the pioneers of Nez Perces County we are constrained to mention the subject of this sketch, who has wrought in different capacities in this section for years and is a well known business man, capable and industrious. William M. Blackinton was born in Winnebago County, Illinois, on October 5, 1851, being the son of Marcus R. and Ann (Trumble) Blackinton. The father died in 1895, aged eighty-one, being hale and hearty and possessed of all his faculties. Subject’s paternal grandfather lived to be over fourscore wars old. William grew up on a farm, received a common school education, in 1881 went to Minnesota, and in 1883 came to Lewiston. A short time was spent there and then a move was made to the Potlatch country on his father’s farm, he having come to the coast in 1884. Five years were spent on that farm and about 1895 Mr. Blackinton homesteaded land east of Southwick. Three years later he sold his improvements and then rented until 1901, when he removed to Leland and rented the hotel which he ran until January, 1903. Mr. and Mrs. Blackinton handled a fine house and became very popular with the traveling public. On October 17, 1883, Mr. Blackinton married Miss Nellie Fletcher who died in 1885, leaving one child, Grace. On December 4, 1890, Mr. Blackinton married Frances, daughter of Henry and Huldah (Harrington) Jones. It was the first marriage ever solemnized in Leland. Mr. Jones was a blacksmith and wagon maker. His father and his three brothers were all blacksmiths and were natives of Ohio. Mrs. Blackinton’s grandmother was born in Wales and her mother was a native of Ohio. Mrs. Blackinton was born in Van Buren County, on December 4, 1861, and has one brother and two sisters living, George, in Kansas; Amira, wife of Sam Pennel, of Jonesburg, Kansas; Mary, wife of Frank Thompson, of Leland. Mr. Blackinton has two brothers, George, a carpenter in Vineland; Emmett, at Leland. To Mr. and Mrs. Blackinton one child has been born, Florence, aged eleven years. Mr. Blackinton is fraternally affiliated with the I. O. O. F., Leland Lodge No. 90. He owns a farm of 120 acres one mile west of Leland which he rents: it has a good orchard and is farmed to grain.
Back to: Nez Perce Biographies
Source: An Illustrated History of Northern Idaho, Embracing Nez Perce, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone Counties, Western Historical Publishing Company, 1903