William Blain is known as a Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania gunsmith from newspaper advertisements and tax lists. At least one book identifies William Blain as a Somerset County, Pennsylvania gunsmith. William Blain died in 1851 during the California gold rush, leaving a widow named Catherine. William and Catherine Blain had nine children, including one who was born in 1827 and learned gunsmithing in Westmoreland County.
I wonder if William Blain might be the gunsmith who is reported by Kauffman as appearing on the 1823 Brothersvalley Township, Somerset County tax list as William Blair.
L. Dietle
Webster County, Iowa biographical publications:
I assume the excerpt above was either written by, or based on information provided by, Robert Wilson Blain.
The following excerpt is from the 1896 book "Illustrated Fort Dodge". It provides the middle initial "W" of the gunsmith William Blain, the middle name "Wilson" of William Blain's father Robert Blain, the parentage of William Blain's wife Catherine, and biographical material on William Blain's son Robert Wilson Blain. In the excerpt, I believe "Weim" is a typographical error, and should have been "Wein". I assume the excerpt was either written by, or based on information provided by, Robert Wilson Blain.
In the above excerpt, the reference to prohibition pertains to the constitution of Iowa. Click here to see a photo of Robert W. Blain and his family from the 1896 book "Illustrated Fort Dodge". Click here to see an excerpt from an 1875 map of Webster County that identifies the location of Robert W. Blain's Douglas Township property.
Information provided by Jean Woods
Jean Woods provided the following information to this website to help to correct and supplement published information concerning William Blain and his family:
William Blain was poisoned by his partner in the California gold rush! It was a rough and often violent time in the gold fields. William died either 28th or 29th of August 1851 in Placerville, El Dorado County, California.
The physician who treated him was Dr. Cyrus Henry Ober (1810-1870) who was born in Somerset County. The doctor’s father Peter Ober owned 300 acres in the county by 1810. However, Peter and his family soon moved on to Ligonier Valley and purchased land on both sides of Mill Creek in what was Fairfield Township, Westmoreland County. When the town of Ligonier was laid out in 1817, he also bought a lot.
Cyrus Henry Ober was the oldest child and after his formative years in Western Pennsylvania, he studied medicine and went west to Ohio in the 1830s where his first two children were born. His father and family moved to Iowa Territory around 1837. Dr. Cyrus owned lots in that region and may have been awhile in practice in Glasgow, Missouri, where a Dr. Ober is listed with an apothecary shop. Founded in 1836, the town on the Missouri River, later was an overland route to California and the gold fields. Gold fever struck the doctor and he went to California where he is listed in the 1850 Census in Placerville as a miner. His wife Elizabeth and children lived near his siblings in Keosauqua, Iowa, but later went west to California to join him. Thus, we know that Dr. Ober was treating the injuries of miners, as well as prospecting.
Blain was not the oldest child of Robert Blain and Elizabeth Johnson as several sisters and his brother Robert Blain were older; he was born circa 1799 in Pennsylvania, most likely in Donegal Township, Westmoreland County.
As stated in his naturalization papers, his father came from Ireland, while his mother's lineage was Scottish. They were part of the large wave of Ulster Scots to come to Pennsylvania. They were in Donegal Township by 1800 where he is listed in the Census and according to subsequent tax lists had over 200 acres of land. Robert Blain was probably a tenant as he purchased land from Henry Beck, an absentee owner who lived in Germantown, in 1809 and the deed was recorded in 1814. As you note, this land was on the east side of Route 381, just east of the now forgotten village of Crisp. At the time, there was a road, now abandoned, from Crisp which went to the top of Laurel Hill Mountain and over to the village of Allenvale in Somerset County. The tracts he owned are spelled out in his estate settlement papers filed in the Court House in Greensburg.
Robert Blain was a farmer and blacksmith and may have forged rifle barrels. By the 1827 tax assessment Robert is listed with 294 acres, two horses and one cow, while his son William is listed with 100 acres. William was likely just paying the tax as when his father died in 1838, his will gave to William "100 acres of land where he now lives." Adjacent landowners were John Graham and Vincent Bishop who were sons-in-laws of Robert Blain.
It took ten years to close out the father’s estate. William was the executor along with some Justices of the Peace, and he was mentioned as "the second oldest son and heir at law of Robert Blain." The oldest son Robert Blain, Jr. had moved west and was living in Missouri.
