William Blackburn
William Blackburn was born in Virginia on 4 March 1727, according to the Daughters of the American Revolution. A family genealogy of 1959 gives 11 March. His parents are not proven.
His probable father was John Blackburn of Raleigh Parish in Amelia County, Virginia. On 1 October 1747 John patented 395 acres in Albemarle County, on a north fork of Willis's Creek above Saunders's survey. On 22 April 1748 he made the same land over to "William Blackburn of the County of Albemarle" for five pounds. William had come of age seven weeks before. The deed does not call him a son. But the price was nominal, and the timing fits a father settling land on a son at twenty-one. An elder brother or an uncle cannot be ruled out.
John Blackburn took another patent, of 245 acres on the north branch of Willis's River, in 1750. A Lambeth Blackburn, also written Lambert, patented 200 acres on the north branches of Willis's Creek in 1755. He sold them in December 1757 for thirty pounds, signing "Lambirth Blackburn." He was probably William's brother.
About 1751 William married Rachel, who was born in 1731. Her maiden name is not known. They were living in Buckingham County, Virginia, when their fourth child, John, was born in 1760. Buckingham's own records burned in 1869, so little of their life there survives.
By 1768 he had moved to South Carolina. On 2 August 1768 the Crown granted him 100 acres "in Berkley County in the Fork between Broad & Saludy Rivers on a small Branch of Indian Creek called the Long Branch." The Fork was the backcountry between the Broad and Saluda Rivers, later Newberry District. The plat had been certified on 24 June, and Lieutenant Governor William Bull witnessed the grant. His son John was still on the Long Branch of Indian Creek in 1817, when he sold out.
Other Blackburns took land nearby. A John Blackburn, probably William's brother, was granted 100 acres on Frazers Creek in Granville County in February 1768. William's eldest son, Daniel, entered a memorial for 150 acres between the Broad and the Saluda in January 1775. A memorial registered a grant in the auditor's office of the province.
During the Revolution he served as a juror in 1778 and 1779, which the DAR counts as civil service to the patriot cause. He died on 1 April 1782 in the Ninety Six District, while the backcountry was still at war. His estate was not settled until 1790, after Rachel's death, when his eldest son, Daniel, deeded it to William Jr.
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Cite: Heirology, "William Blackburn (1727-1782)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/william-blackburn-1727-1782-721b8f.