W. Jasper Blackburn

William Jasper Blackburn (July 24, 1820 – November 10, 1899) was an American printer, publisher and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from northwestern Louisiana from July 18, 1868, to March 3, 1869. A Republican during Reconstruction, he was elected to the Louisiana State Senate, serving from 1874 to 1878.[1]

William Jasper Blackburn
Mathew Brady photo circa 1868
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Louisiana's 5th district
In office
July 18, 1868 – March 3, 1869
Preceded byFirst in new district
Succeeded byFrank Morey
Member of the Louisiana State Senate from Claiborne Parish
In office
1874–1878
Mayor of Minden, Louisiana
In office
May 1855 – May 1856
Succeeded byA. B. George
Personal details
Born(1820-07-24)July 24, 1820
Randolph County, Arkansas, USA
DiedNovember 10, 1899(1899-11-10) (aged 79)
Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas
Resting placeMount Holly Cemetery in Little Rock
Political partyDemocratic-turned-Republican
OccupationNewspaper publisher and printer
(1) Publisher Blackburn switched his party affiliation to Republican because he opposed slavery and the secession of the Confederate States of America.

(2) Blackburn was spared conviction — and automatic execution — by a one-vote margin of charges that he printed counterfeit Confederate currency.

(3) After the return of Democratic Redeemer government in Louisiana in 1878, Blackburn soon returned to his native Arkansas, where he published the short-lived Arkansas Republican newspaper.

(4) Blackburn served in the United States House of Representatives and the Louisiana State Senate as a Republican; earlier he was a Democratic mayor of Minden, Louisiana, from 1855 to 1856.

(5) Blackburn launched the first paper to bear the name Minden Herald.

Biography

Instead he ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. He lost to the African American Oscar Dunn, who was elected to the second position on the Henry Clay Warmoth ticket.

After a four-year stint in the Louisiana Senate, Blackburn returned in 1880 to Little Rock, Arkansas, where he published the Arkansas Republican from 1881 to 1884 and The Free South from 1885 to 1892. He died in Little Rock and is interred there in Mount Holly Cemetery.[1]

References
  1. "Blackburn, William Jasper". bioguide.congress.gov. Retrieved March 10, 2015.
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