Isaac Blackford was born on November 6th, 1786, in Bound Brook, New Jersey. He was the only child of Joseph and Mary Blackford. Joseph, a merchant and revolutionary war soldier, died in 1800 when Isaac was 14. His mother remarried Thomas Coon in 1801. Isaac's half-sister Charlotte was born in 1802.
Blackford attended Princeton and graduated in 1806. He studied law under his mentor and future father-in-law, Colonel George McDonald, for a year before accepting a position at a large firm in the area. He was admitted to the New Jersey bar in 1810. Isaac married Caroline McDonald in 1820 and had a son, George Blackford. Caroline McDonald died shortly after George's birth in 1821. George Blackford died in 1846 due to medical complications in Kentucky. Isaac never remarried.
He left the Supreme Court in 1853. Two years later, he took a job as a justice in the Court of Claims in Washington, DC. He died on December 31st, 1859, due to complications from pneumonia. Blackford was transported back to Indianapolis with the help of his friend, an Indianapolis lawyer and land speculator, Calvin Fletcher. On January 12th, his body was placed on display in the Capitol and then buried in Greenlawn Cemetery on Friday, January 13th, in an iron coffin. His remains were moved to Crown Hill Cemetery in 1868, a few years after that cemetery opened.
]]>Ever wonder why the roads in Indiana have long straight roads running east and west or north and south? They are a result of the Harrison Land Act of 1796 and the Public Land Survey System (PLSS). The PLSS established a method of dividing the Northwest Territory which included what is now Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota for settlement. Indiana was divided into townships, then into thirty-six sections, each measuring one square mile or 640 acres. Sections were then divided into smaller half or quarter-sections when needed. This methodology is still used today for surveying and real estate transactions.
In 1804, surveyors began dragging chains through southern Indiana to measure it for land sales. This method of survey created a reliable grid pattern through hills and forests taking into account the curvature of the earth. Wealthy Americans and land companies purchased large tracts of land, hoping it would become valuable.
One individual who did just that was Isaac Blackford, an early settler in Indiana and one of the first Indiana Supreme Court justices. One of his earliest land purchases was of a combined 1379 acres of land in southern Indiana between 1816 and 1817. The initial cost was $2758 based on the $2 per acre land cost. In 2025 dollars, that is over $68,000.
]]>On Indiana University Indianapolis’ campus, on the Northeast Corner of Vermont and Blackford Street, there is an Indiana Historical Bureau (IHB) marker for Isaac Blackford. The longest-serving Supreme Court Justice in Indiana’s history, he worked to further education in Indiana through his involvement in Indiana University and the Historical Society.
The IHB was established in 1915 as the Indiana Historical Commission to celebrate the statehood Centennial. After the celebration, the Commission continued its efforts by collecting information about World War I. In 1925, the Indiana legislature voted to make the organization permanent and changed the name to the Indiana Historical Bureau. The IHB’s continues its mission of educating the public through markers, oral histories, and archaeological projects.
The Bureau encourages the public to apply for a marker making sure that each marker is factually accurate and effectively educates the public. Applicants are responsible for paying for the cost of the marker, usually through fundraising or grants. Text on the marker is limited, as each side of the marker only allows for a maximum of 350 characters, forcing the applicant to weigh each word.
The IHB marker was placed on the IU campus in 2011 to commemorate the life and achievements of Blackford, a member of the Indiana University Board of Trustees starting in 1838. He was also awarded an Honorary Doctor of Law in 1845 from IU.
]]>When Indiana became a state in 1816, it looked very different than today. The State capital was Corydon. The Miami, Potawatomi, and Delaware tribes controlled much of the state. There were fewer than 64,000 white colonizers in the state. Those who lived there lived a rugged life. A map from 1816-1817 illustrates the three circuit court districts that covered the counties of Southern Indiana. The Supreme Court was initially located in Corydon, the state capital. Supreme Court Justices were appointed to two-year terms by Governor Jennings appointing James Scott, John Johnson, and Jesse Holman as the first Supreme Court Justices. When John Johnson died during the first court recess in 1817, Jennings appointed Isaac Blackford to Johnson's position.
Blackford had just been elected to the State Legislature. He was surprised that Jennings wanted to nominate him as he was only thirty-one years old. Accepting the position, he served until 1851. He authored writing opinions on court cases as part of his "Blackford Reports," which became an officially published and widely respected collection of Indiana legal precedents. In 1851, the Constitutional Convention changed the role of Supreme Court Justices making the positions elected rather than appointed. Blackford did not get reelected or make it through the nomination process.
After losing the nomination, Blackford rebuilt his client base at sixty-seven years of age. Ultimately, he returned to judicial work as a judge on the Court of Claims in Washington, DC, in 1855.
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