Rush Township was the birthplace of the subject of this notice; the date thereof Sept. 3, 1851. Here he was married, and here he has always lived, occupying himself as a farmer and stockraiser. His property comprises 167 acres of good land on section 9. Next to being a pioneer himself, the son of one has reason to be proud. Franklin Blackstone, the father of Joseph E., was one of the earliest settlers of this county. He took up a tract of wild land from which he improved a farm, and where he spent the remainder of his life, passing away in November, 1885. He was a native of New York State, a peaceable and law-abiding citizen, honest and upright in his dealings with his fellow-men, and left to his children a record of which they need never be ashamed.

Mrs. Betsey (Parker) Blackstone, the mother of our subject, was also a native of the Empire State, and came with her husband to the West in 1849; they settling first in Wisconsin. A year later they crossed over the line into this county. The mother survived her husband one year; her death taking place in November, 1886. The household circle included eight children of whom the record is as follows: Ann became the wife of J. M. Irvine, of Apple River; Mary, (Mrs. William Emery) lives on a farm in Warren Township; Betsey J. married D. A. Black of Chicago; Joseph R. died in early childhood; Stephen F. during the late war enlisted as a Union soldier in Company E, 96th Illinois Infantry, and was wounded in the battle of Chickamauga from the effects of which he died about one week later; Hattie M. (Mrs. H. G. Miller) is a resident of Rush; Franklin E. is occupied at farming in Montana; Joseph E., our subject, was the eighth child, and was married March 27, 1889. The lady of his choice being Miss A. E. Binns, the daughter of Abel Binns of this county. She is a native of this county.

Transcribed & Contributed by Carol Parrish - Portrait and Biographical Album of Jo Daviess and Carroll Counties, Illinois (1889), p. 318