BLANKENSHIP FAMILY

The family lived on 4 Pole Creek and later Davis Creek in Cabell County, WV.
They had seven children. In addition to the ones in the photograph, Willie Four Pole Blankenship died in 1872 at the age of one.

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ALMEDA BLANKENSHIP

Almeda B. Topping Blankenship was born 5 May 1848 in Cabell Co., (W) VA and died on 12 Feb 1895 in Cabell Co., WV.
She married Marlin Thornburg Blankenship on 23 Dec 1866 in Cabell Co. as well.
She is buried in Crook Chapel Cemetery, Cabell Co.
She was the daughter of William Topping Sr. and Elizabeth Poteet.

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CELILA & MINNIE BLANKENSHIP

Celila Clay Blankenship was born on 2 Nov 1878 and Minnie Isabelle Blankenship was born on 2 Jul 1873.
They are the daughters of Marlin Thornburg and Almeda Blankenship.

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MARLIN BLANKENSHIP

Marlin Thornburg Blankenship was born on 11 Dec 1844 in Cabell County (W) VA and died on 1 Aug 1901 in Cabell County as well. Marlin and his family lived on Four Pole Creek and later David Creek in Cabell County.  M.T. Blankenship was the oldest son of Samuel Blankenship and was a local pastor in the M.E. Church.  He helped Adam Given build Dillon Chapel in 1889. Brother Blankenship was not a college graduate but he was endowed with such intellectual powers to enable him to preach the Bible from a true gospel standpoint. This information from John T. Blankenship, "A Summary of Davis Creek Community", (Morgantown, WVa: Agricultural Extension Div. 1925), copy made by Leona Blankenship in 1975, pp 1 and 5.
    Judy Pullen, a fellow genealogical researcher from Barboursville, WV provided the following additional information about Marlin's life. Marlin had a hard life.  He married at the end of the Civil War (1866).  He was, and remained a rabid Virginian until his death, but never volunteered for service as this part of Virginia was under Federal domination through most of the war.  his entire family was born in Franklin Co., Va. and he always resented being robbed of the state of his birth.  His son Walter's politics were dictated by his father's politics.  He never referred to a Republican that he didn't use the word "black".  He once said if a yellow dog and a Republican were on the ticket, he would vote for the yellow dog!  They never owned a slave--they weren't wealthy enough, but they wouldn't take up arms against their own people.
     Marlin was a remarkable man.  He was one of the first preachers at Dillon Chapel United Methodist Church. He laid out the dead (in those days that consisted of washing, dressing, shaving and preparing for burial), doctored animals and nursed the sick in an era when it took an eight hour day to make a trip to the doctor--if you had the money to go.  He contracted typhoid when nursing a victim of typhoid whose family had deserted him to die alone.  There were no hospitals in Cabell County at that time. Marlin owned  the cemetery where they are buried--Crook Chapel Cemetery and where he lived when Walter was born, as well as the original log home which Marlin built where the children grew up.

Photos Courtesy of Ralph Hayes