death_date other_name birth_date article_title name
19 june 1903 colonel blackwell 29 january 1842 a. j. blackwell
 a.j. blackwell
a. j. blackwell

a.j. blackwell -lrb- andrew jackson blackwell -rrb- -lrb- january 29 , 1842 - june 19 , 1903 -rrb- was the founder and namesake of blackwell , kay county , oklahoma .
blackwell , the city , was founded in september 1893 as of one the cherokee allotments .
a.j. blackwell had settled in the area in 1882 , having married the former rosa vaught who was of cherokee descent , he was eligible to found the city .
blackwell served as justice of the peace and mayor of blackwell .
he also worked as a merchant in fayetteville , arkansas , built the first house in ottawa , kansas , and founded the towns of rock falls , oklahoma territory , david , indian territory , and chelsea , indian territory .
an entrepreneur , he also established the first hotel in blackwell , and was president of the north oklahoma railroad .
a.j. blackwell was born on january 29 , 1842 in georgia to janos and matilda blackwell .
he enlisted in the confederate army during the civil war under the 3rd confederate cavalry .
a.j. and rosa blackwell had two sons and one daughter : king solomon , king david and hazel .
prior to founding blackwell , oklahoma , a.j. blackwell lived in joplin , missouri where he held bear and dog fights and built the town 's first opera house .
he was arrested on counterfeiting charges and spent time in the missouri state penitentiary .
blackwell also was indicted twice for murder , but was not convicted .
early settlers in the town of blackwell reportedly viewed a.j. blackwell as a despot who operated as `` practically a one-man government . ''
at one point , blackwell brought a group of black workmen into town , in defiance of an unofficial but strict ban on their residence or employment there .
this prompted a strong reaction from the townspeople , who fired shots at night at the tent where the black workers were staying .
blackwell responded by brandishing a winchester rifle to hold off the mob .
ultimately , however , the citizenry drove all members of the black race out of town .
a black family attempted to move into blackwell in 1902 , and was chased by a mob of 1,200 people who burned their home .
in 1894 , a.j. blackwell was arrested by the cherokee government , sentenced to death for treason , and tortured by being poked with steel rods after refusing to confess to charges of selling land to white settlers .
he was rescued the night before his scheduled execution .
his wife , rosa , was deeded the land of the town of david , founded in 1895 , as she could legally own it .
the cherokees sued , and the white residents of the town were expelled in 1898 .
a.j. blackwell died june 19 , 1903 in chelsea , indian territory , another town he had founded .
prior to his death , in july 1902 , blackwell had erected a monument in his honor and publicly read his will .