William was a blacksmith like his father and also a gunsmith. In 1825, he married Catherine Wein (1809-1892), the daughter of Jacob Wein and Margaret Lyons. After his untimely death his family moved from Ligonier Valley to Clay County, Missouri and later moved to Fort Dodge, Iowa where Robert Blain was farming. In her later years, his wife Catherine lived with her youngest child, Emily Blain Gregg (1848-1903), husband Daniel H. Gregg and family, in Calhoun County, Iowa, and later in Chicago where she died in 1892 at age 84.
William Blain’s estate was settled in Westmoreland County by Robert Louther, a Justice of the Peace who lived nearby. His wife selected items from his inventory including his blacksmith and gunsmith tools, along with a sword and scabbard. The latter would indicate that William or someone in her family had military experience. His land had to be sold to cover his debts and on the tracts were a log house and barn, orchard, two-story frame house and stable and five acres under fence. Part of his ridge land included a sawmill and frame stable with four acres cleared. All together he had three tracts totaling over 600 acres, and the estate took a number of years to settle.
There were nine children and only one, Joseph Blain, died as a child. At least three of William and Catherine’s children lived into the twentieth century.
Circa 1799 birth year estimate
Based on the overlap of the birth date ranges in the last two bullet items and assuming those birth date ranges are accurate, William Blain's earliest possible birth date is April 1, 1799 and his latest possible birth date is August 29, 1799. Based on that, it seems reasonable to say that William Blain was born circa 1799.
Chronologically organized information
1809-1892: A web page about Catherine (Wein/Wayne) Blain indicates she was born on April 15, 1809 in Hagerstown, Maryland, died on January 18, 1892, and is buried in the Forest Home Cemetery in Cook County, Illinois. The web page does not list her husband's name, but does list two children: Robert Wilson Blain who was born in 1827 and died in 1907, and Margaret J. (Blain) Horner who was born in 1837 and died in 1922.
1810-1811: The 2017 book "Arms Makers of Western Pennsylvania" indicates that an individual named Robert Blain is on the 1810 and 1811 tax rolls of Donegal Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and speculates that this Robert Blain was probably the father of the gunsmith William Blain. An article by Jim Whisker in the August, 2007 issue of the "Muzzle Blasts" magazine indicates that Robert Blain's occupation is not documented on the 1810 and 1811 tax lists of Donegal Township.
1823: According to Kauffman's 1960 book "The Pennsylvania - Kentucky Rifle", William Blair (sic) is identified as a gunsmith on the 1823 tax list of Brothersvalley Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Blair and Blain are difficult to distinguish from one another when written in cursive, and I know of an official Westmoreland County record (shown below) that lists William Blain as William Blair. At least one book (Volume 1 of Hartzler's 2015 book "American Silver-Hilted, Revolutionary and Early Federal Swords") reports that the gunsmith William Blain worked in Brothersvalley Township, Somerset County before working in Donegal Township, Westmoreland County. I suspect that Hartzler's book is right, because I have searched diligently for documentary evidence regarding a gunsmith named William Blair without success.
1825: Jean Woods indicates that William Blain married Catherine Wein in 1825; see above.
1827: The 2017 book "Arms Makers of Western Pennsylvania" indicates that the 1827 tax roll of Donegal Township, Westmoreland County, lists an individual named William Blain. An article by Jim Whisker in the August, 2007 issue of the "Muzzle Blasts" magazine indicates that William Blain's occupation is not documented in the 1827 tax list of Donegal Township. As reported above, Jean Woods indicates that Robert Blain is listed with 294 acres, two horses and one cow in the 1827 tax assessment Robert, while his son William Blain is listed with 100 acres.
1827-1907: Robert Wilson Blain is buried in the Oakland Cemetery in Webster County, Iowa. His tombstone is inscribed, "R.W. Blain Nov. 9, 1827 Mar. 23, 1907."
1828: Survey C29-28 was performed on Powder Mill Road in Donegal Township for William Blain on February 9, 1828. Cook Township was formed from the northern portion of Donegal Township in 1855. The Cook Township map in the 1876 Westmoreland County Atlas shows that Powder Mill Run is entirely within Cook Township, and a road used to run along the stream. I imagine that is the road that was called Powder Mill Road on William Blain's 1828 survey. By my reckoning, using the modern "Cook Township Patent Map Index 44" and improvised triangulation, this tract of land would be at approximately 40.13742018, -79.24711108. At those coordinates there is a fairly flat piece of land above a steep hillside that drops down to Powder Mill Run. A dead-end road (Weaver Road) leads to the property, and it appears to be situated to be a surviving segment of Powder Mill Road. On modern roads it is approximately 14.1 miles from this property to the approximate site (39.997079, -79.140545) of the residence of Daniel Adams. The green circle on the following excerpt shows the approximate location of the 1828 survey. In a straight line, the closest part of Somerset County is about 2.3 miles southeast of the western end of Weaver Road (see inside the green circle).
