BLACKSTOCK, RICHARD (1769-1835)

BLACKSTOCK, RICHARD, businessman and JP; b. c1769; m. Elizabeth Grahl, a United States native of German origin; d. Chatham, 21 Mar 1835.

Richard Blackstock, who came to the Miramichi from Boston, was one of the first firewards with the Chatham Fire Company, which was formed in 1824. In 1825 he was one of the thirteen members of the relief committee created to attend to the needs of the victims of the Miramichi Fire. In 1827 he was in attendance at the second annual meeting of the Miramichi chamber of commerce. He was appointed a justice of the peace in 1830. During his years on the Miramichi he was the holder of a number of property mortgages and acted as an executor of several estates. He had a store in Chatham, as well as a shipyard and wharf. A few months prior to his death he conveyed these to his son, Richard Blackstock Jr, who was then conducting the affairs of Richard Blackstock & Co. in Bathurst.

In 1840 Blackstock's widow, Elizabeth Grahl, became the second wife of John M. Johnson Sr of Chatham. After Richard Blackstock Jr died in 1845, at age thirty-five, his widow and children also moved into the Johnson home.