Son of Anothony Blackburn & Hester Ann Rose

Married Lucinda Harris, 28 Apr 1852, San Bernardino, California

Children- Abner Levi Blackburn, John Blackburn, John Franklin Blackburn, Charles Blackburn, William Byron Blackburn, Ella Lucinda Blackburn, Annette Matilda Blackburn, Mary Adelia Blackburn, Jesse O. Blackburn, Frederick Abner Blackburn

Born in Pennsylvania, 1827. Moved to Ohio. Joined LDS Church, 1837. Traveled to Far West. Worked on steamboat. Trapper in west. Rejoined family at Nauvoo.

Autobiography. Photocopy of typescript. 38 pp.
Son of Anthony Blackburn. Father's removal to Richland County, Ohio, where the family embraced Mormonism in 1837; Abner's conversion; migration of the family to Shoal Creek, Caldwell County, Missouri; the Haun's Mill Massacre; expulsion of the Latter-day Saints from Missouri; parents' disaffection with the Church; his activities in Nauvoo, Illinois, until the death of Joseph Smith; labors with some Indian traders; return to Nauvoo in time to help complete the Nauvoo Temple; exodus west with the Saints.

Abner Blackburn enlisted as a private in Company C of the U.S. Mormon Battalion. He was one of the men sent to Pueblo by way of Santa Fe, New Mexico, to winter, under the command of Lieutenant W. W. Willis. He entered the Salt Lake Valley the 24th of July 1847.

In 1889, retired farmer, seafarer, and pioneer, Abner Blackburn (1827-1904) began an account of his youthful wanderings across the North American continent. Referring to his memoir as "an account of my past misdeeds," Blackburn describes his experiences with Mormon pioneers, an astounding assortment of western tribes, and the last fur traders. After working on steamboat on the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, Blackburn was a teamster for Brigham Young, marched with the Mormon Battalion to Santa Fe, crossed the Great Basin seven times in four years, and prospected for gold in California. Blackburn knew Joseph Smith, Jim Bridger, John Sutter, Sam Brannan, and a host of lesser-known but equally colorful characters.

Blackburn was a true Frontiersman!

* Mormon Battalion members