The name "Powder Mill Run" appears date from the early years of settlement because an old Westmoreland County deed describes a tract of land as "beginning at the point on Powder-Mill Run where Bill Jones killed the Indian." I would like to know the date of that deed, to help to date the powder mill the stream is named for.
1828: The following excerpt is from the book "Journal of the Senate of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania". This excerpt may not be about the gunsmith William Blain because the 1902 book excerpted above indicates that Robert Wilson Blain's parents William and Catherine had children together after Robert Wilson Blain was born in 1827.
1831: William Blain had property surveyed on Linn Run in Donegal Township of Westmoreland County on July 13, 1831 (C27-289) that was patented to Noah M. Marker, et al on June 13, 1870. The property adjoined land that was "unimproved and now claimed by William Blain". Linn Run is a tributary of Loyalhanna Creek. The headwaters of Linn Run are in Cook Township, and the mouth of Linn Run is in Ligonier Township. Ligonier Township was formed prior to Blain's survey (1822) and Cook Township was formed from part of Donegal Township after Blain's survey (1855) as discussed at this link. These township formation dates mean that Blain's 1831 Donegal Township survey C27-289 on Linn Run was in the portion of Donegal Township that became Cook Township in 1855.
1832: William Blain is known to have been a gunsmith in Westmoreland County in 1832 from the following advertisement that appeared in the August 24, 1832 issue of the "Farmer's Repository" newspaper. The referenced runaway gunsmithing apprentice has long been assumed to be Daniel Adams of Somerset County, Pennsylvania.
Circa 1832: In 1832 and/or 1833, Westmoreland County gunsmith William Blaine published an advertisement offering "a $0.06 reward for the return of Daniel Adams a runaway apprentice, along with expensive shotguns $0.50, rifle guns $1.50, wolf traps $1.50, sword and scabbard $0.50." Reportedly, this advertisement appeared in the February 24, 1832 issue of the "Farmer's Repository", but it is also reported as appearing in 1833.
1837-1922: A web page about Margaret J. (Blain) Horner indicates her mother was Catharine (Wein/Wayne) Blain (1809-1892) and indicates that Margaret is buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in Lodi, Medina County, Ohio. Margaret's portion of a tombstone she shares with her husband John Horner is inscribed, "Margaret His Wife Jan. 25, 1837
— Apr. 1, 1922." The web page also lists a brother Robert Wilson Blain who was born in 1827 and died in 1907.
1834-1837: The 2017 book "Arms Makers of Western Pennsylvania" indicates that William Blain appears on the tax rolls of Donegal Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania in the 1834-1837 timeframe, but his occupation is not specified.
1838: The 1953 edition of the book "American Gun Makers" puts William Blaine in Ligonier Township of Westmoreland County in 1838. An article titled "List of Articles Presented to Historical Society" in an unidentified publication mentions a framed 1838 bill by the Ligonier Township gunsmith William Blaine for gun repairs.
1838: An article by Jim Whisker in the August, 2007 issue of the "Muzzle Blasts" magazine indicates that William Blain appears as a gunsmith on the 1838 tax list of Donegal Township of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.
1838: Jean Woods indicates that William Blain's father died in 1838; see above.
1841-1842: The 2017 book "Arms Makers of Western Pennsylvania" indicates that the 1841 and 1842 tax rolls of Donegal Township, Westmoreland County, list a gunsmith named William Blain. An article by Jim Whisker in the August, 2007 issue of the "Muzzle Blasts" magazine indicates that William Blain's occupation is not documented in the 1841 tax list of Donegal Township.
1847: William Blain had property surveyed in Grove Hollow in Donegal Township of Westmoreland County on February 11, 1847 (C27-290) that was patented to other individuals on June 13, 1870. The property adjoined "other land of William Blain". The key to understanding where survey C27-290 is located is the January 25, 1875 Cook Township survey A69-26 that surrounds survey C27-290. Survey A69-26 shows that C27-290 is in Cook Township near the mouth of Grove Hollow, which puts it near where Grove Run enters Linn Run (40.15408966, -79.22541346). William Blain's C27-289 and C27-290 properties on the waters of Linn Run were truly out in in the boondocks. The 1857 Barker map of Westmoreland County does not show anyone living along or near Linn Run. In fact, the nearly the entire eastern end of Cook Township is illustrated as being uninhabited.
