Blackstone, William

Blackstone, William a clergyman of the Church of England, the date of whose birth is unknown, figures in the first list of the freemen of Massachusetts in 1630. Subsequently he sold the land upon which the city of Boston is built. He was one of the two or three earliest Episcopal clergymen residing in New England. As a student he had a considerable reputation, and his library was extensive. Six miles from Providence, R. I., he built a house upon an eminence, which he called "Study Hill," and to which, it seems, he removed in 1631. He preached only occasionally. His house and library were burned in king Philip's war. He died at Shawmut, near Boston, Mass., May 26, 1675. See Sprague, Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, v, 1.