Home > Family History > Francis Marion Blackston

• Name: Francis Marion Blackston
• Born: 1843 South Carolina
• Father: James Blackston
• Mother: Hannah Pilgrim
• Married: September 20, 1860 Forsyth County, Georgia
• Spouse: Catherine E. Mashburn
• Children:
• James T. Blackstone
• Died: June 21, 1862
• Buried: Ebenezer United Methodist Church (may be an unmarked grave), Forsyth County, Georgia

It seems likely that he died of injuries from being shot at a Civil War battle at Cumberland Gap while in the 43rd Georgia Infantry (Company E Kellogg Rifles, enlisted March 10, 1862) in June of 1862. He was 19 years old, had been married for less than two years, and left a wife and baby son.

Sources:

• 1850 US Census, Georgia, Forsyth County, District 31, Family No. 2, Line 8. Name, F. M. Blackston; Age, 7; male; Birthplace, South Carolina; Attended School within the year, yes.
• 1860 US Census, Georgia, Forsyth County, Cumming Post Office, Page No. 447, Family No. 555, Line 22. Name, Frances M. Blackston; Age, 17; male; Birthplace, South Carolina.
• "State of Georgia Forsyth County, To any minister of the Gospel, Judge, Justice of the Inferior Court or Justice of the Peace, You are hereby Authorized to join Francis M Blackston and Miss Catherine E Mashburn in the holy state of Matrimony, according to the Constitution and Law of this state, and for so doing, This shall be your License. Given under my hand and seal This 18th day of Sept 1860, H. Barker ordinary" "Georgia Forsyth County, I do certify that Francis M Blackston and Catherine E [marked out] were duly joined in Matromony by me this 20th day of September 1860. W. S. Williams M. Ga." Forsyth County, Georgia, Record of Marriages, Book C, 1853-1868. The Georgia Archives, Morrow, Georgia.
• "In June of 1862, the 43rd participated in a brisk fight at Cumberland Gap in eastern Tennessee." http://www.scv1642.com/Localconfederates.html
• "F. M. Blackston Pvt, Co. E, 43 Reg't Georgia Infantry. Appears on Company Muster Roll of the organization named above, for March 10 to Oct 31, 1862. Dated Nov 10 1862; Enlisted: When March 10. Where Cumming, Ga By whom H. C. Kellogg Period 3 years; Remarks: Died 21 June" --- Muster Roll document shared by H. L. and Nancy Griffith, April 3, 2008, Ancestry.com.
• His descendant Lorita Blackstone remembers when she was young being shown his gravestone at Ebenezer United Methodist Church in Forsyth County and hearing that he died at age 19 from being shot in the Civil War leaving behind a wife and baby son. "I remember as a teen going to the cemetery at Ebenezer United Methodist Church in Forsyth County and seeing the gravestone of Frances Marion Blackston and hearing the story of how he died age 19. I think this was from Irene Fowler. [More recently I] searched the cemetery finding no sign of this gravestone. A lot of other relatives (Blackston(es), Kelloggs, Douglass's, Fowler's, Mashburn's) were buried there but no Frances Marion. [...] In the meantime the cemetery has been changed some with a fence around it, etc. and obviously a lot of now unmarked graves as large open places." --- January 2020, told from Lorita Blackstone to Floyd Reed.
• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Blackstone-500
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Cumberland_Gap_(1862)