The Supreme Court of Indiana. singleness of heart." " A good lawyer," said Oliver H. Smith, " and one of the most just and conscientious men I ever knew." He was the father of Hon. William S. Holman, for many years, and at the present time, a member of Congress. Isaac Blackford.
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Isaac Blackford has had more influence upon the Supreme Court of Indiana than any man who ever sat upon its bench. Com ing to the bench Sept. io, 1817, he contin ued until Jan. 3, 1853, — a period covering the entire existence of the old court, with the exception of the few first months after its creation. He suc ceeded John Johnson. He sat longer upon the bench than any other man; and during that time he made his name, by his untiring accu racy and exact learn ing, familiar on two continents. Blackford was born at Bound Brook, N.J., JAMES L. Nov. 6, 1786. His father was a native of England, and died while Isaac was in his teens. At sixteen he entered Prince ton College in a class of fifty-four. Among his classmates were three who became Gov ernors of States, three United States Sen ators, and four judges of Supreme Courts. Blackford excelled in Latin and Greek, hav ing even a critical knowledge of those lan guages. He delighted in books, and was proficient in astronomy and the higher mathematics. In his senior year he read Blackstone. He read law at Morristown, in the office
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of Gabriel Ford, then the foremost lawyer in the State. In 1811 Blackford left New Jer sey for Indiana, — why it is difficult to tell. Dewey came from Massachusetts because he was a bold man, possessing a daring mind, and having the energy which demanded the freer life of the then far West; but Black ford was the scholar to whom the cloister was more congenial, or the society and life of a thickly inhabited and long settled country more attractive. Walking to the Alle ghany River, because of lack of means, he floated down that and the Ohio River to Lawrenceburgh, Ind., and presented a letter of introduction from Ford to Isaac Dunn. Shortly after his ar rival young Blackford resumed the study of the law at Brookville; a little later he served as cashier of theVevay branch of the Terri torial Bank; and not long after this he ed ited a paper in Vin cennes. In 1813 he became the first clerk WORDEN. and recorder of Wash ington County, and in December of the same year was elected clerk of the House of Representatives, then in ses sion at Corydon. He was re-elected to this office in the following August, but resigned on his appointment as presiding judge of the First Circuit, a position which he held un til January, 1816. Six months later, on his thirty-first birthday, he was elected to the House from Knox County; and when that body convened he was elected Speaker of the first House of Representatives of the newly formed State. Blackford was chosen Speaker without