1847: The following excerpts from the Westmoreland County Warrant Register reference the aforementioned property surveys of William Blain, referring to him as William Blair in one instance. The excerpts show that he also had another property (C44-1) surveyed on February 11, 1847. I have only ever seen the reverse side of that survey. I strongly suspect that C44-1 was located between and adjoining C27-289 and C27-290, encompassing the very mouth of Grove Run.
The following excerpt from a 1915 topographical map incorporates a red circle to identify the mouth of Grove Run in Cook Township, and incorporates a green circle to identify the road traversing William Blain's 1828 survey. In a straight line, it is about 1.62 miles between the centers of the red and green circles. On the excerpt, you can also see where Linn Run enters Ligonier Township near Rector's mill. The excerpt also shows the border with Somerset County. In a straight line, the mouth of Grove Run is approximately 3.3 miles due west of Somerset County.
1850: In an article titled "Historic Ligonier and the Valley" that was published in the May 7, 1913 issue of the "Ligonier Echo" newspaper, Colonel John R. Oursler wrote, "In my recollections of Ligonier and the valley I cannot overlook that wonderful family of David Boucher. He owned the farm and built the house and barn now owned partly by Harrison Galbreath and John N. Boucher, a grandson. Mr. Boucher raised a family of 8 boys, all muscular, athletic, and venturesome boys. Their names were Daniel, Joseph, Hiram, John, Isaac, David, Henry, and Simon. I knew them all and also their father. When the gold excitement broke out in California in 1849 Joseph, Isaac, and David with Wm. Taylor and Mr. Metzgar and I think some two or more others made up a party and started for the gold fields in April 1850. I can Well remember the excitement in the valley at that time. They left Ligonier with their teams, went to Pittsburgh, and took shipment on the Ohio river, then overland across the prairies and the Rocky Mountains to the gold fields and landed there in July. All brothers followed except Hiram and Simon. Isaac died. All the rest returned at various times.... In addition to the Boucher boys going to California gold fields in 1850, I know of the following brave men that were in the same company from Ligonier valley: John R. Mathews, William Blain, Joseph Blain, Timothy Buell, William Clark, Thomas Metzler, Jackson Fowler, and Simon Naugle, Fourteen in all. When these men left the valley it created great excitement and people from every section of the valley came in to see the boys off." I suspect that the referenced "valley" is the territory that is drained by Loyalhanna Creek.
1851: The 2017 book "Arms Makers of Western Pennsylvania" indicates that William Blain's illiterate wife Catherine swore out an affidavit that he died on August 28, 1851 in the town of California, Pennsylvania. This conflicts with the research of Jean Woods, and with the excerpt from the 1902 book included above, that indicate William Blain died in the state of California. The 2017 book also reports that the appraisement of the estate of William Blain included woodworking tools, gunsmith tools, blacksmith tools, a rifle, a shotgun, and a sword.
As an aside, the town of California, Pennsylvania (home of my alma mater) is on the west bank of the Monongahela River in Washington County, Pennsylvania. It has been a long time since I attended college there but I remember being told that the town was founded by people attempting to go California during the gold rush. According the the story, after crossing the broad Monongahela River, they said something like "good enough", settled there, and named their new home California.
1851: A genealogy-oriented web page about William Wilson Blain indicates he was born circa 1800, his parents were Robert (1776-1836) and Elizabeth (1756-1846) Blain, he died in San Francisco, California on August 29, 1851, he was married to Catherine Wayne, and was the father of nine children including Robert Wilson Blain who was born in 1827 and died in 1907, and including Margaret Blain who was born in 1837 and died in 1922.
1851: Jim Whisker's article in the August, 2007 issue of the "Muzzle Blasts" magazine indicates that William Blain died intestate at California, Pennsylvania on August 28, 1851. This conflicts with the research of Jean Woods, and with the excerpt from the 1902 book included above, that indicate William Blain died in the state of California. The article also reports that an appraisement of William Blaine's estate that was performed on August 23, 1852 included gunsmithing and blacksmithing tools, and also reports that his wife Catherine inherited 540 acres of land. The referenced source for the real estate information is Deed Book No. 37 of Westmoreland County, pages 137 & 138.
1880: The 1880 census of Douglas Township, Webster County, Iowa indicates that Robert W. Blain was born in Pennsylvania, his father was born in Scotland, and his mother was born in Maryland. The age of 53 that is given in the census indicates that Robert W. Blain was born circa 1827.
Work product
Return to the Korns family genealogy home page
The following excerpt, which was published more than half a century after William Blain's death, is from the 1902 book "The Biographical Record of Webster County, Iowa". Although not error free, the excerpt indicates that:
Bits of information provided elsewhere herein provide a few points of reference for estimating the year of William Blain's birth:
