Thomas was born in King William County, Virginia in 1784.He was the son of James Blackwell, who was married to Elizabeth Ann Crenshaw. Thomas also married an Elizabeth; Elizabeth Gibson in the Quaker Church in Bedford County, Virginia in 1805. Her brother, John, signed the license with Thomas - he was listed as surety. He must have gone to Kentucky with Thomas and Elizabeth as some records there are signed by both men. Thomas was appointed Deputy of District 1, Warren County, Kentucky in April 1815. His brother, William, was listed as his helper. In the 1830 census he was listed as a farmer in Williamson county, Tennessee. He died there in 1857 at the age of 73.

We have a copy of the Estate sale. I am listing only a few of the items to give a hint as to their way of life. Other than housefold furniture they sold three spinning wheels, books, box of tools, turning lathe, 75 pounds of potatoes, 10 bushels of onions, 6 bee hives, live stock, tobacco crop, cotton crop, and slaves.

I do not know the value of Thomas's estate, but he had ten children and one of them was Jessie Crutcher Carrell's grandmother, Catherine Crutcher. We have a copy of a statement that Catherine and her husband, S.A. Crutcher, signed stating that their share of the estate was $3200.66 Thomas left a Will stating he tried to give to each child equally.

His estate may not sound so great by today's standards, but I found that in 1871 in Tennessee, a man's wages were between $300 and $400 a year for a mill worker or for working in a store. A carpenter was paid $4 for two day's work. At Thomas Blackwell's estate sale a wheel barrow sold for five cents, a plow sold for eighty cents, an oven and skillet, fifty cents, two spinning wheels, seventy five cents, turning lathe and tools, fifty cents. A dictionary sold for a dollar.

Thomas had in his will that the grave yard was excluded from the land for the children.

Catherine P. Blackwell, youngest of Thomas and Elizabeth's ten children was born in 1822. In 1843, she married Samuel Adolphus Crutcher. Their second son, Thomas Robert, married Louisa Sanders May and was the mother of Jessie Woodson Crutcher.

Source: Thelma Carrell Jones